State v. Allegra

The defendant appeals from an order of the Superior Court (Dickson, J.) denying his motion for a new trial on related charges of forgery and attempted theft by deception. He claims to have been denied the effective assistance of counsel and argues that the trial court should have found that in four instances he was prejudiced by performance of trial counsel that fell below the standard of reasonable competence: when counsel (1) failed to move for dismissal of the class B felony forgery indictment that in fact charged only a misdemeanor; (2) failed to object to repeated jury instructions that…