Smith v. Thompson

Opinion

HODGES, J.

Preston Smith, Jr., an inmate in the Virginia correctional system, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Circuit Court of the City of Newport News alleging that he was being detained because of ineffective assistance of counsel during his trial on charges of robbery and the use of a firearm in the commission of the crime of robbery. The respondent filed a motion to dismiss which the habeas court granted without evidentiary hearing. In this appeal, Smith alleges that the habeas court erred in denying the evidentiary hearing because the record on its face…