People v. Turner

OPINION OF THE COURT

R.S. Smith, J.

Very rarely, a single lapse by otherwise competent counsel compels the conclusion that a defendant was deprived of his constitutional right to effective legal representation. This is such a rare case, in which both defendant’s trial and appellate lawyers failed to perceive that a statute of limitations defense would have prevented their client’s manslaughter conviction. We conclude that this error requires setting the conviction aside, and we therefore affirm the Appellate Division’s grant of a writ of error coram nobis.

Facts and Procedural History

In 1982,…