State v. Moore

BOEHM, Justice.

The State of Indiana appeals from a grant of posteonviction relief to petitioner Richard D. Moore. The posteonviction court vacated Moore’s 1980 guilty plea for three counts of murder, and also the accompanying death sentence, on the ground that Moore had been denied his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel and also because his plea was not voluntary. The State appeals only the reversal of the conviction. We hold that Moore’s counsel was not ineffective at the guilt stage and that the posteonviction court therefore clearly erred in setting the conviction…