Reeves v. Alabama

As Porter and Wiggins illustrate, trial counsel's testimony is not sufficient to find adequate performance when the full record rebuts the reasonableness of the proffered justification. It cannot be, then, that such testimony is necessary in every case. Where counsel does not testify but the defendant offers other record evidence, a court can simply presume that counsel would have justified his actions as tactical decisions and then consider whether the record rebuts the reasonableness of that justification.

Not only is the imposition of a per se rule requiring testimonial evidence from…