Butt v. State

On Direct Appeal

Associate Chief Justice Lee,

opinion of the Court:

¶ 1 This case comes to us on appeal from the district court’s denial of Eric Leon Butt, Jr.’s, petition for post-conviction relief. Petitioner challenges his conviction for dealing materials harmful to minors, alleging ineffective assistance of trial counsel. The basis for this claim is trial counsel’s failure to assert certain defenses under the state and federal constitutions — a free speech defense and a “parent-child communication” defense. The district court denied Butt’s petition.

¶ 2 We reverse, We conclude that counsel…