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Digsby: Appellate Counsel Not Ineffective

By Tim Cone

In Digsby v. McNeil, No. 09-10978 (Dec. 7, 2010), the Court affirmed the denial of habeas relief to a Florida inmate who claimed that his appellate lawyer was ineffective for failing to raise a collateral estoppel claim in his state direct appeal.At a first trial, Digsby was acquitted of aggravated battery. At a second trial involving the same incident, Digsby was convicted of unlawful firearm possession. Digsby claimed that his appellate lawyer was ineffective in failing to argue on appeal that because the jury that acquitted determined that Digsby never possessed a firearm, collateral estoppel barred his conviction for firearm possession arising out of the same incident.The Court found, however, that while the jury that acquitted might have found that Digsby did not possess a firearm, it did not ?necessarily? so find...continue to full post

Full post as published by Defense Newsletter Blog on December 08, 2010 (boomark / email).