Can a court reverse a defense counsel's decision not to call an expert witness to challenge eyewitness identification?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Zapata, A139209 (Cal. App. 2015):
court reverse based upon a defense counsel's purported tactical error, as it is not our role to judge an attorney's decisions during the course of trial in the "harsh light of hindsight." (People v. Hinton (2006) 37 Cal.4th 839, 876.) And, in this case, in the absence of any clear facts indicating defense counsel made a tactical error during trial by not calling an expert witness to challenge the eyewitness identification, we will let her decision stand.
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