California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Spain, H043429 (Cal. App. 2018):
Here, defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim fails to satisfy either of the requisite prongs. The first prongdeficient performancerequires that the court " 'exercise deferential scrutiny . . .' and . . . 'view and assess the reasonableness of counsel's acts or omissions . . . under the circumstances as they stood at the time that counsel acted or failed to act.' [Citation.] Although deference is not abdication [citation], courts should not second-guess reasonable, if difficult, tactical decisions in the harsh light of hindsight." (People v. Scott (1997) 15 Cal.4th 1188, 1212.) An ineffective assistance of counsel claim will be rejected unless there is a showing that there was no rational explanation for defense counsel's act or omission. (People v. Lucas (1995) 12
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