California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Palmer, H045930 (Cal. App. 2019):
Here, defendant has not met either of his burdens. First, defendant has not demonstrated that his counsel was incompetent for failing to object. Ineffective assistance of counsel is particularly difficult to demonstrate on direct appeal because "[t]he appellate record . . . rarely shows that the failure to object was the result of counsel's incompetence; generally, such claims are more appropriately litigated on habeas corpus, which allows for an evidentiary hearing where the reasons for defense counsel's actions or omissions can be explored." (People v. Lopez (2008) 42 Cal.4th 960, 966 (Lopez).) We cannot determine from this record whether defense counsel decided not to object to the imposition of relocation restitution because he knew that the relocation expenses were verifiable. " 'Unless a defendant establishes the contrary, we shall presume that "counsel's performance fell within the wide range of professional competence." ' " (Ibid.) " 'If the record "sheds no light on why counsel acted or failed to act in the manner challenged," an appellate claim of ineffective assistance of counsel
Page 6
must be rejected " . . . unless there simply could be no satisfactory explanation." ' " (Ibid.)
The above passage should not be considered legal advice. Reliable answers to complex legal questions require comprehensive research memos. To learn more visit www.alexi.com.