Weingarten v. United States

The Second Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of a 28 U.S.C. 2255 petition. Petitioner argued that trial counsel failed to provide constitutionally effective assistance when they conceded before trial that child sexual abuse charges were timely under the applicable statute of limitations. In this case, trial counsel submitted a sworn affidavit in which they justified the decision to forgo a statute of limitations defense. Counsel considered the defense tenuous and believed it would clutter the motion to dismiss and distract from the motion's other strong points. The court held that the decision was reasonable under the circumstances of this case. The court affirmed the balance of the order in a summary order filed contemporaneously with this opinion. View "Weingarten v. United States" on Justia Law