Brown v. Brown

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In 2008, Wenger was murdered after trying to buy drugs. Bullet casings were found near Wenger’s body, but not other physical evidence was recovered. Investigators relied on information from community members and from incarcerated individuals. Weeks after the murder, the state charged Brown, then 13 years old, and Love, 19 years old. Brown was waived into adult felony court; the two were tried together. The state’s key evidence was the testimony of Morris that, while Morris, Brown, and Love were all in the Elkhart County Jail, Brown and Love each confessed separately to involvement in the murder. Both were convicted. After exhausting state court remedies, Brown filed a federal habeas petition, claiming he was denied effective assistance of counsel when his lawyer failed to insist that the judge give the limiting instruction required when evidence of a co-defendant’s out-of-court confession is introduced in a joint trial. The court concluded that Brown had procedurally defaulted that claim by failing to assert it in state court. The Seventh Circuit reversed, finding that Brown is entitled to an evidentiary hearing and could overcome procedural default of his ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim by demonstrating ineffective assistance of post-conviction counsel and asserting a substantial claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. View "Brown v. Brown" on Justia Law