A robbery defendant whose appellate counsel failed to make a critical argument on appeal was rightly granted a writ of habeas corpus, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.

The circuit said the law on ineffective assistance of counsel was incorrectly applied when the New York Court of Appeals said it might have been “reasonable” strategy for an appellate lawyer to refrain from arguing defendant Racky Ramchair had deserved a mistrial after his conviction.