Knowing that he could face disciplinary action, criminal defense attorney Christopher Hoover says he did not participate in his client’s 2004 trial for misdemeanor driving while intoxicated in the hope that an appellate court would rule the client received ineffective assistance of counsel and order a new trial. And the strategy worked.
In a 5-4 decision on Oct. 17, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held in Cannon v. State that Hoover’s failure to participate in the trial denied Darrell Cannon’s constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel.
