A defense attorney’s failure to investigate a jailhouse weapon possession charge first revealed at his client’s sentencing constituted ineffective assistance of counsel, a federal judge has ruled.
Eastern District Judge Joanna Seybert vacated a 33-year sentence for armed robbery she imposed on Elvin Harris in 2005 and ordered his resentencing after faulting his lawyer for not reviewing the circumstances surrounding the government’s notice at sentencing that Mr. Harris had been charged after a shank was discovered in his toothbrush holder in prison.
