Dir. of Dep’t of Corr. v. Kozich

Douglas Kozich pled guilty to one count of grand larceny and two counts of obtaining money by false pretenses. After a sentencing hearing, the court issued two-year active sentences, running consecutively, for each of the three offenses. Kozich later filed a petition seeking a writ of habeas corpus. At an evidentiary hearing on the petition, Kozich’s habeas counsel contended that Kozich’s trial attorney had provided ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to present a specific drug-treatment plan at the sentencing hearing as an alternative to incarceration and by failing to file a timely motion to reconsider the sentence. The habeas court vacated the sentencing orders, concluding that the failure to file a timely motion to reconsider and to ensure that the court had an opportunity to rule on it constituted ineffective assistance, and Kozich was prejudiced. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that trial counsel’s failure to file a timely motion to reconsider the sentences and to ensure that the trial court had an opportunity to rule on it was objectively unreasonable, and this omission demonstrated prejudice. View "Dir. of Dep’t of Corr. v. Kozich" on Justia Law