Thompson v. Rapelje

In 2008, Huffman found nude pictures of her 12-year-old daughter on a camera belonging to her boyfriend, Thompson. Thompson admitted taking the photos. Huffman turned the camera over to the police. That same day, the police interviewed Thompson, recording the interview on a videotape. In the interview, Thompson admitted taking the sexually explicit pictures of the child and touching the child’s breast and vagina. Thompson denied digitally penetrating the child. Charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, Thompson went to trial. In his opening statement, defense counsel promised that Thompson would testify and deny penetration, but counsel never called Thompson to testify, instead relying on Thompson’s statements in a taped police interview to tell his side of the story. After trial, Thompson asserted an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim based on defense counsel’s broken promise, which the Michigan courts rejected. The district court then denied Thompson’s habeas petition based on the same claim. The Sixth Circuit affirmed. The Michigan Court of Appeals reasonably concluded that counsel’s failure to deliver Thompson’s live testimony did not prejudice Thompson’s defense. View "Thompson v. Rapelje" on Justia Law