State v. Whitegrass

Summary

The Montana Supreme Court affirmed Garrett Lee Whitegrass’s conviction for felony sexual intercourse without consent. The court held that trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to request a continuance to pursue renewed plea negotiations after disclosure of a recording, discovery concerning a condom, and cell-phone text messages. The court concluded that Whitegrass’s arguments were speculative and did not establish deficient performance under Strickland v. Washington.

Holdings

1. Whitegrass failed to establish ineffective assistance of counsel because he did not show that counsel's performance fell outside the wide range of reasonable professional assistance or that a continuance would probably have produced a plea offer he would have accepted.

Questions Presented

1. Whether trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to request a continuance during trial to seek renewed plea negotiations after the State produced a recording shortly before trial and additional evidence emerged during trial.

Disposition

affirmed