Darnell Carlton Bouie v. Donnie Ames

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed the denial of Darnell Carlton Bouie’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The court rejected claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel concerning venue, an alibi defense, footwear evidence, witness cross-examination, and use of a grand jury transcript. It also held that the concerted-action jury instruction was supported by the evidence and that no plain error or ineffective assistance resulted from the failure to object.

Holdings

1. Bouie failed to substantiate that counsel's investigation of pretrial publicity was inadequate or that the publicity created such fixed opinions among jurors that an impartial trial was impossible.
2. Counsel was not ineffective for failing to investigate an alibi because Bouie's own admission placed him at the victim's apartment complex and the record contained no evidence that he was elsewhere during the shooting.
3. Bouie failed to establish ineffective assistance from counsel's decision not to call a defense shoe expert because the State's witnesses provided substantially the relevant testimony and did not connect the exemplar shoes to Bouie or the crime with certainty.
4. Bouie failed to show prejudice from the alleged deficiencies in counsel's cross-examinations or failure to use the grand jury transcript.
5. The concerted-action instruction was supported by the evidence, and Bouie showed neither plain error nor ineffective assistance arising from the failure to object to it.

Questions Presented

1. Whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate and seek a change of venue based on allegedly prejudicial pretrial publicity.
2. Whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate an alibi defense.
3. Whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to present a defense shoe expert.
4. Whether trial counsel was ineffective for inadequately cross-examining certain prosecution witnesses and failing to use the grand jury transcript.
5. Whether the circuit court erred by rejecting Bouie's challenge to a concerted-action jury instruction as unsupported by the evidence, under plain-error or ineffective-assistance review.

Disposition

affirmed