Appellate court hears claim that trial counsel failed to seek store video in Knox County assault case

An appellate panel heard oral argument in a post-conviction appeal contending that trial counsel’s failure to obtain a store surveillance video amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel and produced prejudice that vitiated a guilty plea. The petitioner, identified in the record as Mr. Andrews, was charged with aggravated assault after an incident at a dollar-store and pleaded guilty in May 2022. Counsel for Andrews argued at the post-conviction oral argument that the video — if obtained and shown to be exculpatory — could have changed Andrews’ decision to accept the plea.

Why this matters: if the court finds counsel was ineffective and the omission caused prejudice, the guilty plea could be set aside or otherwise afford Andrews relief from the sentence he received after pleading guilty in August 2022.

Petitioner’s appellate counsel told the court that trial counsel, Mr. Davis, had been told by Andrews about the existence of a recording and “confirmed that he was aware of the video, but he did not pursue it outside of requesting the State to produce it.” Counsel argued Mr. Davis…