ALLEGHENY COUNTY COURT ORDERS NEW TRIAL FOR MAN CONVICTED OF AGGRAVATED ASSAULT BASED ON INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

Attorney Noel’s client was convicted of aggravated assault and sentenced to 7 to 14 years in state prison.  Attorney Noel’s client used force to defend himself against his brother, who, at the time of the incident, was on parole for the robbery and murder of a man he beat to death.

Attorney Noel filed a Petition for Post-Conviction relief on her client’s behalf alleging multiple instances of ineffective assistance of counsel by her client’s trial attorneys.  Attorney Noel argued, among other things, that her client’s trial attorneys were ineffective for (1) failing to assert self-defense as a defense to the aggravated assault charge; (2) failing to introduce evidence of the “victim’s” parole status, where such evidence was relevant to undermine his testimony about who the initial aggressor was; (3) failing to introduce evidence of the “victim’s” prior convictions for robbery and third-degree murder, where such evidence was relevant to demonstrate her client’s fear of his brother and was relevant to demonstrate the “victim’s” propensity for violence, a pertinent character trait; and (4) failing to introduce evidence of the “victim’s” prior conviction for robbery, a crime of dishonesty under Pennsylvania law.

The PCRA Court agreed with Attorney Noel that the trial attorneys’ poor performance deprived her client of a fair trial, vacated the conviction of Attorney Noel’s client, and ordered a new trial to occur.