Nicholas Roos v. State of Arkansas

Summary

The court affirmed the denial of Roos’s postconviction petition, holding that counsel were not ineffective for failing to obtain a mental-health evaluation or file suppression motions before Roos entered a negotiated guilty plea. The court concluded that counsel investigated Roos’s mental condition and the available evidence, reasonably advised him to accept a plea avoiding the death penalty, and had no obligation to pursue motions that were unlikely to succeed. It also held that the circuit court applied the correct ineffective-assistance standard and did not clearly err in evaluating the evidence or Roos’s plea.