Roderick R. Williams v. State of Arkansas

Summary

The court affirmed the denial of Williams's Rule 37.1 petition, concluding that his ineffective-assistance claims were meritless and that the trial court properly denied relief without an evidentiary hearing or appointed counsel. Counsel's decisions concerning the witness's remark and cross-examination were reasonable strategic choices, and Williams failed to show that appellate counsel could have raised a meritorious evidentiary issue. His additional sufficiency-of-the-evidence claim was not cognizable in a postconviction proceeding and was not preserved because it was raised for the first time on appeal.