Watson v. State

Summary

The Court affirmed the denial of Watson’s postconviction motion, holding that he failed to establish prejudice from counsel’s failure to object to admission of his prior firearm conviction for impeachment. Watson did not show a reasonable probability that the conviction would have been excluded or that its exclusion would have changed the outcome, which the Court had previously determined was not a close case. The Court also held that any freestanding challenge to the trial court’s failure to conduct the evidentiary balancing was procedurally barred because it was not raised on direct appeal.