Cartwright v. Caldwell

Summary

The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed the denial of Cartwright's habeas petition, holding that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to present readily available evidence supporting his claim that trial counsel was ineffective. Trial counsel performed deficiently by failing to impeach the detective's testimony that Cartwright had not mentioned his alibi, and the omission created a reasonable probability of a different trial result because the State emphasized the alleged post-arrest invention of the alibi and its evidence was not overwhelming. The court also held that its prior factual and legal ruling concerning appellate counsel's failure to present the evidence was binding under the law-of-the-case doctrine.