State of Louisiana v. Catina Curley

Summary

The court held that trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to investigate how to present a battered-woman-syndrome defense to self-defense and by failing to investigate or obtain expert testimony concerning the effects of the defendant's documented abuse. The court held that such evidence is admissible in a justification or self-defense case, not only in an insanity proceeding, and that counsel's failures created a reasonable probability of a different result. The court reversed the court of appeal, vacated the conviction and sentence, and remanded for further proceedings, including a new trial. Weimer, J., dissenting, would have found no prejudice because the jury heard substantial evidence of abuse and the defendant did not establish what an expert would have contributed.