STATE OF TENNESSEE v. WILLIAM LANGSTON - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. WILLIAM LANGSTON

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Apr 9, 2020

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: Phyllis L. Aluko, District Public Defender, and Barry W. Kuhn (on appeal) and Phillip Harvey (at hearing), Assistant District Public Defenders, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, William Langston.

Attorneys 2: Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Samantha L. Simpson, Assistant Attorney General; Amy P. Weirich, District Attorney General; and Chris Lareau, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): HOLLOWAY

William Langston, Petitioner, was initially indicted for voluntary manslaughter. The State obtained a superseding indictment charging Petitioner with first degree murder. Following a jury trial, Petitioner was convicted of second degree murder. This court affirmed his conviction on direct appeal, and the Tennessee Supreme Court denied further review. State v. William Langston, No. W2015-02359-CCA-R3-CD, 2017 WL 1968827, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. May 12, 2017), perm app denied (Tenn. Sept. 22, 2017). Petitioner filed for post-conviction relief claiming that he was denied the effective assistance of his first retained counsel (“trial counsel”). Following a hearing, the post- conviction court denied relief. On appeal, Petitioner asserts that trial counsel failed to convey to him a four-year settlement offer before the State obtained the superseding indictment. After a thorough review of the facts and applicable case law, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

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