Homer Alson Maddin, III v. State of Tennessee

The petitioner, Homer Alson Maddin, III, appeals the Davidson County Criminal Court’s dismissal of his 2007 petition for post-conviction relief in which he had challenged his four 2004 jury-imposed convictions of aggravated rape. This court affirmed the convictions on November 1, 2005. See State v. Homer Alson Maddin, III, No. M2004-02298-CCA-R3-CD (Tenn. Crim. App., Nashville, Nov. 1, 2005), perm. app. denied (Tenn. 2006). The petitioner’s counseled petition raised various claims of the ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel. On appeal, the petitioner claims that his trial counsel was ineffective in neither communicating with the petitioner nor preparing him for trial, failing to explain the potential punishment the petitioner faced, failing to communicate a plea offer from the State, failing to investigate the case, failing to adequately cross-examine witnesses, failing to properly impeach State witnesses, and failing to object to improper prosecutorial argument and to the use of certain evidence. The petitioner also claims that his appellate counsel was ineffective in failing to raise certain issues on appeal. We affirm the order of the post-conviction court.