STATE VS. ALICE O'DONNELL A-1889-12T2
Defendant pleaded guilty to the murder of her six-year-old son. She
received a thirty-year sentence with a thirty-year MPI. She alleges her
attorney was ineffective by failing to diligently pursue a diminished
capacity defense and failing to adequately consult with her before
urging her to plead guilty. We reverse the trial court's denial of PCR
and remand for an evidentiary hearing.
We direct the court to separately apply the four-factor test governing
plea withdrawal motions under State v. Slater, 198 N.J. 145 (2009), and
the two-prong test governing PCR petitions under Strickland v.
Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1984). We
compare and contrast the two standards. Both apply to defendant's
application for relief. Although the standards sometimes overlap, they
do not always lead to the same results. We instruct the trial court not
to conflate the two. We also conclude that the court mistakenly set too
high a threshold for satisfying the "colorable claim of innocence"
factor under Slater. 04/24/14
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