Johns v. Smyth

Johns (defendant) was convicted of first-degree murder after the prosecution introduced his signed statement admitting he killed the victim with a knife following a grabbing incident and an alleged sexual advance; Johns did not testify, and his own attorney submitted no proposed jury instructions and no closing argument, resulting in an instruction covering only first- and second-degree murder, not manslaughter. At the habeas hearing, Johns's trial counsel admitted he personally believed Johns was guilty and that Johns had privately told him the signed statement was false, leading counsel to conclude he couldn't argue the statement was true (or, evidently, argue much of anything in Johns's defense).