Attorney Oversight Means Another Chance to Challenge Conviction

A New York man convinced a divided federal appeals court panel that he was entitled to another look at one of his various sex-trafficking convictions because his prior appellate attorney failed to raise a proper venue challenge.

A district court improperly denied Lavellous Purcell’s claim that he received ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the Sixth Amendment, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said in a Tuesday opinion reversing and remanding the lower court’s denial of Purcell’s habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2255.