Death Row Inmate’s Ineffective Assistance Claim Gets New Hearing

A death row inmate was granted a new hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court Monday, to determine whether his trial counsel’s ineffective assistance prejudiced the outcome of his trial.

Terence Andrus was raised by a drug-addicted mom, who was a prostitute to pay for her drugs. When he was 16, Andrus went to juvenile detention, where he started using psychotropic drugs.

When he was 20, Andrus, while tripping on PCP-laced marijuana, attempted a carjacking. During the bungled effort, he killed two people. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

Andrus’s lawyer neither investigated, nor brought up at trial, ...