Lawyer’s Mistake Wasn’t Bad Enough to Throw Out Conviction

A Pennsylvania prisoner was denied a constitutional right at trial and his lawyers were ineffective, but his conviction stands, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held.

Damien Preston couldn’t demonstrate a “substantial and injurious effect” from the fact that his accomplice refused to answer questions on cross-examination, Judge Marjorie O. Rendell wrote Sept. 5.

Although he was denied his right to confront the witness, and both his trial and post-conviction counsel should’ve done more, his third-degree murder conviction stands, Rendell said.

The victim was shot during a fight between Preston and his brother Leonard Presley. Presley’s police ...