Benton v. Hines, 306 Ga. 722

In 2009 Bridgette Hines was convicted of armed robbery (and related offenses) for a convenience-store robbery; sentence 20 years; conviction affirmed on direct appeal.
Trial evidence: co-defendant Timmons testified for the State pursuant to a plea deal (pleaded to simple robbery), describing Hines as the getaway driver; corroborated by two police officers who observed suspects entering a car with no license plate and a gun found under the driver’s seat; Hines gave an incriminating statement inconsistent with her trial testimony.
Defense at trial cross-examined Timmons about his plea deal; the jury was informed Timmons avoided a ten-year mandatory minimum and parole ineligibility by pleading and would be eligible for parole on his plea sentence.
Hines later filed a habeas petition asserting ineffective assistance of appellate counsel: appellate counsel should have raised on direct appeal that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to impeach Timmons about the maximum sentence he faced absent the plea deal (exposure to life with 30 years parole ineligibility).
The habeas court granted relief, setting aside convictions; the State (Warden) appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Hines)	Defendant's Argument (Warden)	Held
Whether appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise trial counsel's ineffectiveness for not impeaching Timmons about his potential maximum sentence	Appellate counsel should have raised that trial counsel failed to impeach Timmons about facing life/30-year parole ineligibility absent the plea, which would have undermined Timmons's credibility	Appellate counsel reasonably omitted the claim because any additional impeachment had marginal value and the underlying claim had doubtful merit and would not have changed the outcome	Reversed habeas relief; appellate counsel was not shown to be deficient because the underlying trial-ineffectiveness claim had doubtful merit and no demonstrated prejudice

Trim v. Shepard, 300 Ga. 176 (standard for ineffective assistance of appellate counsel requires showing deficient omission and reasonable probability of different outcome)
Martin v. McLaughlin, 298 Ga. 44 (claims with clear and strong merit are those appellate counsel should raise)
Hooks v. Walley, 299 Ga. 589 (appellate counsel not required to raise every nonfrivolous argument)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (standard for ineffective assistance of counsel: deficiency and prejudice)
Eagle v. Linahan, 279 F.3d 926 (same standard applies to trial and appellate counsel performance review)
McCoy v. State, 303 Ga. 141 (failure to impeach with marginally relevant information may not prejudice defendant where evidence of guilt is strong)
Roberts v. State, 296 Ga. 719 (prejudice requires reasonable probability that outcome would differ absent counsel’s errors)
Arrington v. Collins, 290 Ga. 603 (appellate counsel’s omissions subject to reasonableness review)
Sims v. State, 280 Ga. 606 (context on impeachment value and effect on verdict)