John Joseph Marr v. State, 45206

Marr was charged with felony attempted strangulation and domestic battery with a traumatic injury; a jury found him not guilty of attempted strangulation and guilty of domestic battery with a traumatic injury.
Marr’s direct appeal failed; he sought post-conviction relief alleging ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and sentencing.
At a post-conviction evidentiary hearing, Marr showed his trial attorney failed to investigate and admit evidence of the victim’s reputation for belligerence when intoxicated and failed to elicit testimony about intoxication on the victim’s testimony.
District court found trial counsel ineffective for not discovering and presenting evidence of Jones’s reputation and for not eliciting alcohol consumption testimony.
District court vacated the conviction for trial-level issues but denied relief as to sentencing.
Court of Appeals reversed; this Court granted review and affirms the district court’s post-conviction relief related to trial counsel ineffectiveness.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate Jones’s belligerence when intoxicated and to call Trooper Moore.	Marr	State	Yes; failure to investigate and call Moore was deficient and prejudicial.

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (establishes the dual-prong standard for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Booth v. State, 151 Idaho 612 (2011) (mixed questions of law and fact; deference to district court on factual findings)
Aragon v. State, 760 P.2d 1174 (1988) (prejudice and deficient performance framework in Idaho)
State v. Schall, 337 P.3d 647 (2014) (procedural posture and standard of review in post-conviction relief)
State v. Dunlap, 313 P.3d 1 (2013) (post-conviction relief standards and evidentiary considerations)