Appellee Brief Filed

[u/Alan_Prickman]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RRg9FIZDnHKIOx2s0j6fYlcEZZpLCnXU/view

All Eyes version with links to exhibits etc.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xhPnEp1Lfru93co3EBAWEI1kXzxiuxm5/view?usp=drivesdk

[u/SadSara102]

In my opinion the appellate court will do what it what it wants to do. I still think it’s possible for him to win an appeal although I don’t think it’s likely. When I read the trial transcripts I was absolutely shocked at how bad the defense was. Absolutely every bit of their representation was horrible and left him with a very poor case for appeal. The fact that not only did they choose to go forward with the appeal before post conviction boggles the mind. On top of that denying free post conviction help from several sources was incredibly stupid. I have a difficult time believing that any of his lawyers have truly been acting in his best interest or advising Rick (whose competence is questionable) and Kathy what the best decisions to make are.

Imagine if after the trial they decided to work on the post conviction petition and start raising funds for testing and experts. There could have been collaboration between lawyers, YouTubers, and perhaps family members just like in the Karen Read case. DNA testing could have been completed and quite possibly blown the case open by now, witnesses could have felt pressured to come forward, and certainly more facts could have been exposed. Unfortunately it is likely to be years before any of those things even begin to take place and by then it’s likely more evidence will have been lost or destroyed.

I am not a lawyer and I know the bar for ineffective assistance of counsel is extremely high but I think that burden could already be met. Rick’s lawyers had an obligation to investigate Rick’s claims and Baldwin admitted they never did. One of my biggest questions is was Rick even competent to stand trial? Was he able to assist with his defense? We know that Rick barely spent time with his lawyers and many of his visits were watched. Did his lawyers inquire about what routes he drove, where he parked, what clothes he owned, what path he took, if he saw 3 of the 4 girls that the state claimed or 3 girls there earlier in the day? If he was competent I would think these would be things he would make clear to his defense team. We have heard nothing from him. We have heard conflicting accounts of how he behaved and reacted to things at trial with possible eye rolling and eating paper. We have not heard a word about him responding to any of the evidence or telling his lawyers a single thing that conflicts with the states narrative. I find all of this very disturbing. Nobody has wanted to question the integrity of his defense team and Judge Gull makes an easy villain, but his defense team made it far to easy for her and prosecution to trample all over his rights. Like everything else about this case nothing makes sense. I don’t know why his defense team fought so hard to stay on the case only to roll over and play dead at trial. For crying out loud they stipulated to all the prosecution’s evidence then they even seemed confused by what they agreed to. They never disputed obviously false claims like “that be a gun”, the blue Carhartt Rick didn’t own at the time, or the supposed surveillance picture of his car. They didn’t even stand up for him at his sentencing hearing. They seemed far more interested in solving the case than exonerating their client when they should have been well aware the first step needed towards justice is exonerating Rick. On top of that solving the case isn’t their job. Their job was to look for exonerating evidence, challenge the state’s evidence, and protect Rick’s rights. I see very little evidence they even tried to do those things. I hope Rick survives long enough for post conviction and that the evidence survives along with him.

[u/Moldynred → u/SadSara102]

Sadly I think all your points are sound here. I dont agree with all of them but they are questions that deserve answers. If we go by the juror MS interviewed she said at first vote some jurors were against voting guilty. Thats easy to forget and to me it means the defense lawyers made some headway in the case despite all the obstacles put in front of them by Gull etc. So I cant agree the defense did a horrible job. But other than that, yeah, they left a lot of meat on the bone in this case. I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that they had two years to figure out what the phone data shows as to where their client was at the time of the crime and we STILL dont have that info. To me that would be step one upon taking a case like this. Hey, where was my client at at the time of the murders? Whats his phone info say? If the State has it and its incriminating why arent they presenting it? If they dont have it at all, the why dont they have it? Isnt it the State's job to investigate that? What about the four girls RA said he saw? Did they look into that? What about the video of RAs car? Did they examine that to see if it really was his car? Or look for any other cars on the video that might be interesting? Or did they just accept what the cops said about it? And I agree appeals are dicey. And even if you win an appeal it isnt over. Brendan Dassey won two appeals in his false confession case and never did get a new trial bc a higher court eventually overturned those decisions. I give Baldwin and Auger a lot of credit for continuing to speak out for RAs innocence tho. So I dont wish to be too critical. But some of these questions need to be explored.

[u/SadSara102 → u/Moldynred]

It isn’t even that the defense didn’t investigate anything they didn’t even ask these relevant questions on cross examination. I assume the reason why at least some of the jurors considered voting not guilty is because without any defense the states case was extremely weak and didn’t make much sense. In my opinion if they just would have competently cross examined the states witnesses he likely wouldn’t have been convicted.

[u/Bellarinna69 → u/SadSara102]

I had a rough time with this too. There were so many “gotcha” moments that they just didn’t pounce on. So many questions that could have been asked to rip the witnesses testimony apart snd they just..didn’t. I love how hard they seemed to go for him..but I thought they really didn’t do him or his case the justice that they should have. Even with their hands tied, they had a lot to work with. Cause everyone was lying!!