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Hazelrigs v. State

The defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim based on his counsel's failure to ask for a directed verdict was meritless as the evidence supported the denial of such a motion.

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Following a jury trial, Charles Hazelrigs was convicted of five counts of aggravated assault and two counts of cruelty to children in the second degree. Hazelrigs appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel, asserting that: 1 defense counsel did not have a theory of defense as evidenced by the opening statement and closing argument; 2 defense counsel did not cross-examine two of the State’s witnesses as to the events to which they testified; 3 a potential favorable witness for the defense was not called to testify; and 4 neither the defendant’s testimony nor any witnesses for the defense were presented. We affirm.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict shows that Hazelrigs’s girlfriend, Debra Huston, telephoned her relatives to ask them to pick up her children from her residence because she believed Hazelrigs was on the way to harm them. When Hazelrigs confronted his girlfriend’s brother, sister-in-law, and father at Huston’s home, he retrieved a shotgun from inside and attempted to shoot the family members. Thereafter, in the yard of the home, Hazelrigs struck the relatives with a rake and a two-by-two board. The girlfriend’s children were present in the residence at the time of the altercation. Hazelrigs did not testify at trial, and no witnesses were presented by the defense.

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