Ex Parte Roland Cruz

Summary

The Court denied the applicant's habeas corpus petition, finding that he failed to meet his burden of proving ineffective assistance of counsel on any of the asserted grounds. The majority applied the Texas "reasonably effective" standard from Ex parte Duffy and held that counsel's advice and investigation were not constitutionally deficient. Two dissenting opinions argued that the Strickland test should not govern ordinary sentencing and that counsel's performance was ineffective.