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Turpin v. Helmeci6/14/1999
ounsel's performance fell within a "wide range of reasonable professional conduct" and that counsel's decisions were "made in the exercise of reasonable professional judgment." Smith v. Francis, 253 Ga. 782, 783 (1) (325 SE2d 362) (1985). The reasonableness of counsel's conduct is examined from counsel's perspective at the time of trial and under the circumstances of the case. Id. at 784.
However, reasonable professional judgment requires proper investigation. Turpin v. Christenson, 269 Ga. 226, 239 (12) (B) (497 SE2d 216) (1998). Here, counsel did not adequately research the law. See Hawes v. State, 240 Ga. 327, 329 (1) (240 SE2d 833) (1977). The right to reasonably effective counsel is violated when "the omissions charged to trial counsel resulted from inadequate preparation rather than from unwise choices of trial tactics and strategy." (Punctuation omitted.) Id. Counsel admitted at the habeas hearing that he made errors in Helmeci's representation, that he fixated on an argument concerning the testing methods used and approval of those methods under the Administrative Procedures Act, and that he should have taken a wider view of the suppression question. He testified that he was aware of the precedent that stated that consenting to a sample for one purpose was not voluntary consent to use the sample for another purpose. There was no evidence that his decision not to pursue a Fourth Amendment challenge was an exercise of professional judgment, and counsel agreed that it was not. Consequently, the habeas court did not err in determining that counsel's performance was deficient.
The State further argues that counsel's performance was not deficient because, even with counsel's awareness of precedent, Beasley and Gerace did not indicate that Jewell would be decided as it was. As noted above, Gerace specifically emphasized that consent for one purpose is not consent for any and all purposes. 210 Ga. App. at 875 (1). The implied consent warning Helmeci was read informed him that a sample would be used "for the purpose of determining if [he was] under the influence of alcohol or drugs." (Emphasis supplied.) His consent based upon that language was not consent to search his urine for evidence of a possession charge, a fact which was made clear by precedent.
Contrary to the State's contention, the result in this case does not require trial counsel to predict what decisions will be issued in the future. Rather, it affirms that counsel must adequately research the law when choosing trial strategy.
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.
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