Matthew D. Castro, 32, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for causing the death of 42-year-old Michael Overton on March 21, 2021, in their shared studio apartment in the 200 block of Michigan Avenue in Valparaiso, according to court records. In his appeal, Castro argued his murder conviction should be reversed due to ineffective assistance of counsel during his trial.
According to court records, Castro claimed his trial attorney failed to object to a supposedly improper jury instruction, did not propose a lesser included instruction on voluntary manslaughter, and should have objected to the jury asking oral questions of the witnesses. The appeals court ruling begins by noting the rarity of a convicted criminal raising an ineffective assistance of counsel claim on direct appeal, instead of in the normally preferred forum of a post-conviction hearing, because to prevail requires the defendant to show, in effect, that his legal representative was so deficient it was as though he went to trial without an attorney. Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts In a 3-0 ruling, the appellate court found that was not the case for Castro, whose trial attorney gave an opening statement, cross-examined witnesses, objected to admission of multiple pieces of evidence, and gave a closing argument suggesting someone other than Castro committed the crime.
As to Castro's specific complaints, the appellate judges said there.