A Santa Monica attorney rendered ineffective assistance to a San Diego woman convicted of murder after the lawyer decided not to present a defense based on battered women’s syndrome, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.
Div. One granted Ny Nourn’s petition for writ of habeas corpus, saying Bruce Cormicle violated prevailing professional standards and that there was a reasonable possibility Nourn might have obtained a more favorable verdict had Cormicle properly investigated and presented a defense based on Nourn’s relationship with her abusive boyfriend.
Nourn and the boyfriend, Ronald Barker, were convicted in separate trials of murdering David Stevens. Stevens was Nourn’s supervisor at a video dating service, and the then-17-year-old Nourn slept with him hours before she and the jealous Barker killed him.
Stevens was shot to death eight years ago, and his body was found inside his car, which was set on fire on a La Jolla street. In a trial that was featured on the television series “Law and Order:Crime and Punishment,” prosecutor Chandra Carle argued that Nourn helped lure Stevens to his death in order to salvage her relationship with Barker.
Details here from the Metropolitan News-Enterprise. The Court's opinion is here.