Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District / Aug 9, 2022
Hydres Binion, Appellant, vs. State of Missouri, Respondent.
Hydres Binion appealed the denial of his Rule 29.15 motion for post-conviction relief following a conviction for first-degree statutory sodomy. Binion argued ineffective assistance of appellate counsel for failing to challenge the sufficiency of evidence regarding his consciousness during the act, and ineffective assistance of trial counsel for not calling character witnesses at sentencing. The appellate court affirmed the motion court's judgment, finding that the jury was free to disbelieve Binion's defense and that the proposed character witness testimony would have been cumulative or inadmissible.