State V. Doppler

A jury convicted David James Doppler of the premeditated first-degree murder of Michael Sargent. Doppler now challenges a post-conviction court's denial of his motion for a new trial based on his claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Doppler contends that the attorney who represented him at trial acted ineffectively when the attorney: (1) failed to object to an indictment issued by a grand jury impaneled more than 14 days after Doppler's first court appearance, (2) failed to present evidence at trial of Doppler's intoxication, and (3) failed to request that an intoxication instruction be given to the jury. The post-conviction court concluded that Doppler failed to establish that trial counsel was ineffective in his representation of Doppler. Doppler also directly appeals his conviction for first-degree premeditated murder, contending that the state presented insufficient evidence to sustain the jury's guilty verdict. We affirm.