Page 8 - Believe the Totality of the Evidence - AFI-LLC Newsletter July 2020

Believe the Totality of the Evidence - AFI-LLC Newsletter July 2020

News from Around our Profession
We are dedicated to sharing important news from clients, colleagues and friends about the
news - good and bad - from and about our profession. Our thanks to all who help
contribute. Feel free to email us with any news you have about you, your agency, your
association, and others...

NEW BOOK – Force Concepts by Dennis Root, BCFI CCDI
https://www.amazon.com/Force-Concepts-Definitive-Separating-Self-
Defense/dp/173387710X
Dennis Root sent us a copy of his first book, "Force Concepts" and it is a valuable one!

Violent physical attacks, shootings, and homicides are a few examples of the acts of violence that demand the
professional investigator possess a particular investigative skill set. Imagine being one of the few professional
investigators who possess those abilities. Force Concepts will help you learn what to look for and how to evaluate the
evidence these life-changing events may leave behind. You will learn real-world considerations that help you see directly
into the heart of the force encounter. You will also learn to recognize the impact fear has on human performance and
how to investigate that fear. One of the primary goals of Force Concepts is to provide you with insights and investigative
strategies for separating self-defense from criminal action. You will learn practical investigative principles that you can
apply to investigations involving the use of force by police and for self-defense.

Dean is also proud to be a charter Advisory Board member of his Force Concepts Training Council - with other fine
experts and friends. The forward is by Brandon A. Perron - National Director of CDITC, of which Dean also proud to be on
his Advisory Faculty, and both Dean and Karen are fully certified by CDITC as CCDIs, CFI-FTERs, and CFSIs!

Supreme Court of the United States
Ineffective Counsel and the failure to conduct a mitigation investigation
(Criminal Defense Investigation Training Council - Brandon Perron, CCDI)
Opinion: “Counsel performed virtually no investigation of the relevant evidence. Those fail- ures also fettered the
defense’s capacity to contextualize or counter the State’s evidence of Andrus’ alleged incidences of past violence.

And when pressed at the hearing to provide his reasons for failing to investigate Andrus’ history, Andrus’ counsel offered
none. The Texas trial court that heard the evidence recommended that Andrus be granted habeas relief and receive a
new sentencing proceeding. The court found the abundant mitigating evidence so compelling, and so readily available,
that counsel’s failure to investigate it was constitutionally deficient performance that prejudiced Andrus during the
punishment phase of his trial. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals disagreed. It concluded without explanation that
Andrus had failed to satisfy his burden of showing ineffective assistance under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668
(1984). We conclude that the record makes clear that Andrus has demonstrated counsel’s deficient performance under
Strickland, but that the Court of Criminal Appeals may have failed properly to engage with the follow-on question
whether Andrus has shown that counsel’s deficient performance prejudiced him. We thus grant Andrus’ petition for a
writ of certiorari, vacate the judgment of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and remand the case for further
proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.”
- continued at www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-9674_2dp3.pdf

Expert Input - Floyd, Arbery, and Brooks Police Shootings
(Force Concepts Training Council - Dennis Root, BCFI, CCDI)
I am receiving multiple requests to speak up regarding the Floyd, Arbery, and now Brooks shootings. I will tell everyone
the same thing I tell every news organization that contacts me. No thank you! No one can provide enough information
within the first 24 hours of an event for anyone to make a meaningful observation. I learned, through experience, the
media will only give you the information they want you to have to come to their preconceived conclusion. No thank you!

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