COURT OF APPEALS DECISION DATED AND FILED March 4, 2009 David
R. Schanker Clerk of Court of Appeals |
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NOTICE |
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This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. A party may file with the Supreme Court a petition to review an adverse decision by the Court of Appeals. See Wis. Stat. § 808.10 and Rule 809.62. |
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Appeal No. |
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STATE OF WISCONSIN |
IN COURT OF APPEALS |
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DISTRICT II |
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State of
Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Mong Lor,
Defendant-Appellant. |
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APPEAL
from a judgment and an order of the circuit court for
Before
¶1 PER CURIAM. Mong Lor appeals from the
judgment of conviction entered against him and the order denying his motion for
postconviction relief. He argues that
his trial counsel was ineffective because she did not pursue a cultural
marriage defense to the charge of sexual assault of a child. Because we conclude that
¶2 Lor was charged with one count of sexual assault of a child under the age of sixteen. His defense at trial was that the victim falsely accused him of sexual assault to retaliate against him for abandoning her. Lor argued that older members of the Hmong families had decided, without consulting him, that he should marry the victim. The victim was fourteen years old at the time. He further argued that when the marriage fell through, she retaliated by accusing him of having sexual intercourse with her. Lor was found guilty.
¶3 After trial, Lor brought a motion for postconviction relief
arguing that his trial counsel should have argued a cultural marriage defense. The motion acknowledged that there was no
¶4 Lor renews his argument to this court that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the cultural marriage defense. Although Lor again acknowledges that there is no case law that establishes the defense, he nonetheless states that a cultural marriage defense is available to defend against a claim of sexual assault of a child.
¶5 To establish an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, a
defendant must show both that counsel’s performance was deficient and that he
was prejudiced by the deficient performance.
Strickland v.
¶6 We conclude that, as Lor admits, there is no published law in
By the Court.—Judgment and order affirmed.
This opinion will not be published. See Wis. Stat. Rule 809.23(1)(b)5 (2007-08).