A convicted murderer in Jacksonville has filed a motion in appellate court that his defense in a 2014 murder trial was ineffective.
Avery T. Berry contends in a motion filed yesterday that his trial attorney Bruce Locher did not investigate his fitness for trial prior to court proceedings into the 2014 murder of Marcus Jackson. Berry was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the shooting death of Jackson. According to the Journal Courier, Berry contends that his diagnosis of Oppositional defiant disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may have played a part in the incident in which he fired a gun 3 times in a dispute between himself, his brother Shaquille Berry, and Jackson on October 24, 2014.
On August 7th of this year, the court ordered the case back to Morgan County for an inquiry into the claims of ineffectiveness. Sangamon Circuit Judge John Madonia, presiding over the case, continued it for review for October 18th because Locher needed time to gather documentation from the case since he is now retired.