In Lynch v. State of Alaska, Michael Horowitz won an appellate reversal of the dismissal of his client's application for post-conviction relief.
Our client was convicted of murder and sought a new trial because of problems associated with a military psychiatrist's background and testimony. The client had militarily served in an active war zone, and it appears that the psychiatrist had been involved in the systemic under-diagnosing of post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans in an effort to save the military money. After his trial, client discovered evidence of the psychiatrist's issues through newly published investigative news articles. Client sought a new trial on the basis of this new evidence, but the trial court dismissed his case in reliance on client's lawyer's (!!!) certification that client had no arguable claims to relief.
On appeal, Attorney Horowitz argued that Lynch's post-conviction attorney failed to adequately investigate these claims and that the post-conviction trial court failed to independently review client's claims. The Alaska Court of Appeals agreed, reversed the trial court's dismissal, and remanded the case for further consideration of client's claims.