Mares

I.

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Omar Mares walked into a bank, armed with a car dealership’s bank account number, and allegedly asked the bank teller, “Is this my account?” Without verifying that the account actually belonged to defendant, the teller gave him $5,000 from the dealership’s account. The teller also gave defendant bank statements showing the account contained $4 million.

Not content with a mere $5,000, defendant continued his escapade by traveling to the car dealership, whereupon he insisted he had a $34,000 credit. He demanded they give him $20,000 of it back and use the remaining $14,000 towards the purchase of a new vehicle. Once the dealership discovered it was their $4 million account, and not defendant’s, they called the police.

Defendant was arrested and charged with two counts of burglary and one count of possessing a completed check with the intent to defraud. The matter was tried to a jury. After deliberating 10 minutes, the jury convicted defendant on all counts.

Defendant has filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, which we consider concurrently with this appeal. In his habeas corpus petition, defendant alleged ineffective assistance of…