Does the fact that expert testimony may be available at trial require defense counsel to consult the experts or present their testimony at trial?

As respondent emphasizes, the fact that expert testimony may be available does not necessarily require defense counsel to consult the experts or present their testimony at trial. (Harrington v. Richter (2011) 562 U.S. 86, 106 (Richter).) In Richter, the defendant claimed ineffective assistance of counsel due to his attorney's failure to consult blood evidence experts in a case which turned out to involve a question about the murder victim's specific location when he was shot. After the defense presented a theory under which the murder victim would have been in a different location than where the prosecution witness described, the prosecution introduced blood pattern evidence to show that the victim could not have been where the defense claimed. (Id. at pp. 93-95.) Defense counsel exposed some weaknesses in the blood analysts' testimony through

Page 31