How to establish ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the sixth amendment?

To establish a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the sixth amendment, a claimant must satisfy the two-prong test of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). It must be demonstrated that (1) counsel's actions were "outside the wide range of professionally competent assistance," and that (2) the defendant was prejudiced thereby. Id. at 687-90. We must give highly deferential scrutiny to counsel's performance. Id. at 689. We must eliminate the "distorting effects of hindsight" and not engage in after-the-fact second guessing of strategic decisions made by trial counsel. Id. A defendant can establish prejudice by showing that "there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different." Id. at 694.