of the offense. He testified that he would not have conceded that Ponticelli met the West Virginia boys four hours before the homicide if he had known the testimony presented at the evidentiary hearing. He also testified that he would not have made statements allegedly vouching for the state investigator's credibility if he had known the state investigator had withheld evidence.[36] Counsel also admitted that he did not follow up on Dr. Branch's suggestion to obtain a clinical mental health expert to testify at trial, even though Dr. Poettner gave him the name of an expert before trial.
2. Standard of Review and Applicable Law
Claims of ineffective assistance of counsel during the pretrial and guilt phases are reviewed under Strickland, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052. To establish thison this key issue. The State acknowledged at the postconviction hearing that Ponticelli's drug use in the period immediately preceding the killings was a critical issue at trial. Nevertheless, the State permitted false *1108 testimony to be presented on this issue that the State's investigator knew to be false. The State's investigator was told by witness Tim Keesee, who resided with the victims, that he witnessed Ponticelli consume cocaine at the victims' residence shortly before the killings occurred. Keesee also testified that he gave this same information to the prosecutor. Nevertheless, the State allowed Keesee to testify falsely that he witnessed no cocaine use by Ponticelli before the killings. In addition, the State's investigator was told by the jailhouse informant, Dennis Freeman, that the West Virginia boys had