Conviction Dismissed in 2nd Degree Murder of UC Berkeley Student Killing

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) -  A judge has dismissed a second-degree murder conviction against a man accused of killing a UC Berkeley student during a 2008 fight.
 
Alameda County Judge Larry Goodman said on Tuesday that 26-year-old Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield's defense attorney, Yolanda Huang, was not qualified to handle the case and, among other shortcomings, did not adequately warn her client about the risks of going to trial.
 
Hoeft-Edenfield was sentenced to 16 years to life after a jury convicted him of killing 21-year-old Christopher Wootton during a fight off-campus.
 
A call to Huang's office was not immediately returned on Wednesday. In an e-mail statement to the San Francisco Chronicle, Huang said she was glad the conviction was vacated because the jury got it wrong. The Chronicle says she did not address the accusations against her.
 

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