The questions presented are whether trial counsel's failure to offer a contemporaneous objection during trial compromised Culver's Sixth Amendment right to competent counsel at the most critical stage of trial in turn, satisfying the Cause and Prejudice standard required to overcome procedural default and whether the Indiana Supreme Court's departure from a straight-forward application of the STRICKLAND standard in their ruling on Culver's ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim was in violation of his due process rights as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment?

Whether trial counsel's failure to offer a contemporaneous objection during trial compromised the petitioner's Sixth Amendment right to competent counsel at a critical stage, satisfying the cause and prejudice standard required to overcome procedural default