Case Name: John L. WILLIAMS, a/k/a Johnny L. Williams, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee
Court: District of Columbia Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: District of Columbia
Decision Date: 1982-01-12
Citations: 441 A.2d 255
Docket Number: Nos. 12690, 12691 and 13996
Parties: John L. WILLIAMS, a/k/a Johnny L. Williams, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
Judges: Before MACK and PRYOR, Associate Judges, and GALLAGHER, Associate Judge, Retired.
Reporter: West's Atlantic Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 441
Pages: 255–265

Head Matter:
John L. WILLIAMS, a/k/a Johnny L. Williams, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
Nos. 12690, 12691 and 13996.
District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
Submitted Oct. 30, 1979.
Decided Jan. 12, 1982.
Donna L. Crossland, appointed by this court, for appellant.
Carl S. Rauh, U. S. Atty. at the time the briefs were filed, Washington, D. C., and John A. Terry, Peter E. George, Timothy J. Reardon, III, and Martha P. Rogers, Asst. U. S. Attys., Washington, D. C., were on the brief for appellee.
Before MACK and PRYOR, Associate Judges, and GALLAGHER, Associate Judge, Retired.
Judge Gallagher was an Associate Judge of the court at the time the case was submitted. His status changed to Associate Judge, Retired, on February 27, 1981.

Opinion:
GALLAGHER, Associate Judge,
Retired:
After a jury trial before then Chief Judge Harold H. Greene, appellant was convicted of rape while armed, burglary, assault with a dangerous weapon, mayhem or malicious disfigurement, and a violation of the Bail Reform Act. He received concurrent sentences on each of those convictions, except for the violation of the Bail Reform Act, for which he received a 90-day consecutive sentence. After sentencing, appellant filed a Motion to Set Aside Illegally Imposed Sentence under D.C.Code 1973, § 23-110 on the ground the sentences imposed resulted from defendant's conviction after a trial where he had been denied effective assistance of counsel. The trial judge ordered a hearing on the motion and referred it to another judge to conduct the hearing and dispose of the motion. After an evi-dentiary hearing, the judge entered a 10-page memorandum opinion in which he concluded the motion should be denied.
There was an exhaustive hearing on the motion in this case, at the end of which the trial court entered voluminous findings which reveal a painstaking and thorough analysis of the evidence and the issues. We see no reason to disturb those findings and certainly find no basis to conclude they are plainly wrong, which is our controlling test on review in this case. D.C.Code 1973, § 17-305(a). See Timus v. United States, D.C.App., 406 A.2d 1269 (1979); McFadden v. United States, D.C.App., 395 A.2d 14 (1978).
We are accompanying this opinion by the trial court's Memorandum Opinion, which we incorporate into our decision.
Affirmed.
APPENDIX
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Criminal No. 102024-76
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. JOHNNY L. WILLIAMS
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This matter is before the court for consideration of defendant's motion to vacate a sentence allegedly imposed in violation of defendant's constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel.
I.
According to evidence presented by the government during the trial on the merits, the complaining witness, while at home alone, was brutally assaulted and raped in the morning hours of November 5, 1976. After having been beaten by a stick, resulting in a fracture to her right humerus and slashed with a knife, the complainant was pummelled about her left eye causing a detachment of the retina and ultimate blindness as she had already lost sight in her right eye approximately four years before this incident. Thereafter, by her testimony, she was forcibly raped. After a period of unconsciousness, her husband returned home from work to find his wife gagged and bound to a chair. Metropolitan Police were notified and an ambulance was summoned. While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, complainant identified John L. Williams, a man she had known for more than ten years, as the assailant-rapist. Defendant presented essentially an alibi defense. He alleged that he was at home with his wife on the morning of the crime, ailing from a painful back injury. Defendant presented testimony and demonstrative evidence to support his contention of disability, including a container of analgesic tablets.
After five days of jury trial before the Honorable Harold H. Greene, defendant was convicted on charges of rape, mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and a Bail Reform Act violation. Defendant received concurrent terms of five to twenty years for rape, five to twenty years for mayhem, three to ten years for burglary, three to ten years for assault with a deadly weapon and a consecutive term of ninety days for the Bail Reform Act violation.
Defendant now alleges, through newly appointed counsel, that he was denied his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel. Defendant levies numerous allegations against counsel's trial conduct, including 1) a failure to "vigorously" develop, at trial, the extent of defendant's back injury which allegedly would have prevented defendant from exerting the physical force necessary to commit the assault, 2) a failure to introduce the medical records of the complainant's admission to D. C. General Hospital that would have shown that the complainant was a chronic alcoholic, 3) a failure to produce testimony from Dr. Morris, a treating physician, that the complainant was intoxicated at the time she arrived at the hospital, 4) a failure to call an investigator to impeach complainant's testimony that the assault occurred in her apartment, 5) a failure to call an available witness to impeach complainant's testimony that she had not been drinking on the morning of the incident, 6) a failure to call two witnesses to contradict the government's evidence regarding the manner in which complainant was bound and gagged, 7) a failure to call a witness that would have impeached the testimony of complainant's husband that the door was ajar when he arrived, 8) a failure to call a witness to impeach complainant's testimony about the time of the incident, 9) a failure to cross-examine complainant regarding her failure to adequately describe the assailant, 10) a failure to cross-examine a neighbor-witness about alleged beatings inflicted upon complainant by her husband and the defendant's reputation in the community for peacefulness, 11) a failure to explore the possibility of a robbery in the apartment, 12) a failure to make a motion for judgment of acquittal on the rape charge at the end of the government's case or at the close of all the evidence, 13) a failure to request Jencks material and finally, 14) a failure to attempt to sever the Bail Reform Act charge from the other charges. Defendant also makes an allegation in reference to pretrial conduct of counsel involving a failure to adequately prepare defendant and defendant's witnesses for trial testimony.
II.
This court is not unmindful of the recent decisions of the D.C. Court of Appeals in Monroe v. United States, No. 12451 (July 18, 1978) and Farrell v. United States, D.C.App. No. 12051 (August 21,1978), involving pretrial claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, however, since this motion arises post-trial, the applicable test is that announced in Angarano v. United States, D.C.App., 312 A.2d 295, 298, n. 5 (1973). Defendant must show, by a preponderance of evidence, that the performance of trial counsel was grossly incompetent and that this had in effect blotted out the essence of a substantial defense. The court, in Monroe, supra, at 12-13, identified three reasons for which courts have adopted the relatively strict standard for consideration of allegations against trial counsel asserted only after the government has obtained guilty verdicts. The second rationale discussed, that of avoidance of evaluation by hindsight, is particularly relevant to the disposition of this motion.
III.
After taking testimony and considering documents and affidavits in support of the defendant's motion, the court concludes that the allegation that trial counsel failed to adequately prepare for trial is unfounded. The court is particularly sensitive to such allegations, having had the opportunity to review them in United States v. Sweet, Criminal No. 9994-75 (Memorandum Opinion on July 28,1978) (new trial granted because of trial counsel's failure to prepare) and completely agrees with the American Bar Association statement that,
"It is axiomatic among trial lawyers that cases are not won in the courtroom but by long hours of laborious investigation and careful preparation . It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of appropriate investigation to the effective and fair administration of criminal justice." [ABA Standards Relating to the Defense Function § 41, Introductory Note at 224-25 (Approved Draft 1971).]
However, the testimony of defendant and his wife that it Was difficult to contact trial counsel and that he failed to prepare defense testimony for the rigors of cross-examination is effectively rebutted by defendant's own testimony that he met with trial counsel at least three times for thirty-minute periods before trial and spoke with trial counsel's investigator on numerous occasions. In fact, after the investigator interviewed potential witnesses, she prepared over 200 pages of reports, all of which were transferred to trial counsel. The alibi defense raised in this case was not complicated factually, thus even limited attorney-client conferences would have been more than adequate to prepare the defense for trial.
Even though a large portion of the defendant's testimony related to the failure of trial counsel to communicate and prepare, newly appointed counsel so much as admits that the allegation is insubstantial. In her amended points and authorities in support of her motion, she concludes that,
"This is not a situation in which trial counsel failed to prepare at all. His files, which were provided to this counsel, contained every record, report and interview referred to, except the conversation with Dr. Hartsock.
The situation presented to this court is one in which trial counsel, for whatever reason, failed to use most of the evidence he had at his disposal."
The court, thus, concludes that trial counsel's preparation for this case was not merely adequate but commendable in light of the circumstances involved in this case.
What remains for the court to consider are the numerous allegations involving conduct during the trial. Newly appointed counsel admits in her amended points and authorities that all of these allegations involve tactical decisions that when considered separately are clearly not an adequate basis for relief. Woody v. United States, D.C.App., 369 A.2d 592, 594 (1977) (mere errors of judgment as disclosed by subsequent events or hindsight are not sufficient to establish ineffective assistance).
Defendant argues, however, that when all of these allegations are considered together, the combined effect is a sufficient basis to award defendant the relief he requests. The court concludes that the record in this case reflects that the alleged omissions do not rise to the level of blotting out a substantial defense.
The foremost allegation, for which the court received the majority of testimony, involves the alleged failure to present medical testimony to the effect that it would have been highly improbable for defendant to have been able to commit the assault due to a painful degenerative back condition. On the basis of what trial counsel had before him at the time of trial, however, his decision to refrain from calling medical experts for testimony was rational and well-founded in light of Dr. Fulcher's report, which stated that defendant's back condition was not so severe as to require surgery and that defendant was to return to work. Although it is true that Percodan, a narcotic, was prescribed by Dr. Cawood on October 26, 1976, defendant was not taking the Percodan at the time of the crime. Defendant was referred to Dr. Fulcher by Dr. Cawood for a neurological consultation on November 3, 1976. After his examination, Dr. Fulcher prescribed Equagesic, a mild non-narcotic sedative, to replace the Perco-dan. Thus, any allegation that defendant was incapacitated by the narcotic effect of Percodan is unfounded. The court has been presented with an affidavit from Dr. Fulcher which concludes that it appeared "unrealistic that this rather gentle man could have become a maniac capable of performing these acts described..." (Affidavit of Dr. Fulcher, p. 3). Notwithstanding the fact that a portion of the doctor's conclusion is based on neurological findings, it appears that Dr. Fulcher has drawn psychoanalytical conclusions as well. The court concludes, with all due respect, that Dr. Fulcher's strong feelings of sympathy for defendant, as documented in his affidavit and his letter to defendant, has somewhat lessened his objectivity. In any event, the original consultation report prepared by Dr. Fulcher for submission to his colleague and for use in the management and care of the defendant clearly defined the nature and extent of the physical condition of the patient. This condition was not such as to keep defendant from working and was a known transient type of condition. Furthermore, the fact that defendant had a painful back condition was put before the jury for their consideration by the testimony of the defendant and the admission of the prescription pain killers into evidence. Thus, even though the defense was not as "vigorously" presented as newly appointed counsel would have preferred, it can hardly be said that trial counsel's omission of medical testimony on this point rises to the level of blotting out a substantial defense. Newly appointed counsel has also alleged that trial counsel should have more vigorously developed the fact that there was no physical evidence of the rape in the medical records. This allegation is likewise insubstantial as the matter was dealt with in such a forceful fashion in trial counsel's closing argument that the prosecutor felt obligated to refer to the matter again in the final remarks of his rebuttal argument.
The court reaches the same conclusion on the third of these allegations involving the failure to call Dr. Morris or admit the hospital records in reference to the complainant's alcoholic intemperance. What trial counsel had before him to support the allegation that complainant was intoxicated when she arrived at the hospital was an unsupported claim by Dr. Morris to counsel's investigator, in which Dr. Morris admits that he was having difficulty remembering details of the incident because he did not have his records before him at the time of the interview. The allegation of intoxication was refuted not only by the absence of any such notation in the hospital records, but by the numerous references to complainant's coherent and cooperative mental state at the time she arrived in the emergency room. In fact, the only notation of alcoholism was contained in the medical history taken from the complainant, not from any physical findings by any of the hospital staff or treating physicians. The fact that complainant was an admitted chronic alcoholic does not require a conclusion that she was intoxicated at any particular point in time. Not to be overlooked also, was trial counsel's reasoning with respect to the hospital records which included his concern for their prejudicial effect. These records portrayed graphically a very severely battered and beaten woman. In light of the evidence before trial counsel at the time of trial, his decision to refrain from calling Dr. Morris or to admit the hospital records was well reasoned and logical.
The other allegations of failures to impeach government witnesses by cross-examination or the presentation of defense testimony, even if accepted as wholly true, do not rise to the required test as these involved peripheral matters that may have had even an adverse effect on defendant's case, especially with reference to the available testimony of Mr. Moore, who was prepared to testify on cross-examination that defendant was interested in obtaining a gun and had been drinking on the morning of the crime.
The remaining allegations involve the failure to make a motion for judgment of acquittal on the rape charge and a failure to attempt to sever the Bail Reform Act charge from the other charges. As to the former allegation, it is clear that had such a motion been made, it would have properly been denied. As to the latter allegation, trial counsel adequately explained that since he felt that defendant had a high likelihood of being acquitted on the Bail Reform Act charge, that to have it tried simultaneously with the other charges would have had a beneficial effect on the outcome of all the charges involved.
These allegations, therefore, whether considered separately or together, do not rise to ineffective assistance as trial counsel's decisions were rational and in many instances even wise. At the very least, the matters and their alternatives were considered and a judgment-strategical and tactical made.
IV.
The court has drawn a distinct line between consideration of allegations of failure to prepare and communicate and allegations of tactical errors made during the trial. The court has concluded that trial counsel was well prepared for trial and newly appointed counsel has essentially admitted this fact. Except in very strained and peculiar instances, this is where the court's inquiry into ineffective assistance allegations should properly terminate. The retrospective analysis by newly appointed counsel into the manner in which trial counsel conducted the defense presentation and cross-examined government witnesses invades an area properly reserved for the trial counsel as only he can be aware of the multi-faceted intangibles in the courtroom atmosphere which are so important to the outcome of the litigation. Reasoned decisions and tactical determinations reflecting strategic considerations are and should remain the province of the trial lawyer. The Sixth Amendment, by whatever test applied, does not require the perfection of rear-view vision.
The ever increasing popularity of seeking post-trial relief following conviction by assertion of a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is a procedural maneuver which can greatly overburden the trial court, if abused. Though, undoubtedly, counsel ap pointed to represent the defendant in appellate proceedings are placed under considerable pressure by a defendant convicted in the trial court, that pressure is really no greater than that experienced by the trial attorney who knew he was representing a defendant who would embrace him upon acquittal but had an alternative in mind should he be convicted. Obviously that alternative included a target — his trial attorney. And this, of course, would be separate and apart from errors raised on the record in the appellate court.
As indicated, supra herein, this court is by no means reluctant to award a new trial on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel, when and if the record warrants such relief under the law. The trial court has an understandable stake in this general subject. Appellate court direction is that a hearing is to be held and testimony received and thereafter Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law prepared. Obviously, such a post-trial mini-hearing has its effect upon the calendar of each trial judge. Where warranted, it is of course justified. On the other hand, the subject is not one to be exploited with frivolous motions. The law of this jurisdiction is reasonably clear as to the guidelines for establishing ineffective assistance of counsel. The case which does not fall within those guidelines should not be the subject of a motion simply for the sake of a motion being filed.
WHEREFORE, it is this 11th day of September, 1978
ORDERED, that the motion herein, to vacate the sentence imposed in violation of defendant's constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel, be and hereby is denied.
/s/ William E. Stewart, Jr.
WILLIAM E. STEWART, Jr.
Judge
cc: Donna L. Crossland, Esq.
Paul Knight, Esq.
Assistant United States Attorney
Charles O'Banion, Esq.
. The dissent sets out at length the petitioner's side of the issue post-trial. We might comment, in passing, that defense counsel in this case made an extensive pretrial investigation and there were compiled some 200 pages of investigative reports. There was no lack of pretrial diligence. The dispute centers on tactical decisions during trial. The trial court's Memorandum Opinion judiciously deals with these tactical decisions. It would serve no worthwhile purpose to retrace the ground crossed by the trial court, whose opinion we have included as an Appendix. After a lengthy hearing, observation of the witnesses and consideration of the relevant documents, the trial court made thoughtful and extensive findings of fact and concluded that ineffective assistance of counsel was not established. The dissenting judge will have none of it. We think a careful and deliberate job was done by the trial court and see no reason to reverse.
.D.C.Code 23 § 110. A hearing was granted by the Honorable Harold H. Greene on June 13, 1978. See Johnson v. United States, D.C.App. Nos. 11468 and 12492 (March 29, 1978).
. Associate Judge, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, then sitting as Chief Judge, Superior Court.
. Notice of Appeal was filed on October 3, 1977.
. Chief Judge Newman, writing for the court in Monroe, did not specifically readopt the Angar-ano standard for post-trial claims leaving the issue open for future adjudication. This court, of course, is bound by the outstanding precedent until overruled.
. See Bolton v. Harris, 130 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 12, 395 F.2d 642 (1968).
. See Arnold v. United States, D.C.App., 358 A.2d 335, 339-44 (1976).