Opinion ID: 1652300
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: counsel was ineffective for failing to call additional witnesses at the post-conviction relief hearing when challenging the trial testimony of co-defendant thomas terrell evans.

Text: ¶ 11. Williams asserts that the district attorney coerced the perjured testimony of Evans by threatening to pursue the death penalty if he did not testify against Williams. Williams attaches the affidavits of Evans and others which state that Evans struck a deal wherein he would testify against Williams in exchange for a plea to a lesser charge. Williams claims that counsel was ineffective for failing to call witnesses other than Evans who declined to recant his prior testimony at the hearing. This Court has already considered and rejected the merits of Williams' contention that Evans' testimony was coerced and perjured. See Williams v. State, 669 So.2d 44 (Miss.1996). Despite the procedural bar, the Court nonetheless analyzed the claim on its merits and found it lacking. In a death penalty case, the admission of perjured testimony mandates a new trial only where there is a reasonable probability that a different result would be reached in the new trial without the perjured testimony. Smith v. State, 492 So.2d 260, 264 (Miss. 1986). The Court found that the affidavits recanting Evans' testimony were insufficient to warrant post-conviction relief. Williams, 669 So.2d at 53-55. The Court specifically held In the case sub judice, we hold that there is no reasonable probability that a different result would be reached in a new trial, even assuming that Evans' initial testimony against Williams was perjured. In this case, Evans' 1985 recantation combined with the surrounding facts cannot undermine the court's confidence in the correctness of the outcome at trial. Id. at 53. ¶ 12. The standard of acceptable performance by an attorney is the same for appellate performance as it is for trial performance. Foster v. State, 687 So.2d 1124, 1138 (Miss.1996). One who claims ineffective assistance of counsel must show both professional error and resulting prejudice. It is clear that there is no constitutional entitlement to errorless counsel. Cabello v. State, 524 So.2d 313, 315 (Miss.1988). Even assuming for the sake of argument alone that Williams' counsel was deficient in failing to call other witnesses to show that Evans' testimony was perjured, this Court has already held that there was no prejudice as contemplated by Strickland that would have warranted a new trial. If a post-conviction claim fails on either of the Strickland prongs, the inquiry ends. Foster, 687 So.2d at 1130 (citing Neal v. State, 525 So.2d 1279, 1281 (Miss. 1987)). Williams' claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is without merit.