Opinion ID: 1107701
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Statements Regarding Sexual Battery Suffered by the Victim

Text: Belcher next cites a passage from his defense counsel's opening argument that he feels conceded that the victim suffered a sexual battery, thus making his convictions for sexual battery and for felony murder almost certain. Belcher takes issue with the following statement, alleging that it constitutes ineffective assistance: Obviously, and quite tragically, Ms. Embry is dead. There's no dispute about that, and there's really no dispute about the things that the State went over in great detail with you about, such as she lived at home alone, that her brother found her when she didn't show up for school and work that day. Those kind of things. And so a lot of the evidence that you'll be hearing will be important for your consideration. But the evidence, that kind of evidence, will not show you what the ultimate question is. It won't answer the ultimate question for you, which is who did it. And that's what you need to be concerned with. In denying relief on this claim, the lower court relied on the testimony of Buzzell and Chipperfield given at the evidentiary hearing to conclude, first, that defense counsel's theory was that Belcher did not commit the crime, and also that the above statement did not specifically concede anything relevant to their defense. Accordingly, the court below concluded that Belcher was unable to establish deficient performance. We find no error in this conclusion. It is not clear from the transcripts that defense counsel admitted anything other than the fact that victim Embry was deceased; accordingly, inasmuch as Belcher claims that his attorneys admitted that a sexual battery occurred or his guilt in such a crime or both, this argument is refuted by the record. In addition, as Buzzell testified at the evidentiary hearing, his strategy in the opening statement was to build credibility with the jury by not disputing the fact that the victim was dead; he also confirmed that he told the jury that the DNA evidence proved only that Belcher had had sex with the victim, not that he committed the sexual battery. This strategic decision to concede the victim's death in the opening statement provides no basis for an ineffectiveness claim. See Occhicone, 768 So.2d at 1048. As with the other ineffectiveness arguments, relief on this claim was properly denied.