Opinion ID: 2624500
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Evidence Regarding Effectiveness of Representation Rendered by Former Trial Counsel

Text: Thomas Ryan, the attorney who represented defendant in the first trial, testified for the prosecution that defendant assaulted him in the San Diego County Jail. Ryan told the jury that he arrived at the jail's visiting room for a pretrial visit and sat down on a small stool. Defendant entered the room, approached Ryan and began to hand him a set of papers. Ryan remained seated, but before he could take the papers, defendant struck him in the jaw with what Ryan described as a very hard blow, a sucker punch, which knocked Ryan to the floor. Defendant said nothing. Before Ryan could stand, defendant left the room. On cross-examination, Ryan acknowledged generally he and defendant had had numerous differences of opinion about trial tactics and strategy, that defendant thought he was not working with his best interests in mind and had expressed a high level of skepticism toward attorneys in general. The prosecution objected to defendant's efforts to ask questions regarding specific incidents in which defendant and Ryan disagreed. In a hearing outside the presence of the jury, defendant indicated he wanted to establish that Ryan had rendered ineffective assistance in the first trial. Such evidence, he argued, was relevant to rebut the prosecution's evidence in aggravation by establishing objective support for defendant's frustration with Ryan, and relevant to the defense of lingering doubt in that it would help convince the jury the conviction was the result of inadequate representation. To that end he sought to ask Ryan about the specific instances of disagreement, and to offer the expert opinions of two criminal defense attorneys regarding the quality and adequacy of Ryan's representation in the first trial. The court refused to permit testimony regarding the effectiveness of Ryan's representation, ruling that ineffective assistance of counsel was not an issue for the jury to decide and was not relevant to rebut the prosecution's evidence in aggravation or support the defense of lingering doubt. The court limited defendant's cross-examination of Ryan, refused to allow questions about the details of a number of specific disagreements, and refused to allow defense experts to testify to their opinion of the quality of Ryan's representation. Defendant now argues that by refusing to permit evidence of ineffective assistance of counsel, the trial court violated his state and federal constitutional rights to due process, to present a defense, and to a reliable penalty verdict. We find no error. (21) `The Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments require the jury in a capital case to hear any relevant mitigating evidence that the defendant offers, including `any aspect of a defendant's character or record and any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death.'' ( People v. Harris (2005) 37 Cal.4th 310, 352-353 [33 Cal.Rptr.3d 509, 118 P.3d 545].) The court, however, has the authority to exclude as irrelevant evidence that does not bear on the defendant's character, record, or the circumstances of the offense. ( Ibid. ) The trial court determines relevancy of mitigating evidence and retains discretion to exclude evidence whose probative value is substantially outweighed by the probability that its admission will create substantial danger of confusing the issues or misleading the jury. ( People v. Guerra, supra, 37 Cal.4th at p. 1145.) (22) We see no abuse of discretion. The determination of whether a defendant received ineffective assistance of counsel is a legal one made by a reviewing court, not a factual one entrusted to a finder of fact. (See In re Scott (2003) 29 Cal.4th 783, 822 [129 Cal.Rptr.2d 605, 61 P.3d 402].) It has no bearing on a defendant's character, prior record, or the circumstances of the offense, and therefore is not admissible as evidence in mitigation. (See People v. Zapien (1993) 4 Cal.4th 929, 989 [17 Cal.Rptr.2d 122, 846 P.2d 704].)