Opinion ID: 1129349
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Failure to Call Key Witnesses

Text: Lamarca next argues that his counsel was ineffective for failing to call Lori Galloway, James Zaccagnino, Steven Slack, and Suzanne Livingston to testify on Lamarca's behalf. Defense counsel testified that the decision not to present each of these witnesses was a tactical decision made well in advance of trial. This testimony was either uncontroverted or substantiated by other evidence. Therefore, the trial court properly denied this claim. Defense counsel testified that he did not call Lori Galloway to testify because she had made inconsistent and highly incriminating statements to an investigator hired by the public defender's office, and these statements were substantiated by the investigator's report. We affirm the trial court's decision. See Marquard v. State, 850 So.2d 417, 427-29 (Fla.2002) (denying ineffective assistance claim for failing to call a witness when defense counsel reasonably feared the witness would implicate the defendant in the crime). The decision not to call James Zaccagnino and Steven Slack to testify was likewise a reasonable strategy. At the evidentiary hearing, defense counsel testified that he chose not to call these witnesses because he did not believe either of them was credible. He believed Zaccagnino's hearing difficulties and significant prison record made him a poor witness. Furthermore, counsel thought the uncontroverted fact that Slack had been drinking when he spoke with Tonya and that Slack contradicted himself in statements made to law enforcement officers rendered him not credible. These facts were substantiated at the evidentiary hearing. This claim was properly denied. See Marquard, 850 So.2d at 428-29 (denying ineffective assistance claim for failing to call a witness when defense counsel did not find the witness credible). Finally, defense counsel testified that his decision not to call Suzanne Livingston was strategic. Livingston, the Forensic Services Director for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, performed DNA testing in regard to Tonya's sexual battery claim. The report Livingston filed contained some information that might have been useful in impeaching Tonya's claims of sexual battery, and Lamarca now alleges that defense counsel was deficient for not calling her to testify at trial. At the evidentiary hearing, counsel testified that he did not call Livingston to testify because he did not want to open the door for the State to admit evidence that would have bolstered Tonya's testimony. Before the guilt phase, defense counsel had filed a pretrial motion in limine to prevent Tonya's testimony. The trial court ruled that Tonya's testimony would be admitted for the limited purpose of placing the murder weapon in Lamarca's possession. Defense counsel testified at the evidentiary hearing that he did not want to expand this limitation by admitting too much evidence impeaching Tonya's testimony. Moreover, if defense counsel had called Livingston to the stand, the State could have questioned her about other aspects of her report, which contained highly incriminating evidence supporting Tonya's claim. The trial court found that defense counsel knew the importance of Tonya's sexual battery claim to Lamarca's case. In his closing argument, counsel extensively argued the lack of DNA evidence supporting Tonya's testimony. Therefore, defense counsel was not deficient in failing to call an additional expert to confirm this.