Opinion ID: 1841380
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Reasonable Doubt Evidence

Text: In his final claim regarding guilt-phase counsel, Grim claims that counsel failed to challenge the State's evidence and to present reasonable doubt evidence. Specifically, he argues trial counsel: (a) failed to challenge Cynthia Wells's identification; (b) failed to point out that the bait shop surveillance tape shows Grim entering and exiting on foot; (c) failed to argue that Campbell was not wearing socks when she went to Grim's home, but her body was found with socks; and (d) failed to point out that there were two sets of tire tracks going into Grim's backyard. We address these claims in turn.
Grim claims counsel was ineffective for failing to suggest that Cynthia Wells misidentified him, specifically, by failing to point out that Wells indicated he was wearing a shirt, while officers who had contact with Grim that morning indicated he was shirtless. The trial court properly rejected this claim. Wells did testify that Grim was wearing a light-colored shirt when she saw him on the fishing bridge. Officers who responded to the victim's home the morning of the murder indicated that Grim was not wearing a shirt. Rodgers also testified Grim was not wearing a shirt when he entered the bait shop. However, contrary to Grim's suggestion, trial counsel did cross-examine Wells as to her ability to identify Grim, asking her, among other things, to describe the shirt Grim was wearing. Further, he questioned Wells's identification of Grim in closing argument, specifically pointing out that the surveillance tape from the bait shop showed Grim without a shirt, while Wells testified he was wearing one. An argument about whether Grim was wearing a shirt when he encountered officers earlier in the day would add little. See Brown v. State, 846 So.2d 1114, 1121 (Fla.2003) (finding arguments that counsel should have cross-examined or more strenuously examined on certain issues to be essentially a hindsight analysis). Therefore, Grim's claim fails the first Strickland prong by failing to identify an error or omission, much less a serious error omission, committed by counsel.
Grim next claims trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to point out that the bait shop surveillance tape shows Grim entering and exiting the store on foot and that it does not show his car in the parking lot or entering or exiting the bridge. He suggests this undermines Wells's identification and the theory that Grim drove his car onto the bridge with Campbell's body in the trunk and disposed of the body in the bay. The trial court concluded that Grim failed to establish prejudice because, as Hill testified, several witnesses placed Grim on the pier and the surveillance tape clearly showed him in the bait shop. [7] We agree that Grim cannot establish prejudice. The surveillance tape placed Grim in the bait shop shortly after 2 p.m. on the afternoon of the murder. Rodgers likewise placed Grim in the bait shop, and Wells placed Grim and his car on the fishing bridge early that same afternoon. A fisherman hooked the victim's body in the bay at around 3:30 p.m. Blood with female DNA was found in the trunk of Grim's car. Given this evidence, and the large amount of evidence otherwise linking Grim to the victim, Grim has not identified anything related to the surveillance tape that undermines our confidence in the outcome of the proceeding.
Grim claims counsel was ineffective for failing to point out that Deputy Lynch, the officer who responded to the victim's home early in the morning regarding her call of a disturbance, indicated Campbell was not wearing socks, but her body was found with socks. The record does not support this claim. Lynch testified at trial that the victim was not wearing shoes when he responded to her home on the morning of the murder, but there was no mention of socks. Nonetheless, whether Campbell was absent socks when Lynch left the scene, but wearing socks when her body was found is immaterial. We fail to see the relevance of the presence or absence of socks. Further, when Lynch left Campbell's home, Campbell was still on her porch. Even assuming there was some indication the victim was not then wearing socks, it does not mean she remained barefoot when she left to have coffee with Grim. Given this, all of the evidence connecting the victim to Grim's home, and the lack of evidence of a struggle in the victim's home, Grim has not established that counsel acted unreasonably or identified anything that undermines confidence in the outcome of the proceeding. For these reasons, we reject this claim.
Grim claims trial counsel was ineffective for failing to point out that Deputy McCauley's report indicated that there were two sets of tire tracks in Grim's backyard. Grim claims this information would place doubt on his guilt and lend credence to the defense theory that the crime scene was unsecured. At the evidentiary hearing, Hill testified that he vaguely remembered that there were two sets of tracks, but given the other evidence in the case, he did not think it was significant. The trial court rejected this claim, concluding trial counsel made a sound strategic decision. We agree. Pointing out that there were two sets of tire tracks in Grim's backyard would not lend credence to the theory that the crime scene was left unsecured. The unsecured crime scene theory was that there was a period between the time all of the officers initially left the scene and the time officers arrived to secure the scene after the body was discovered. McCauley observed the two sets of tracks upon the initial investigation of Grim's vehicle by Deputy Rutherfordbefore Grim left the scene in his vehicle, before the officers left the scene, and before the victim's body was recovered. Therefore, the report of two sets of tracks adds nothing to the unsecure crime scene theory, and trial counsel made a reasonable strategic decision not to raise the issue at trial. See Brown, 846 So.2d at 1125 ([T]his Court will not second-guess counsel's strategic decisions on collateral attack.).