Opinion ID: 2546714
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 20

Heading: Failure to Call Treating Nurses Gast and Johns

Text: Baumruk claims that the motion court clearly erred in overruling his claim that his counsel was not ineffective for failing to call two Barnes Hospital treating nurses, Catherine Gast and Cathy Johns. He claims that these nurses would have testified that patients with head injuries such as Baumruk can be belligerent as a result of their injuries. Baumruk claims that this testimony would have neutralized the State's aggravating evidence about Baumruk's belligerent behavior toward Regional Hospital nurse Lisa Williams. The motion court overruled this claim because it found that Baumruk's counsel had investigated the use of both Gast and Johns as witnesses but had made the reasonable strategic decision that they would not provide useful testimony. During the guilt phase, Dr. Rabun testified that Baumruk grabbed Williams' arm because he felt she was not doing her job properly. Baumruk then told her that she deserved the same thing as his wife. Williams, however, was not called to testify. Baumruk's counsel testified that, while they had interviewed both Gast and Johns and investigated whether to call them as witnesses, they decided not to when they learned the State was not going to call Williams. The choice of witnesses is ordinarily a matter of trial strategy and will not support an ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Id. Strategic decisions such as the one made by Baumruk's counsel here after thorough investigation are virtually unchallengeable. Id. Baumruk's counsel had unfettered discretion in making the determination of what witnesses to call. Id. at 653. Therefore, the motion court did not clearly err in determining that Baumruk's counsel's strategic decision not to call Gast and Johns was reasonable; therefore, his counsel was not ineffective.