Opinion ID: 2612406
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Other omissions.

Text: (50) Also omitted from our amended O.S.C. were defendant's claims on habeas corpus that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by (1) failing to seek corroboration of defense testimony on the prevalence of gang activity in the La Puente area, (2) omitting a forensic examination of the crime scene, and (3) failing to document interviews with each of the 20 or so nonpolice witnesses questioned by the sheriff's department. For the most part, the petitions fail to allege specific material facts, favorable to the defense and not presented at the trial, which diligent efforts would have uncovered. The new information that is supplied fails to undermine the verdicts. The supplemental petition attaches declarations by defendant's mother and sister that a gang had attacked the Abbey Street house only two weeks before the police raid, that the attack heightened defendant's concern for the family's safety, that the murder weapon was purchased in self-defense after the most recent attack, that defendant was not living at Abbey Street on the day of the homicide, and that needles found on the premises were for diabetes suffered by defendant's father. But these revelations either directly contradict testimony given by defendant's mother at trial, or are cumulative to evidence that was presented through these or other witnesses. Defendant, who testified at the guilt trial, expressed no awareness of such a recent attack. Under these circumstances, defendant has stated no prima facie case for collateral relief.