Opinion ID: 1901509
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Issue 4 Impeachment of Jailhouse Informant

Text: May asserts that he is entitled to a new trial because appellate counsel were ineffective for failing to argue on appeal that the trial court erroneously restricted defense counsels' cross examination of jailhouse informant Neidig. As indicated above, while both were incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution (SCI) Huntingdon, May indicated to Neidig that the police were going to be able to put a body on him and that he did it. N.T., March 7, 1991, at 850-51. Counsel for May sought to impeach Neidig's credibility by introducing a 1971 armed robbery conviction. The trial court forbid such impeachment, determining that robbery was not crimen falsi. Id. at 693-96. The applicable rule of evidence provides as follows: (a) General Rule.  For the purpose of attacking the credibility of any witness, evidence that the witness has been convicted of a crime . . . shall be admitted if it involved dishonesty or false statement. (b) Time limit.  Evidence of a conviction under this rule is not admissible if a period of more than ten years has elapsed since the date of the conviction or of the release of the witness from the confinement imposed for that conviction, whichever is the later date[.] [14] Pa.R.E. 609. The trial court erred in concluding that robbery is not a crimen falsi offense. Commonwealth v. Yarris, 519 Pa. 571, 549 A.2d 513, 521 (1988). However, no evidence of this crime could be used in the cross-examination of Neidig because Neidig had been released from prison for the armed robbery more than ten years prior to the trial of May. [15] Accordingly, this argument is without merit. Appellate counsel cannot be deemed ineffective for failing to raise a meritless issue on appeal. Commonwealth v. Tilley, 566 Pa. 312, 780 A.2d 649 (2001). Having concluded that none of May's guilt-phase issues necessitates a grant of relief, we turn to his penalty phase claims. We first address those claims that, if proven, would have entitled May to an automatic sentence of life imprisonment. Because neither of these claims have merit, we then turn to the claim on which we ultimately grant relief in the form of a new penalty phase.