Opinion ID: 6108254
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Cadaver Dog Evidence

Text: Collings's seventh point on appeal claims the motion court erred in denying his claim that trial counsel were ineffective in failing to call Alicia Brown, a search and rescue dog handler, to testify during the guilt phase of trial. During the penalty phase, Brown testified two dogs trained to alert at the scent of human remains separately alerted on the driver's side door, left rear quadrant, driver's seat, and rear cargo area of Spears's mother's Suburban, but the dogs did not alert on Collings's truck. Collings claims there is a reasonable probability the jury would not have found him guilty of Ford's murder based on this testimony. During the evidentiary hearing, Collings's trial counsel testified about their differing opinions concerning Brown's testimony about the cadaver dogs. His counsel responsible for the guilt phase wanted  to mention Spears as few times as possible, whereas his counsel responsible for the penalty phase wanted Brown to testify to cast doubt on Collings's sole involvement. As a result, Brown testified during only the penalty phase. Ordinarily the choice of witnesses is a matter of trial strategy and will support no claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Davis , 486 S.W.3d at 909 . As explained above, Collings's trial counsel's strategic decision to not focus on Spears's statements to law enforcement was reasonable given Collings's detailed confessions to law enforcement. The jury was presented with Brown's testimony concerning the cadaver dogs during the penalty phase. If the jury had any doubt Collings was solely responsible for Ford's murder, there is a reasonable probability the jury would have voted to sentence him to life rather than death. Because the jury in fact voted to impose the death penalty after hearing Brown's testimony, there was not a reasonable probability the evidence would have resulted in a different verdict. The motion court did not clearly err in denying this claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.