Opinion ID: 793892
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Present Certain Evidence at Trial

Text: 71 Carter claims that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to present evidence that Carter's beating of the victim lasted only ten to thirteen minutes. The prosecution's theory, based on the testimony of several eye witnesses, was that the beating lasted approximately twenty to twenty-five minutes. Carter's basis for claiming it was shorter is the testimony of inmate Richard Cunningham that the incident started at 1:15 p.m., combined with prison reports that security personnel responded to the situation between 1:25 and 1:30 p.m. It is Carter's position that trial counsel should have emphasized the shorter time span to show the attack occurred in a heat of passion rather than deliberately and premeditatedly. 7 72 Although Cunningham did testify that the fight probably started about quarter after 1:00, he also testified that he was forced to estimate the exact time because he had no clock or watch available to him. As a result, he based his estimate on the fact that he had to end a telephone call at 1:00 p.m. that afternoon and that he believed about fifteen minutes had passed between the end of his phone call and the start of the fight. At the very least, then, a defense theory based on Cunningham's statement of time would have been tenuous. 73 Moreover, Carter's habeas theory that the fight lasted only ten to fifteen minutes lacks any reasonable basis. First, as stated above, Cunningham had made clear that his statement of time was a mere estimate. In other words, he had no way of knowing the exact time the fight started. Furthermore, Cunningham testified on cross that he did not even witness the start of the fight. Since Cunningham lacked personal knowledge, his testimony as to when the fight started is irrelevant. Finally, Cunningham himself testified that the beating lasted much longer than fifteen minutes: 74 Q. How long did [the beating] go on? 75 A. For about 25 minutes. 76 Q. You have no watch or anything that you can tell time or anything or a clock on the wall or anything? 77 A. No. You know, I estimate 25 minutes, he probably started about quarter after 1:00, I knew it was 1:00 o'clock I had to get off the phone, that is my time to get off the phone. It took about 15 minutes before I got my cigarette lit. The guards got up there about quarter to 2:00. It took about half hour to 45 minutes before they even got up there. 78 In short, then, there is no credible factual basis from which Carter can argue that reasonable counsel would have pursued the theory that the altercation lasted no more than fifteen minutes. 79 Most importantly, trial counsel's strategy with Cunningham on cross examination focused not on Cunningham's estimation of when the fight started but whether he saw the start of the fight at all. Cunningham testified on direct examination that the altercation began when Carter sucker punched Allen while Allen was asleep. On cross, trial counsel questioned Cunningham as to his whereabouts when the fight began, and Cunningham admitted that he did not see what started the altercation. Cunningham's testimony on cross-examination preserved trial counsel's primary defense theory that Allen, not Carter, was the aggressor. If believed, Carter could have avoided a jury finding that he killed Allen with prior calculation and design. At the very least, he could have used it as a mitigating factor at sentencing. Trial counsel's strategy to paint Allen as the aggressor was reasonable, and to question Cunningham in a manner consistent with this theory, counsel was not ineffective. 80 Carter also was not prejudiced. Both Cunningham and inmate Steele testified that the beating lasted approximately twenty-five minutes. There is no credible evidence to dispute their estimates. Equally important is that there is no reason to believe that proof that the beating lasted ten minutes instead of twenty or twenty-five minutes would have had any effect on the outcome. The emphasis at trial was not on the duration of the beating, but on the calculated and violent manner in which it was carried out. This included Carter's comments and actions before and during the altercation, along with his efforts to create exculpatory evidence. Furthermore, in this case, even a ten-minute altercation would have been significant. The altercation at issue was nothing more than an attack. That Carter's continuous beating of Johnny Allen may have lasted only ten minutes would hardly be seen as mitigating. Quite simply, there is no merit to Carter's claim that he was prejudiced by trial counsel's failure to emphasize that the attack may have lasted only ten minutes. 81 Therefore, the decision of Ohio Court of Appeals denying Carter's ineffective-assistance claim was neither contrary to nor an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law.