Opinion ID: 2271958
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Other Bases for Appellants' Ineffective-Assistance Claims

Text: Appellants' 23-110 motions raised a plethora of other complaints about their trial counsels' performance: counsel Beaman's alleged failure to visit Peete in jail with sufficient frequency, to prepare adequately for trial, and to do adequate investigation; Beaman's failure to file certain pre-trial severance and suppression motions; Beaman's failure to call certain exculpatory witnesses; statements Beaman made that let the jury know that Peete was incarcerated during trial; Beaman's having been suspended from the practice of law for non-payment of dues during the trial; and counsel Tun's failure to cross-examine Dr. Arden. The trial court discussed each of these claims in detail in its February 11, 2008 Order and found that appellants failed to specify any exculpatory information that counsel failed to elicit; that appellants' own testimony showed that Beaman did conduct pre-trial investigation; that Beaman was not ineffective for failure to file meritless motions; that the record revealed numerous reasons why counsel could reasonably have decided, as a tactical matter, not to call the purported exculpatory witnesses [15] ; that Beaman's elicitation of cross-examination testimony that revealed that Peete was incarcerated was a tactical decision to attack the credibility of government witness Yolanda Epps's testimony that she conspired with Peete to commit perjury with the fact that she knew that a telephone call from Peete was being recorded because it was placed from the D.C. Jail; that appellants made no showing as to how Beaman's suspension influenced the outcome of the trial; that Tun's decision not to cross-examine Dr. Arden reflected a tactical decision to get the medical examiner off the witness stand as fast as possible; and that there was no reasonable possibility that the outcome of the trial would have been different if the alleged omissions by counsel had not occurred. As the court's thoughtful findings are supported by the record testimony and by the court's own observations at the trial and at the 23-110 hearing, and as they reflect the court's well nigh unassailable credibility determinations, McCraney v. United States, 983 A.2d 1041, 1061 (D.C.2009), we have no basis to disturb them. For all the foregoing reasons, the judgments of conviction and the order denying appellants' 23-110 motions are Affirmed.