Opinion ID: 1129443
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Investigate and Prepare for Laventure's Testimony

Text: Next, Morris asserts that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance during the guilt phase by failing to properly investigate and prepare for witness Sherry Laventure's testimony. During opening statements, defense counsel Howard Dimmig explained that the defense's theory was that someone other than Morris committed the murder. He told the jury that Laventure would testify that she witnessed a man who was definitely not a black man observing the victim's apartment the day before the murder. Contrary to Dimmig's statements during opening, Laventure testified that on the day before the murder she saw a man observing the victim's apartment who wasn't white. Laventure also testified that she spoke with a bearded investigator from the public defender's office [11] and that, consistent with her testimony at trial, she told him that the person she saw was not white. Laventure further testified that Toni Maloney, who works with the public defender's office, encouraged her to testify falsely that the person she saw was not black. Dimmig unsuccessfully attempted to refresh Laventure's recollection by referring to a previous conversation he had with her in which Laventure had stated that the person she saw did not appear to be black. However, because there was no written record of Laventure's pretrial statements, Dimmig could not impeach her testimony. Dimmig proffered his own testimony and that of Maloney that Laventure stated to them before trial that the person she saw observing the victim's apartment on the day before the murder was not black. Dimmig also presented evidence of Morris's whereabouts at the time Laventure recalled seeing someone observing the victim's apartment. To rebut Laventure's testimony that the defense encouraged her to testify falsely, a stipulation was read to the jury that neither trial counsel nor any representative of the public defender's office suggested or encouraged any witness to present false testimony. Morris contends that had Dimmig deposed Laventure, obtained a prior written statement from Laventure, or called Barfield as a witness, counsel would have been able to impeach Laventure's testimony at trial. According to Morris, Dimmig was ineffective because Laventure's testimony was damaging to the defense and because the State exploited this testimony in closing arguments. Trial counsel was not ineffective in deciding not to depose Laventure or obtain a prior written statement from this witness. Laventure was called as a witness to support the defense's alternate suspect theory. Dimmig testified at the evidentiary hearing that he did not depose Laventure because it was not his standard practice to depose his own witness. Dimmig stated that in over twenty years of experience as a public defender, he does not ever recall deposing a defense witness. Based on Laventure's pretrial statements to both him and Maloney, Dimmig testified that he believed he knew what Laventure's testimony would be at trial and was surprised when her testimony changed. Although Dimmig was aware that Laventure was not a willing witness, there is no evidence in the record that he knew or had reason to believe Laventure would testify at trial contrary to her pretrial statements. Under these circumstances, trial counsel was not deficient in failing to depose Laventure or obtain a prior written statement from this witness. Also, trial counsel was not ineffective in not presenting Barfield to testify concerning his conversations with Laventure regarding the person she observed the day before the murder occurred. [T]he failure to call witnesses can constitute ineffective assistance of counsel if the witnesses may have been able to cast doubt on the defendant's guilt, and the defendant states in his motion the witnesses' names and the substance of their testimony, and explains how the omission prejudiced the outcome of the trial. Ford v. State, 825 So.2d 358, 360-61 (Fla.2002) (quoting Jackson v. State, 711 So.2d 1371, 1372 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)). In this case, Morris failed to demonstrate the substance of Barfield's testimony or that Barfield would have been able to cast doubt on Morris's guilt, as required by Ford. See 825 So.2d at 360. At trial, Laventure testified that she was unable to recall the name of the investigator she spoke with and would also be unable to identify the investigator if she saw him again. Both the State and the defense assumed Laventure was referring to Barfield since he was an investigator with the public defender's office and had a beard at the time he spoke to Laventure. Because it is not clear from the record if Barfield was in fact the investigator Laventure spoke with, his testimony may not have been useful in impeaching Laventure. Even assuming Barfield was the person that Laventure spoke with, there is no basis in the record to conclude that Laventure told him the person she saw was not black. Barfield was not called as a witness at the evidentiary hearing and there is no record of his conversation with Laventure. Based on these facts, Morris has failed to demonstrate that trial counsel was deficient in failing to call Barfield to testify at trial to impeach Laventure's testimony. See Spencer v. State, 842 So.2d 52, 63 (Fla.2003) (rejecting claim that counsel was ineffective for failing to call triage physician to impeach the testimony of treating physician at trial where there was no evidence or testimony from the triage physician directly contradicting the treating physician's testimony at trial). For the same reason, Morris has failed to establish that he was prejudiced by counsel's performance. Because Barfield did not testify at the evidentiary hearing to establish what testimony he would have offered at the guilt phase of Morris's trial, we cannot determine how Barfield's testimony at trial would have affected the verdict. Cf. Davis v. State, 875 So.2d 359, 369 (Fla.2003) (Because [the defendant] did not testify at the evidentiary hearing or otherwise establish what testimony he would have offered, we cannot conclude that our confidence in the outcome is undermined by [the defendant's] failure to testify during the penalty phase.). Moreover, although Laventure's testimony that the person she saw observing the victim's apartment on the day before the murder occurred wasn't white went uncontradicted at trial, this testimony did not conclusively establish that Morris was the person she saw. Immediately following Laventure's testimony, Dimmig called Julie Woodruff to testify that Morris was at work at the time Laventure stated she saw someone observing the victim's apartment. During closing arguments, Dimmig referred to Woodruff's testimony in arguing that Laventure's testimony failed to demonstrate that Morris was the person she saw. We conclude that Morris was not prejudiced by counsel's performance because Laventure's testimony that the person she saw wasn't white, although inconsistent with counsel's opening statements, supported the defense's theory that someone other than Morris committed the murder when this testimony is considered together with the evidence establishing Morris's whereabouts at the time Laventure witnessed someone observing the victim's apartment. Further, there was substantial evidence pointing to Morris as the perpetrator of this crime. Accordingly, we affirm the denial of relief as to this claim.