Opinion ID: 1520697
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Trial Counsel's performance, blotted out the essence of a substantial defense.

Text: Given the totality of the circumstances, Tillery, supra at 973; Oesby, supra at 8, the trial court erred in concluding that, although trial counsel was grossly incompetent (which the government does not contest), he has not caused the defendant actual prejudice by blotting out the essence of a substantial defense. See Angarano, supra at 298 n.5; Bruce, supra at 339-40, 379 F.2d at 116-17. On this record, that statement is inherently contradictory. As a result of counsel's failure to conduct a full client interview to investigate the case, to engage in meaningful discovery, or to prepare appellant adequately for trial, appellant received no defense whatsoever. [9] We begin by noting the government's evidence was not so strong that minimally competent counsel, performing elementary defense responsibilities, could not have precipitated an acquittal. Appenzeller identified appellant in court as one of the robbers, but Massey was not certain and Sergeant James could not confirm for sure that Massey had identified appellant earlier. Detective Leadman testified that appellant had admitted being present at the scene, but appellant, taking the stand in his own defense, denied he had ever said so. On cross-examination, moreover, appellant offered an alibi. The jury, therefore, was confronted by a typical case of strong but not conclusive evidence against appellant. Any defense effort, to be successful, had to discredit Appenzeller's identification and to refute appellant's alleged admission to Detective Leadman. Significantly, both avenues at least had some promise. The weakness of Appenzeller's previous identification of appellant at the juvenile hearing was classic impeachment material for discrediting the in-court identification over two years later. See note 8 supra. Counsel, however, altogether failed to attempt such impeachment. Counsel, in fact, failed even to discuss Appenzeller's juvenile hearing testimony with appellant, a lapse obviously contributing to appellant's own testimonyfor which he was impeachedthat he had never seen Appenzeller before the present trial. Despite the weakness of appellant's alibihis principal defense against his admission alleged by Detective Leadmanappellant still did have an alibi defense which to some extent his mother could have corroborated. See Part III. A. supra. Counsel, however, learned about the alibi for the first time during his client's cross-examination and even then did not call the mother (whom he never had interviewed) at least to testify that her grandson had a birthday on September 17, 1975a fact appellant asserted as part of his alibi. This lapse by counsel not only weakened appellant's alibi defense but also gave the government an opportunity, in closing argument, to remind the jury that appellant had not called his mother to testify, despite claiming she could provide significant corroboration. Taken together, these two lapsesfailures to contest the government's case with available impeachment, see Johnson, supra at 505, and to present appellant's alibi defenseblotted out the essence of a substantial defense. See Angarano, supra at 298 n.5; Bruce, supra at 339-40, 379 F.2d at 116-17. We recognize that when a record shows that counsel has performed fundamental criminal defense functions, though with a grossly incompetent lapse, the defense bears a substantial burden to show that the lapse, on the particular record at issue, materially lessened the opportunity for acquittal. See Wright, supra at 585-87; note 4 supra. This heavy burden is justified by the fact that when counsel performs these functionsa comprehensive client interview, investigation, discovery from the government, and preparation of the client for trialthe court ordinarily can perceive a cogent defense strategy against which the alleged lapse can be measured. When, howeveras herecounsel's gross incompetence is virtually a default in fundamental defense functions, a court can be less sure that counsel's lapse did not materially lessen the opportunity for acquittal, for the court is evaluating the impact of gross incompetence without any objective reason for assuming that sensible tactical judgments underlay counsel's basic approach. See Wright, supra at 585-87; note 4 supra. In this situation, therefore, a court confronted with gross incompetence must be much more cautious in permitting itself to conclude that no substantial defense has been blotted out. As in this case, the failure to use available impeachment of a key government witness, as well as to present the defendant's affirmative defense, is enough to warrant our conclusion that counsel's gross incompetence blotted out the essence of a substantial defense. Were we to conclude otherwise, we would be substituting ourselves for a jury deprived of material defense evidence that was available to defense counsel at the time of trial. We cannot properly do so. The trial court did not evaluate counsel's gross incompetence from this perspective. In fact, the court focused primarily, if not solely, on the facts supporting appellant's affirmative defense, without due regard to the potential defense attack on the government's case-in-chief ( e. g., Appenzeller's identification). Accordingly, we cannot accept the trial court's analysis. Appellant's conviction must be reversed for violation of his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel.