Opinion ID: 2159070
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Motion to Set Aside the Convictions

Text: Artis was sentenced in December 1995. He filed a timely notice of appeal. In 1999, this court granted Artis's motion to stay his appeal while he litigated a motion in the trial court to set aside his convictions pursuant to D.C.Code § 23-110. In that motion, Artis charged that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective, mainly in not moving to suppress the evidence seized from his home on November 6, 1992, on the grounds mentioned above. [3] According to the affidavits of his parents which Artis submitted in support of his motion, his father was awake when the police arrived at their home, and the police did not knock or announce their presence before they broke in. After they entered, the officers allegedly moved Artis's parents, their three daughters and their baby grandson into the living room, where Mr. Artis and two of his daughters were kept with their hands uncomfortably cuffed behind their backs for about two hours, until the search was completed. The Artises did not learn that a television crew was outside during the search until afterward, when friends told them that their house and yard were on the news. (In his motion papers, Artis proffered that the broadcast showed the police reenacting their discovery of the shotgun in his backyard.) No one showed the Artises a search warrant until two hours after the search was over, when an officer returned, handed the warrant to Mrs. Artis, and left. Finally, both Mr. and Mrs. Artis averred that their son's trial counsel never asked them about the November 6, 1992 search of their residence. The trial court denied Artis's motion without a hearing. It ruled that the allegedly deficient performance of his trial counsel did not prejudice Artis because the weapons and ammunition discovered at his home merely corroborated the already massive evidence of his guilt that the government had presented. The court acknowledged that the key government witnesses who furnished this evidence were members of the Rosedale and E Street Crews whose credibility the defense had vigorously challenged. Among other things, the witnesses themselves admittedly were involved in the October 16, 1992 shootings and in other gang violence, most had received favorable plea deals in exchange for their testimony against Artis, many were impeached with prior inconsistent statements, including statements under oath, and several had reason to be angry with Artis. The court nonetheless concluded that there was no reasonable probability that Artis would have been acquitted even if the evidence seized from his home had been suppressed. Alternatively, the trial court found no prejudice because the evidence seized from Artis's home likely would not have been excluded on the grounds he advanced if his counsel had made the motion. The court reasoned that the media presence during the search of Artis's home would not have led to suppression because it occurred seven years before the Supreme Court first held that such media participation violated the Fourth Amendment. Regarding Artis's claim that the police did not knock and announce their presence before they broke in, the court noted that at trial the police had testified otherwise. If the claim had been raised in a motion to suppress evidence, the court said, this would merely have created a credibility issue ... [that] may very well have been decided adversely to the defendant. The court dismissed as speculation Artis's assertion that the police carried out their search of his residence before they obtained the search warrant. [4] The court discounted Artis's claim that the police mistreated members of his family by handcuffing them behind their backs, as such restraints could be considered a reasonable safety measure in the context of a search for murder weapons. Lastly, the court thought that the police officers' tardiness in waiting seven weeks to file the search warrant return with the court in all likelihood would have been deemed a technical defect ... not warranting suppression of the items seized.