Opinion ID: 2185932
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Turecek Violation.

Text: The State offered the testimony of K.A. as part of its case in chief, knowing full well that K.A. intended to deny any sexual abuse by her stepfather, Ron Tracy. After offering K.A.'s testimony, the State then proceeded to impeach her by various means. The State offered Dr. Comly's opinion that K.A. was suffering from child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome, which accounted for her recantation; Dr. Comly further opined that there are probably no more than two or three children per thousand who come forth with such a serious allegation who are found later to be dishonest. We note that the admission of Dr. Comly's testimony concerning the truthfulness of K.A.'s testimony is in violation of our holding in State v. Myers, 382 N.W.2d 91, 97-98 (Iowa 1986). However, we choose not to rest our conclusions in the present case upon the Myers violation alone. To further support their impeachment of K.A., the State offered evidence of numerous inconsistent statements made by K.A. prior to her trial testimony. Included among these was the signed statement K.A. had made at the school nurse's office in which she accused her stepfather of sexual abuse. In addition, the State offered testimony by K.A.'s mother, K.T., K.A.'s best friend, Deanna, Jackie Crowley, Ceatta Mann, and Millie Kopp, all of whom recounted the graphic complaints of sexual abuse K.A. had previously related to them. Clearly, all of the above testimony that merely recounted K.A.'s initial complaint of sexual abuse by her father would have been inadmissible hearsay testimony if offered for any purpose other than impeachment. Iowa R.Evid. 801(c) (`hearsay' is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.). Similarly, Dr. Comly's testimony regarding child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome and the general truthfulness of child abuse victims was relevant to the prosecution's case only insofar as it tended to discredit K.A.'s testimony. Thus, if K.A. had not testified, neither Dr. Comly's testimony nor evidence of K.A.'s prior inconsistent statements would have been admissible. We have recently condemned this sort of prosecutorial maneuvering in which the State places a witness on the stand who it expects to give unfavorable testimony solely for the purpose of introducing otherwise inadmissible evidence. State v. Turecek, 456 N.W.2d 219, 224-25 (Iowa 1990). In Turecek, we qualified the State's right to impeach its own witnesses as follows: The right given to the State to impeach its own witnesses under Iowa Rule of Evidence 607 and our decision in State v. Trost, 244 N.W.2d 556, 559-60 (Iowa 1976), is to be used as a shield and not as a sword. The State is not entitled under rule 607 to place a witness on the stand who is expected to give unfavorable testimony and then, in the guise of impeachment, offer evidence which is otherwise inadmissible. To permit such bootstrapping frustrates the intended application of the exclusionary rules which rendered such evidence inadmissible on the State's case in chief. Turecek, 456 N.W.2d at 225. Given that the record clearly reveals that the State knew K.A. intended to retract the allegations of sexual abuse she had formerly made, we must assume the State orchestrated this series of events merely to place before the trier of fact various items of evidence that would otherwise be inadmissible. As we concluded in Turecek, this sort of maneuvering constitutes reversible error. Id. at 226. Although defense counsel objected to the testimony given by Jackie Crowley, Ceatta Mann and Millie Kopp as being hearsay, thus properly preserving error on this issue, he failed to lodge similar objections to the testimony given by K.A.'s mother, Deanna and Dr. Comly. Nevertheless, given the seriousness of a Turecek violation, any failure to preserve error at the trial level would entitle Tracy to assert a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. To establish a claim that trial counsel was ineffective, in derogation of one's sixth amendment right to counsel, two elements must be shown: (1) counsel failed to perform an essential duty, and (2) prejudice resulted therefrom. Taylor v. State, 352 N.W.2d 683, 685 (Iowa 1984). In this de novo review, Tracy has the burden to prove both of these elements by a preponderance of the evidence. Id. In deciding whether trial counsel failed to perform an essential duty, we require more than a showing that trial strategy backfired or that another attorney would have prepared and tried the case somewhat differently.... Petitioner must overcome a presumption that counsel is competent. Id. When counsel makes a reasonable decision concerning strategy... we will not interfere simply because it did not achieve the desired result. State v. Newman, 326 N.W.2d 788, 795 (Iowa 1982). We do not believe that the trial strategy adopted by Tracy's trial counsel was reasonable in allowing into the record all of the otherwise inadmissible evidence given by K.A.'s mother, Deanna, and Dr. Comly. Although Turecek was not decided until after the date of Tracy's trial, the egregiousness of a Turecek violation would make it incumbent upon defense counsel to voice an objection, even in the absence of established case law on the matter. The State's suggestion that Tracy's trial counsel may have intentionally allowed Dr. Comly to testify so as to cross-examine him regarding a seemingly inconsistent statement in his report, which suggested that K.A. may have made up a lie in her testimony, is simply not tenable. The collective prejudicial impact of Dr. Comly's testimony in conjunction with that given by the others clearly outweighs any favorable testimony that could reasonably have been anticipated in the course of Comly's cross-examination. Finally, we conclude that any argument that defense counsel failed to object so as to avoid calling the jury's attention to Comly's unfavorable testimony is unreasonable in light of our position that the mere admission of such evidence is reversible error; this proposition applies with equal force to the hearsay testimony given by K.A.'s mother and Deanna. In short, we find that Tracy's trial counsel failed to perform an essential duty in failing to make a timely objection to the testimony indicated above. The second element of an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim requires the defendant to show that counsel's failure to perform an essential duty resulted in prejudice. Taylor, 352 N.W.2d at 685. To show prejudice, Tracy must prove that there is a reasonable probability that but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome. State v. Hildebrant, 405 N.W.2d 839, 841 (Iowa 1987) (quoting Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2068, 80 L.Ed.2d 674, 698 (1984)). Given the prodigious volume of testimony that was admitted under the guise of impeachment, Tracy satisfied his burden of showing that had the appropriate objections been raised in a timely manner, there was a reasonable probability that he would have been acquitted. Thus, despite the fact that error was not properly preserved with respect to the testimony given by Dr. Comly, K.A.'s mother, and Deannaas is normally required before we will reach the merits of an asserted errorwe conclude that the cumulation of this evidence with the other inadmissible testimony discussed above entitles Tracy to a new trial.