Opinion ID: 2537242
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether Counsel Was Ineffective Relating to the Testimony of Edgar Baez

Text: In the next claim we address, Rodriguez asserts that his counsel was ineffective during the guilt phase because he failed to present the testimony of Edgar Baez, a witness who saw a man taking a woman into the Josephs' apartment around the time of the murders. Rodriguez asserts that Baez's testimony could demonstrate that the person Baez saw at the time of the crime did not match Luis or Rodriguez but could have been Isidoro. Specifically, Baez was across the street on the day of the murder and saw a man let an older woman (presumably Abraham) into the apartment. Baez had described the man he saw very briefly in a 1984 sworn statement, and a composite sketch was prepared. Baez remembered that a sketch was made but did not recall if he was shown the final picture. Nor could Baez attest that the sketch he helped make, and which he was shown at the hearing, resembled the person he saw in 1984. In reviewing the entire record as it relates to this claim, we affirm the trial court's denial of relief because, based on the evidence presented, Rodriguez is unable to establish either deficiency or prejudice in failing to present Baez as a witness.