Opinion ID: 1057949
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: J. Vaughn: Motion to Suppress Weapons

Text: J. Vaughn argues that counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion to suppress the weapons found during the search of his aunt's house in Sheffield, Alabama, and for failing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the search. He argues that the guns used as evidence against him were obtained in a search that went beyond the scope of the search warrant. In order to succeed in proving ineffective assistance of counsel with respect to counsel's failure to file a motion to suppress the evidence, J. Vaughn must satisfy both prongs of the Strickland test, showing that counsel's failure to file the motion was deficient and that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Here, J. Vaughn has failed to show that counsel's actions were so deficient as to fall below the objective standard of reasonableness under prevailing professional norms. Id. at 688, 104 S.Ct. 2052. The trial court found not credible J. Vaughn's testimony that he was in Alabama and that he wanted Stubbs to contact his Alabama relatives. Instead, the trial court credited counsel's testimony that J. Vaughn consistently denied being in Alabama and refused to involve his family. The trial court's findings of fact are conclusive on appeal unless the evidence in the record preponderates against those findings. See Burns, 6 S.W.3d at 461; State v. Keith, 978 S.W.2d 861, 864 (Tenn. 1998). Moreover, factual questions that involve assessing the credibility of witnesses, or the weight and value to be given their testimony, are matters for resolution by the trial court. Burns, 6 S.W.3d at 461. The evidence presented at the post-conviction evidentiary hearing does not preponderate against the trial court's findings. Counsel did not file a motion to suppress because it would have directly contradicted J. Vaughn's defense of mistaken identity and compromised the credibility of the defense in the eyes of the jury. Additionally, if J. Vaughn was never in Alabama, he would have no standing to file the motion. Given J. Vaughn's insistence that he was never in Alabama, counsel's decision not to file a motion to suppress the guns was a legitimate tactical decision that does not deviate from the prevailing professional norms. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 688, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Tactical choices made by counsel are given deference, and the courts must not measure trial counsel's deficiency by 20-20 hindsight. Cooper v. State, 847 S.W.2d 521, 528 (Tenn.Crim.App.1992). Because we hold that counsel's conduct was not deficient in failing to file a motion to suppress the evidence obtained from the search, we need not address the issue of whether counsel's conduct was prejudicial.