Opinion ID: 729753
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Opening the Door to the Homicide and Robbery.

Text: 115 Detective Williams testified at the first Bunch\Berryman trial. He told the jury about Campos' statement describing the attack, and the circumstances under which she selected the photographs of Bunch, Bludson, and Berryman. Williams' only other involvement had been to send the letters to the last known address of each defendant. 116 On cross-examination, counsel for both Bunch and Berryman decided to attack the lack of any thorough police investigation presumably to raise an inference that the police did not believe Campos. Proceeding down that road, Mr. DePalma asked Williams why he did not try to locate the defendants. Williams responded that a sergeant told him that one of the defendants was the subject of another investigation and that he should lay-off. 117 Predictably, the prosecutor seized this opportunity on re-direct by asking Williams who and what was being investigated, and Williams told the jury that Bunch was a suspect in a homicide/bank robbery. Both defense counsel moved for a mistrial, but that motion was denied because defense counsel had opened the door. Mr. DePalma then called Sergeant Tomich as a defense witness, and Tomich confirmed that he told Williams to lay-off. In response to the prosecutor's questions, Detective Tomich testified that the other investigation was a joint one, involving the FBI; that three men were alleged to have committed the homicide; and that Bunch's brother, Barry, had already been convicted of the crimes. Defense counsel again greeted the fruits of his labors with a motion for a mistrial, which was denied as before. 118 As noted above, that first Bunch/Berryman trial ended in a mistrial because of juror misconduct. In the second trial, which began immediately, having learned absolutely nothing from the judge's rulings in the first trial, Mr. DePalma once again asked Williams why he had done nothing to pursue the investigation once the letter addressed to Berryman was returned by the post office. Counsel also attempted to elicit on cross examination that Williams was skeptical of the circumstances that [the victim] was telling [him]. An objection to that question was sustained and counsel then asked whether Williams had any personal attitude as to what [the victim] was telling [him]. 119 On re-direct, the prosecutor argued that defense counsel had once again opened the door. The trial court agreed, but commendably sought to ameliorate the prejudice that could flow from the line of questioning Mr. DePalma was insisting upon. The court ruled that Williams could only testify that the reason was the existence of another, unspecified, investigation involving Bunch which was unrelated to the sexual assault charge. Aware of the precipice that Mr. DePalma was marching toward, the trial court also warned the prosecutor and the detective not to bring out the fact that the other investigation involved a murder. Williams then testified in accordance with the limitations imposed by the trial court. 120 Despite the trial judge's laudable attempt to shield the jury from unduly prejudicial information, Mr. DePalma obliviously pursued a line of re-cross examination designed to suggest that Williams would not lay-off an investigation involving crimes as serious as rape and kidnapping. He did this even though he had just sat through a trial where this strategy had elicited testimony so damaging that he thought a mistrial was warranted. In order to counter the insinuations of Mr. DePalma's questions the prosecution sought, (to no one's surprise but Mr. DePalma's) and received, the court's permission to explain. Mr. DePalma's examination of Detective Williams therefore forced the trial judge to allow the jury to hear the very information the judge had tried to shield them from, and the witness testified that the other investigation involved a bank robbery and a homicide. 121 Amazingly, apparently content with the progress of his game plan, Mr. DePalma once again called Detective Tomich as a defense witness, and Tomich once again testified that the investigation of Bunch was still open; that Bunch's brother had already been convicted, but that two other suspects remained at large; that Bunch had not been charged because Tomich felt that he did not have enough evidence; and that Bunch would always be considered a prime suspect in the bank robbery\homicide. 122 On direct appeal, the Appellate Division rejected the argument that the trial court erred in admitting this testimony because defense counsel's line of questioning invited the prejudicial testimony. At the post-conviction hearing, the state court concluded that Berryman's counsel had made a tactical decision to open the door to the bank robbery/homicide, opining that the decision was a strategy to show the lack of police investigation so as to nullify the good affect (sic) the victim had on the jury. A114. That ruling was affirmed on appeal. 123 The district court disagreed. Trial counsel had conceded that it was risky to have played with this testimony. When asked to confirm that he had not intentionally opened the door to the prejudicial testimony he responded, [n]o, but I played with it, lets put it that way. The prosecutor then stated, [y]ou were taking a tremendous risk? to which Mr. DePalma responded, [r]ight. Dist. Ct. Op. at 29. 124 Indeed, it was foolhardy, and the district court correctly concluded that it must rank as a striking instance of ineffective assistance of counsel. Id. at 30. Berryman's attorney proceeded relentlessly to elicit the irrelevant testimony that was so damaging to his client. Id. at 29-30. 125