Opinion ID: 1572323
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Impeachment of Dwayne Blackmon

Text: Lowe argues that counsel was ineffective for failing to impeach Blackmon with an affidavit Blackmon signed on October 26, 1990. This affidavit contains assertions that law enforcement officers made serious threats against Blackmon and made promises of legal and monetary assistance in order to persuade him to testify for the State in Lowe's case. Lowe further contends that later, during an investigative interview with the State Attorney's Office, Blackmon, in a sworn statement, attempted to recant his affidavit and accused the assistant public defenders of forcing him to sign the affidavit even though some of the facts in the affidavit were not true. At the evidentiary hearing, defense counsel testified that he believed Blackmon was an important State witness, but he did not remember the affidavit, did not remember if he questioned Blackmon about the affidavit, and did not remember the sworn statement made by Blackmon subsequent to the affidavit. Blackmon testified at the hearing that although the assistant public defenders did not force him to sign the affidavit, most of the statements in the affidavit were either lies or statements that had been twisted. Based on this testimony and a review of the affidavit and sworn statement, the trial court found that the effectiveness of the affidavit for impeachment purposes was questionable because the two documents did not appear inconsistent. The trial court also found that even if the affidavit had been presented, Lowe failed to demonstrate prejudice based on the evidence that connected Lowe to the crime. We agree with the trial court's findings. Although impeaching Blackmon's credibility with the affidavit could have called into question Blackmon's ability to tell the truth, Lowe fails to demonstrate that the failure to impeach undermined confidence in the outcome of the guilt phase proceeding because of the evidence that implicated him in the crime, including, but not limited to, his fingerprints being found at the crime scene and his confession of involvement in the crime. Thus, relief on this claim was properly denied. Lowe next contends that the State withheld evidence that Blackmon was a paid police informant for the Sebastian Police Department, and that counsel was ineffective for failing to discover this evidence through due diligence. Relief on this claim was properly denied because the claim is not sufficiently pled. The only evidence that Lowe provides to support this claim is the evidentiary hearing testimony of Ben Carter. Carter testified that he was aware that Blackmon had some kind of relationship with a few police officers in the Sebastian Police Department because he went with Blackmon several times to the police department where Blackmon would turn in items that had been stolen from homes. However, Lowe fails to provide any evidence or testimony to demonstrate how the State suppressed this evidence or how he was prejudiced by the suppression of the evidence. With regard to the argument that counsel was ineffective for failing to present such evidence, Lowe fails to satisfy, or at a minimum even address, the Strickland standard. Accordingly, we affirm the denial of relief on this claim.