Opinion ID: 2559519
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Counsel ineffectiveness

Text: Appellant argues that trial counsel's performance was deficient because he did not interview Harris when he learned on the eve of trial that Harris would identify Appellant in court. Instead, Appellant continues, counsel ineffectively relied solely on Harris's prior statements to police to cross-examine her. According to Appellant, he was prejudiced by counsel's failure to interview Harris pre-trial because, if counsel had interviewed her, she would have told him about the police pressure to identify Appellant and ultimately would not have identified Appellant at trial. The Commonwealth Court argues that Appellant did not develop this claim in his PCRA petition. The PCRA court did not consider it. It is well-established that where matters of strategy and tactics are concerned, counsel's assistance is deemed constitutionally effective if he chose a particular course that had some reasonable basis designed to effectuate his client's interests. Commonwealth v. Colavita, 993 A.2d 874, 887 (Pa.2010) (quoting Commonwealth v. Howard, 553 Pa. 266, 719 A.2d 233, 237 (1998)). A finding that a chosen strategy lacked a reasonable basis is not warranted unless it can be concluded that an alternative not chosen offered a potential for success substantially greater than the course actually pursued. Id. Counsel was aware that Harris would be the Commonwealth's identification witness, and that she had previously failed to identify Appellant and had identified Rucker. Trial counsel attempted to have the trial court suppress Harris' identification, and extensively cross-examined her to this end at the pre-trial suppression hearing. [7] He explored whether her identification of Appellant was the product of police pressure, and Harris insisted that it was not. At trial, knowing that Harris was a principal witness against Appellant, counsel explained to the jury that Harris had made six statements to police, had identified Rucker as the shooter in one of those statements, and had identified Appellant as the shooter in only the most recent statement, which she made shortly before trial. Counsel vigorously cross-examined Harris about her different identifications and impeached her credibility. We cannot conclude that counsel's preparation for trial based on Harris's prior statements and forceful cross-examination of her lacked a reasonable basis. By engaging in an aggressive defense based on cross-examining Harris, counsel demonstrated that he chose a particular course of action that had some reasonable basis designed to effectuate Appellant's interests. Colavita, 993 A.2d at 887; Washington, 927 A.2d at 600. Counsel's conduct was not rendered ineffective solely because of his failure to interview this Commonwealth witness. See Washington, 927 A.2d at 601 (explaining that we have never held that trial counsel is obligated to interview every Commonwealth witness prior to trial). [8] A claim of ineffectiveness such as this cannot succeed solely through comparing, in hindsight, the trial strategy employed with alternatives not pursued. Id. at 600. This is not a case where trial counsel completely failed to investigate or prepare a defense, as Appellant claims and as was the circumstance in the cases he relies upon. See United States v. Kauffman, 109 F.3d 186, 190 (3d Cir.1997) (finding no reasonable basis where there was evidence of the defendant's psychosis but trial counsel did not pursue any investigation into an insanity defense); United States v. Gray, 878 F.2d 702, 712 (3d Cir.1989) (Ineffectiveness is generally clear in the context of complete failure to investigate because counsel can hardly be said to have made a strategic choice against pursuing a certain line of investigation when s/he has not yet obtained the facts on which such a decision could be made.). Rather, trial counsel engaged in a defense premised on seeking suppression where appropriate of the Commonwealth witnesses's statements, and then vigorously and powerfully cross-examining them. This strategy gave Harris every opportunity to tell the truth and reveal police pressure at the suppression hearing and at trial. Accordingly, this claim fails.