Opinion ID: 2585391
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Was there ineffective assistance of counsel where Zaitseva's attorney failed to object to allegedly improper evidence presented by the State?

Text: Zaitseva argues that her trial counsel was ineffective because he failed to object to the testimony of a Twin Falls police officer. The officer was allowed to testify, without objection, that two of the documents found in Zaitseva's bag were identical to checks he was investigating in Twin Falls and that they were valueless. Zaitseva argues that it was objectively unreasonable for her trial attorney to fail to object to this testimony. She contends that the testimony was inadmissible, invited the jury to believe that she had engaged in wrongdoing in Twin Falls, and gave the impression that Zaitseva was involved in some kind of organized crime. In this direct appeal, we do not have sufficient evidence available to properly consider Zaitseva's claims of ineffective assistance. The question of competency of counsel is an extremely complex factual determination which, in all but the most unusual cases, requires an evidentiary hearing before determination. The resolution of those factual issues for the first time on appeal, based upon a trial record in which competence of counsel was not at issue, is at best conjectural. State v. Mitchell, 124 Idaho 374, 376, 859 P.2d 972, 974 (Ct.App.1993). This Court will not attempt to second-guess the strategy or tactical choices of trial counsel. State v. Porter 130 Idaho 772, 792, 948 P.2d 127, 147 (1997). Without evidence regarding the rationale for failing to object to the officer's testimony, we are unable to determine whether the failure to object was based upon strategy and tactics or whether it was based upon some other reason that might either defeat or support a claim of ineffective assistance. The officer's testimony arguably supports Zaitseva's own testimony at trial. Zaitseva testified that the documents in the bag belonged to someone else. She testified that they were in the bag because they had been blowing around in the backseat and she put them in the bag without examining what they were. The officer testified that the checks that he was investigating in Twin Falls had been passed by Zaitseva's sister. The sister that the officer identified was also the owner of the car. During closing arguments, Zaitseva's trial counsel used the officer's testimony to support Zaitseva's defense. We cannot consider Zaitseva's claim of ineffective assistance without further evidence, which can only be developed in a separate proceeding for that purpose.