Opinion ID: 1501512
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Jimmy Lambert's Testimony

Text: During the Rule 37 hearing, Lambert testified that a couple of weeks prior to the alleged incident, S.S. talked about being mad at Dillard and how she would call the cops and tell them that Dillard had raped her. Lambert stated that he told Dillard that he was willing to testify at the trial; however, Lambert stated that he was never contacted by Mr. Settle regarding his testimony. Mr. Settle admitted that Lambert's testimony would have been extremely helpful, but he maintained that he had not been aware of the testimony. The trial court was not persuaded by Mr. Settle's claim, as it found that counsel was ineffective for failing to interview Lambert and for failing to call him as a defense witness. The State makes no argument regarding trial counsel's failure to interview Lambert and call him as a defense witness. Rather, the State asserts that Dillard was not prejudiced by trial counsel's decision not to call Lambert because there was other evidence supporting his defense that S.S. had made up the allegations against him. This other evidence referred to by the State is the testimony of Detective Holohan, who testified that S.S. told him that she hated Dillard and that whenever she was mad at someone, she took it out on them. Holohan also testified that Dillard told him that S.S. was making up the allegations because she did not like him and was trying to undermine his relationship with her mother. The State contends that Lambert's testimony would have been cumulative, and its omission was thus not prejudicial. We disagree that his testimony was merely cumulative. As discussed in the previous point, the victims' credibility, or lack thereof, was of crucial importance to the defense, as the State's case against Dillard rested almost entirely on the testimony of the two girls. Jimmy Lambert is the brother of T.L., one of the victims in this case. Like Bay, Lambert's relationship to one of the victim's in this case lends credibility to his testimony, as it may have tended to undermine the entire case against Dillard. His testimony was therefore of chief importance to the defense, and would likely have carried more weight than the testimony offered by Dillard or Detective Holohan. Thus, for the reasons explained in Wicoff, 321 Ark. 97, 900 S.W.2d 187, we cannot say that the trial court erred in finding that Mr. Settle's decision not to call Lambert as a defense witness was prejudicial to Dillard's trial.