Opinion ID: 1377007
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Counsel's Failure to Elicit Certain Testimony from Annie Wyatt

Text: Skillicorn next alleges that his counsel was ineffective for not eliciting testimony from Annie Wyatt that he claims would have supported his defense of lack of deliberation and because the statement would have served as mitigating evidence in the penalty phase. The testimony at issue was a hearsay declaration made by Skillicorn's co-defendant, Allen Nicklasson, to Nicklasson's girlfriend, Wyatt. A similar statement made by Nicklasson to Special Agent McOmber of the FBI was excluded as hearsay. Applying the test enunciated in Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973), this Court affirmed the decision to exclude the testimony on direct appeal. Skillicorn, 944 S.W.2d at 884-85. After the post-conviction proceeding, the motion court found that counsel was not ineffective because the proposed testimony from Wyatt was likewise inadmissible, as it, too, failed the Chambers test. Additionally, the court found that the statement did not really mention Skillicorn's involvement in the murder. The crux of Wyatt's testimony at the post-conviction hearing centered around whether Nicklasson ever made a statement indicating that Nicklasson, Skillicorn, and DeGraffenreid had a plan to kill Richard Drummond. According to Wyatt, Nicklasson denied that there was a plan to kill Drummond. These statements made to Wyatt are hearsay because they are offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted, i.e., that, if believed, the statement would tend to negate the deliberation element of murder in the first degree as defined in section 565.020. State v. Sutherland, 939 S.W.2d 373, 376 (Mo. banc 1997). Skillicorn believes that the statement, though hearsay, would still be admissible under the Chambers test. In Chambers, the United States Supreme Court enunciated a three-prong test: (1) The statement is made spontaneously to a close acquaintance shortly after the event. (2) The statement is corroborated by other evidence in the case. (3) Each statement is in a very real sense self-incriminatory and clearly against the penal interest of the declarant. 410 U.S. at 300-01, 93 S.Ct. 1038, The statement by Nicklasson to Wyatt clearly fails this three-prong test. As to prong one, the statement was made the same day of the murder. It was made by Nicklasson to his girlfriend with whom he lived in Blue Springs, Missouri. Although the motion court found that the statement was not made spontaneously to a close acquaintance, we disagree. There is no evidence to suggest that the statement was coerced from Nicklasson, nor a rehearsed statement he planned to make. The statement was made spontaneously and to a close acquaintance, thus satisfying the first prong of the Chambers test. 410 U.S. at 300, 93 S.Ct. 1038. That said, the motion court did not err on the issue of admissibility, as Nicklasson's statement fails prongs two and three of the test. Prong two requires that the statement be corroborated by other evidence in the case. The other evidence in the case actually vitiates Nicklasson's statement. At trial, the state showed that Skillicorn intended to lose Richard Drummond in the woods and that Nicklasson was going to do something to this guy. Skillicorn, 944 S.W.2d at 882. As Nicklasson led Drummond into the woods, it was apparent that Nicklasson had no rope to tie Drummond up with but did have a loaded handgun, the same weapon ultimately used to murder Drummond in an execution-style fashion. Id. at 883. Thus, Nicklasson's statement was not corroborated by other evidence in the case. Chambers, 410 U.S. at 300, 93 S.Ct. 1038. Likewise, Nicklasson's statement fails the third prong of Chambers. While the statement is incriminating in the sense that Nicklasson admits to killing Drummond, it is also exculpatory because, like his statement to the FBI, which was excluded at trial, it tries to minimize the deliberate nature of the crime. Whether Nicklasson actually shot and killed Drummond was never truly an issue in Skillicorn's casehe admitted as much in a confession to Special Agent McOmber of the FBI. Nicklasson's statement does not incriminate himself or Skillicorn as to deliberation, which was an issue at trial. Thus, the statement fails the third prong of Chambers. 410 U.S. at 300-01, 93 S.Ct. 1038. Counsel is not ineffective for failing to offer inadmissible hearsay. State v. Williams, 936 S.W.2d 828, 833 (Mo.App. 1996). As to this point, the trial court did not clearly err in making its findings of fact and conclusions of law. Hall, 982 S.W.2d at 680.