Opinion ID: 886072
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Enger's Civil Lawsuit

Text: ¶ 28 Hagen asserts that further investigation would have revealed that Enger had filed a civil lawsuit against Hagen which was pending at the time of Hagen's trial. As a result of that lawsuit, Hagen contends that Enger had a financial stake in the outcome of the trial. The State contends that the jury was aware that Enger suffered significant physical injuries from the shooting and could reasonably infer that Enger would seek monetary redress for his medical injuries. ¶ 29 We agree that disclosing a civil suit would have demonstrated a financial interest in the outcome of this prosecution and would have been relevant. However, the record does not disclose that counsel failed to investigate the suit or why counsel chose not to offer evidence of the suit, if he knew of it. Most critically, however, we are unable to conclude that evidence of the suit would have produced a different result in the context of all the evidence offered at Hagen's trial. Therefore, we conclude that the District Court did not err by its resolution of this claim.