Opinion ID: 1972346
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ineffectiveness of Counsel Victim's Prior Sexual Activity

Text: Appellant claims that trial counsel was ineffective for not making use of evidence that the victim engaged in sexual activity with her stepbrother. The gist of appellant's argument appears to be that trial counsel should have offered this evidence either as an alternative explanation of the victim's behavior patterns to which Mr. Battinieri testified or as a further reason why Mr. Battinieri's testimony should not be admitted. It is axiomatic that counsel will not be held ineffective for failing to assert a baseless claim. Commonwealth v. Hubbard, 472 Pa. 259, 372 A.2d 687 (1977). We hold that appellant's claim is meritless because the Rape Shield Law, 18 Pa.C.S. § 3104(a), bars the admission of evidence of prior sexual activity between the victim and the stepbrother. The Rape Shield Law provides: (a) General rule.  Evidence of specific instances of the alleged victim's past sexual conduct, opinion evidence of the alleged victim's past sexual conduct, and reputation evidence of the alleged victim's past sexual conduct shall not be admissible in prosecutions under this chapter except evidence of the alleged victim's past sexual conduct with the defendant where consent of alleged victim is at issue and such evidence is otherwise admissible pursuant to the rules of evidence. Appellant argues that evidence of a sexual relationship between the victim and her stepbrother would nevertheless be admissible under Commonwealth v. Black, 337 Pa.Super. 548, 487 A.2d 396 (1985). In Black the defendant was accused of engaging in incestuous sexual activity with his daughter. The daughter first made the allegations of sexual abuse after violent arguments between her fifteen-year-old brother and the defendant culminated in the brother leaving the family home. The defendant sought to introduce evidence of an ongoing consensual sexual relationship between the daughter and her brother. The defendant contended that the admission of this evidence was necessary to reveal the daughter's bias and motive to falsify, because it tended to show she had a reason to retaliate against her father for forcing her brother to leave home. This Court agreed, holding that the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution required that the Rape Shield Law not be used to exclude relevant evidence which tended to show the prosecuting witness' bias or attack her credibility, so long as the probative value of such evidence was not outweighed by its prejudicial effects. The proffered evidence in the instant case does not fall within the ambit of Black. There is simply no link between the alleged sexual activity with the stepbrother and any possible reason for the victim to be biased against appellant. There is no evidence that appellant attempted in any way to come between the victim and her stepbrother or that appellant even knew of any sexual contact between them. Appellant claims that the victim first accused him after her efforts to run away to Florida with her boyfriend (not the stepbrother) were thwarted. This sequence of events may indeed suggest a source of bias of the victim against appellant. However, we fail to see how evidence of unrelated sexual activity with the stepbrother is relevant to a claim that the victim was biased because appellant prevented her from running away to Florida with her boyfriend. Black does not allow the use of irrelevant evidence to show bias. Therefore we hold that counsel was not ineffective for failing to introduce this inadmissible evidence. Moreover, as the Commonwealth correctly notes, the defense did call the stepbrother and elicited testimony from him to the effect that nothing untoward of sexual nature occurred in the Baldwin home. Appellant claims that this avenue was chosen only . . . after it became evident that defense counsel would not be permitted to explore the relationship between [the victim] and her stepbrother. Supplemental Brief for Appellant at 4. However, the standard against which we measure counsel's stewardship is not whether in hindsight other alternatives were available, but whether the course of action which was taken had a reasonable basis designed to effectuate the client's interests. Commonwealth ex rel. Washington v. Maroney, 427 Pa. 599, 235 A.2d 349 (1967). Clearly it was reasonable for trial counsel to elicit testimony from the stepbrother, whose bedroom adjoined that of the victim, that he knew of no unusual sexual activity in the home.