Opinion ID: 2636899
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Treatment of Allen Hacker's alleged statement.

Text: Appellant argues that undoubtedly trial counsel had a copy of FBI Agent McKevitt's report regarding his interview with Allen Hacker in which, McKevitt testified, Allen Hacker told McKevitt that appellant often read The Anarchist Cookbook and seemed interested in killing women. Therefore, he argues, counsel should have anticipated, before calling Allen Hacker as a defense witness, that the prosecution would offer McKevitt's statement in rebuttal. Counsel should have sought a ruling on the admissibility of McKevitt's testimony before Hacker took the stand. This argument is no more than an invitation to second-guess trial counsel's tactics. As appears above, their primary defense was an effort to persuade the jury that the murders were not premeditated. They obviously believed that Allen Hacker's testimony was important to dispel any implication to that effect in the prosecutor's opening statement. We will not engage in this type of second-guessing. We cannot say on this record that the tactic chosen was one that competent counsel would not elect. Moreover, in light of the extensive evidence of premeditation, even were we to conclude otherwise it is not reasonably probable that a different verdict would have been reached had Hacker's and McKevitt's testimony not been heard by the jury.