Opinion ID: 2610902
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Ayala's Police Agent Status

Text: In a related argument, defendant contends the trial court erred in failing to afford him the opportunity to demonstrate that his sister, Silvia Ayala, was acting as a police agent at the time she met with him in jail, as previously discussed. The point lacks merit. At the foundational hearing aimed at determining the admissibility of evidence of defendant's adoptive admission, evidence was adduced indicating that Mrs. Ayala had previously been told by police officers of the charges against defendant, and that she was allowed by the officers to visit him in private. Although Mrs. Ayala was not asked by the police to discuss the charges with defendant, she was interrogated by a police investigator immediately following her visit. As previously indicated, Mrs. Ayala related defendant's conduct and statements to the officers. Defense counsel, evidently hoping to establish that the officers were giving Mrs. Ayala special treatment, asked her whether they had informed her of the jail policy to allow defendant no visitors other than an attorney or bondsman. The prosecutor's hearsay objection was sustained. Defendant did not call police personnel to directly establish jail visitation policy, or to determine whether the officers informed Mrs. Ayala regarding such policy. Nor did defendant ask the officers about her possible status as a police agent. Defendant now complains he was improperly foreclosed from attempting to establish Mrs. Ayala's police agent status by showing that she been given special visitation privileges in return for eliciting inculpatory statements from her brother. (See, e.g., Kuhlmann v. Wilson (1986) 477 U.S. 436, 459 [91 L.Ed.2d 364, 384-385, 106 S.Ct. 2616]; Rhode Island v. Innis (1980) 446 U.S. 291, 301 [64 L.Ed.2d 297, 308, 100 S.Ct. 1682].) None of the police agent cases cited by defendant indicates that it would have been improper for the officers to grant an inmate's relatives special visitation privileges in the unspoken hope that they might elicit statements from defendant and inform the officers thereof. (See Arizona v. Mauro (1987) 481 U.S. 520, 529 [95 L.Ed.2d 458, 468, 107 S.Ct. 1931].) In any event, it is apparent that defendant had ample opportunity to explore the issue through his own examination of the police officers, yet he failed to do so. The People's successful hearsay objection certainly did not preclude such alternate methods of inquiry. (8) Defendant suggests his trial counsel may have been incompetent in failing to pursue such further inquiry. Yet it is entirely possible counsel tactically declined to pursue the matter, doubting he could establish that defendant's sister was an agent of the government and acting against his best interests. (See People v. Pope (1979) 23 Cal.3d 412, 426 [152 Cal. Rptr. 732, 590 P.2d 859, 2 A.L.R.4th 1].) Moreover, to establish grounds for relief based on incompetence of counsel, defendant must show a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's omissions, the verdict would have been different. ( Strickland v. Washington (1984) 466 U.S. 668, 694 [80 L.Ed.2d 674, 697-698, 104 S.Ct. 2052].) No such showing is made here. Defendant has not demonstrated that further inquiry would have established Mrs. Ayala's status as a police agent, or that as a consequence defendant's adoptive admission would have been excluded. Thus, we have no basis for concluding counsel's omission prejudiced defendant's case.