Opinion ID: 2546714
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Cross-Examination of Officer Venable

Text: Baumruk claims that the motion court clearly erred in overruling, without an evidentiary hearing, his claim that his counsel was ineffective for cross-examining Venable during the penalty phase as to whether Baumruk's jail file showed violent behavior prior to his assault of Bland. Baumruk claims that this question allowed Venable to testify about an incident where Baumruk stabbed a social worker [6] with a pencil. After Venable testified regarding Baumruk's assault on Bland, Baumruk's counsel attempted to impeach this evidence by asking Venable if there was anything in Baumruk's file indicating that he had previously been violent within the jail. Venable answered: I don't think there was anything current. In the past he had been violent in the facility. I'm aware of at least one incident where he stabbed a social worker with a pencil, a lead pencil. At the time that this incident occurred it was not in his file. Though a portion of this answer was non-responsive to the question asked, no objection was made. The motion court overruled the request for an evidentiary hearing on this claim because it found that it was refuted by the trial transcript. The court noted that counsel's question only inquired as to whether Baumruk's file reflected any violent behavior prior to the assault on Bland, not whether Venable had any recollection of any other violent behavior. Further, it noted that an objection by counsel to the answer as non-responsive would have risked highlighting the answer to the jury. Defense counsel cannot be ineffective for attempting to impeach the state's witness and receiving a nonresponsive statement. State v. Shurn, 866 S.W.2d 447, 469-70 (Mo. banc 1993). As the motion court recognized, it was reasonable strategy for Baumruk's counsel to not object to this response in order to avoid highlighting this incident to the jury. See State v. Tokar, 918 S.W.2d 753, 768 (Mo. banc 1996).