Opinion ID: 4525130
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Victim’s Guilty Plea Court Record

Text: At the postconviction evidentiary hearing, McFadden submitted a certified court record, which indicated that Victim had pleaded guilty to second-degree drug trafficking for possessing six or more grams of cocaine base. Although introduction of this record would have rebutted the evidence of Victim’s good character by demonstrating his involvement with drugs, counsel were not ineffective for failing to present evidence that was cumulative to other evidence presented at trial. Forrest, 290 S.W.3d at 709. During trial, counsel presented evidence that Victim possessed cocaine at the time of his death and further emphasized this point during closing argument. During the crossexaminations of Victim’s mother and girlfriend, counsel elicited that both witnesses were unaware of Victim’s involvement with drugs. 13 Although evidence that Victim possessed cocaine is not the equivalent of evidence of a second-degree drug trafficking conviction, McFadden has failed to prove there is a reasonable probability that the jury – which heard evidence regarding Victim’s history of cocaine possession – would not have recommended the death penalty had Victim’s conviction record been admitted into evidence. For this reason, the circuit court did not clearly err in denying McFadden’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim for counsel’s failure to present evidence of the guilty plea court record.