Opinion ID: 2422962
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Failure to Object to Commentary on Lack of Remorse

Text: Lesko next argues that the prosecutor objectionably elicited evidence of, and then commented on, his lack of remorse at the time of arrest and that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to properly preserve an objection and pursue the issue on direct appeal. This argument involves Commonwealth witness Detective Frank Amity, who testified at the resentencing that Lesko gave police a statement after his arrest for the murder of Peter Levato, and after he had been given Miranda warnings. After Detective Amity read Lesko's statement into the record, the prosecutor asked the detective what Lesko's demeanor was at the time of this interview. Detective Amity responded, I couldn't see where he had any remorse over what he did. N.T., 2/10/1995, at 62. Trial counsel objected, and the trial court sustained the objection and instructed the jury to disregard the statement. Id. at 62-63. The prosecutor then cautioned the detective not to offer a conclusion, and rephrased his question, not in terms of demeanor, but in terms of what Lesko expressed during the interview: [w]as there any remorse expressed by him at this interview? Detective Amity responded, no. Id. at 63. This time, counsel did not object. Thereafter, however, counsel requested a mistrial, asserting that the prosecutor snuck in the testimony of absence of remorse. The prosecutor responded he did not prompt Detective Amity in any way in terms of telling him to say there was no remorse and also stated that it was not prejudicial because the issue was made relevant by the defense argument that Lesko had shown remorse. The trial court denied the motion for a mistrial. The prosecutor referred to the exchange in closing, asserting that Lesko's attitude had not changed while he was in prison. According to Lesko, this line of inquiry and comment improperly introduced a non-statutory aggravating circumstance (absence of remorse) for the jury's consideration. Lesko avers that counsel's failure to object to the second exchange was inexplicable and then he declares that counsel could have had no reasonable strategy for failing to object and for failing to pursue the claim on appeal. The Commonwealth responds that the evidence and commentary it produced on Lesko's lack of remorse was a fair and proper response to the defense penalty phase opening, and Lesko's subsequent testimony, that Lesko felt remorse for his crimes. [22] The PCRA court likewise concluded that the underlying issue was without merit because Lesko had put his remorse at issue. In a brief, final paragraph of his argument Lesko responds that the PCRA court erred in holding that he opened the door to rebuttal evidence on remorse because it was simply impermissible for the Commonwealth to rebut his remorse mitigation evidence with evidence concerning his silence at the time of his arrest. Brief of Appellant Lesko, at 38-39. In support of this argument, Lesko cites to Cooper v. Oklahoma, 517 U.S. 348, 354, 116 S.Ct. 1373, 134 L.Ed.2d 498 (1996), for the boilerplate proposition that the right to remain silent without penalty for doing so is a fundamental trial right. Lesko's primary underlying argument, i.e., that rebuttal evidence about his lack of remorse violated his constitutional rights by introducing a non-statutory aggravating circumstance, is meritless. In general, the credibility of a witness may be impeached by any evidence relevant to the issue, except as provided by statute or rule. See Pa.R.E. 607(b). Relevant evidence is defined as evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact. . . more probable or less probable. . . . Pa.R.E. 401. Moreover, the U.S. Supreme Court has indicated that a defendant cannot claim a Fifth Amendment privilege against cross-examination or prosecutorial comment on matters reasonably related to his credibility or the subject matter of his testimony. See Jenkins v. Anderson, 447 U.S. 231, 235-36, 100 S.Ct. 2124, 65 L.Ed.2d 86 (1980); Harrison, supra . In this case, Lesko produced affirmative evidence of his remorse as a mitigating circumstance, and counsel argued the point in both opening and closing to the jury. The Commonwealth obviously was entitled to challenge the sincerity of the late expression, no less than it was entitled to rebut his testimony of voluntary intoxication by noting the failure to forward that claim when he testified at the first sentencing proceeding. See Lesko, 719 A.2d at 222. Rebuttal of mitigation evidence does not introduce a non-statutory, additional aggravating circumstance; hence, Lesko's claim of counsel ineffectiveness fails. Of course, the question of whether the particular manner of rebuttal here was proper, a point which Lesko adds in the final paragraph of his argument, is different and distinct. As noted, Lesko argues that rebutting his claim of remorse with evidence of his failure to express remorse at the time of his arrest was improper because admitting such evidence is simply impermissible. [23] Lesko does not develop this absolutist argument any further, and it was not addressed by the Commonwealth or the PCRA court. The PCRA court's failure to address this sub-argument no doubt resulted from the confusing and prolix nature of Lesko's filings below. Lesko did not raise this sub-issue in his initial PCRA petition; instead, his complaint tracked his primary theory that the Commonwealth injected an improper aggravating circumstance by rebutting his expression of remorse. In his second supplement to the petition, Lesko did include a one-paragraph argument stating that comments on a defendant's failure to express remorse violate the Fifth Amendment. Notably for present purposes, however, Lesko did not specifically tie the argument to the right to remain silent at the time of arrest, as he does now. Rather, Lesko simply declared that, had [he] expressed remorse for the killing, the Commonwealth would have presented that as evidence of guilt at trial. Eliciting the absence of such a confession violates the Fifth Amendment and Article 1, Section 9 (a defendant `cannot be compelled to give evidence against himself) as much at the guilt-stage as it does at sentence. Second Supplement at 32-33, ¶ 610. Lesko then appended a general ineffectiveness paragraph to the entire claim two paragraphs later. It is not clear that the one-paragraph theory appended to Lesko's primary argument on appeal is the same as the one belatedly identified below; hence, the claim arguably is waived. See Pa.R.A.P. 302. In any event, whether waived or not, the claim does not warrant a grant of relief. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a defendant's silence following Miranda warnings is insolubly ambiguous and thus cannot be used at trial for impeachment purposes. See Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610, 96 S.Ct. 2240, 49 L.Ed.2d 91 (1976). However, the High Court has also explained that if the defendant waives his right to be silent and talks to the police, as Lesko did here, then Doyle's prohibition does not apply to cross-examination that inquires into the prior statements. Such questioning makes no unfair use of silence because a defendant who voluntarily speaks after receiving Miranda warnings has not been induced to remain silent. As to the subject matter of his statements, the defendant has not remained silent at all. Anderson v. Charles, 447 U.S. 404, 408, 100 S.Ct. 2180, 65 L.Ed.2d 222 (per curiam) (1980). The Court has not clarified whether the Fifth Amendment prohibits using a defendant's failure to volunteer his remorse as a basis upon which to infer a lack of remorse. See, e.g., Mitchell v. United States, 526 U.S. 314, 330, 119 S.Ct. 1307, 143 L.Ed.2d 424 (1999) (Whether silence bears upon the determination of a lack of remorse, or upon acceptance of responsibility for purposes of the downward adjustment provided in § 3E1.1 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines (1998), is a separate question. It is not before us, and we express no view on it.). Lesko's absolutist argument fails to address these complexities. The Fourth Circuit recently discussed the remorse question in United States v. Caro, 597 F.3d 608, 629 (4th Cir.2010), pointing out that there was a split of authority among the federal courts as to whether the Fifth Amendment prohibits using silence to show lack of remorse. Notably, the Caro court cited the Third Circuit Lesko decision as an example of a case opining that a defendant's failure to apologize, i.e., his silence as to remorse may not be considered as lack of remorse, consistently with the Fifth Amendment. But, the Caro court also noted that other circuits had concluded that silence may be considered as indicating a lack of remorse without violating the Fifth Amendment because lack of remorse speaks to other penological interests, such as a failure to accept responsibility for the crime, rehabilitation and deterrence. Thus, at the very least, the Fifth Amendment basis for objection posed by Lesko is not so easily determined as he would have it. Further complicating any assessment of trial counsel's stewardship in failing to forward a Fifth Amendment-based objection to the reference to Lesko's failure to volunteer remorse when he spoke to the police is the state of the law in Pennsylvania at the time of resentencing. At that point, this Court had repeatedly held that a defendant's right against self-incrimination had no application in the penalty phase of a capital trial. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Edmiston, 535 Pa. 210, 634 A.2d 1078 (1993); Commonwealth v. Travaglia, 502 Pa. 474, 467 A.2d 288 (1983). Indeed, we continued to follow this principle until Commonwealth v. Freeman, 573 Pa. 532, 827 A.2d 385 (2003), when we recognized that the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 1981 that the Fifth Amendment privilege in fact applies to the penalty phase of capital trials: Notwithstanding the line of authority from this Court relied upon by the Commonwealth, it appears that the United States Supreme Court  the ultimate authority on Fifth Amendment questions  has indicated that the constitutional privilege does apply to the penalty phase of capital trials. See Estelle v. Smith, 451 U.S. 454, 462-63, 101 S.Ct. 1866, 68 L.Ed.2d 359 (1981) (We can discern no basis to distinguish between the guilt and penalty phases of [a] capital murder trial so far as the protection of the Fifth Amendment privilege is concerned.); see also Mitchell v. United States, 526 U.S. 314, 325, 119 S.Ct. 1307, 143 L.Ed.2d 424 (1999) (Where a sentence has yet to be imposed . . . this Court has already rejected the proposition that `incrimination is complete once guilt has been adjudicated') (quoting Estelle, 451 U.S. at 462, 101 S.Ct. 1866, 68 L.Ed.2d 359). 827 A.2d at 410. In posing his absolutist Fifth Amendment theory, and then claiming counsel was ineffective for not pursuing that theory, Lesko does not account for the complicating factor of the extant precedent of this Court in 1995. Consistently with Strickland, this Court has been wary of holding counsel ineffective for failing to object when the governing law was unsettled. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Fletcher, 604 Pa. 493, 986 A.2d 759, 801 (2009) (counsel not ineffective when his conduct was predicated on established law or when he failed to predict change in law). On the other hand, Estelle was the controlling U.S. Supreme Court authority on the question of the applicability of the Fifth Amendment privilege at capital penalty proceedings, and it was in existence at the time of resentencing. Of equal relevance, counsel had available to him the federal habeas opinion in this very case that he argued in the Third Circuit, where the court had parted ways with this Court's conclusion that Fifth Amendment violations were not cognizable in penalty phase proceedings, citing to Estelle. Moreover, although federal law was not clear then (nor is it now) respecting whether the Fifth Amendment prohibits the type of impeachment at issue in this case  where Lesko waived his Miranda rights and gave a police statement, but where the no remorse inference was being drawn from a failure to volunteer remorsecounsel again had to have been aware of the Third Circuit's holding in the habeas appeal in this case. Whether right or wrong, as discussed in our resolution of the prior issue, the Third Circuit held that the Commonwealth's argument at the first penalty phase that Lesko had failed to express remorse when he testified was an improper comment on his right against self-incrimination at trial. The panel viewed the commentary on remorse to be a matter going to the merits of the charges against Lesko, as to which he had a right to remain silent, and concluded that Lesko did not broach that subject merely because he had testified to his abusive childhood and family circumstances as mitigation evidence, while remaining silent concerning remorse. Under these circumstances, and solely for purposes of decision, we will assume that counsel could have forwarded a Fifth Amendment-based objection to the form of the Commonwealth's manner of rebutting Lesko's expression of remorse, and we will assume further that such an objection might have been sustained because of the Third Circuit's conclusion in the habeas proceedings. Lesko's ineffectiveness claim nevertheless fails because he has not proven Strickland prejudice, i.e., a reasonable probability that the outcome of the resentencing proceeding would have been different but for this rebuttal. As discussed previously, Lesko himself was permitted to testify as to his changed character and his remorse for his crimes, as a mitigating circumstance. [24] Defense counsel also presented the testimony of Graterford Prison Chaplain Hamid Abdul, who supported Lesko's testimony by testifying as to Lesko's service to others during his incarceration on death row, the fact that he had found faith, and that Lesko was repentant. N.T., 2/14/1995, at 647-657. Lesko's expression of remorse was in the present tense, and was part of a larger claim that he was a changed person after being imprisoned on death row for fifteen years. Defense counsel's closing argument highlighted the theory when he stated, [w]e know that something has happened in the life of John Lesko in the prison in Graterford. We know that something happened. Counsel argued that there was something vital happening in Lesko's life, noting that Chaplain Abdul had testified that Lesko had been affected by his life in prison in a positive manner. N.T., 2/16/1995, 187, 193. Concluding this line of argument, defense counsel stated: Do we see any of that in the life of John Lesko before say 1984, 1985? No. We see drugs. We see molestation. We see sex. Wee [sic] see despair. We see hopelessness. We see anger. We see rage, quiet rage, the worst kind of rage, internalized rage, quiet rage, the most deadly rage. Not once in the story presented to you did you hear of John Lesko doing good work and what's happened in that cell in Graterford Prison. . . . John has helped bring sanity to hell. That's the some [sic] and substance of the Chaplain's words. Id. at 194-95. Lesko never intimated that he had felt remorse at the time of this murder or his other crimes. But, the prosecutor's rebuttal was backward-looking, as it was limited to Lesko's failure to express remorse at the time of his arrest. The Commonwealth's rebuttal did not address Lesko's overarching I'm a changed man theme. Notably, and presumably as a result of Lesko's remorse and reformation testimony and the corroborating testimony of Chaplain Abdul, at least one juror found as a mitigating circumstance Lesko's change in character over the last fifteen years of his confinement under the catchall mitigator, 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(e)(8). Thus, it appears that Detective Amity's statement regarding Lesko's failure to express remorse at arrest was unsuccessful at blunting the point in mitigation that Lesko sought to make. On this record, and particularly in light of the strength of the aggravating circumstances (as we have addressed at length above), we conclude that Lesko has not proven Strickland prejudice.