Opinion ID: 852198
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Gina DiDonato

Text: For his next allegation of deficient performance Kubsch faults trial counsel for eliciting certain testimony from Gina DiDonato. The essential facts are these. The State called Kubsch's friend Dave Nichols as a witness. Among other things Nichols testified that he spoke with Kubsch on the telephone around eight o'clock on the evening of the murders and Kubsch told him that Aaron and Rick had been shot and stabbed and that Beth was also dead. Tr.2 at 2454-56. At that point, police had not yet discovered that Beth was dead or that Aaron and Rick had been shot. See Tr.2 at 1478-79, 1612, 1666-67, 1691, 2583. Defense counsel cross-examined Nichols in an attempt to establish that he may have heard this information from someone other than Kubsch. Tr.2 at 2464. In order to advance the defense theory that Nichols was mistaken about where he heard the information, counsel called DiDonato  Nichols' ex-wife  to testify that she had heard the same information in the form of rumors in January of 1999 at the restaurant where she worked and that she relayed those rumors to Nichols. Tr.2 at 2930-31. DiDonato testified that she heard from a jailer that Kubsch had been bragging in jail about shooting Aaron and Rick in the mouth. Tr.2 at 2930-31. The jailer was not called to testify, however there is a police report indicating that the jailer denied ever making such a statement. See Appellant's App.PCR at 456-57. Kubsch contends that DiDonato's testimony was inaccurate and highly prejudicial to the defense. Kubsch seems to contend that the statement from the jailer to police indicating that he disagreed with DiDonato's rendition of the conversation proves that DiDonato's testimony was inaccurate. Regardless of whether DiDonato's testimony was accurate, the use of her testimony was a reasonable trial strategy. The State introduced evidence through Nichols that Kubsch had shared details of the murders unknown to anyone other than the killer at the time of the conversation. It was not unreasonable for counsel to try to convince the jury that Nichols may have heard this information several months later from a gossiping waitress. Furthermore by choosing not to call the jailer to impeach DiDonato's testimony that she heard a rumor at work, counsel avoided reinforcing Nichols' testimony that Kubsch was the source of the information before police discovered Beth's body or the gunshot wounds to Aaron and Rick. See, e.g., Roche v. State, 690 N.E.2d 1115, 1126 (Ind.1997) (noting that a matter of trial strategy cannot form the basis for establishing ineffective assistance of trial counsel unless there was no sound basis for not pursuing the strategy).