Opinion ID: 2242801
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Object: Improper Cross-Examination

Text: Defendant next claims that he did not receive effective assistance of counsel because trial counsel failed to object to: (1) a statement by a prison investigator that defendant invoked his right to remain silent after he had received Miranda warnings; (2) the prosecutor's improper elicitation of testimony, on cross-examination of a defense witness, that his aggravated battery conviction had been reduced from attempted murder; and (3) the prosecutor's insinuation, in cross-examining another defense witness, that the witness had changed his story, without evidentiary support. Defendant also alleges that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise on direct review these allegations of trial counsel's incompetence. Defendant raised these instances of the prosecutor's allegedly improper cross-examination on direct review. This court held that defendant waived review of these issues, and that the prosecutor's conduct did not rise to the level of plain error. Easley, 148 Ill.2d at 321-23, 336, 170 Ill.Dec. 356, 592 N.E.2d 1036. Since the actions complained of did not rise to the level of plain error, the failure of defendant's trial counsel to object thereto did not prejudice defendant under Strickland. See, e.g., People v. Shaw, 186 Ill.2d 301, 330-32, 239 Ill.Dec. 311, 713 N.E.2d 1161 (1998); People v. Williams, 181 Ill.2d 297, 322-26, 229 Ill.Dec. 898, 692 N.E.2d 1109 (1998). Trial counsel cannot be deemed ineffective for failing to preserve these issues for review; correspondingly, incompetence cannot be assigned to appellate counsel. The circuit court properly dismissed this claim. Defendant also claims that the cumulative effect of his trial counsel's evidentiary errors deprived him of effective assistance of counsel at the guilt phase of the trial. Defendant contends that, but for these errors, there is a reasonable probability that the outcome of the trial would have been different. The circuit court properly dismissed this claim. We have rejected each of these claims. Thus, there can be no cumulative effect. See Evans, 186 Ill.2d at 103, 237 Ill.Dec. 118, 708 N.E.2d 1158.