Opinion ID: 1107701
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Call a Gynecologist

Text: Belcher argues that defense counsel was ineffective for failing to retain its own gynecologist to stress that the comparatively minimal injuries found in the victim's vagina could have been caused by a great many things besides sexual battery. Belcher asserts that such an expert could have assisted defense counsel in better understanding and addressing the State's witness, Dr. Bonifacio Floro, the medical examiner. This claim was addressed at the evidentiary hearing below, wherein Chipperfield testified the attorneys felt that Dr. Floro could give them what they wanted at the trial. Buzzell likewise testified that he and Chipperfield were satisfied with the information they were able to obtain from Dr. Floro. Postconviction counsel also called Dr. John Borderlin, a gynecologist, at the evidentiary hearing in an effort to demonstrate the kind of expert opinion that trial counsel could have presented during the guilt phase. Dr. Borderlin testified regarding the vaginal injuries sustained by the victim, agreeing that they were not consistent with consensual normal sex, but that they could be the result of rough consensual sex. On cross-examination, however, Dr. Borderlin confirmed that he had no disputes with the testimony given by the State's expert during the guilt-phase trial, and he agreed that there was evidence of a sexual battery. He testified that it was his opinion that the sex in this case was not consensual and was against the victim's will. We affirm the lower court's decision to deny relief on this claim as Belcher has established neither deficient performance nor prejudice. First, Belcher cannot establish deficient performance for failure to retain an expert witness when defense counsel rigorously challenged the State's own witness. This Court rejected a similar argument in Reed v. State, 875 So.2d 415 (Fla.2004), where the defendant alleged ineffective assistance of trial counsel for failing to retain a defense expert; however, we held that to be unnecessary where defense counsel cross-examined the State's experts to establish the facts necessary for the defense. Id. at 427-28. In the instant case, Belcher himself identifies in his brief the ways in which defense counsel attacked Dr. Floro's testimony; for example, Dr. Floro agreed that it is possible for a woman to sustain such vaginal injuries in vigorous, consensual intercourse. Dr. Floro also admitted that the sperm swabbed from the victim's vagina could have been deposited in the victim's body over a fairly large period of time, anywhere from three to six days prior to the victim's death, up to just six hours prior to the victim's death. Thus, the record makes clear that defense counsel attempted to confront the evidence of a sexual battery not through its own expert, but by vigorously challenging the State's expert. Belcher cannot premise a postconviction claim of ineffective assistance based on a reasonable strategic decision by his trial counsel. See Occhicone, 768 So.2d at 1048. Belcher is also unable to establish prejudice to his defense, given that the expert obtained for the postconviction proceedings came to the same conclusions as Dr. Floro, namely that the victim evidenced signs of a sexual battery. Relief on this claim was properly denied.