Opinion ID: 1888436
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: did the trial court erroneously permit hearsay evidence about mr. fletcher's prior conviction and were standby and appellate counsel ineffective in failing to raise the issue?

Text: Appellant complains that appellate counsel were ineffective for not asserting that trial counsel was ineffective for not objecting on hearsay grounds to the introduction of the contents of an arrest warrant affidavit issued for Appellant regarding a charge of robbery lodged against him prior to the murder herein. After Appellant testified during the penalty hearing, the Commonwealth introduced evidence that Appellant had entered a guilty plea to a robbery charge for purposes of undermining Appellant's credibility with this crimen falsi crime. N.T. 2/2/93, 146-148. None of the details of the robbery were presented to the jury. However, in cross-examining the witness through whom the existence of the conviction was introduced, trial counsel implied by his questioning that Appellant had entered a guilty plea to a charge he did not actually commit. N.T. 2/2/93, 148-152. In rebuttal, the Commonwealth was granted permission, over objection, to have its witness read into the record the contents of the affidavit. The trial court overruled the objection after finding that trial counsel had opened the door to the admission of the contents of the affidavit through his cross-examination of the witness. N.T. 2/2/93, 152-156. Appellant now submits that the affidavit contained two inadmissible double-hearsay statements made by the complainant in the robbery and trial counsel should have objected to its admission into evidence on this ground. Instead, trial counsel proffered a general objection and then a motion for a mistrial. [60] Appellant's Brief, 91. The Commonwealth asks us to reject this claim because Appellant failed to provide legal support for it. The Commonwealth also argues that this claim was raised and rejected in Fletcher I and thus is unreviewable because it was previously litigated. Commonwealth's Brief, 97-98. In Fletcher I, Appellant argued on direct appeal that the trial court erred by permitting the Commonwealth's witness to read the affidavit into evidence because the affidavit contained inflammatory material and inadmissible hearsay. See Appellant's Brief and Record on Direct Appeal, 70. This Court held that Appellant's claim was meritless because the Commonwealth was properly granted the right to rebut the inference of innocence generated by trial counsel's questions of the Commonwealth's witness. Fletcher I, 750 A.2d at 278. In addition, this Court noted that the trial court gave the jury extensive instructions concerning the prior robbery conviction which included the admonition that the jury could only use that evidence to assess Appellant's credibility. Id. Given that direct appeal counsel did raise the issue Appellant now presents on direct appeal and in the absence of any separate challenge to appellate counsel's performance related thereto, it is clear that he was not ineffective and that Appellant's claim fails.