Opinion ID: 1881741
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the appellant was denied effective assistance of counsel.

Text: ¶ 28. Sanders contends that her trial attorney denied her effective assistance of counsel which resulted in extreme prejudice to her case. Sanders cites several of defense counsel's actions as prejudicial error. She points out counsel's failure to file a pretrial motion to suppress her in-custody statement; counsel's failure to object to the District Attorney's opening remarks which discussed Sanders's confession; counsel's failure to give an opening statement; counsel's waiver of the Agee, 185 So.2d 671, rule requiring all officers present during the confession to testify; counsel's failure to explore the issue of her cocaine addiction in relation to her confession, counsel's failure to object to the admission of the shotgun and yard tools and failure to establish a chain of custody; counsel's failure to cross examine the pathologist on the trajectory of the gunshot; and, counsel's failure to object to the prosecutor's closing remarks. Sanders submits that her counsel did not meet the objective standards of attorney performance and pursuant to Strickland offered ineffective assistance. ¶ 29. The State asserts that Sanders fails to argue that her trial counsel lacked strategy or that his performance was so deficient as to require the trial court to declare a mistrial sua sponte. The State charges that Sanders complaints consist of omissions, which she contends are unprofessional errors. The State, however, suggests that the errors asserted are within the ambit of trial strategy. Hall v. State, 735 So.2d 1124, 1127 (Miss.Ct.App.1999). The State concludes that Sanders's counsel trial strategy did not prejudice the case to a level that would warrant reversal and, thus, this error should be denied. ¶ 30. When reviewing claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, this Court utilizes the standard set forth in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). This Court, in Schmitt v. State, 560 So.2d 148, 154 (Miss.1990), has held that before counsel can be deemed to have been ineffective, it must be shown (1) that counsel's performance was deficient and (2) that the defendant was prejudiced by counsel's mistakes. One who claims that counsel was ineffective must overcome the presumption that counsel's performance falls within the range of reasonable professional assistance. Id. at 154. To overcome this presumption, the defendant must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Id. (quoting Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052). There is a presumption that a trial attorney's performance is competent. Edwards v. State, 615 So.2d 590, 596 (Miss.1993). Under Strickland, it further is presumed that the conduct of a trial attorney is reasonable, and that decisions made during trial are strategic. Id. ¶ 31. This issue is without merit. In the defense's motion for directed verdict, it appears that defense counsel's trial strategy was to argue that Sanders did not have the requisite intent to commit a burglary. Nor, did she have the requisite intent to commit a murder in the course of that burglary. In recognizing that Sanders's statement implicated her in the burglary, defense counsel argued that the statement only supported the inference that the shooting was accidental. Counsel suggests that the shooting was without malice and amounts to felony manslaughter. Defense counsel contends that felony manslaughter is not an enumerated offense which can be used to support a capital murder charge. ¶ 32. As to the objection to the admissibility of the statement, defense counsel admitted that he only recently learned that Sanders was contesting the voluntariness of the statement. Counsel proceeded stating: I need to protect her record and her interests and since they are going to comment about what she told him in a statement, I would ask the court, for the limited purpose of the admissibility of it, to let me have about a five-minute suppression hearing. This argument, even if not a part of defense counsel's original strategy, became a part of his strategy in defending Sanders. When counsel requested this suppression hearing, he did so before the detective was allowed to repeat the statement to the jury. But see Yarbrough v. State, 529 So.2d 659, 662 (Miss.1988) (reversing conviction based on ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to ask for a pre-trial suppression hearing of improper line-up before the jury heard about the identification). Thus, this portion of Sanders's argument fails. ¶ 33. Addressing the first prong of the Strickland test, nothing in the record supports Sanders's allegations that defense counsel was deficient in his representation at trial or that Sanders was prejudiced as a result. In defense counsel's motion for directed verdict the crux of the defense's argument appears to be that there was no intent on Sanders's part to commit a burglary and that the shooting was accidental, thus, arguably there would have been no need to deny that Sanders shot O.D. Winford, or made a statement that she did so. ¶ 34. Further, contrary to Sanders's assertion otherwise, in closing arguments, her trial counsel did discuss the downward trajectory of the gunshot, and the alleged inability of Sanders to shoot Winford from that angle. He also commented on the evidence of the tools and the shotgun arguing that there were no prints or blood that connected Sanders to the crime scene. Moreover, he also alleged that all of the evidence presented at trial was circumstantial and that Sanders's statement was inconsistent with the evidence presented and was nothing more than a bunch of lies. These arguments were part of the defense counsel's trial strategy and do not suggest deficient performance. Given the totality of the circumstances and the deferential standard of review for claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, this assignment of error is without merit.