Opinion ID: 704024
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Assistance of Trial Counsel

Text: 48 McKenna argues that the State interfered with his counsel's ability to assist him at trial by effectively driving away the only experienced member of the defense team when the county failed to advance expenses to attorney Kent Robison. He contends that this left him with only the assistance of his inexperienced brother, attorney Ken McKenna, and another slightly more experienced attorney, Bruce Beesley. 49 McKenna had initially requested that his brother be appointed to represent him. His brother sought the assistance of Kent Robison, a more seasoned defense attorney, to perform as co-counsel. The trial court appointed Ken McKenna and Robison to perform as co-counsel. On the second day of voir dire, Robison was informed that the county would not make cash advances for travel and lodging. Robison, claiming financial hardship to his law firm, sought and was granted withdrawal from the case. Robison later sent Bruce Beesley, an associate from his firm, to assist McKenna at trial. Ken McKenna was left for three days as the only attorney for the defense. 50 The Nevada Supreme Court found that counsel withdrew not because the county denied him compensation, but merely because the county declined to compensate him in advance. In seeking to withdraw from representing a client charged with murder after the trial has started because the county would not advance his expenses, attorney Robison has demonstrated ethical standards that fall far short of responsible professional conduct. It is also difficult to understand why a state trial court would grant such a request when the result was to leave McKenna's defense in the hands of inexperienced counsel. Our inquiry, however, is to determine whether the performance of the remaining counsel was constitutionally deficient and prejudicial. 51 McKenna asserts that the County's refusal to advance costs constitutes state interference with counsel that creates a mandatory presumption of prejudice. McKenna relies on the following statement from Strickland: Actual or constructive denial of assistance of counsel altogether is legally presumed to result in prejudice. So are various kinds of state interference with counsel's assistance. 466 U.S. at 692, 104 S.Ct. at 2067 (citing United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 659, n. 25, 104 S.Ct. 2039, 2047, n. 25, 80 L.Ed.2d 657 (1983)). In Cronic, the Court described the type of situation from which prejudice is presumed. When counsel is totally absent, is prevented from assisting the accused at a critical stage of the proceeding, or when counsel entirely fails to subject the prosecution's case to meaningful adversarial testing, we will presume prejudice. Cronic, 466 U.S. at 659 & n. 25, 104 S.Ct. at 2047 & n. 25. 52 None of these situations apply here. Counsel was never totally absent or absent at a critical stage. McKenna was at all times represented by counsel. One of McKenna's counsel, Kent Robison, chose to withdraw because he was not satisfied with the financial arrangements. The remaining counsel were not prevented from assisting McKenna, nor were they interfered with in any way. 53 These attorneys, though inexperienced, did have the advantage of being able to review a complete prior trial record, where experienced trial counsel represented McKenna. The question is whether the representation given by these attorneys was deficient and whether any deficiencies in performance were prejudicial. 54
55 At trial, counsel sought to call inmate Frank DePalma as a defense witness. DePalma was expected to testify that the victim had violent propensities and, on the night of the murder, he saw McKenna locked in a different cell than the one where the victim was found. The trial court refused to allow DePalma to testify, stating that he was an alibi witness and counsel had not filed a notice of alibi ten days prior to trial as required by NRS 174.087. The record shows that the required notice would had to have been filed during the time Kent Robison was still participating as co-counsel. All three defense attorneys were questioned as to why a notice of alibi witness was not filed. Both Robison and Beesley were unaware of the existence of a potential alibi witness. Attorney McKenna stated that he was aware of the witness but was unaware of the procedural advance notice requirement. 56 Assuming that the failure to file the advance notice of an alibi witness was deficient performance, we conclude that this failure was not so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. On the evening of January 5, 1979, McKenna was housed in cell 4A2 with Rossi, Denson, and Nobles. The next day, January 6, at 7:25 a.m., the body of Nobles was discovered in cell 4A2. The cause of death was asphyxia from ligature strangulation. The estimated time of death was between the late evening hours of January 5 and the early morning of January 6. 57 Two eye witnesses, Rossi and Jones, not only saw McKenna in cell 4A2, but witnessed the murder. Cellmate Denson testified that the next morning, before prison officials had discovered that Nobles was dead, McKenna asked him to pass a homemade knife wrapped with fabric ligature to Harris, another inmate; Harris testified that he received this weapon. 58 In light of this overwhelming evidence and McKenna's own adoptive admission, we conclude that DePalma's expected testimony that he had seen McKenna playing poker in another cell would not have been given credence or affected the verdict. 59
60 McKenna contends that counsel was ineffective in failing to object to Detective Levos's testimony concerning his first interview with McKenna because the testimony constituted Doyle error. As we earlier discussed in section IIB1, this testimony did not constitute Doyle error and was not prejudicial and, thus, this claim is unavailing. 61
62 Report. 63 In questioning the medical examiner, counsel did not seek admission into evidence of a toxicology report showing that the victim had morphine in his bloodstream at the time of his death. McKenna argues that this evidence would have lessened sympathy for the victim. We conclude that this does not constitute deficient performance nor prejudice under the Strickland standard. 64
65 Defense counsel did not perfect its appeal from the order denying a new trial based on Rossi's recantation of his testimony. First, we note that there was no prejudice from the failure to appeal because it was fully considered by the Nevada Supreme Court on the habeas petition. Furthermore, as we concluded in section IIC, the denial of a new trial was not constitutional error.