Opinion ID: 2007872
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: on-the-record colloquy of strategy

Text: Bazer's counsel made a motion to suppress Bazer's confessions to the police, but the motion was denied by the trial court. Nevertheless, a plea agreement offered by the State was rejected by Bazer, and the defense's intent was to proceed to trial. Before voir dire, the court reporter recorded a conversation between Bazer and his trial cocounsel. In this conversation, Bazer affirmed that they had spent considerable time discussing trial strategy and that he agreed with trial counsel's strategy to tell the jury right from Day One that Bazer did, in fact, fire that weapon that killed Miss Jirsak. During this colloquy, trial counsel explained that all the other evidence already supported this conclusion and that it was not something the jury was going to have trouble with anyway. Instead, trial counsel explained that by Bazer's admitting that he held the gun that had discharged and killed Jirsak, it was cocounsel's strategy to focus the jury's inquiry on whether Bazer had the requisite intent to commit the underlying crime of robbery. Trial counsel further stated that because cocounsel believed that Bazer lacked such intent, they would be asking the court to instruct the jury on a lesser offense such as manslaughter or second degree murder.