Opinion ID: 718644
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Theory of Defense

Text: 16 At trial, Griffin and Smith were both represented by Mr. Goldenhersh. The two defendants presented a joint alibi defense, consisting of Griffin's testimony that he and Smith had been at a local tavern playing cards at the time of the murders. The alibi was supported to some extent by the testimony of a witness, Priscilla Smith, 3 that she had loaned Griffin five dollars and danced with him at the tavern. Priscilla Smith placed the defendants at the tavern between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. and again at sometime after 6 p.m. and said that she did not see them there after about 6:30 p.m. The shootings apparently took place sometime between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., when Walker showed up at the convenience store. 17 The alibi story was presented through Griffin's and Priscilla Smith's testimony. However, Mr. Goldenhersh's major trial strategy was apparently to discredit the eyewitness identifications of Griffin and Jimmy Smith. Indeed, Mr. Goldenhersh did not even mention the alibi in either his opening or closing argument. Mr. Goldenhersh's efforts to discredit the eyewitness testimony were organized around a theory that the shootings were linked to the drug-related killing of Griffin's brother, which had occurred just a few weeks earlier. 4 In his opening statement, for example, Mr. Goldenhersh said that the evidence would show that Sims and Kellick after killing the brother of Griffin, ... then have set up and plotted, plainly set up and plotted to make his brother, Lee Griffin, and Jimmy Smith the scapegoats of this dope-related killing. Tr. at 159. To this end, Mr. Goldenhersh repeatedly tried to elicit detailed testimony about the drug involvement of the victims and to connect them to Griffin's dead brother. The State resisted these attempts, stating in a portion of the proceedings held away from the presence of the jury that [a]t best, all that Mr. Goldenhersh's offer of proof does is provide speculation as to motive, and provide a motive for particularly defendant Griffin to have committed the offenses named in the indictment. Tr. at 454. The trial court sustained the State's objections to questioning along these lines, finding such questions irrelevant to the identification issues at hand. Mr. Goldenhersh, however, continued to pursue the scapegoat theory in his closing arguments, pointing out the time which passed after the shootings before either Kellick or Robinson identified the defendants and arguing that Kellick and Robinson were participating in a cover-up. Mr. Goldenhersh discussed at length the fact that Sims had one thousand dollars with him when he went to Christi Smith's house and insinuated that the police investigation was not thorough and that there couldn't be all this dope and one thing and another without some police involvement. Tr. at 499. 18