Opinion ID: 2757661
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Other Impeachment

Text: Blake contends that trial counsel should have used Kelly Govia’s August 16, 2002, statement to law enforcement to impeach Demetrius’ testimony that after the group left early in the morning on August 12, 2002, he did not again see Blake or Green until the afternoon. Govia told law enforcement officers that between 8:30 and 9 a.m. on August 12, 2002, she observed Demetrius speaking with her niece. The niece then reported the substance of the conversation to Govia: that there had been a shooting and Key was in trouble. The niece also told Govia that Demetrius had said that Green had shot someone that morning. Govia also told law - 22 - enforcement officers that she heard Key say that Plump, which is Green’s nickname, pulled the trigger. Blake has not shown that trial counsel overlooked helpful, admissible evidence. Govia’s statements do not contradict Demetrius’ trial testimony. Demetrius could have obtained information about the shooting from a source other than Blake or Green. And any testimony from Govia or her niece that she had heard someone say that Green was the shooter would be inadmissible hearsay, which could not be used to impeach Demetrius because he did not testify about who was the shooter. Blake’s claim that reasonable trial counsel would have investigated Terrell Smith was also unproven. Blake contends that Smith’s August 16, 2002, statement to Detective Ken Raczynski of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, “undercuts [Demetrius’] testimony that he saw the gun thrown in the lake.” Initial Brief of Appellant at 48, Blake v. State, No. SC12-2102 (May 29, 2013). Detective Raczynski’s report stated: [Smith] was with Green and another pecan skinned, tall male on 08/13/02 in the early evening when they came to this location. Smith stated that he stayed in the car while Green and the other subject got out of the car, ran past the boat on the shore and threw a gun into the lake. At the evidentiary hearing, Smith testified that the third person referenced in his statement to law enforcement was not Demetrius. Blake, however, failed to allege - 23 - why trial counsel should have suspected that the other male noted in Smith’s statement was not Demetrius. “A fair assessment of attorney performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel’s challenged conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from counsel’s perspective at the time.” Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689. Here, Blake has not established that reasonable trial counsel should have known to further investigate Smith based on his August 16, 2002, statement.