Opinion ID: 1969802
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: 13-18, b.24-25, b.147-150, b.206)

Text: Defendant raises a number of claims alleging that his counsel was constitutionally ineffective in failing to prevent the admission into evidence of the suicide tape and in failing to raise various other claims in connection with items seized at the Best Western Motel. The Strickland/Fritz standard that governs those claims has been set forth above. See supra at 156-157, 690 A. 2d at 34-35. Several of the ineffective assistance of counsel claims fail because the substantive claims that defendant alleges were inadequately pursued have already been found to lack merit. Thus, even if counsel's performance were constitutionally inadequate, defendant cannot establish the requisite prejudice under the Strickland/Fritz standard. Those include defendant's claims that trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective in not establishing that the police or the prosecutors knew of the note found in defendant's motel room. The alleged deficiencies are: 1) failure to call Mohel for direct examination concerning what he observed in the motel room and the items seized there; 2) failure to argue that the cross-examination was within the scope of the direct examination after counsel was precluded from cross-examining Mohel regarding items seized from defendant's briefcase, including the note; and 3) failure to establish who seized the note and the circumstances of its seizure. The preceding subsection demonstrates that establishing knowledge of the existence of the note on the part of law-enforcement personnel would not have affected the outcome of the proceedings. Defendant makes other claims based on counsel's alleged shortcomings in developing favorable evidence in the suppression hearing. Defendant claims that counsel's failure to establish on the record the dimensions of the cassette tape without a cover constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. However, the State, through the testimony of Lieutenant Churchill, offered proof that the tape was mailed inside its cover and that the cover is too wide for the slot in the mailbox. The State never contested whether the tape by itself would fit through the slot. Thus counsel's alleged error was inconsequential. Likewise, trial counsel's failure to mark the Murphy memorandum into evidence and to preserve it for direct appellate review of the trial court's ruling that the memorandum was work product is not significant, because we have found that the failure to produce the memorandum itself was not prejudicial. Two of defendant's claims concern his counsel's handling of witnesses at the suppression hearing in connection with the defense theory that the mailbox at the motel was a closed, slotted box. Both of those claims are without merit. First, defendant alleges that trial counsel was constitutionally deficient in failing to call defendant's sister, Oakleigh DeCarlo, who was prepared to testify that Zillah Hahn had made a prior statement inconsistent with her testimony that the mailbox was an open tray. However, defendant's sister was obviously susceptible to impeachment for bias, and deciding not to call her would be a reasonable tactical choice, especially when the essence of her testimony was available from other sources. At the suppression hearing the defense had the testimony of Rokoczy and the mailman to contradict Hahn and to establish that the mail receptacle was a closed box. Second, defendant alleges that trial counsel failed to meet with Rokoczy before he testified for the defense at the suppression hearing. Although the preferred practice might be to meet with such an important witness before he testifies, defendant has not explained how the failure to do so harmed his case. Rokoczy's testimony on cross-examination that defendant might have placed the letters on top of the mailbox caused no prejudice because the trial court disbelieved it, expressly finding that defendant placed the letters in an open tray. Therefore, both claims that trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective in his handling of witnesses on the closed mailbox issue must be rejected. Several of the claims assert that counsel allegedly was ineffective in arguing that the tape represented an attorney-client communication. However, the failure of trial counsel to move for a protective order prohibiting the opening of the envelope containing the tape cannot support a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Such a motion would have been futile in light of our ruling that the search of the envelope was proper. Likewise, trial counsel cannot be faulted for failing to establish that defendant's relationship with Dougherty was primarily professional, and that Dougherty was not a trusted friend whom defendant would have consulted on a personal basis. The content of the tape demonstrates that defendant perceived Dougherty to be a close friend who could be entrusted to carry out the important and highly personal instructions contained in the tape. Nor does the alleged failure at pretrial hearings to elicit the extent of Dougherty's legal representation of defendant, or what Dougherty would have done with the tape had he received it, support the ineffective-assistance claim. We are satisfied that the legal and professional aspects of defendant's relationship with Dougherty have been fully developed before this Court, and that the relationship does not support defendant's claims based on attorney-client privilege. Finally, defendant claims that the fact that Zeitz did not review the content of the suicide tape with him until immediately before it was played to the jury is additional evidence that counsel was unprepared. Defendant does not argue that failing to review the tape with counsel sufficiently prejudiced his case to constitute ineffective assistance of counsel. Instead, he raises the claim in support of his argument that the many minor errors of counsel cumulatively amount to ineffectiveness. However, in the absence of a colorable argument that the alleged lack of preparation affected the proceedings, this claim is rejected both on its own merits and cumulatively. 4. Miscellaneous Claims Associated with the Suicide Tape and Items Seized at the Best Western Motel