Opinion ID: 1399120
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Restriction on Cross-examination of Buckley; Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Text: (17) Defendant argues that the trial court improperly restricted cross-examination of Brian Buckley concerning the latter's involvement in an assault with an automobile. Defense counsel argued that if Buckley were to testify that he had an aversion to violence, then counsel should be allowed to impeach him with evidence that he had once attempted to run down an individual in a parking lot. As noted above, the trial court properly ruled the assault inadmissible if offered merely to establish a character trait of violence and thereby to invite the inference that Buckley behaved violently on the occasion of the Urell killing. However, the court ruled that the assault could be used to impeach Buckley's credibility depending on the content of his testimony. Thus, defense counsel was free to elicit from Buckley testimony as to his nonviolent nature and then to introduce evidence of the assault as impeachment. He did not do so. Defendant now urges that the fact that Buckley had never been prosecuted for the assault showed the willingness of the police and prosecutor to overlook his wrongdoings, which in turn showed Buckley's bias and willingness to testify for the prosecutor in the Urell case. He did not raise this ground of admissibility  which we find highly speculative in light of the paucity of evidence concerning the incident  at trial, and cannot be heard to do so for the first time on appeal. ( Lorenzana v. Superior Court (1973) 9 Cal.3d 626, 640 [108 Cal. Rptr. 585, 511 P.2d 33]; People v. Frye (1985) 166 Cal. App.3d 941, 950 [213 Cal. Rptr. 319].) In any event, since the jury was well aware of the terms under which Buckley was testifying, and in particular of the differential between the sentences for first and second degree murder, the jury was perforce aware of Buckley's bias and willingness to testify for the prosecution. We are unpersuaded that evidence of the parking lot incident would have had a significant impact on the jury's assessment of Buckley's credibility. ( People v. Belmontes (1988) 45 Cal.3d 744, 781 [248 Cal. Rptr. 126, 755 P.2d 310] [citing Delaware v. Van Arsdall (1986) 475 U.S. 673, 680 (89 L.Ed.2d 674, 680, 106 S.Ct. 1431)].) We cannot agree, therefore, with defendant's belated assertions that the trial court's ruling on the scope of Buckley's cross-examination deprived defendant of a trial by a fair and impartial jury, due process, or the right to confront witnesses, or that it subjected him to an arbitrarily or unreliably imposed sentence of death. (18a) Defendant contends counsel's failure to bring evidence of the assault before the jury constituted ineffective representation. (19) A defendant claiming ineffective assistance of counsel has the burden of showing that counsel failed to act in a manner to be expected of a reasonably competent attorney acting as a diligent advocate. ( People v. Pope (1979) 23 Cal.3d 412, 425 [152 Cal. Rptr. 732, 590 P.2d 859, 2 A.L.R.4th 1].) The defendant must also show that it is reasonably probable a determination more favorable to the defendant would have resulted in the absence of counsel's failings. ( People v. Ledesma (1987) 43 Cal.3d 171, 217-218 [233 Cal. Rptr. 404, 729 P.2d 839].) (18b) Defendant's ineffective-assistance claim fails because it is not reasonably probable a determination more favorable to him would have resulted had counsel brought the parking lot incident to the jury's attention. The jury was already aware of the terms under which Buckley was testifying, he was subjected to extensive cross-examination, and the probative value of the evidence counsel possessed was limited. As counsel explained it, [Buckley] got angry at an individual down by Chuck E. Cheese and tried to run him down with a car and was a suspect in a hit and run. The guy was a transient so nothing ever came of it. Because the incident counsel related does not support an inference that Buckley feared prosecution, we are unpersuaded the jury would have formed a significantly different impression of Buckley's credibility had defense counsel used it to impeach him.