Opinion ID: 2504293
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Information from an Independent Forensic Expert

Text: Morrow presented testimony from an expert in forensics. We find that, even assuming the correctness of this expert's new testimony, there is no substantial prejudice as to either phase [5] of Morrow's trial arising out of trial counsel's failure to present similar testimony. First, the expert claims that the evidence at the crime scene shows that Ms. Woods was standing rather than sitting when Morrow shot her, causing her to fall backwards over a chair. Although this testimony would have tended at trial to confirm Morrow's version of how the three victims were arranged in the room when he started shooting them, it would not have had a significant impact on the jury in light of the fact that the evidence was clear that Morrow began shooting simply because he was upset by what Ms. Woods had said to him rather than because of any threat he sensed. In fact, Ms. Horne herself testified at trial in a manner consistent with Morrow's new expert testimony, as she claimed that she remember[ed] Tonya falling back in the chair. Thus, we conclude that trial counsel's failure to obtain expert testimony like this was not prejudicial. Second, Morrow's new expert has testified, contrary to the extensive expert testimony at trial, that Ms. Young's hand was shot through during the struggle in her bedroom and that the shot then grazed her forehead. This contrasts with the State's evidence at trial showing that a shot was fired inside the bedroom but did not strike Ms. Young, that Ms. Young's forehead likely was injured when her head struck a doorframe during the struggle, and that Morrow then injured Ms. Young's hand when he shot through it and into the side of her head as she shielded herself. Morrow actually relied on the State's testimony showing that the injury to Ms. Young's forehead was not from a gunshot to argue to the jury that the injury could have been simply the result of a fall. Our review of Morrow's new expert testimony leads us to conclude that Morrow cannot show prejudice for two reasons. First, we believe that the jury would, like us, favor the testimony of the State's experts upon reviewing the two contrasting accounts of precisely how the struggle with Ms. Young transpired prior to the final shot to her head. Second, even if the jury chose to believe the version of events set forth by Morrow's new expert, that version would not be significantly mitigating, because it still depicts Morrow as having struggled with Ms. Woods for the gun in the bedroom, chasing her as she fled into the hallway, grabbing her by her hair as she lay helpless on the floor, and shooting her in the head. Finally, Morrow's new expert testified that the clicking sound heard by Ms. Horne and the unspent bullet on the floor next to Ms. Woods' feet could have been the result of Morrow's clearing a jam in his gun rather than his reloading. We find this testimony not to be mitigating for two reasons. First, the testimony would have been essentially cumulative of similar testimony from an expert for the State, which the State even highlighted in its closing argument. Second, regardless of whether Morrow was clearing a jam in his gun or reloading, it is clear that he was taking active steps to prepare his gun to continue his murderous rampage.