Opinion ID: 2448475
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: failure to interview/call charles porter

Text: Whitfield avers that his counsel was ineffective in failing to interview Charles Porter or call him to testify at trial. According to Whitfield, Porter would have testified that he did not in fact give Whitfield a gun, in contradiction to Linda Scott's testimony that Porter did give Whitfield a gun. To support his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to interview and call Porter, Whitfield must show that Porter was available to testify, would have testified if called, and would have provided a viable defense through his testimony. State v. Twenter, 818 S.W.2d 628, 639-40 (Mo. banc 1991). Whitfield has failed to demonstrate, however, that Porter would have testified in his behalf if called, and Porter's post-trial conduct indicates that it is unlikely that he would have testified favorably for Whitfield, if at all. Porter had been uncooperative in a short deposition and had invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to testify at the postconviction hearing. There is simply no evidence to indicate that he would have testified favorably for Whitfield at trial; therefore, there is no ineffective assistance in failing to call him. This point is denied.