Opinion ID: 1087106
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Mr. Zimarowski’s Defense Strategy

Text: In order to determine whether or not there was a reasonable basis for Mr. Zimarowski’s decision not to conduct any further investigation into the alleged confession of Robert Coles as reported by Ms. Linville, it is necessary to consider whether or not such evidence would have been consistent with Mr. Zimarowski’s theory of the case and whether or not such evidence could have been more harmful to Mr. Ferguson’s defense than helpful. During the habeas hearing, Mr. Zimarowski testified that he viewed Ms. Linville’s statement as not credible. He first said that the fact that the statement was made ten weeks after the purported confession during a drug debriefing was a “massive red flag” as persons in drug debriefings are generally trying to put themselves in a better position In other words, individuals often seek to gain some benefit during a drug debriefing by offering to assist the police in solving another crime. Mr. Zimarowski stated: [I]n my experience of sitting through hundreds of drug debriefings, petitioners, witnesses will exaggerate, embellish make up stuff simply to put themselves in a more favorable position. Their credibility in my opinion at a drug debriefing is very close to 10 percent, 20 percent, maybe. Mr. Zimarowski further explained that the veracity of Ms. Linville’s statement was also questionable given the fact that the details of the purported confession that she 11 related were in no way consistent with the evidence the State was going to present at trial. In that regard, Mr. Zimarowski pointed out the State’s evidence showed that the victim was actually shot in the back and not in the chest as allegedly claimed by Robert Coles, according to Ms. Linville. Further, the eyewitnesses at the scene of the crime reported that Mr. Wilkins was chased across the parking lot by the perpetrator and then shot after he fell down. This evidence suggests a premeditated effort to track down the victim and kill him. Yet, according to Ms. Linville, Robert Coles said that he shot the victim because he did not like the way he looked at him, which suggested an impulsive and random shooting.5 Also, critically important to Mr. Zimarowski’s decision was the fact that the police had interviewed Robert Coles and he denied making the confession to Ms. Linville. In that regard, Mr. Zimarowski testified: If I assume that Robbie Coles is going to come in and testify that he never made the statement and that he was never involved in the Wilkins shooting–okay, that’s going to come in. Now what could I use that for? Well, there’s a 50/50 probability in my mind that should he take the stand, he is going to say through any type of questioning at all that he passed a polygraph, which causes me to lose my jury because it will be a mistrial granted. Plus Robbie Coles, in my opinion, is not credible [as the shooter] since there is no connection, there’s no corroboration with this statement. So a jury is going to view Robbie Coles 5 There was no evidence that Mr. Wilkins and Mr. Coles had ever met. While Mr. Wilkins lived close to the campus of West Virginia University, Mr. Coles resided outside of Morgantown. 12 possibly as not very credible or not credible. Now this viewing him as not credible is going to reflect upon the direct testimony of Mr. Ferguson. I would much rather have in a trial an unknown witness, an unknown culprit out there than having a known culprit. . . . Juries in my experience will grab onto an unknown or they’ll grab onto something that is not done rather than something that is done or something that is in front of them. So having Robbie Coles testify that he denied doing the shooting served the defense not one whit.6 (Footnote added). In sum, Mr. Zimarowski explained that he chose not to pursue the alleged confession of Robert Coles and declined to call Ms. Linville, Ms. King and Mr. Coles as witnesses because hanging his hat upon such questionable testimony would have harmed Mr. Ferguson’s credibility and because it would have appeared that he was grasping at straws to create an alternative suspect. With regard to Ms. Linville and Ms. King, he further explained: Well, first off, they’re not in my opinion credible. They’re subject to shooting fish in a barrel as far as crossexamination is concerned. You have the late disclosure of ten weeks. You have their statements which indicated that it occurred several days after the shooting because there’s reference made to a police–a newspaper article and a police report. So they’re not credible. It looked like if I put the girls on the stand that I’m basically searching, I’m basically creating a false witness, a false suspect. I would much rather have that 6 Had Robert Coles testified at trial, the jury surely would have also noticed that he did not match the description of the suspect given by the eyewitnesses to the murder. They described the shooter as being 6'1 to 62 tall and weighting 180 to 210 pounds. At that time, Robert Coles was 5'9 and weighed 130 pounds. 13 suspect not present in the courtroom, not identified. Let the jury extrapolate from that if they desire. That’s why I strategically chose to . . . throw Coles out there but not have him subject to cross-examination. Mr. Zimarowski also indicated that because his trial strategy included putting Mr. Ferguson on the stand to testify and deny that he murdered Mr. Wilkins, he wanted to eliminate any information or evidence which would have been detrimental to the credibility of the defense. In that regard, he stated: You want to keep that out and then keep the focus since – in my opinion, Brian [Mr. Ferguson] made an excellent witness. He was well spoken. He’s intelligent. Presented well. He looked well. Mr. Zimarowski concluded that if he had called Robert Coles as a witness and he had testified that he had no involvement in Mr. Wilkins’s shooting, then “the jury could have evaluated it, and if they found the evidence against Robert Coles wanting, and they would have in my opinion because it wasn’t credible, then they would have said, well if he didn’t do it, then Brian Ferguson must have.” While credible evidence that might buttress the defense could certainly be said to require independent investigation, there is little value in pursuing fanciful stories that can only serve to weaken the credibility of counsel and, therefore, the defendant, at trial. This is particularly true where, as here, counsel intended to place Mr. Ferguson on the witness stand to tell his own story. Given these circumstances, Mr. Ferguson’s counsel could not afford to offer any evidence that could not withstand strict scrutiny by the jury. 14 Moreover, nothing in Miller/Strickland requires defense counsel to be an active participant in a wild goose chase, lest he be accused of ineffective assistance. In stark contrast to the cases relied on by the majority, Mr. Zimarowski did not fail to investigate direct, substantive evidence of his client’s alleged guilt such as forensic evidence or eyewitnesses. Rather, he refused to waste time and resources attempting to prove the guilt of a third party. Mr. Zimarowski did not blindly accept the investigation and documentation of the police as presumptively true; rather, he recognized that, true or not, further investigation into the Robert Coles confession was not likely to prove it true or false, nor add anything to his client’s defense. That is to say, assume that Mr. Zimarowski had interviewed Mary Linville, Spring King, and Robert Coles. Assume further that they adhered strictly to what they told police; what value is this wholly incredible “confession and denial” to his defense? Assume, on the other hand, that the witnesses tried to embellish or alter their statements such as to be more in keeping with the physical evidence just as they did at the habeas proceeding.7 Now, the witnesses are subject to impeachment both on the internal inconsistency of their statements as well as inconsistency with the physical evidence of the 7 In her statement to police, Mary Linville stated that Robert Coles drunkenly confessed two days after the murder, referencing newspaper reports regarding the shooting and stating that the police did not know “what they were talking about” because he shot him in the chest, not the back. During the course of the habeas proceeding, Mary Linville gave an elaborate tale of Robert Coles arriving at Spring King’s trailer anxiously begging for a “place to hide out” because he had “just shot a fcking ngger” down the hill. In addition, Spring King’s testimony regarding virtually every detail of this encounter was completely contradictory to Mary Linville’s account, except for the forced theme that Coles said he had just shot someone. 15 crime. Ultimately, regardless of what further investigation would have revealed, no amount of rehabilitation would save these witnesses from their inherent incredibility. Their lack of credibility and, more importantly, resultant damage to the party “vouching” for them by calling them as witnesses, would have been devastating to an otherwise well-crafted defense. In light of all the above, it is clear that Mr. Zimarowski made a reasonable decision that Mr. Ferguson’s defense would be served best by allowing Robert Coles to be simply mentioned during the course of trial as another suspect who was investigated by the police rather than calling him, Ms. Linville or Ms. King to testify. While directing the jury’s attention to an alternative suspect can be good trial strategy, staking the credibility of the defense upon a non-existent confession and testimony that is easily subject to impeachment is not. Consequently, it was unnecessary for Mr. Zimarowski to waste time or resources further investigating Ms. Linville’s statement and Robert Coles’s purported confession. In short, not only was this strategy reasonable, it was proven absolutely correct during the habeas proceedings.