Opinion ID: 1743160
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: refused motion for continuance

Text: For example, Johnson charges his counsel failed to properly move for a continuance, thereby depriving him of expert witnesses, H. Dale Nute and Stephen B. Halligan. These experts examined Johnson's and the other participants' homicide clothing, and studied the laboratory reports of the state and Federal Bureau of Investigation. We have reviewed their letter to Diaz, Johnson's trial defense counsel, dated August 23, 1982, and we find nothing in this report which compels us to conclude that the defense counsel erred in not having these witnesses present at trial. These experts did not reach a conclusion so at odds with the state's proof so as to seriously challenge Johnson's guilt. Thus their absence from trial does not appear prejudicial. It is just as plausible that their testimony would have been weak, and upon cross-examination their testimony would have helped the state's case. On the direct appeal of this case, we suspected Johnson's counsel moved for a continuance as a tactical gesture  not really expecting the court to grant it  but hoping that the circuit judge's refusal to grant the continuance would be considered error on appeal. It is not an altogether unfamiliar tactic of defense counsel in criminal as well as civil cases to produce an appeal record cluttered with adverse rulings. Some occasionally stick on appeal. The temptation to use this tactic increases in inverse proportion to the weakness of counsel's case.