Opinion ID: 569222
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Object to Admission of Evidence of Past Cocaine Use.

Text: 42 During Ms. Morris's cross-examination, the prosecutor asked her if she had ever used cocaine. Her trial counsel did not object. Ms. Morris answered that she had used cocaine once at a party six years earlier, when she was in high school, but that she had never seen or used cocaine since then. She asserts that her trial counsel's failure to object to the prosecutor's questions resulted in the admission of inadmissible and prejudicial character evidence against her. For purposes of discussion, we assume that the evidence was, in fact, inadmissible. 43 An attorney's failure to object to the admission of inadmissible evidence is not necessarily ineffective. As noted above, in order to establish ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must show that counsel committed errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the 'counsel' guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. A defendant seeking to prove ineffective assistance of counsel must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action 'might be considered sound trial strategy.'  Id. at 689, 104 S.Ct. at 2065 (quoting Michel v. Louisiana, 350 U.S. 91, 101, 76 S.Ct. 158, 164, 100 L.Ed. 83 (1955)). 44 Ms. Morris fails to overcome the presumption regarding sound trial strategy. Under the circumstances of her case, an effective advocate could have reasonably decided not to object to the prosecutor's questions. Ms. Morris's admission to a single instance of cocaine use six years earlier, when she was in high school, might well have bolstered her credibility with the jury and helped persuade it that she was not under the influence of cocaine on the night in question. Even if that turned out not to be the case, a tactical decision not to object would have been reasonable at the time it was made. We need not determine the actual explanation for trial counsel's failure to object, so long as his failure to do so falls within the range of reasonable representation. See United States v. Molina, 934 F.2d 1440 (9th Cir.1991). Here, it clearly does. Accordingly, his failure to object did not render his representation ineffective.