Opinion ID: 1969802
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 46

Heading: 1, a.102, b.1, e.25, f.25)

Text: Defendant asserts that the cumulative effect of the State's discovery violations, the cumulative effect of trial counsel's ineffectiveness, the cumulative effect of the various instances of prosecutorial misconduct, and the cumulative effect of the so-called miscellaneous claims require the grant of defendant's PCR petition and the reversal of his conviction and death sentence. We reject the claims on their merits and without an evidentiary hearing. The task of assessing the cumulative effect of numerous, assorted claims of error, related only loosely by their categorization as discovery violations or ineffectiveness of counsel claims, is daunting. No formula adequately can inform the required exercise of judgment. The best objective test derives from an assessment of the merits of the individual claims, combined with a part-subjective, part-objective effort to extrapolate those individualized assessments into an aggregate one. Our exhaustive review of this record and defendant's claims has demonstrated that the overwhelming majority of the discovery, ineffectiveness, prosecutorial misconduct, and other claims are meritless. Few of the documents allegedly withheld in discovery were both discoverable and significant, and the production of those that were discoverable and significant would not have materially affected the result of trial. Similarly, few of the allegations of ineffective assistance at trial involved significant deficiencies in the quality of counsel's representation, and those that did were not material to the trial result. We reached a similar conclusion about the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, and about defendant's miscellaneous claims for relief. We conclude that the cumulative effect of defendant's claims is not appreciably more significant than their individual effects. Accordingly, we reject defendant's contention that the cumulative effect of his PCR claims mandates relief.