Opinion ID: 2638434
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Informing the jurors defense counsel expected them to return a guilty verdict

Text: Defendant next contends his defense counsel were constitutionally ineffective in informing some jurors, during questioning on voir dire, that they expected the jury to return a guilty verdict, which would require them to participate in a penalty phase. Defendant overstates the number of times counsel made such admissions, but that makes no difference. Counsel may have concluded that honesty and candor with the jurors was necessary so as not to lose credibility with them. Counsel may also have seen no disadvantage to such admissions given that defendant had admitted he knowingly participated in the robbery and murder of Dolinka (although he claimed Garrison was the actual killer) and was thus clearly guilty of murder with special circumstances at a minimum, and the trial court had ruled that defendant's admissions would not be excluded from trial. In any event, the record does not indicate counsel's reasons for making such admissions to some prospective jurors, so we reject the contention that counsel were ineffective. (See People v. Mendoza Tello (1997) 15 Cal.4th 264, 266-267, 62 Cal.Rptr.2d 437, 933 P.2d 1134 [issue of counsel's effectiveness more appropriately raised in a petition for a writ of habeas corpus].)