Opinion ID: 1516216
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Use of Commonwealth Discovery

Text: Appellant next claims that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to call Penny Hairston to testify that he did not see appellant on the night of the murder and, instead, saw Ike Jones with a .22 caliber gun, a gun capable of firing the bullets that killed William Lloyd. [14] Appellant argues that Mr. Hairston's testimony would have supported his claim that he did not commit the murder, especially since Mr. Hairston did not tell the police that he saw appellant on the street once the shooting began. To support this claim, appellant cites separate statements that Mr. Hairston gave the police. Appellant asserts that Mr. Hairston was available to testify, but was never called. The Commonwealth responds that the testimony from Mr. Hairston would merely have been cumulative evidence of the gun battle that occurred outside of Mr. Hairston's home and which involved several individuals. Testimony from Mr. Hairston, the Commonwealth states, would not have been exculpatory given the number of people involved in the shootout and given that an eyewitness saw appellant murder William Lloyd. The PCRA court found that Mr. Hairston could not have provided significant impeachment evidence relevant to appellant's guilt. As such, the court ruled that appellant did not show a reasonable probability that if the evidence had been presented, the verdict would have been different. Mr. Hairston's testimony would have only validated the testimony of Mr. Clarke and would not have been exculpatory. The jury heard testimony that several men were involved in the initial gun battle prior to the murder. Also, proof that Mr. Jones had been carrying a .22 caliber handgun does not prove that appellant did not have a similar gun. Therefore, appellant's claim is without merit.