Opinion ID: 1927414
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Evidence of Employment Background Penalty Phase

Text: Appellant next claims that he is entitled to a new penalty hearing because trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance when he failed to present evidence concerning appellant's employment history in order to support the mitigating circumstance of any other evidence of mitigation. We note that appellant fails to describe his employment history other than the assertion that he had a steady employment history. Here, the trial court, after conducting a post-trial hearing on appellant's ineffectiveness claim, found that trial counsel did speak to appellant about his employment record. However, after speaking with appellant, trial counsel determined that appellant did not have a substantial employment record and there were no employers available to testify on his behalf. The trial court also found that if appellant's employment record had been presented, it would have established that appellant never held any single job for longer than eight months. Moreover, the trial court found that if appellant had testified about his employment record, it would have led to the disclosure that while employed by an Atlantic City casino, appellant was selling drugs in order to supplement his income. Based on these factual findings by the trial court, which are supported by the record, we conclude that trial counsel employed a reasonable trial strategy for not presenting evidence of appellant's employment record since it would have disclosed that appellant did not have a substantial employment history and that he engaged in illegal activities while at one position. See Commonwealth v. Collins, 519 Pa. 58, 545 A.2d 882 (1988) (a decision by counsel not to take a particular action does not constitute ineffective assistance is that decision was reasonably based and was not the product of sloth or ignorance). Thus, this claim of ineffectiveness must fail.