Opinion ID: 1180863
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Disclosing parts of the suppressed confession

Text: (48) Defendant maintains trial counsel were ineffective for presenting to the jury parts of defendant's suppressed confession to Detective Brewer. Evidently, the defense experts had been provided with transcripts or recordings of that interview, and defense counsel made numerous references to the contents of the suppressed confession during examination of their witnesses. Thereafter, the prosecutor used parts of the confession in his cross-examination of defendant's witnesses, and suggested that defendant's detailed recall of the homicides as demonstrated by the confession, and his initial denial of the Selix murder, were inconsistent with his claim of diminished capacity. We are unable to conclude that counsel lacked a tactical reason for allowing the jury to hear about certain aspects of the suppressed confession. Indeed, by making various references to that interview, counsel may have managed to support their defense theory that defendant wished to be caught, and to portray defendant in a favorable light. In any event, however, we are unable to conclude counsel's conduct amounted to prejudicial error. First, we note that neither defendant, nor amicus curiae, specifies what assertedly prejudicial information was thereby presented to the jury; in short, they have not properly presented the claim of error to this court. Second, the jury was specifically instructed to consider both defendant's statements to experts, and his statements to Detective Brewer, for the limited purpose of showing the information upon which the medical expert based his opinion. Finally, in view of the remaining, properly admitted evidence  including defendant's confession to Eoff  we simply cannot conclude that references by counsel to the Brewer confession could have affected the jury's verdict.