Opinion ID: 2514739
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Inquiring Into the Investigators' Opinions as to Appellant's Credibility

Text: [¶ 38] The appellant argues separately on appeal that, not only did defense counsel fail to object when the prosecutor elicited the investigators' opinions that the appellant was guilty, but that he emphasized those opinions by inquiring further about them during cross-examination. For instance, during the cross-examination of Deputy Seeman, the following exchange occurred: Q. And why did you chose [sic] in this instance to say that you believed that he had done this? A. At the point we were at in the interview, I felt no need to continue to strengthen his denials. I believed if Mr. Proffit was, who was already denying the allegations that if he was given some type of support in those denials that it would only make the denials stronger. My tactic had switched to attempting to get [B.C.] the help that we both agreed that he needed and that to properly get [B.C.] the help that he needed that we needed to come to the truth and that I did not believe Mr. Proffit was being honest and truthful. I started to actually ask Mr. Proffit if he was ready to tell the truth and Mr. Proffit said, quote, not yet, which again strengthened our ideas that Mr. Proffit was not being fully honest with us with the reply of not yet when he was asked to tell the truth. (Emphasis added.) The deputy's response was not at that point objectionable because it was responsive to the question. Thus, it was invited error. And the error cannot be defended as being part of some logical defense strategy because counsel never utilized it strategically, such as in an attempt to show that the deputy's belief in the appellant's guilt had caused him to fail to follow other leads in the sexual assault investigation. [¶ 39] While this issue differs somewhat, we conclude that it is simply part of the cumulative ineffectiveness set forth above. Basically, it represents an exacerbation of the prejudice caused by defense counsel's failure to object when the opinions of guilt were first elicited. There are few rules of cross-examination that could be said to be set in stone, but it is hard to conceive of a situation where sound trial strategy would include asking a law enforcement officer why he believed your client was guilty. One reason might be where counsel could then go on to prove that the officer's opinion was based on incorrect information. That did not happen here, and there is no indication that counsel's strategy was to go in that direction.