Opinion ID: 2546714
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: Failure to Call Worchester

Text: Baumruk alleges that the motion court clearly erred by overruling, without an evidentiary hearing, his claim that his counsel was ineffective for failing to present evidence that Baumruk told Austin Worchester, an emergency medical technician, that he was sorry. Baumruk made this statement as he was drifting in and out of consciousness in the ambulance on the way to the hospital after he sustained his nine gunshot wounds. Baumruk argues that his counsel should have presented this evidence during the penalty phase of trial to rebut the State's evidence that cast Baumruk as an unremorseful jerk. The motion court overruled this claim without a hearing because it found that Worchester could not offer any testimony that would withstand a hearsay objection. Baumruk is not entitled to an evidentiary hearing on this ground because, even if the facts he alleges in the motion regarding Worchester's testimony were true and were not inadmissible hearsay as determined by the motion court, he still cannot demonstrate that the failure of his counsel to present this evidence caused him prejudice. Even if this Court were to presume that the vague statement that Baumruk made to Worchester meant that he was sorry for killing his wife, the overwhelming evidence still shows that he was unremorseful. Dr. Kane, Dr. Rabun, Salamon, Dr. Shopper, and Venable all testified that Baumruk was not remorseful about killing his wife. Worchester's testimony would have contradicted the testimony of Dr. Shopper, who was Baumruk's own witness. The aggravating factors as found by the jury are such that no reasonable probability exists that the outcome of the penalty phase would have been different. Zink, 278 S.W.3d at 176.