Opinion ID: 1242820
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Victim's Assertion of the Fifth Amendment

Text: Next, we consider whether other evidence at the post-conviction hearing may have led the district court to conclude that Whiteley was entitled to a new trial. We look specifically to the victim's refusal to answer questions and her assertion of the Fifth Amendment at the post-conviction proceeding, which, at oral argument, counsel for Whiteley characterized as a recantation of the victim's earlier trial testimony. Counsel also argued that the recantation constituted new evidence of material facts not previously presented and heard, entitling Whiteley to a new trial. During the post-conviction proceeding, the victim was called by Whiteley to testify. On her behalf, the state filed a motion requesting that she not be required to testify in Whiteley's presence, which motion was denied. The victim was also represented by counsel, who had advised the parties that the victim was going to take the Fifth Amendment when asked about her prior trial testimony for fear that her current responses would be inconsistent therewith. When the victim took the witness stand, she refused to answer many of counsel's questions and repeatedly asserted her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. When a witness invokes the Fifth Amendment in response to a question, the trial court must determine whether the refusal to answer is in fact justifiable under the privilege. Hoffman v. United States, 341 U.S. 479, 486, 71 S.Ct. 814, 818, 95 L.Ed. 1118 (1951), McPherson v. McPherson, 112 Idaho 402, 404, 732 P.2d 371, 373 (Ct.App. 1987). In order to inform the court's decision of whether the answer to a question might be incriminating, the individual asserting the privilege must sketch a plausible scenario of how a potential response would provide direct or circumstantial evidence of criminal conduct or clues leading to evidence of criminal conduct. McPherson v. McPherson, 112 Idaho at 405, 732 P.2d at 374. Thus, the privilege must be supported by more than a vague, subjective fear of prosecution. Id. at 404, 732 P.2d at 373. Although not required by the Constitution, a preliminary ruling by the court on the validity of an asserted privilege has been recommended. Garner v. United States, 424 U.S. 648, 660, 96 S.Ct. 1178, 1185, 47 L.Ed.2d 370 (1976). Unless the trial court inquires further of the witness, the court will be unable to evaluate the witness's naked claim of possible deviation from prior testimony. See State v. DeCola, 33 N.J. 335, 164 A.2d 729, 737 (1960). In the case at hand, the district court allowed the victim to assert the privilege without objection and without determining whether the victim would incriminate herself by her answers or whether she should be compelled to respond. By invoking the Fifth Amendment the victim did not provide any evidence which supported or contradicted the testimony she had provided at Whiteley's criminal trial. Furthermore, the parties are not entitled to draw any inference from a witness's invocation of the Fifth Amendment. KENNETH S. BROUN, ET AL., MCCORMICK ON EVIDENCE § 137 at 512 (John William Strong, ed., 4th ed.1992). Therefore, the invocation itself was not a recantation of the victim's prior testimony that could be tested against the standard for awarding a new trial based upon recanted testimony. See generally Bean v. State, 119 Idaho 632, 809 P.2d 493 (1991); State v. Lankford, 116 Idaho 860, 781 P.2d 197 (1989), cert. denied, 497 U.S. 1032, 110 S.Ct. 3295, 111 L.Ed.2d 803 (1990). We also recall that Whiteley's application did not seek post-conviction relief on the grounds of any recanted testimony, but only raised claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, newly discovered evidence and a lack of substantial evidence to support the verdict. Even after Whiteley's counsel learned that the victim intended to invoke the privilege, the application was never amended to include an allegation of recantation. Although we can presume that the victim's refusal to answer questions at the post-conviction proceeding weighed on the district court's mind, the district court's order granting a new trial did not expressly rely on the victim's assertion of the Fifth Amendment as either a recantation or newly discovered evidence. Whiteley argues that the order setting aside the judgment of conviction and granting a new trial can be sustained on the alternative ground that district court erred in concluding that Whiteley was denied effective assistance of counsel at his trial. In his petition for post-conviction relief Whiteley included an assertion of ineffective assistance of counsel, focusing on his trial counsel's failure to call witnesses and introduce exhibits which Whiteley contended were critical to proving his innocence. Testimony was presented at the hearing on the petition demonstrating the evidence that Whiteley claimed his trial counsel should have offered during the trial. The district court made several factual findings with regard to this evidence, including that the evidence fell within the area of strategic decisions, or was known to Whiteley but was not communicated by him to his counsel prior to trial, or related to matters not contemporaneous to the charges for which Whiteley was on trial, or did not present new evidence but was information directed at undermining the victim's credibility and, except for Mr. Osborne, relate[d] to conversations or observations occurring months prior to the events of January 1991. The district court concluded: A complete review of the trial testimony leaves this Court with the distinct impression that the conflicting evidence was resolved against [Whiteley] based upon the presence of the stun gun and handcuffs coupled with the [incriminating] statements he made to Paula Hegstead and officer Fuhriman. This evidence was unrebutted at trial and was sufficient to resolve the conflict in the evidence against petitioner. The district court's conclusion comports with the standard established by Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984) and Aragon v. State, 114 Idaho 758, 760 P.2d 1174 (1988), determining that, even if counsel's performance was deficient, there was no prejudice shown because there was not a reasonable probability that, but for the attorney's alleged deficient performance, the outcome of the trial would have been different. Accordingly, we reject Whiteley's argument that the district court erred in determining that Whiteley failed to establish that he had been denied the effective assistance of counsel and was therefore entitled to a new trial on that ground.