Opinion ID: 2586281
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Asserted Violation of Right to Effective Assistance of Counsel

Text: In the alternative, defendant asserts that regardless of whether the timely disclosure of the Weil report would have caused him to testify, its late disclosure was prejudicial because it violated his right to receive meaningful guidance from his counsel on whether or not to testify on his own behalf. Defendant relies on cases based on the deficient performance of counsel, such as Wiggins v. Smith (2003) 539 U.S. 510, 123 S.Ct. 2527, 156 L.Ed.2d 471, which appear inapplicable to the facts of this case. Wiggins addressed whether counsel fulfilled his duty to `make reasonable investigations' into defendant's background so that counsel could make a reasonable decision as to what to offer in mitigation at the penalty phase. ( Id. at p. 522, 123 S.Ct. 2527.) Defendant does not argue that his trial counsel was deficient because he failed to uncover the Jimenez impeachment evidence. Thus, in contrast to Wiggins, there is no issue of trial counsel's not becoming aware of relevant evidence through counsel's failure to conduct a reasonable investigation. Defendant also contends he was in the same situation as Alvarado in regard to the untimely disclosure of the Weil report and consequently he suffered the same interference with his right to receive meaningful guidance from counsel on the issue of whether to testify. But defendant was not in the same situation as Alvarado in relation to the Weil report. As discussed above, Alvarado and defendant stood in different relationships to the Jimenez statements. If Alvarado testified, he faced impeachment with Jimenez's statements. Defendant, in contrast, could testify without being subject to impeachment. Defendant attempts to negate this fundamental difference by claiming that a joint defense strategy committed both codefendants to the same course of action in testifyingโthat is, either both would testify, or neither would. But, as discussed above, defendant has failed to establish a material connection between Jimenez's statements and defendant's decision to testify. Because there was no material connection, we find no interference with defendant's right to counsel based on the late disclosure of the Weil report.