Opinion ID: 1222518
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Call a Material Witness

Text: The petitioner argues his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to call a material witness, Carol Dotson Brammer, at trial. Ms. Brammer was the woman who accompanied Bobby Lane in the van. The petitioner contends Mr. Lane's testimony is the only evidence that could be used to show premeditation and deliberation. Mr. Lane testified that the petitioner and the decedent, Mr. Morgan, had a discussion which lead him to believe the petitioner thought Mr. Morgan should have helped him and Mr. Torrence fight the Patton brothers. It is clear from the testimony at the habeas corpus hearing that Ms. Brammer would have contradicted Mr. Lane's testimony. Ms. Brammer stated that she and Mr. Lane had been drinking throughout the evening, which directly challenged his claim he was not drinking on the night of the shooting. Furthermore, she stated that she observed no arguments or even discussions concerning the fight when they were in the van. She testified the only discussion that took place in the van concerned the volume of the radio. Had this evidence been before the jury, the petitioner argues he never would have been convicted of first degree murder. The petitioner contends that had trial counsel been diligent in locating witnesses, Ms. Brammer could have been called at trial. Instead, he asserts trial counsel only relied upon the petitioner's family to secure the names of witnesses. The petitioner is correct in his legal assessment that the failure to present critical evidence could be the basis for a successful ineffective assistance of counsel claim. In State ex rel. Leach v. Hamilton, supra , we suggested that a criminal defense attorney might be ineffective if he or she failed to present advantageous evidence that could affect a jury's verdict. Our cases also demonstrate that where the failure to call a witness is not due to dereliction on the part of counsel, there is no ineffective assistance. See generally State v. Spence, 182 W.Va. 472, 388 S.E.2d 498 (1989); State v. Hatfield, 169 W.Va. 191, 286 S.E.2d 402 (1982). Our review of the record does not reflect that the petitioner's trial attorney was derelict in his attempts to locate Ms. Brammer. The fact that no one knew her name or knew much about her made Ms. Brammer a very difficult witness to locate. Trial counsel did enlist the help of the petitioner's family because they were familiar with people in the area. Counsel also had the help of an investigator who was unsuccessful in his attempts to locate Ms. Brammer. Given these circumstances, we do not fault trial counsel for the failure to call Ms. Brammer at trial. The petitioner was fortunate  if not extremely lucky  to locate her to obtain her testimony at the habeas corpus hearing. Once an attorney's conduct is shown to be objectively reasonable, it becomes unnecessary to conduct a further inquiry into the alleged shortcomings because we use an objective standard to evaluate counsel's performance. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 700, 104 S.Ct. at 2071, 80 L.Ed.2d at 702.