Opinion ID: 1561405
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ineffective AssistanceHearsay

Text: Floyd next contends that trial counsel was ineffective for the failure to timely object to various hearsay statements admitted during trial with regard to the children's identification of Floyd as the shooter and to the testimony of Figuero that J.J. was smart and bright. We conclude that Floyd is not entitled to relief. First, trial counsel's performance was not deficient because counsel testified during the evidentiary hearing that he made a strategic decision not to pepper the record with unnecessary objections for fear of irritating the jury. Moreover, the record demonstrates that trial counsel objected to most of the hearsay testimony with which Floyd takes issue. One hearsay statement to which trial counsel did not object was the statement of Ms. Figuero's son, who testified that he heard J.J. inform Ms. Figuero that Floyd shot Ms. Goss. However, trial counsel was not deficient for failing to object because J.J.'s statement qualified as an excited utterance. This exception to the hearsay rule authorizes admission of hearsay containing [a] statement or excited utterance relating to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition. § 90.803(2), Fla. Stat. (Supp.1998). A statement qualifies as an excited utterance if it was made (1) with regard to an event that was startling enough to cause nervous excitement, (2) before there was time for the declarant to contrive or misrepresent, and (3) while the declarant was under the stress or excitement caused by the event. See Johnson v. State, 969 So.2d 938, 949 (Fla.2007), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 2056, 170 L.Ed.2d 799 (2008). Here, J.J.'s immediate statement related to the shooting of his grandmother by his stepfather, an event that is without question shocking enough to cause nervous excitement. The statement was made within seconds of Ms. Goss's murder and while the children were running from the murder scene. The children were panicking, crying, and begging for help when they spoke to Figuero. The record supports a finding that J.J. did not have time to contrive or misrepresent, and that he was still under the stress caused by the startling event when he made this statement. See Williams v. State, 967 So.2d 735, 748-49 (Fla.2007) (holding that the declarant's 911 statements approximately twenty minutes after she was stabbed qualified as an excited utterance), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 1709, 170 L.Ed.2d 519 (2008); Damren v. State, 838 So.2d 512, 520 (Fla. 2003) (holding that statement qualified as an excited utterance where it was made shortly after the victim's murder, the declarant was in a highly agitated state when he made the statements, and the declarant feared for his own life because of the homicide he had just witnessed); Ware v. State, 596 So.2d 1200, 1201 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992) (declarant's call to 911 after finding her son bleeding profusely from a neck wound qualified as an excited utterance). Floyd also contends that trial counsel was deficient for the failure to object to Figuero's comment that J.J. was bright and smart, and that this testimony constituted impermissible bolstering of J.J. as a witness. We disagree. Counsel testified during the evidentiary hearing that he made a strategic decision to limit unnecessary objections to avoid irritating the jury during the course of the trial. Trial counsel was not ineffective for following a trial strategy that, in hindsight, did not ultimately result in the defendant's acquittal. See Dufour v. State, 905 So.2d 42, 62 (Fla.2005). Floyd has also failed to demonstrate prejudice because there was no reasonable probability that, had trial counsel objected, the results of the trial would have been impacted, and our confidence in this outcome is not undermined. The record demonstrates that J.J. was properly qualified by the court and had shown sufficient intelligence to testify with coherence, consistency, and clarity. It is unlikely that Figuero's isolated comments with regard to J.J. as a bright and smart child impacted the jury's evaluation of his actual testimony, and they do not undermine our confidence in the outcome here. Accordingly, this claim is without merit.