Opinion ID: 1290783
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evidence of lifestyle

Text: ¶28 The testimony the State presented of Fonte's lifestyle forms an additional basis for Fonte's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Fonte argues that testimony painted an unflattering view of him by showing that: (1) he and his friends were in town to hear a concert by Phil Lesh, bass player for the Grateful Dead, a band whose followers are widely known as Dead Heads; (2) he had attended more than fifty concerts over the previous one to two years; (3) his group of friends knew each other only by first names or nicknames; and (4) the group had all slept together in one hotel room the night before the accident. [8] Fonte argues this evidence paints him as a person who either does not have a job or has little responsibility and is more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol. ¶29 We conclude that Fonte's arguments regarding testimony about his lifestyle are unpersuasive. We agree with the circuit court and Fonte's trial counsel that testimony concerning the group of friends frequently attending concerts is not prejudicial to Fonte. We agree that the jury, after hearing this evidence, would not necessarily interpret it as Fonte argues. There is little reason to think Fonte was unemployed based on the fact that he traveled to fifty concerts. While we agree that drug abuse and alcohol abuse have been reported as having occurred at rock concerts, Fonte fails to show how this point, given other evidence [9] raised against him in the circuit court, is sufficient to undermine our confidence that Fonte received a fair trial with a reliable verdict. Accordingly, we reject Fonte's argument that he was denied effective assistance of counsel.