Opinion ID: 407646
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel at Guilt Phase

Text: 52 Appellant contends his attorney's representation at trial was inadequate to meet minimum constitutional standards. This contention involves the testimony of the prosecution's key witness, a boarder named Mary Bassett who resided with appellant and his wife in their trailer. Bassett testified at trial that she was awakened early on the morning of the murder and overheard a conversation between appellant and his wife in which appellant related the facts of the killing. Appellant's attorney filed a pre-trial motion to suppress this testimony on the ground that the conversation was a confidential communication between appellant and his wife and therefore was privileged under Florida law. The attorney renewed the objection at the close of the testimony and, after an adverse ruling on that issue and appellant's ensuing conviction, asserted it as a ground of error on appeal. Appellant now argues that the defense attorney's failure to present evidence in support of the suppression motion violated his right to effective assistance of counsel. 53 The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's rejection of appellant's assertion of privilege. Appellant describes the court's holding as based on an absence of evidence supporting the alleged confidentiality of the conversation. He attributes this lack of evidence to his trial counsel and maintains that had the attorney put appellant or his wife on the stand or brought forth other available evidence, confidentiality would have been shown. We reject appellant's argument for two reasons. First, in contrast to appellant's characterization, the Florida Supreme Court not only found an absence of evidence that the statements were made in confidence; it found affirmative evidence in the record indicating that they were not. See Proffitt v. State, 315 So.2d 461, 465 (Fla.1975). Thus, even had the attorney presented contrary evidence the evidence would have been conflicting, and the likelihood that appellant would have prevailed on the privilege claim is not great. More importantly, appellant presents no convincing evidence that his attorney might have proffered to support the privilege claim. Appellant contends, for example, that he or his wife could have testified to their actual, subjective expectations of privacy. Such testimony would not have aided appellant, however, since Florida employs an objective standard of confidentiality. As the Florida Supreme Court stated on appellant's direct appeal, no privilege attaches to marital communications where the spouses knew or should have known that the communication was being overheard. Proffitt v. State, 315 So.2d at 464. The Florida court specifically found appellant and his wife were speaking in a manner and place where they had a reasonable chance of being overheard, and ( ) knew of that possibility at that time. Id. at 465. To the extent Mrs. Proffitt's testimony at the evidentiary hearing suggested different facts, the district court found her testimony incredible. Hence, even if appellant or his wife had testified and the court had believed they were unaware that Bassett could hear their conversation, such conversation would not have been privileged under Florida law. Nor does appellant's proffer of evidence that Bassett may have derived some of her information from conversations with appellant's wife or the police rather than by overhearing appellant convince us that his attorney failed him. The district court found the attorney had investigated fairly thoroughly how Bassett learned of the information about the killing and had eliminated the possibility that she had heard it from news reports, appellant's wife, or the police. These findings are not clearly erroneous. We therefore conclude that appellant received reasonably effective assistance at the guilt phase of his trial. 54