Opinion ID: 2089125
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Absence of Significant History of Felony Convictions

Text: Appellant further alleges that trial counsel was ineffective during the penalty phase for failing to present evidence that appellant had no significant history of prior criminal convictions so as to establish a mitigating factor under 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(e)(1). Trial counsel testified at a post-trial evidentiary hearing that he decided not to pursue that mitigating circumstance because it would have opened the door for the Commonwealth to introduce evidence of appellant's prior conviction for a violation of the Uniform Firearms Act and several prior juvenile delinquency adjudications for assault. [14] Trial counsel can not be ineffective for declining to attempt to present a mitigating factor where such action would have allowed the Commonwealth to introduce appellant's history of violence, which obviously could have been harmful to appellant. Commonwealth v. Basemore, 525 Pa. 512, 531, 582 A.2d 861, 870 (1990), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1102, 112 S.Ct. 1191, 117 L.Ed.2d 432 (1992) (reasonable trial strategy not to argue lack of significant history of criminal convictions where it could open the door to a single robbery conviction). Hence, this claim fails.