Opinion ID: 1298652
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: TRIAL COUNSEL's OPPORTUNITY TO BE HEARD

Text: The parties dispute the circuit court's ruling that trial counsel's failure to call any of the five inmates at trial constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel. State contends that the circuit court's decision constitutes reversible error, while Petitioner counters that no reversible error occurred. The troublesome aspect with this issue, however, is that the record is void as to the reasons for trial counsel's decision against calling any of the five inmates as witnesses at Petitioner's trial. Trial counsel did not testify at the hearing for post-conviction relief. Only Petitioner testified. In a proceeding for post-conviction relief where a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is alleged, the burden is upon the [petitioner] to demonstrate actual, not speculative, prejudice. Stough v. State, 62 Haw. 620, 623, 618 P.2d 301, 304 (1980) (per curiam). Here, we believe that unless trial counsel is given the opportunity to explain his reasons for not calling any of the five inmates as witnesses at Petitioner's trial, any prejudice demonstrated by Petitioner is speculative at best. Any ineffective assistance of counsel determination, in turn, is premature. Under these circumstances, therefore, we find it unfair to implement a Rule 13 [7] proceeding against trial counsel without first giving him an opportunity to explain his side of the story. Hence, we remand the case with instructions to the circuit court to call trial counsel as a witness and interrogate him accordingly, subject to cross-examination by the respective parties. See Hawaii Rules of Evidence (HRE) Rule 614 (calling and interrogation of witnesses by the court); HRE Rule 1101 (applicability of the HRE); cf. Cacatian v. State, 70 Haw. ___, 772 P.2d 691 (1989) (remand in a proceeding for post-conviction relief to determine, inter alia, what reasons trial counsel had for not putting the petitioner on the stand at trial); Stough v. State, 62 Haw. 620, 618 P.2d 301 (counsel who represented the petitioner during the criminal proceeding took the stand at the subsequent proceeding for post-conviction relief and denied nearly all of the petitioner's testimony).