Opinion ID: 1969619
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Kent Antenson & Blaine Campbell

Text: Fast Horse asserts that when Basham called Dale, he and one of the Telescan employees (he could not recall which one) overheard the content of the conversation and could confirm that Dale had spoken to Basham. Because Stonefield did not follow this lead, Fast Horse asserts that he lost an opportunity to impeach Dale's credibility. However, Antenson and Campbell, Telescan's only employees at the time of the alleged phone conversation, did not recall any such phone call. When the ticket theft charges were dropped, Stonefield felt he had no reason to pursue that line of inquiry. Recall, Stonefield testified that his client's story was wrought with inconsistencies. Stonefield also found it difficult to pursue every lead in Fast Horse's ever-changing tale. Although there was opportunity to impeach Dale, there was also a greater opportunity to make Fast Horse look guilty of obtaining the tickets by fraud. Fast Horse has provided no witnesses to corroborate his claim that Dale authorized the tickets. The habeas court noted, Tracking down potential witnesses who may or may not have recalled hearing part or all of that one side of that phone conversation, it's too speculative. We agree. As Antenson and Campbell could not confirm the phone call, the absence of their testimony on the matter had no effect on the outcome of the trial. Roden v. Solem, 431 N.W.2d 665, 670 (S.D.1988); State v. Kidd, 286 N.W.2d 120 (S.D.1979).