Opinion ID: 2382108
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The post-trial motion to vacate Frederick's conviction.

Text: On September 16, 1994, approximately eighteen months after his second trial, Frederick, who by then was represented by his present appellate counsel, filed a motion pursuant to D.C.Code § 23-110 to set aside his conviction. In his motion, Frederick alleged that his trial counsel had been constitutionally ineffective. One of Frederick's principal claims of ineffectiveness related to trial counsel's failure to produce Eric Winters as a defense witness. On March 22, 1996, Judge López held an evidentiary hearing on Frederick's motion. The only witness called by the government was Frederick's attorney at the trial. On direct examination, trial counsel described as follows his efforts to find Winters and to subpoena him to testify on Frederick's behalf at the second trial: My recollection is that for the second trial, I had my investigator go out, talk with his mother at her home, at her job, attempt to find from her where he was staying. It's my recollection that we were told that he was not staying at the home or at least I was told by my investigator he was not staying at the home. We reviewed the social file of the Court to make sure he wasn't in jail or in some juvenile facility. I had my investigator check the records in Maryland as well as the District of Columbia to make sure that he wasn't in jail. I had my investigator go look in this area for this gang or whatever it was, where the 640 crew hung out. He was instructed to do that. He came back to me and told me that he had done all that.       It was from my understanding and from my recollection of the discussions that I had with [my investigator] he went to the mother's home and we knew she lived  we knew she worked at a restaurant. I don't know if she was still working at the restaurant when he was out checking for her, but he told me he went out to her home and talked with her regarding where Mr. [Winters] was, where he lived, and he was not successful in getting any information from her regarding ... Mr. [Winters]. Trial counsel also testified that he had discussed Winters' unavailability with Frederick, and that the defendant had stated his desire to go ahead with the trial, expressing confidence that he would win. On cross-examination by Frederick's new attorney, counsel testified that he could not recall whether Judge Bowers had criticized him at the first trial for not monitoring in timely fashion where Mr. [Winters] was in the juvenile system. He stated that he did not recall Winters' age, or whether Winters had given his age at Smith's trial, or whether Winters was an adult by the time of Frederick's second trial. [13] He likewise did not remember whether he had asked his investigator to determine if Winters was facing any adult charges. The cross-examination continued: Q .... [W]ere you aware that [Eric Winters] was in this courthouse on November 18th, 1992 for presentment in a felony case? A No, I was not aware of that. Q Were you aware that he was in this courthouse in December of 1992 for arraignment on that felony case? A No, I wasn't aware of that. Q Were you aware that he was in this courthouse on January 26th, 1993 for a status hearing in that felony case? A No, I wasn't aware of it. Q Would it be safe to say that in your experience as an attorney, that if you or your investigator had done a check in the criminal information office in a time from November 18th 1992 on, you would have learned that there was a pending case against Mr. [Winters]? A I can't answer  I mean I cannot tell you what would have happened  I don't know about these things, so I can't tell you that that's the case.[ [14] ] Frederick's attorney also interrogated trial counsel with respect to the voucher counsel had filed pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act in order to obtain payment for his representation of Frederick. The only entries on the voucher between Frederick's first and second trials which were even potentially relevant to trial counsel's alleged efforts to locate Winters were a visit to the crime scene on April 11, 1992 and a twenty-two-minute telephone conversation with his investigator on August 2, 1992. [15]