Opinion ID: 789998
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Strickland Prong One: Objectively Unreasonable Representation

Text: 107 We agree with the district court that, considered as a whole, Walton's failure to challenge these two identifications fell below an objectively reasonable standard of representation. We start with Walton's failure to object to the in-court identifications at trial. This failure does not appear to have been based on any tactical decision, but, rather, arose from trial counsel's ignorance of the law. By his own testimony, Walton was unaware that if he failed to raise an objection at trial, his client would face a stricter standard of review on appeal. He was not familiar with the contemporaneous-objection rule. We agree with the district court that this failure falls short of prevailing professional norms. To preserve issues on the record is one of the most basic duties of a trial lawyer, not to mention a criminal defense attorney. See ABA Standard 4-7.1(d) (1979) (stating that criminal defense attorney has a duty to have the record reflect adverse rulings or judicial conduct which the lawyer considers prejudicial to his or her client's legitimate interests). We therefore find that Walton's failure to object at trial amounted to objectively unreasonable representation. 108 We also agree that Walton's failure to make a pretrial motion to suppress Chorney's and Carter's identifications fell below reasonable professional standards. We recognize that trial counsel's strategic decisions are accorded strong deference. See, e.g., McQueen v. Scroggy, 99 F.3d 1302, 1311 (6th Cir.1996), overruled on other grounds, Abdur'Rahman v. Bell, 392 F.3d 174 (6th Cir.2004). In this case, however, Walton's failure to file a motion to exclude all three identifications, as opposed to only the one that he did, appears not to have been based on any tactical thinking. As he testified, I guess I can't really justify at this particular point in time why the motion was only filed towards one of those witnesses. J.A. 756. Although Walton testified that he may have planned to move to suppress the two witnesses' testimony if the trial court granted the motion with regard to the state's strongest witness — Kenneth Gapinski — this is insufficient justification. 109 When faced with the possibility of removing two out of three eyewitnesses, a professionally competent defense attorney would at least raise the motion in order to preserve it for appeal. By his own testimony, Walton did not even know that he needed to raise an objection to preserve the issue. We find this performance fell below prevailing professional norms. See, e.g., ABA Standard 4-3.6 (1979) (stating that [m]any important rights of the accused can be protected and preserved only by prompt legal action, and that defense counsel should consider all procedural steps which in good faith may be taken, including ... moving to suppress illegally obtained evidence). 110