Court Opinion

ID: 9750313
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 14:49:17.934338+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:07.040981
License: Public Domain

Morse, J.,
dissenting.
I am not convinced that the error outlined by the Court warrants reversal in this case because the defense, as a trial strategy, may have sanctioned the error.
I disagreed with affirming a conviction for sexual misconduct with a child in State v. Ross, 152 Vt. 462, 473-78, 568 A.2d 335, 342-44 (1989), because I concluded that expert testimony bolstering the credibility of the victim — although not subject to an objection — was so prejudicial as to infringe on defendant’s right to be tried by jury. Id. at 475, 568 A.2d at 343. I also concluded the error was obvious or “plain” because prior to trial the court warned the State not to allow the expert to vouch for the victim’s credibility and the prosecution and defense agreed.
I shall not tarry long in this dissent because deciding a plain error issue is highly discretionary, not subject to precise delineation. I harbor no notion that my colleagues have abused their discretion in finding plain error and only dissent to express a *159contrary exercise of discretion in which, I trust, they find no abuse.
I certainly agree that, had defendant’s counsel objected to the State’s attempts at assassinating defendant’s character and had the court allowed it, reversal for a new trial would justifiably follow. However, defendant’s counsel was not bushwhacked by the prosecutor’s strategy. Defendant was warned of the ensuing cross-examination, and numerous opportunities were available to stop the line of examination of numerous witnesses. Yet, this Court today holds in hindsight that the trial court sua sponte should have stopped the State in its tracks.
Our adversarial system of justice favors a neutral court allowing the advocates, within bounds, to try the case before it as they wish. We do not know defendant’s strategy in this case, and his lack of objection may have been an intentional trial tactic. For all we know, at the time defense counsel might have welcomed the prosecutor’s approach as amounting to a desperate attempt at overkill, an attempt so incendiary and contrary to prosecutorial decency as to offend the average juror. By allowing the prosecution to so proceed, the defense may have hoped the jury would reject the smear attempt, and in the rejecting, give defendant the benefit of reasonable doubt.
I appreciate the trial court’s restraint from taking over the defense in this case. It was by no means apparent as the trial was unfolding where the State and defense were headed. The court’s rulings can, and often do, change in the course of a trial. We should not assume that properly raised objections would have been unavailing. Hindsight always offers a more complete assessment of error and its impact, yet we are not — even in hindsight — as well situated to appreciate the prejudicial effect as a trial court or a court considering a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.
A review of this case on appeal, however, should not on this record encompass an evaluation of whether defendant is entitled to a new trial due to ineffective assistance of counsel. Whether trial counsel for defendant demonstrated “reasonable competence” given the circumstances confronting him in preparing for trial and during trial, and to what extent defendant was prejudiced, are matters for evidentiary development during post-conviction proceedings. State v. Davignon, 152 Vt. 209, *160222, 565 A.2d 1301, 1308 (1989); see also State v. Gabaree, 149 Vt. 229, 232-33, 542 A.2d 272, 274 (1988); State v. Campanelli, 142 Vt. 362, 366, 454 A.2d 1248, 1251 (1982). The rationale for that rule applies equally here:
“[T]he facts can be explored and reported, with a review in this Court based on a developed record and a full evaluation of all relevant issues, rather than on the inadequate inferences of a trial transcript.... Furthermore, this leaves the original appellate process free to conduct its review based on the record of the trial in the customary fashion, according to settled law.”
Gabaree, 149 Vt. at 233, 542 A.2d at 274 (quoting State v. Burling, 140 Vt. 491, 497-98, 442 A.2d 455, 458 (1981)).
The Court today necessarily assumes that defense counsel’s acquiescence to the State’s examination of defendant and his character witnesses resulted from incompetence, not a calculated exercise of trial tactics. Instead, we should heed the admonition that we are not to “‘judge from hindsight whether tactical decisions are ultimately successful in determining claims of attorney competence.’” In re Pernicka, 147 Vt. 180, 183, 513 A.2d 616, 618 (1986)(quoting In re Mecier, 143 Vt. 23, 32, 460 A.2d 472, 477 (1983)).
I would affirm because if relief is warranted when trial tactics are at issue, such relief should be fashioned after an evidentiary hearing in post-conviction proceedings, not as the basis of a finding of plain error on appeal.
I am authorized to say that Justice Peck joins this dissent.