Court Opinion

ID: 9536461
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:00:17.713498+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:54:31.370269
License: Public Domain

Justice VOLLACK
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur in the majority’s holding that the trial court correctly held that defense counsel’s opening statement constituted a waiver of the marital privilege. Maj. op. at 927. I also concur in the majority’s holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied the defendant’s motion to collaterally attack his Kansas conviction. Maj. op. at 925. I disagree, however, with the majority’s holding that the trial court must hold a hearing to determine whether defense counsel’s performance was constitutionally deficient under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984).
Criminal defendants may make ineffective assistance of counsel claims in post-trial motions before the trial court under Crim.P. 33. If a defendant’s motion is based on ineffective assistance of counsel that defendant must establish the truth of the allegations on which he bases his motion for a new trial and produce evidence of his counsel’s ineffectiveness. See Maynes v. People, 178 Colo. 88, 93, 495 P.2d 551, 553 (1972) (trial court fully considered defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim in motion for a new trial); People v. Loggins, 709 P.2d 25, 28 (Colo.App.1985); People v. Hernandez, 695 P.2d 308, 310 (Colo.App.1984) (juror misconduct); Commonwealth v. Bannister, 15 Mass.App. 71, 75, 443 N.E.2d 1325, 1329 (1983) (“ ‘[t]o the extent that the defendant’s motion [for a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel] was based on facts which were neither agreed upon nor apparent on the face of the record, he had the burden of proving such facts’ ”) (quoting Commonwealth v. Bernier, 359 Mass. 13, 15, 267 N.E.2d 636 (1971)). “In cases alleging ineffective assistance of counsel, the trial court must judge the reasonableness of the attorney’s conduct on the basis of all of the factual circumstances of the particular case, viewed in light of the prevailing standards of minimally acceptable professional conduct at the time of the challenged conduct.” People v. Pozo, 746 P.2d 523, 527 (Colo.1987) (citing Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690, 104 S.Ct. at 2066). If a criminal defendant can demonstrate that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding. would have been different, he is entitled to a new trial under Crim.P. 33. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 104 S.Ct. at 2068.
A criminal defendant may also obtain a hearing on his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel by collaterally attacking his conviction under Crim.P. 35(c). When a criminal defendant makes a motion for post-conviction relief under Crim.P. 35(c) he is entitled to an evidentiary hearing “unless the motion, the files, and the record of the case ‘clearly establish that the allegations presented in the defendant’s motion are without merit and do not warrant post-conviction relief.’ ” White v. Denver Dist. Court, 766 P.2d 632, 634 (Colo.1988) (quoting People v. Hutton, 183 Colo. 388, 391, 517 P.2d 392, 394 (1973)); see also Pozo, 746 P.2d at 530 (remanding for further evidentiary hearing in Crim.P. 35(c) motion brought by defendant on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel). A defendant who is able to establish that he was denied *928his sixth amendment right to effective assistance of counsel under the standards announced in Strickland, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, is entitled to relief under Crim.P. 35(c)(3).
If a defendant chooses to raise an ineffective assistance of counsel claim for the first time on appeal, without an evidentiary hearing at the trial court, he must still establish that his claim satisfies the standards announced in Strickland, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Such a defendant elects at his own peril to stand on the trial record as grounds for his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. This court has previously expressed a preference for having ineffective assistance of counsel claims resolved in post-trial motions or in proceedings under Crim.P. 35. In Stone v. People, 174 Colo. 504, 512, 485 P.2d 495, 499 (1971), the defendant asserted for the first time on appeal that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. We noted that, “[ojrdinar-ily, a defendant would have been expected to raise the matter of competency of counsel in [his earlier Crim.P.] 35(b)1 [motion].” Id., at 512, 485 P.2d at 498-99. We excused the defendant’s failure to raise his ineffective assistance of counsel claim in his Crim.P. 35(b) motion, however, on the ground that at the time he filed the motion he was represented by the same counsel that had represented him at trial. Id., 485 P.2d at 499. We then held that “[u]nder these particular circumstances, if the defendant wishes to continue to urge the point of incompetency of counsel by reason of counsel preventing defendant from testifying, he may do so in a further 35(b) proceeding in the trial court.” In the present case the defendant through counsel other than trial counsel raised for the first time on appeal the question of his trial counsel’s competence. The court of appeals ruled on the trial record that the defendant had failed to meet his burden under Strickland. I would affirm the court of appeals decision on this question without further remand. I would not second-guess counsel’s reasons for raising the question for the first time on appeal.
I am authorized to say that ERICKSON, J., joins in this concurrence and dissent.

. At the time Stone was decided, the substantive provisions of what is now Crim.P. 35(c) were contained in Crim.P. 35(b). See Crim.P. 35(b), 1 C.R.S. (1963).