Court Opinion

ID: 9709703
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 03:53:16.658681+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:50.979766
License: Public Domain

Abrams, J.
(concurring). I agree with the opinion as a whole, but concur especially to express my view on whether the voluntariness of the confession should have been submitted to the jury. The evidence indicated that the defendant had been drinking heavily “prior to, during, and after the commission of the [crime].” Commonwealth v. Chung, 378 Mass. 451, 457 (1979). In my view, that evidence was sufficient to raise the issue of the voluntariness of the statements and require the judge to submit the issue of the voluntariness of the defendant’s confessions to the jury in accordance with our “humane practice.” See Commonwealth v. Johnston, 373 Mass. 21, 24 (1977); Commonwealth v. Harris, 371 Mass. 462, 469-470 (1976); Commonwealth v. Cole, ante 30 (1980).
The defendant, however, chose to challenge the truthfulness of his inculpatory statements apart from arguing that their involuntariness might affect their trustworthiness and reliability. Cf. Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 385-386 (1964). In his closing argument, defense counsel specifically referred to the testimony of the defendant’s father that his son lied so often it was difficult to tell the lies from the truth. At trial, the defendant testified that he made statements which were untrue because he was sick of the “kind *58of life [he] led” and “wanted to die.” There was also evidence indicating that when the defendant was arrested he told the police he had a gun, but in fact he did not. As the main opinion points out, at no time did the defendant’s testimony focus on the involuntariness of his statements due to intoxication.
Finally, defense counsel failed to raise the issue of voluntariness after the voir dires and he did not request appropriate jury instructions. At the hearing on the motion for a new trial he stated that he had abandoned the issue of voluntariness. The record confirms that at trial the defendant’s inculpatory statements were attacked by counsel as untrue and that his approach was a strategic choice rather than inadvertent oversight or ineptitude.
A trial strategy which is not successful does not necessarily indicate error or ineffective assistance of counsel. “ There are certain risks inherent in most strategic decisions and tactical moves, and the strategist or tactician on neither side is in a very good position to claim foul if his own strategy backfires or he is outmaneuvered. It is not a function of this court to protect a litigant from the inherent consequences of a risk which he voluntarily assumes.” Commonwealth v. DiPietro, 373 Mass. 369, 391 (1977). I, therefore, concur in the conclusion that in these circumstances the judge was not obliged to submit the issue of the voluntariness of the defendant’s statements to the jury.