Court Opinion

ID: 9785691
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 22:16:20.248763+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:12.704936
License: Public Domain

SERNA, Chief Justice (dissenting). {36} I respectfully dissent. The majority purports to apply the Sixth Amendment as that provision applies to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. The majority correctly describes the prejudice prong of the test for ineffective assistance of counsel in cases involving pleas as whether there is a reasonable probability that the defendant would not have pleaded guilty, or no contest, and would have instead gone to tidal. However, the majority asserts that “the prejudice prong of the test is different for defendants convicted at trial than for defendants whose convictions rest on pleas.” Majority Opinion ¶ 17. The majority then states, “A defendant who was convicted on a plea is not required to prove that the result at trial would have been acquittal.” Id. I respectfully disagree. This Court is not free to interpret the Sixth Amendment in any manner it chooses, and I believe that the majority’s analysis conflicts with the standard established by the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has specifically addressed the prejudice standard for ineffective assistance claims involving a plea and has explained the similarities between that standard and the one articulated in Strickland for eases involving a trial: In many guilty plea cases, the “prejudice” inquiry will closely resemble the inquiry engaged in by courts reviewing ineffective-assistance challenges to convictions obtained through a trial. For example, where the alleged error of counsel is a failure to investigate or discover potentially exculpatory evidence, the determination whether the error “prejudiced” the defendant by causing him to plead guilty rather than go to trial will depend on the likelihood that discovery of the evidence would have led counsel to change his recommendation as to the plea. This assessment, in turn, will depend in large part on a prediction whether the evidence likely would have changed the outcome of a trial. Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 59, 106 S.Ct. 366, 88 L.Ed.2d 203 (1985) (emphasis added). I believe that the majority’s articulation of the prejudice standard directly conflicts with Hill {37} Respectfully, I also believe that the majority’s mistaken articulation of the standard results in a misapplication of the prejudice prong to the facts of this ease. The majority recognizes that although Petitioner repeatedly asserted his innocence he nonetheless followed the advice of his counsel to plead no contest to the charges. Majority Opinion ¶ 30. Despite this recognition, the majority does not focus on trial counsel’s recommendation. Specifically, the majority fails to determine that trial counsel’s recommendation would have been altered by a successful motion to suppress the showup identifications. Given Petitioner’s willingness to follow the advice of his counsel even over his own protestations of innocence, the failure to make this determination is fatal to the majority’s analysis. The Supreme Court clearly explained in Hill that the proper focus under these circumstances is whether a successful motion to suppress the showup identifications “would have led counsel to change [her] recommendation as to the plea,” Hill 474 U.S. at 59, 106 S.Ct. 366. {38} Trial counsel rendered her advice to Petitioner to plead no contest based on her investigation of the State’s evidence, her interviews with the potential witnesses, and her assessment of her client’s credibility if he testified before a jury. Trial counsel’s assessment of the case went far beyond the two show-up identifications. Trial counsel was justifiably concerned about Petitioner’s presence at the scene of the crime, his possession of a gun that was similar to the one described by the eyewitnesses, and the similarity between the clothing he was wearing and the clothing described by the eyewitnesses, including the color of the clothing and the type of clothing, such as the ski cap, a red bandana, and black gloves. Moreover, if this case went to trial, a jury would be entitled to infer a consciousness of guilt from Petitioner’s flight from the restaurant. The majority’s assertion to the contrary notwithstanding, the showup identifications were not critical to the State’s case. {39} In denying the petition for writ of habeas corpus, the district court noted that, based on interviews with the witnesses, trial counsel “testified that she was concerned about the witnesses’ ability to identify the defendant because of the type of clothing he was wearing. She felt that the State’s case was very strong. She then counseled the Petitioner about the trial option and as a result the defendant entered a negotiated plea.” The district court further noted that “trial counsel’s responsibility to her client was to assess the totality of the evidence that would go to the jury. A strong positive identification by numerous witnesses is what trial counsel feared.” The majority fails to determine that these factual findings are unsupported by substantial evidence. As found by the district court, trial counsel’s recommendation was based on the totality of evidence and not solely on the showup identifications. Even without the showup identifications, a jury would have been presented with a number of sympathetic witnesses describing an assailant who substantially matched Petitioner’s appearance on the night in question, in addition to Petitioner’s admitted presence at the scene, compared to Petitioner’s highly unlikely, self-serving, uncorroborated story that he was in an alley behind the restaurant at the exact time that an individual meeting his description committed the robbery.1 Under these circumstances, the suppression of the showup identifications would not change the outcome of a trial, and it is therefore highly unlikely that trial counsel would have changed her recommendation to plead no contest even:if she had successfully moved to suppress the showup identifications. Under the standard articulated by the Supreme Court in Hill, by which we are bound, Petitioner has failed to demonstrate prejudice in this case. For these reasons, I respectfully dissent. I CONCUR: JOSEPH F. BACA, Justice.  . The majority focuses on the fact that no money was found on Petitioner. However, to a jury, given the other evidence against Petitioner, this fact would likely have been less important than the fact that there were no witnesses or any marijuana found by the police to support Petitioner’s story. If, under Petitioner's story, he could successfully discard the marijuana without detection, he would also have had an opportunity to successfully hide the money.