Giles v. State, 20036

• Decision Date: 20 May 1994
• Docket Number: No. 20036,20036
• Parties: Robert Louis GILES, Petitioner-Appellant, v. STATE of Idaho, the Director, Idaho Department of Corrections, Respondent. Laura Lee WRIGHT, Petitioner-Appellant, v. STATE of Idaho, the Director, Idaho Department of Corrections, Respondent. Boise, December 1993 Term
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 365

877 P.2d 365

125 Idaho 921

Robert Louis GILES, Petitioner-Appellant, v. STATE of Idaho, the Director, Idaho Department of Corrections, Respondent.

Laura Lee WRIGHT, Petitioner-Appellant, v. STATE of Idaho, the Director, Idaho Department of Corrections, Respondent.

No. 20036.

Supreme Court of Idaho,

Boise, December 1993 Term.

May 20, 1994.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 9, 1994.

[125 Idaho 922] Rolf M. Kehne, Boise (argued), for appellant Wright.

Ellison M. Matthews, Boise (argued), for appellant Giles.

Larry EchoHawk, Atty. Gen., and Michael A. Henderson, Deputy Atty. Gen., Boise (argued), for respondent.

BISTLINE, Justice.

BACKGROUND AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Laura Lee Wright and Robert Giles were accused of two counts of lewd conduct with a minor under sixteen. After a trial, Giles and Wright were both convicted by a jury and sentenced to twenty years for each count. The minors upon whom the offenses were committed were aged five and a half and two and a half at the time of the crimes. Laura Wright is the mother of both children; Robert Giles is the father of the younger child.

Following their conviction, Giles and Wright each filed separate appeals, seeking reversal of their conviction on Count II, concerning the younger daughter. They did not present identical arguments, and while Giles' conviction was affirmed, 115 Idaho 984, 772 P.2d 191, this Court reversed Wright's conviction because of the admission at trial of testimony by the State's expert witness concerning hearsay statements made to him by the younger child, which we found to be a violation of Wright's Confrontation Clause rights. State v. Wright, 116 Idaho 382, 775 P.2d 1224 (1989). The United States Supreme Court, on certiorari review, overruled a portion of this Court's Confrontation Clause analysis but affirmed that the violation had occurred. Idaho v. Wright, 497 U.S. 805, 818, 110 S.Ct. 3139, 3148, 111 L.Ed.2d 638, 654 (1990). Based on our holding in State v. Wright, the district court also set aside and vacated Giles' conviction on Count II.

Thereafter Giles and Wright petitioned the court for post-conviction relief on Count I, involving the older child, arguing that they had received ineffective assistance of counsel and that the district court's admission of the hearsay testimony concerning the younger child also tainted the conviction based on offenses upon the older child. The district court dismissed their petitions, finding that the evidence presented did not establish an actual conflict of interest in that one attorney represented both Giles and Wright. The district court also found that counsel representing Giles and Wright, although unsuccessful, was a competent practitioner and pursued a rational trial strategy. The court further held that the admission of the hearsay evidence did not taint Giles' and Wright's convictions as to Count I. Giles and Wright now appeal to this Court.

Thus, in the appeal we are asked to decide whether the district court correctly ruled on two issues:

I. Whether Giles and Wright were provided ineffective assistance of counsel; and

II. Whether the hearsay evidence identified in State v. Wright tainted the petitioners' conviction with regard to Count I.

I. INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

A. Joint Representation

Giles and Wright urge us to adopt a rule that joint representation of defendants constitutes per se ineffective assistance of counsel. We decline to do so. As the Court of Appeals has discussed at length in State v. Koch, 116 Idaho 571, 777 P.2d 1244 (Ct.App.1989), joint representation of defendants does not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel unless actual conflict of interest is demonstrated. Actual conflict of interest might be shown, for example, if the defendant identifies with particularity alternative defenses or additional important evidence that should have been presented by counsel. See Koch, 116 Idaho at 574, 777 P.2d at 1247; see also State v. Hickman, 119 Idaho 366, 806 P.2d 959 (Ct.App.1991). No such showing is made here. To the contrary, neither Giles nor Wright wished to testify against the other or jeopardize each other in any way. Both defendants consistently maintained that they had not committed the acts charged, and there was no evidence produced to show that they would have changed their defense strategies if they had had separate attorneys. Thus, Giles and Wright make no showing of an actual conflict of interest in the joint representation.

B. The Plea Bargain Offer

Giles and Wright argue that the offer of a plea bargain to Laura Wright placed her interests in conflict with those of Giles, and that she should have been represented by separate counsel from that point forward. The facts show that Wright was advised that if she wished to consider plea bargain negotiations, she should contact another attorney. When Wright refused the offer, she was questioned in detail by Judge Schroeder as to her understanding of the plea bargain and her rights, including her right to be represented by independent counsel. She stated very clearly that she did not intend to accept the plea bargain agreement, simply because she did not feel she had done anything wrong, and the plea bargain would have required her to admit her complicity in the offending charge. Understanding that she could have had separate legal counsel, she voluntarily chose not to. The district court therefore concluded, correctly, that the defendants wanted a unified defense and that Wright was waiving any objections as to proceeding otherwise.

In light of the above detailed course of events, we hold that the plea bargain offer did not, as Giles and Wright assert, create an actual conflict of interest. If it had, Wright explicitly waived any claim of ineffective assistance of counsel on allowing herself to be questioned by the district court.

C. The Trial Strategy

Giles and Wright assert that counsel's failure to challenge the State's medical evidence was not a strategic decision; rather, it was due to lack of preparation. They challenge also counsel's strategic choices in calling witnesses and in presenting medical evidence. Finally, they argue that counsel's strategy of conceding that sexual abuse had occurred while attempting to cast doubt as to who were the perpetrators, was doomed to failure and therefore was not a reasonable course of action. Petitioners seem to be complaining that because their counsel was unsuccessful in obtaining an acquittal, ergo, he was incompetent and ineffective. We decline to take this view of the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of effective assistance of counsel and we require substantive proof rather than mere dissatisfaction with the outcome of one's trial.

The standard for evaluating a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel was set forth by the United States Supreme Court in Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980), and in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Idaho has explicitly adopted this standard. McNeeley v. State, 111 Idaho 200, 202, 722 P.2d 1067, 1069 (Ct.App.1986). The standard established in those cases is that counsel's performance must have been so incompetent that the trial can not be relied upon as having produced a just result. It is for the accused to show that counsel made serious errors and that the errors resulted in actual prejudice. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 686, 104 S.Ct. at 2064, 80 L.Ed.2d at 692.

Giles and Wright present no convincing evidence that their counsel was incompetent or ineffective, or that either of them might not have been convicted were it not for his mistakes. There is ample evidence in the record which demonstrates counsel's familiarity with the evidence and his extensive pre-trial preparation. The petitioners' counsel clearly had a rational trial strategy and his tactical decisions will not be second-guessed on review. State v. Roles, 122 Idaho 138, 145, 832 P.2d 311, 318 (Ct.App.1992) (quoting Davis v. State, 116 Idaho 401, 406, 775 P.2d 1243, 1248 (Ct.App.1989)). In our view, counsel's choice of witnesses, manner of cross-examination, and lack of objection to testimony fall within the area of tactical, or strategic, decisions, as does counsel's presentation of medical evidence. See State v. Chapman, 120 Idaho 466, 469, 816 P.2d 1023, 1026 (Ct.App.1991).

Without evidence of unfairness to Giles and Wright, we refuse to hold that the trial did not produce a just result. Neither are we persuaded that counsel made "serious errors" which prejudiced the outcome. Unless prejudice is presumed, the accused bears the burden of demonstrating prejudice to the outcome. Prejudice is presumed only when a defendant is denied counsel or when counsel represents conflicting interests. State v. Charboneau, 116 Idaho 129, 137, 774 P.2d 299, 307 (1989), cert. denied,493 U.S. 922, 110...