People v. Dillon

• Citation: 739 P.2d 919
• Decision Date: 29 January 1987
• Docket Number: No. 85CA0674,85CA0674
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ricky DILLON, Defendant-Appellant. . II
• Court: Court of Appeals of Colorado

Page 919

739 P.2d 919

The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ricky DILLON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 85CA0674.

Colorado Court of Appeals,

Div. II.

Jan. 29, 1987.

Rehearing Denied March 5, 1987.

Certiorari Denied (People) July 13, 1987.

Duane Woodard, Atty. Gen., Charles B. Howe, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Richard H. Forman, Sol. Gen., David R. Little, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for plaintiff-appellee.

J. Gregory Walta, Colorado Springs, for defendant-appellant.

SMITH, Judge.

Defendant, Ricky Dillon, appeals the order of the trial court denying his motion for post-conviction relief under Crim.P. 35(c), in which he sought to set aside his convictions for felony murder, aggravated robbery, second degree burglary, conspiracy to commit second degree burglary, and conspiracy to commit robbery. He contends that he was not afforded the effective assistance of counsel required under the United States and Colorado Constitutions. We agree and, accordingly, reverse and remand with directions that a new trial be granted.

On August 14, 1977, Carl Taylor was bludgeoned to death as he slept in the back of a moving van parked outside an apartment complex in Colorado Springs. Testimony at trial established that a group of soldiers who lived in or close to the apartment complex had broken into the van for the purpose of taking anything of value. The victim, who was an employee of the van owner, was discovered inside and beaten to death with a car jack.

The police investigation almost immediately focused on a group of five men that did not include defendant. This group met on several occasions to decide how to cover up their involvement in the murder and to monitor the police investigation. Three of these suspects were involved in threatening a key witness and his family to the extent that the witness had to be given police protection and moved out of state. Members of the group made many inconsistent statements to authorities and friends and admitted at trial that they had lied extensively to police.

During the police investigation, each of the suspects was interviewed numerous times but in none of these interviews was defendant mentioned as being a participant in either the murder or the theft from the van. He was not implicated until several months later, just before the grand jury proceedings were to begin. At that time, a close friend of the suspects, who had allegedly been involved in the cover-up attempts, changed his story and told police that defendant had killed Carl Taylor, and within days all of the suspects gave police the same account. An indictment was returned by the grand jury charging defendant with first degree murder, and the district attorney's office sought the death penalty. Indictments were also returned against three of the other participants who were subsequently offered plea bargains so that they would testify against defendant.

An attorney was appointed to represent defendant in February 1978, and a second attorney was appointed to assist him approximately two weeks before trial. Defendant has, from the beginning, maintained that he was not involved nor was he present when the group broke into the van and Carl Taylor was murdered. No physical evidence was presented linking defendant to the crime. Indeed, the only evidence of his involvement presented at trial was the testimony of those who admitted they had participated and that of certain of their family members. The defense did not present any evidence.

The jury found defendant guilty of first degree murder and the trial court sentenced him to death. Defendant appealed the conviction on other grounds, and the judgment was affirmed by this court in People v. Dillon, 633 P.2d 504 (Colo.App.1981). The death sentence was subsequently reduced to life imprisonment when the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty statute was unconstitutional.

On August 16, 1982, defendant filed a Crim. P. 35(c) motion to set aside his convictions on the ground that he was inadequately represented by counsel. On May 1, 1985, after an evidentiary hearing, the trial court entered an order in which it found, based upon the testimony of an expert witness, that the following deficiencies in the representation afforded defendant had been established:

"A. Lack of or insufficiency of investigation;

B. Insufficient efforts to obtain the presence of a witness;

C. Insufficient trial presence;

D. 'Changing horses' in closing argument."

However, the trial court concluded that even if these deficiencies in investigation and case presentation were below the standard required, they did not affect the outcome of the trial since the evidence presented was more than sufficient to support the jury's finding of guilt. Based upon these findings and this conclusion, the trial court denied defendant's motion.

The right to counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment and Colo. Const. art. II, § 16, entitles the defendant in a criminal proceeding to the reasonably effective assistance of an attorney acting as his diligent and conscientious advocate. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); People v. Norman, 703 P.2d 1261 (Colo.1985). This entitlement requires that the quality of representation received must fall within the range of reasonably competent assistance demanded of attorneys practicing criminal law. Stroup v. People, 656 P.2d 680 (Colo.1982); People v. Dillard, 680 P.2d 243 (Colo.App.1984). The standard of reasonableness is an objective one measured by prevailing professional norms. Strickland v. Washington, supra.

The benchmark for judging a claim of ineffectiveness is whether counsel's conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a just result. Strickland v. Washington, supra. If defendant makes such a claim in a Crim. P. 35 proceeding, the burden rests on him to show that counsel's performance was deficient and that the deficient performance prejudiced his defense. Strickland v. Washington, supra. See also People v. Norman, supra; People v. Dillard, supra. To show such prejudice, defendant must demonstrate that, when the totality of circumstances is considered, there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's deficient performance, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability...