Wallace v. State
| Decision Date | 30 May 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. S00A0104.,S00A0104. |
| Citation | 272 Ga. 501,530 S.E.2d 721 |
| Parties | WALLACE v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Vinson, Talley, Richardson & Cable, J. Glenn Richardson, Dallas, for appellant.
Richard E. Currie, District Attorney, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Wylencia H. Monroe, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
Appellant Jack Ray Wallace appeals his conviction for murder,1 alleging, among other things, that the trial court erred in permitting witnesses to comment on his exercise of the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. We find, however, that because this contention was not raised before the trial court, it is waived on appeal. We also find that appellant's trial counsel did not render deficient representation so as to deprive appellant of his right to the effective assistance of counsel. Finding no merit in appellant's other contentions, we affirm.
The evidence of record enabled a rational trier of fact to find that on the evening of December 13, 1990, a small plane landed near the Ware Correctional Institute without activating its landing lights. The Ware Correctional Institute is situated adjacent to the Okefenokee Swamp in South Georgia. When correctional officers approached the plane, appellant's co-defendants Glean and Speas exited the plane. After obtaining a warrant, the officers searched a large black box that was found in the plane. The body of appellant's wife, Kimberly Wallace, was found inside the black box. She was naked, and a plastic bag had been secured over her head with a rope. The inside of the box was coated with petroleum jelly, and the plane's passenger door had been removed, presumably to facilitate sliding the body out of the box over the swamp. A medical examiner later concluded that the victim had been strangled to death.
The following evening, appellant voluntarily went to a Cobb County police station near his home and was interviewed about the crime. At that time, he executed a waiver form and consented to a search of his home and office. Appellant denied any knowledge of the victim's death, but did state, "I did not want it to be like that," when told how the victim was found.
A forensic chemist tested a jar of petroleum jelly containing black particles which was recovered from appellant's home. The chemist concluded that particles taken from the jar and from appellant's carpet were of the same morphology, size, shape and general texture as particles taken from the black box in which the victim's body was found; however, he could not state at trial that the two sets of particles came from the same source. A chemist also determined that tape, rope, and plastic bags found in appellant's home were similar to those used in the murder; however, the chemist could not determine that it was the same rope or tape as was used in the murder. Investigators located appellant's Jeep at co-defendant Glean's house. A letter with directions to a nearby airport was found in the Jeep's glove compartment. Aerial charts and maps of the Okefenokee Swamp were also recovered from Glean's house.
Prior to the murder, the victim had separated from and had filed for divorce from appellant, and co-defendant Glean was appellant's attorney in the divorce action.2 On the evening she disappeared, the victim was scheduled to stop by appellant's home to retrieve holiday ornaments. She was not seen again after that scheduled appointment. The victim's cousin testified that she had previously witnessed violent encounters between appellant and the victim, and that appellant had threatened to kill the victim. The victim's father testified that appellant had told him he would never again allow his possessions to be taken from him in a divorce action (prior to his marriage to the victim, appellant had been divorced two times).
1. Construed most favorably to the verdict, the evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty of the murder of his wife.3
2. Appellant urges that the trial court erred in permitting the State to comment at trial upon appellant's exercise of his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent when questioned by law enforcement officers about the crime. In support of this claim, appellant refers to several instances during the trial when witnesses answered attorney questioning by stating that appellant did not say anything in response to certain inquiries made by police, but rather simply swallowed hard, wrung his hands, breathed and sighed deeply, and shuffled his arms and legs. In its closing argument, the State alluded to this testimony by referring to appellant's "gulps... blank stare ... and cold expression," and by arguing that while appellant "didn't come out and admit anything" to police, appellant's physicality, when considered in light of his motive and opportunity, indicated his guilt.
"[ A] comment upon a defendant's silence or failure to come forward is far more prejudicial than probative, [and therefore]... will not be allowed even where the defendant had not received Miranda warnings."4 Based upon this same reasoning, a witness in a criminal trial is not permitted to testify as to a declarant's incriminating statements, made in the presence of an accused, to which an accused tacitly acquiesces by remaining silent.5
The State urges that the testimony complained of by appellant was permissible because it did not include a witness's personal comment or opinion regarding appellant's exercise of the right to remain silent. Our review of the trial transcript tends to bear this out, as the testimony cited by appellant either (a) merely stated that appellant did not respond vocally to certain questions posed to him by police, and (b) described appellant's physical conduct during his interrogation by the police. However, the State's argument is unavailing, since this Court's precedent prohibits not just testimony that comments upon a witness's silence, but any testimony touching upon the silence of an accused, because the prejudicial impact of such testimony is far greater than "its minimal probative value and [thus] will not be allowed."6
Nonetheless, despite that it appears the trial court erred in admitting this testimony, we need not evaluate whether the testimony had a harmful impact upon appellant's trial, because the ground of appellant's objection on appeal—that the testimony complained of wrongly commented on his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent—was not raised at trial and hence must be deemed waived on appeal.7
3. Appellant claims that the trial court erred in denying his new trial motion because trial counsel was ineffective due to (1) counsel's failure to object on Fifth Amendment grounds to the eliciting of witness statements regarding appellant's exercise of the right to remain silent; (2) counsel's failure to obtain an independent scientific evaluation of physical evidence; and (3) counsel's inadequate preparation for trial and visits to a hotel bar during the course of the trial.
The burden of establishing the ineffective assistance of trial counsel is a heavy one that requires an appellant to establish both that counsel's performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and that, but for counsel's deficient performance, there is a reasonable probability that the outcome of the trial would have been different.8 Regarding this second prong, "[i]t is not enough for the defendant to show that the errors had some conceivable effect on the outcome of the proceedings," he must establish a reasonable probability that but for the error, his trial would have ended differently.9 A failure to make a sufficient showing on either of these prongs will be fatal to a claim of ineffective assistance.10
(a) Concerning appellant's claim that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object on Fifth Amendment grounds to testimony that touched upon appellant's right to remain silent, we need not determine whether counsel performed deficiently, because we conclude that in all likelihood, the failure to object did not contribute to the proceeding's outcome. Evidence presented at trial established that the victim: (1) was at appellant's home at roughly the time she disappeared; (2) had previously been subjected to appellant's verbal and physical abuse; and (3) was engaged in an acrimonious divorce from appellant. Physical evidence linked material from appellant's home to the black box in which the victim's body was found. When told of the circumstances of his wife's death, appellant stated, "I did not want it to be like that." In light of this evidence, we conclude that no prejudice resulted from trial counsel's failure to raise a Fifth Amendment objection.
(b) Appellant's trial counsel filed a pretrial motion seeking to allow an...
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