Johnson v. State

369 S.W.3d 87, 2012 WL 2378118, 2012 Mo. App. LEXIS 867
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided June 26, 2012·No. No. WD 73862·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

CYNTHIA L. MARTIN, Judge.

Ivan Johnson (“Johnson”) appeals the denial of his Rule 29.15 motion following an evidentiary hearing. Johnson alleges that he was denied effective assistance of counsel because his trial counsel failed to register a hearsay objection to the testimony of a witness about the statement of another individual regarding Johnson’s presence near the scene of a murder. Johnson claims that a timely hearsay objection would have been sustained and that the result of his trial would have been different. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural History

Johnson was convicted in 2005 following a jury trial of first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in connection with the 2003 robbery and murder of John Wolff (“Wolff”). Johnson was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of probation or parole on the murder charge and to a consecutive 20-year sentence on the robbery charge. Johnson’s conviction was affirmed by this court’s per curiam order on direct appeal. State v. Johnson, 219 S.W.3d 852 (MoApp. W.D.2007). The relevant evidence supporting Johnson’s conviction will be discussed as necessary in connection with our analysis of Johnson’s claim on appeal.

Johnson timely filed a pro se Rule 29.15 motion for post-conviction relief. Appointed counsel timely filed an amended motion (“Motion”). In the Motion, Johnson raised several allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel. Pertinent to this appeal, Johnson claimed “[tjrial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to hearsay testimony.” Specifically, the Motion alleged that trial counsel should have registered a hearsay objection to the testimony of Wayne Bridgewater (“Bridgewater”) that David Reynolds (“Reynolds”)1 told him that Johnson “admitted beating someone.” According to Johnson, this testimony was inadmissible hearsay as it was Reynolds’s out of court statement offered to prove its truth under circumstances where Reynolds was not subject to cross-examination. According to Johnson, Bridgewater’s testimony was “decisive,” “the most direct evidence in the entire trial,” and “the only evidence connecting [Johnson] with [Wolffs] death.”

The motion court conducted an eviden-tiary hearing on Johnson’s Motion. The motion court ruled, as a matter of law, that “[t]rial counsel is not deemed ineffective for failing to make non-meritorious objections.” The motion court also concluded that Johnson “failed to establish that this alleged error was so prejudicial that had an objection [been] made, the trial’s outcome would have been different.”

The motion court entered its judgment denying Johnson’s Motion. Johnson filed this timely appeal.

Standard of Review

Appellate review of a judgment overruling a post-conviction motion is limited to a determination of whether the motion court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law are “clearly erroneous.” Morrow v. State, 21 S.W.3d 819, 822 (Mo. banc 2000); Rule 29.15(k). “Findings and conclusions are clearly erroneous only if a full review of the record definitely and firmly reveals that a mistake was made.” Morrow, 21 S.W.3d at 822.

Analysis

Johnson raises a single point on appeal. Johnson alleges that the motion court clearly erred in denying the Motion because trial counsel was ineffective for “fail[90] ing to object to the testimony of Wayne Bridgewater that his brother, David Reynolds, had told him that Reynolds drove [Johnson] to John Wolffs home in Ethel, Missouri and that [Johnson] entered Wolffs house for 10 to 15 minutes on the basis that it constituted improper testimonial hearsay.” Johnson further claims that this failure was prejudicial because, had a hearsay “objection been made, a reasonable probability exists that the trial court would have sustained the objection, and without the improper hearsay testimony, the result of [Johnson’s] trial would have been different.” We disagree.

To establish ineffective assistance of counsel sufficient to support a claim that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel has been violated, Johnson must show both that trial counsel’s performance failed to conform to the degree of skill, care, and diligence of a reasonably competent attorney under similar circumstances; and that Johnson was prejudiced as a result. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); Barnett v. State, 103 S.W.3d 765, 768 (Mo. banc 2003). To prove deficient performance, Johnson must show “that counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the ‘counsel’ guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment.” Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052. This requires Johnson to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that trial counsel’s “representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness.” Id. at 688, 104 S.Ct. 2052. To conform to this eviden-tiary standard, Johnson must rebut the “strong presumption that counsel’s conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance,” and “must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action might be considered sound trial strategy.” Id. at 689, 104 S.Ct. 2052 (internal quotations omitted).

To establish prejudice, Johnson must demonstrate “that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.” Id. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052. “A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.” Id. In the context of a conviction following a jury trial, “the question is whether there is a reasonable probability that, absent the errors, the fact finder would have had a reasonable doubt respecting guilt.” Id. at 695,104 S.Ct. 2052.

Before evaluating whether Johnson has sustained his burden to demonstrate both deficient performance and prejudice, we must first address the difference between the claim made by Johnson in his Motion and the claim asserted by Johnson on appeal. In the Motion, Johnson complained that trial counsel failed to register a hearsay objection to the testimony of Bridge-water that Reynolds told him that Johnson “admitted beating someone.” On appeal, Johnson complains that trial counsel failed to register a hearsay objection to the testimony of Bridgewater that Reynolds told him that “Reynolds drove [Johnson] to John Wolffs home in Ethel, Missouri and that [Johnson] entered Wolffs house for 10 to 15 minutes.” Though both complaints question trial counsel’s failure to assert a hearsay objection, the Motion focuses on Johnson’s alleged statement to Reynolds that was then repeated to Bridgewater, while this appeal focuses on Reynolds’s statement to Bridgewater about Reynolds’s own activities.

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Johnson v. State, 369 S.W.3d 87, 2012 WL 2378118, 2012 Mo. App. LEXIS 867 (Mo. Ct. App. 2012).

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