Bryant v. Brown

Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s habeas petition, challenging his conviction on charge of murdering his step-mother, where said petition alleged that his trial counsel were ineffective for failing to object to testimony of second detective, who surreptitiously eavesdropped on 17-year old defendant making inculpatory statement to his mother during statutorily allowed conversation with his mother prior to making any waiver of his constitutional rights. Trial counsel did make objection to first detective testifying to said conversation, which was overruled by trial court, and, although trial counsel should have made second objection to preserve issue, any error was harmless given strength of evidence against defendant. Ct. also rejected on grounds of trial strategy defendant’s claims that his trial counsel were ineffective for: (1) failing to impeach witness who gave unexpected testimony regarding alleged threat that defendant made toward victim; (2) failing to object to jury’s inquiry about specific crimes for which defendant was on parole; (3) questioning witness about defendant’s criminal history and his poor relationships with his family; and (4) failure to interview witness about victim’s claims of spousal abuse. Fact that trial counsel admitted to making mistakes during trial only showed that their trial strategy did not work out as well as planned and not that counsel were incompetent.