Myers

A jury found defendant Thomas Myers guilty of resisting an officer and committing a battery on an officer. He raises three meritless contentions.

First, defendant complains his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to object to evidence of his violent character. We agree that evidence of the officer’s purportedly violent conduct before defendant resisted arrest did not open the door for the prosecution to offer evidence of defendant’s violent character. But the admission of that evidence was harmless. Counsel’s failure to object did not prejudice defendant.

Second, defendant claims the court wrongly found citizen complaints against the officer were unresponsive to his Pitchess motion. We find no abuse of discretion.

Finally, in his petition for writ of habeas corpus, defendant contends his counsel provided ineffective assistance by advising him to testify about the details of a prior conviction. He contends his testimony allowed the court to find the prior conviction constituted a serious felony strike. But the court could have made that determination from the record of conviction, without defendant’s testimony. Thus, this ineffective assistance…