State Of Washington, Resp. v. Derrick A. Kolanowski, App., 73703-1

In February 2014 S.W.-H. was sexually assaulted in her trailer overnight; she reported the assaults the next morning and police investigated.
Police arrested Derrick Kolanowski at work; he was wearing a black sweatshirt that tested positive for blood/DNA.
State charged Kolanowski with second-degree rape and unlawful imprisonment; defense at trial was identity (he was elsewhere) and that the blood on the sweatshirt came from a workplace injury.
At trial the jury convicted Kolanowski as charged. He appealed claiming ineffective assistance of trial counsel on two grounds.
First claim: counsel failed to authenticate a Facebook screenshot (a 2:49 a.m. February 8, 2014 "like") that could impeach the victim's testimony about lack of phone access.
Second claim: counsel failed to object to a forensic witness testifying that blood on the sweatshirt "matched" Kolanowski without giving a population probability estimate for that particular test.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether counsel was ineffective for failing to authenticate a Facebook timestamp screenshot	Kolanowski: counsel should have secured a witness/subpoena to authenticate the time stamp to impeach the victim's claim she lacked phone access	State: counsel made reasonable efforts; Facebook records were difficult to obtain; strategic reasons existed not to pursue or emphasize the evidence	Court: No deficient performance shown — record does not demonstrate what the timestamp would prove or that counsel unreasonably failed to obtain it
Whether counsel was ineffective for not objecting to incomplete DNA "match" testimony (no probability given)	Kolanowski: counsel should have objected or moved to exclude the match testimony absent a probability estimate	State: permitting the match was strategically beneficial to defense theory (injury at work); objection unlikely to help and could have been harmful	Court: No deficient performance shown — counsel plausibly had strategic reasons not to exclude the testimony
Whether Kolanowski is liable for appellate costs	Kolanowski: trial court found him indigent and he remains unable to pay; court should deny costs to State	State: seeks appellate costs	Court: Denied costs — presumption of continued indigency not rebutted

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (benchmarked ineffective-assistance standard)
State v. McFarland, 127 Wn.2d 322 (presumption that counsel's choices are strategic; mixed question review)
State v. Thomas, 109 Wn.2d 222 (failure to investigate/verify expert qualifications can be deficient)
State v. Horton, 116 Wn. App. 909 (defense counsel's failure to satisfy procedural foundation for extrinsic impeachment can be unreasonable)