Case Title: Ex Parte Duren

Citation: 590 So. 2d 369

Docket Number: 1900162

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1991-09-13T00:00:00Z

Document:
590 So. 2d 369 (1991)
Ex parte David Ray DUREN.
(Re David Ray Duren v. State).
1900162.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
September 13, 1991.
Rehearing Denied November 15, 1991.
Rory Fitzpatrick, Don E. Gorton III and Patricia M. McCarthy of Bingham, Dana & Gould, Boston, Mass., for appellant.
James H. Evans, Atty. Gen., and Sandra J. Stewart, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
*370 MADDOX, Justice.
David Ray Duren appealed from the denial of his Rule 20, A.R.Crim.P.Temp., petition for relief from his conviction of capital murder and sentence of death. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed. 590 So. 2d 360. On certiorari review he contends that he was denied effective assistance of counsel during his trial and during his sentencing hearing.
In 1984, Duren was convicted of the October 20, 1983, robbery and murder of Kathleen Bedsole. On appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals remanded the case to the trial court for the entry of specific written findings of fact relating to the punishment phase of the trial; on return to remand on October 14, 1986, that court affirmed Duren's conviction, and it denied rehearing on November 12, 1986, Duren v. State, 507 So. 2d 111 (Ala.Cr.App.1986); and this Court affirmed his conviction on April 10, 1987, Ex parte Duren, 507 So. 2d 121 (Ala. 1987). The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. Duren v. Alabama, 484 U.S. 905, 108 S. Ct. 249, 98 L. Ed. 2d 206 (1987). Duren filed with the Jefferson Circuit Court a petition for Rule 20, A.R.Crim. P.Temp., relief, which that court denied. On August 24, 1990, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed that denial.
The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals listed the facts surrounding the murder, as shown in the trial court's findings of fact, as follows:
Duren v. State, 507 So. 2d  at 113-14.
During the trial of the case, Duren's sole "defense" was that he had meant to kill Charles Leonard instead of Kathleen Bedsole. Because Alabama recognizes the theory of transferred intent, that was not a defense. Duren was found guilty of a capital offense involving the robbery and intentional murder of Kathleen Bedsole, Ala. Code 1975, § 13A-5-40(a)(2), and was sentenced to death.
Duren contends that he was denied effective assistance of counsel during his trial and during his sentencing hearing. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1984), sets out the standard of proof required in an ineffective assistance of counsel claim. In that case, the United States Supreme Court states:
Strickland, 466 U.S.  at 687, 104 S. Ct.  at 2064.
In Ex parte Womack, 541 So. 2d 47 (Ala. 1988), this Court discussed the applicability of Strickland to ineffective assistance of counsel claims in Alabama. That case stated:
Ex parte Womack, 541 So. 2d  at 66-67.
Duren contends that he was denied effective assistance of counsel during his trial because Roger Appell, his attorney, presented a legally invalid defense rather than a legally valid defense based on intoxication.
Duren contends that Appell violated Disciplinary Rule 7-102, Code of Professional Responsibility of the Alabama State Bar (rescinded effective January 1, 1991, when the Rules of Professional Conduct became effective), which read:
In Strickland, the United States Supreme Court stated:
Strickland, 466 U.S.  at 688-89, 104 S. Ct.  at 2065.
Appell testified at the Rule 20 hearing that, after considering the prosecution's strong case against Duren, which included the facts that there was an eyewitness identification of Duren as the one who had committed the murder and that Duren had confessed to the murder on two separate occasions, he felt that he did not have a legally valid defense available. Appell further testified that he had hoped to persuade the jury that Duren did not have the specific intent to kill Kathleen Bedsole and therefore was guilty of murder rather than capital murder. Appell testified that if the jury, despite instructions from the judge on the invalidity of transferred intent as a defense, had believed him about Duren's actual intent and returned a verdict of guilty of murder rather than guilty of capital murder, it would have been in the best interest of his client to present the case in that light.[1]
The trial court made the following findings in regard to this issue:
We agree with the trial court that Appell's decision was not unreasonable under all the attendance circumstances; consequently, we agree that Duren has not shown that counsel was ineffective in this regard. He was trying to make the most of a bad situation for his client.
In Strickland, the United States Supreme Court held:
Strickland, 466 U.S.  at 691, 104 S. Ct.  at 2066.
Appell testified at the Rule 20 hearing that Duren had told him that he had taken the drug LSD on the day of the murder, but Appell also testified that Duren did not appear to believable on this point. Appell further testified that he wanted to present Duren as very believable and remorseful for what had happened. Above all, Appell testified, he wanted the jury to feel sympathy *374 toward Duren. Appell testified that he did not think that informing the jury that Duren may have been intoxicated on the day of the murder would be beneficial in his strategy to have the jury feel sympathy toward Duren.
We cannot say that Appell was unreasonable in choosing to handle Duren's trial in the way he did. We certainly cannot say that there is a reasonable probability that the result of the trial would have been different had Appell presented a defense other than the one he chose to present. Therefore, we hold that Duren did not receive ineffective assistance of counsel at his trial.
Duren also contends that Appell rendered ineffective assistance of counsel during his sentencing hearing. Duren asserts that Appell should have presented evidence of intoxication, substance abuse, and mental disorders as mitigating factors to be considered during his sentencing.
In Strickland, the United States Supreme Court held:
Strickland, 466 U.S.  at 686-87, 104 S. Ct.  at 2064. Therefore, we must consider Appell's conduct at the sentencing hearing in the same manner as we would consider it at trial. In other words, we must determine whether Duren has shown that the results of the sentencing hearing probably would have been different if Appell had presented evidence of Duren's drug, alcohol, and psychological problems as mitigating factors.
Appell testified at the Rule 20 hearing that he had talked with Duren and Duren's family many times in trying to determine what was the best approach to take at both Duren's trial and his sentencing hearing. Appell testified that he decided that a "mercy" approach would be the best way to present Duren to the jury. Using this approach, Appell prepared Duren to testify that he knew that what he had done was wrong and that he was very sorry for what had happened. In addition, Appell prepared Duren's aunt to testify concerning Duren's traumatic childhood. In taking this approach, Appell testified that he hoped that the jury would show mercy to Duren and sentence him to life without parole rather than sentence him to death. Appell further testified that he felt that if he introduced into evidence the testimony of a psychologist that had examined Duren, all hope would be lost. Appell testified about the psychologist's report and how he thought it would affect Duren's trial and sentencing hearing:
Appell was also aware of the fact that he had no way of proving that Duren was intoxicated other than Duren's statement that he had taken LSD on the day of the murder. As previously stated, Appell felt that that statement was not believable.
Under the Strickland test, a defendant has the burden of proving that, but for the ineffectiveness of his counsel, the outcome of his sentencing hearing probably would *375 have been different. Duren has failed to meet that burden.
AFFIRMED.
HORNSBY, C.J., and SHORES, ADAMS, HOUSTON, STEAGALL and INGRAM, JJ., concur.
MADDOX, Justice.
Duren has filed an application for rehearing in this case; he states that he has made a strong showing that his trial counsel was ineffective and that he was prejudiced as a result. The State has also filed an application for rehearing; it asks us to modify our original opinion to hold that issues other than those issues purportedly raised by Duren, but not addressed by him in his brief (the ineffectiveness of counsel issues), were not properly presented to this Court or, in the alternative, to affirm the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals on each of the issues addressed by the Court of Criminal Appeals in its opinion. The State seems to be concerned that Duren, in his petition for the writ of certiorari and in his brief, argued only the two issues addressed by this Court in the original opinion, but Duren insists that he raised several other issues by making a reference to those issues in footnote one in his brief:
On his application for rehearing, Duren does indeed claim that there were other meritorious issues raised in his petition and addressed by the Court of Criminal Appeals that he wants us to address. Again, however, he devotes only one paragraph of his rehearing brief to call our attention to those issues:
Regarding the other issues alluded to by Duren, we note that the trial judge made findings of fact relating to these issues and that the Court of Criminal Appeals adopted those findings by the trial court. We find no error in those findings.
We have carefully considered Duren's application for rehearing and also the State's application for rehearing, and we are of the opinion that each is due to be denied.
APPLICATIONS FOR REHEARING OVERRULED; OPINION EXTENDED.
SHORES, ADAMS, HOUSTON, STEAGALL and INGRAM, JJ., concur.
[1]  Appell testified as follows:

"A. I don't remember if that is the way I phrased it. But basically I was trying to convince the jury that it was a murder case, not a capital murder, there was no intent to kill the young woman that died.
"Q. As part of that it was your strategy to try to convince the jury that it was his intent to kill another victim, is that right?
"A. Well, I didn't know whethersort of, I guess that is right, but basically my intent was to convince the jury that he had no intent to kill the specific person that was killed, and therefore it wasn't a capital murder case, it was a murder case."