Source: http://openjurist.org/538/us/500
Timestamp: 2017-07-26 19:10:23
Document Index: 73148087

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1962', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255', '§ 2255']

538 US 500 Massaro v. United States | OpenJurist
538 U.S. 500 - Massaro v. United States Homethe United States Reports538 U.S.
538 US 500 Massaro v. United States 538 U.S. 500
MASSAROv.UNITED STATES.
Herald Price Fahringer argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Erica T. Dubno and Eugene Gressman.
Sri Srinivasan argued the cause for the United States. With him on the brief were Solicitor General Olson, Assistant Attorney General Chertoff, Deputy Solicitor General Dreeben, and Steven L. Lane.*
Petitioner, Joseph Massaro, was indicted on federal racketeering charges, including murder in aid of racketeering, 18 U. S. C. § 1962(d), in connection with the shooting death of Joseph Fiorito. He was tried in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The day before Massaro's trial was to begin, prosecutors learned of what appeared to be a critical piece of evidence: a bullet allegedly recovered from the car in which the victim's body was found. They waited for several days, however, to inform defense counsel of this development. Not until the trial was underway and the defense had made its opening statement did they make this disclosure. After the trial court and the defense had been informed of the development but still during the course of trial, defense counsel more than once declined the trial court's offer of a continuance so the bullet could be examined. Massaro was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
We granted certiorari. 536 U. S. 990 (2002). Petitioner now urges us to hold that claims of ineffective assistance of counsel need not be raised on direct appeal, whether or not there is new counsel and whether or not the basis for the claim is apparent from the trial record. The Federal Courts of Appeals are in conflict on this question, with the Seventh Circuit joining the Second Circuit, see Guinan v. United States, 6 F. 3d 468 (CA7 1993), and 10 other Federal Courts of Appeals taking the position that there is no procedural default for failure to raise an ineffective-assistance claim on direct appeal, see, e. g., United States v. Cofske, 157 F. 3d 1, 2 (CA1 1998), cert. denied, 526 U. S. 1059 (1999); United States v. Jake, 281 F. 3d 123, 132, n. 7 (CA3 2002); United States v. King, 119 F. 3d 290, 295 (CA4 1997); United States v. Rivas, 157 F. 3d 364, 369 (CA5 1998); United States v. Neuhausser, 241 F. 3d 460, 474 (CA6), cert. denied, 534 U. S. 879 (2001); United States v. Evans, 272 F. 3d 1069, 1093 (CA8 2001), cert. denied, 535 U. S. 1029 (2002); United States v. Rewald, 889 F. 2d 836, 859 (CA9 1989), cert. denied, 498 U. S. 819 (1990); United States v. Galloway, 56 F. 3d 1239, 1240 (CA10 1995) (en banc); United States v. Griffin, 699 F. 2d 1102, 1107-1109 (CA11 1983); United States v. Richardson, 167 F. 3d 621, 626 (CADC), cert. denied, 528 U. S. 895 (1999). We agree with the majority of the Courts of Appeals, and we reverse.
In light of the way our system has developed, in most cases a motion brought under § 2255 is preferable to direct appeal for deciding claims of ineffective assistance. When an ineffective-assistance claim is brought on direct appeal, appellate counsel and the court must proceed on a trial record not developed precisely for the object of litigating or preserving the claim and thus often incomplete or inadequate for this purpose. Under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668 (1984), a defendant claiming ineffective counsel must show that counsel's actions were not supported by a reasonable strategy and that the error was prejudicial. The evidence introduced at trial, however, will be devoted to issues of guilt or innocence, and the resulting record in many cases will not disclose the facts necessary to decide either prong of the Strickland analysis. If the alleged error is one of commission, the record may reflect the action taken by counsel but not the reasons for it. The appellate court may have no way of knowing whether a seemingly unusual or misguided action by counsel had a sound strategic motive or was taken because the counsel's alternatives were even worse. See Guinan, supra, at 473 (Easterbrook, J., concurring) ("No matter how odd or deficient trial counsel's performance may seem, that lawyer may have had a reason for acting as he did.... Or it may turn out that counsel's overall performance was sufficient despite a glaring omission ..."). The trial record may contain no evidence of alleged errors of omission, much less the reasons underlying them. And evidence of alleged conflicts of interest might be found only in attorney-client correspondence or other documents that, in the typical criminal trial, are not introduced. See, e. g., Billy-Eko, supra, at 114. Without additional factual development, moreover, an appellate court may not be able to ascertain whether the alleged error was prejudicial.
Under the rule we adopt today, ineffective-assistance claims ordinarily will be litigated in the first instance in the district court, the forum best suited to developing the facts necessary to determining the adequacy of representation during an entire trial. The court may take testimony from witnesses for the defendant and the prosecution and from the counsel alleged to have rendered the deficient performance. See, e. g., Griffin, 699 F. 2d, at 1109 (In a § 2255 proceeding, the defendant "has a full opportunity to prove facts establishing ineffectiveness of counsel, the government has a full opportunity to present evidence to the contrary, the district court hears spoken words we can see only in print and sees expressions we will never see, and a factual record bearing precisely on the issue is created"); Beaulieu v. United States, 930 F. 2d 805 (CA10 1991) (partially rev'd on other grounds, United States v. Galloway, 56 F. 3d 1239 (CA10 1995). In addition, the § 2255 motion often will be ruled upon by the same district judge who presided at trial. The judge, having observed the earlier trial, should have an advantageous perspective for determining the effectiveness of counsel's conduct and whether any deficiencies were prejudicial.
Even meritorious claims would fail when brought on direct appeal if the trial record were inadequate to support them. Appellate courts would waste time and resources attempting to address some claims that were meritless and other claims that, though colorable, would be handled more efficiently if addressed in the first instance by the district court on collateral review. See, e. g., United States v. Galloway, supra, at 1241 ("threat of ... procedural bar has doubtless resulted in many claims being asserted on direct appeal only to protect the record ... unnecessarily burden[ing] both the parties and the court ..."). This concern is far from speculative. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in light of its rule applying procedural default to ineffective-assistance claims, has urged counsel to "err on the side of inclusion on direct appeal," Billy-Eko, 8 F. 3d, at 116.
Although the Government now urges us to adopt the rule of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Government took the opposite approach in some previous cases, arguing not only that claims of ineffective assistance of counsel could be brought in the first instance in a motion under § 2255, but that they must be brought in such a motion proceeding and not on direct appeal. See, e. g., United States v. Cronic, 466 U. S. 648, 667, n. 42 (1984). We do not go this far. We do not hold that ineffective-assistance claims must be reserved for collateral review. There may be cases in which trial counsel's ineffectiveness is so apparent from the record that appellate counsel will consider it advisable to raise the issue on direct appeal. There may be instances, too, when obvious deficiencies in representation will be addressed by an appellate court sua sponte. In those cases, certain questions may arise in subsequent proceedings under § 2255 concerning the conclusiveness of determinations made on the ineffective-assistance claims raised on direct appeal; but these matters of implementation are not before us. We do hold that failure to raise an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim on direct appeal does not bar the claim from being brought in a later, appropriate proceeding under § 2255.
Homethe United States Reports538 U.S.