Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 22 - CORRECTIONS, CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT › Part XV - Public Defender Board › Chapter 19 - Performance Standards for Criminal Defense Representation in Indigent Capital Cases › Section XV-1907 - Performance Standard 3: Investigation

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. Counsels Responsibility to Investigate
1. Counsel has an ongoing duty to conduct a
				high quality, independent, exhaustive investigation of all matters relevant to
				the guilt phase, penalty phase, any possible agreed upon disposition, any
				potential claim for relief, and any possible reduction of the case to a
				non-capital prosecution. A high quality, exhaustive investigation will be
				prompt, thorough, and independent.
2. Counsel should act promptly to ensure that
				the client is not prejudiced by the loss or destruction of evidence or
				information, whether in the form of physical evidence, records, possible
				witness testimony or information from a non-testifying witness. Counsel should
				take reasonable steps to gather and preserve evidence and information at risk
				of loss or destruction for later use in the case or for use by successor
				counsel. These steps may include retaining an expert to gather, preserve or
				examine evidence before it is altered or destroyed or to interview witnesses
				who may become unavailable. Counsel should be conscious of any procedural
				limitations or time bars and ensure that the investigation be conducted in a
				timely fashion to avoid any default or waiver of the clients rights. Similarly,
				counsel should be aware of or promptly become aware of the period for which
				relevant records are retained and ensure that the investigation be conducted in
				a timely fashion to avoid the destruction of relevant records.
3. The investigation relevant to the guilt
				phase of the trial should be conducted regardless of any admission or statement
				by the client concerning the facts of the alleged crime, or overwhelming
				evidence of guilt, or any statement by the client that evidence bearing upon
				guilt is not to be collected or presented.
4. The investigation relevant to the penalty
				phase of the trial should be conducted regardless of any statement by the
				client that evidence bearing upon the penalty is not to be collected or
				presented. This investigation should comprise extensive and ongoing efforts to
				discover all reasonably available mitigating evidence and evidence to rebut any
				aggravating evidence or argument that may be offered by the
				prosecutor.
5. No area of inquiry
				or possible evidence in the guilt or penalty phase investigations should be
				ruled out until a thorough investigation has been conducted. Counsel should
				seek to investigate all available evidence and information and defer strategic
				decisions regarding what evidence to present until after a thorough
				investigation has been conducted. Both at guilt and penalty phases, counsel
				should not halt investigation after one seemingly meritorious defense theory
				has been discovered, but should continue to investigate, both following up on
				evidence supporting known defense theories and seeking to discover other
				potential defense theories.
6.
				Where counsel enrolls in a case in which other counsel have previously provided
				representation, counsel should not rely on a prior defense teams investigation
				or theory of the case, but rather should independently and thoroughly
				investigate and prepare the defense, especially where prior counsel had a
				conflict of interest, or there is reason to believe counsels performance was
				deficient.
7. Counsel are
				responsible for ensuring that a high quality, exhaustive investigation is
				conducted but are not personally responsible for performing the actual
				investigation. A team should be assembled containing sufficient members
				possessing the appropriate skills and resources to conduct a high quality and
				exhaustive investigation.