Opinion ID: 780969
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure to Investigate or to Prepare Witnesses

Text: 45 Mason argues that defense counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to conduct an independent and thorough investigation of his life history and psychological background when his family members were available for interviews, thereby foreclosing the discovery of potential mitigating evidence. He also contends that defense counsel's performance in preparing Mason's family members before calling them as mitigation witnesses was constitutionally deficient. 46 In examining Mason's claim of ineffective assistance at the sentencing stage, the Ohio Supreme Court inferred from the record that defense counsel had voluminous records about [Mason's] history and background and noted that [c]ounsel prepared twelve exhibits documenting aspects of Mason's childhood, such as reports that he was beaten by his father and released by his parents to juvenile authorities, as well as early psychological evaluations, but did not present them to the jury. Mason, 694 N.E.2d at 956. The district court similarly deemed meritless Mason's claim that his trial counsel improperly failed to investigate possible psychosocial mitigating factors that could have spared him the death penalty. Mason, 95 F.Supp.2d at 793. 47 Much has been made in this case of the twelve exhibits that defense counsel prepared in conjunction with the videotaped deposition of Dr. Joseph T. Spare (Spare), the psychiatrist appointed by the trial court to assist the defense with the mitigation phase. The mere existence of mitigation exhibits, however, is not conclusive, because the question under Strickland is whether defense counsel's investigation into potential mitigation evidence was constitutionally adequate: 48 [S]trategic choices made after thorough investigation of law and facts relevant to plausible options are virtually unchallengeable; and strategic choices made after less than complete investigation are reasonable precisely to the extent that reasonable professional judgments support the limitations on investigation. In other words, counsel has a duty to make reasonable investigations or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary. In any ineffectiveness case, a particular decision not to investigate must be directly assessed for reasonableness in all the circumstances, applying a heavy measure of deference to counsel's judgments. 49 . . . 50 [W]hat investigation decisions are reasonable depends critically on [the information that the defendant supplies]. For example, when the facts that support a certain potential line of defense are generally known to counsel because of what the defendant has said, the need for further investigation may be considerably diminished or eliminated altogether. And when a defendant has given counsel reason to believe that pursuing certain investigations would be fruitless or even harmful, counsel's failure to pursue those investigations may not later be challenged as unreasonable. In short, inquiry into counsel's conversations with the defendant may be critical to a proper assessment of counsel's investigation decisions. 51 Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690-91, 104 S.Ct. 2052. We have previously held that the complete failure to investigate mitigating evidence constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel. See Austin v. Bell, 126 F.3d 843, 848 (6th Cir.1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1079, 118 S.Ct. 1526, 140 L.Ed.2d 677 and 523 U.S. 1088, 118 S.Ct. 1547, 140 L.Ed.2d 695 (1998); cf. Scott v. Mitchell, 209 F.3d 854, 881 (6th Cir.) (Without effective research into the available mitigating testimony, of course, it would be impossible for the lawyers to have made an informed decision either way.), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1021, 121 S.Ct. 588, 148 L.Ed.2d 503 (2000). We have also emphasized the importance of an independent investigation: The sole source of mitigating factors cannot properly be that information which [a] defendant may volunteer; counsel must make some effort at independent investigation in order to make a reasoned, informed decision as to their utility. Carter v. Bell, 218 F.3d 581, 596 (6th Cir.2000). 52 The record before us is inadequate for a meaningful review of Mason's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. We recognize that the Strickland Court directed state courts to analyze effectiveness based on the then prevailing norms and counsel's perspective at the time, Williams v. Coyle, 260 F.3d 684, 706 (6th Cir.2001), which entails a highly deferential standard. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689, 104 S.Ct. 2052. However, in order for us to evaluate whether defense counsel rendered constitutionally ineffective assistance at sentencing, we must know more about the extent of counsel's investigation and preparation of mitigating evidence. There is a significant likelihood that defense counsel acted unreasonably in failing to conduct an independent and thorough investigation of Mason's background. Because the record as it now stands reflects disputes about defense counsel's performance with respect to the sentencing phase of Mason's trial, we remand the case to the district court for an evidentiary hearing on this issue. 6 53 We begin our analysis of Mason's ineffective assistance claim by reviewing the investigation that apparently did take place. In the fall of 1993, soon after Mason was charged with the rape and aggravated murder of Robin, the trial court issued an order appointing an investigator for the defense and authorizing independent DNA testing. J.A. at 1954-55. 7 According to the Ohio Supreme Court: 54 The defense team of two lawyers and an investigator looked fully into Mason's background. Moreover, the state had collected and released to the defense in January 1994 voluminous records concerning Mason, including records about his last nine years in and out of prison as well as school records and juvenile incarcerations. 55 Mason, 694 N.E.2d at 945. The record, however, suggests that the investigator's assignment was limited to interviewing witnesses and taking measurements at the crime scene. Tr. at 35-39. Because the case against Mason was based on circumstantial evidence, we infer from the record that the witness interviews were primarily about the facts surrounding Robin's disappearance and murder. Defense counsel indicated as much when the trial court asked why a mitigation expert was necessary given the appointment of an investigator. Tr. at 452. Furthermore, Mason averred that his conversations with defense counsel and the investigator were almost exclusively about trial phase issues — concerning witnesses, my whereabouts, Chris Dennis and other theories of who had killed Robin Dennis. Maurice A. Mason Aff. at ¶ 5. Mason's family members were also not interviewed about Mason's background. J.A. at 1992 (Terri A. Mason Aff. at ¶ 14); J.A. at 1997 (James Michael Mason Aff. at ¶ 9); J.A. at 2006 (Mioshi Mason Aff. at ¶¶ 13-14). 8 56 As for the documents obtained during discovery, the trial court found that defense counsel had in their possession and had reviewed, prior to trial, over 3,000 pages of comprehensive records and documents regarding [Mason]'s social history, including records from the Marion City Schools, Marion Area Counseling Center, Marion County Children's Services, Marion County Adult Probation Department, Adult Parole Authority, and Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Corrections. State v. Mason, No. 93-CR-0153, slip op. at 9-10 (Ohio Ct.Com.Pl. Nov. 21, 1996). None of these documents is in the record before us. 57 In May 1994, before this case went to trial, the trial court appointed Dr. Spare and a forensic pathologist to assist the defense. J.A. at 1955. Dr. Spare then examined Mason and prepared a five-page psychiatric report. J.A. at 1952. On June 7, 1994, during the trial, defense counsel deposed Dr. Spare on videotape, using twelve mitigation exhibits. These exhibits, according to the record as it stands, appear to have been based largely on the discovery provided by the prosecution to defense counsel. 9 As noted above, defense counsel apparently never interviewed anyone, including Mason himself, about possible mitigating aspects of Mason's background, even though various family members were ready and willing to discuss his life history. 10 58 Although the Ohio Supreme Court did not make an explicit finding about the extent of defense counsel's independent investigation of mitigating evidence, it did conclude that defense counsel, in choosing not to present whatever mitigating evidence was known, made a strategic decision to foreclose the state from introducing negative evidence in rebuttal. Mason, 694 N.E.2d at 956. Under Strickland, however, courts must first determine whether defense counsel's investigation decisions were reasonable. Only then may they reject a defendant's challenge to any decision characterized as strategic by defense counsel. 59 Had trial counsel conducted an adequate investigation, the jury would have heard substantial evidence about how drug use and violence pervaded Mason's background and life history. From the record before us, 11 we have learned that Mason's alcoholic parents were heavy marijuana users and drug dealers from the time Mason was four or five years old. Indeed, Mason's mother admitted that for the majority of [Mason]'s life the family home was a `drug house.' J.A. at 1874 (Crates Aff. at ¶ 20S). Four years later, Mason began to experiment with drugs, stealing marijuana and pills from his parents' supply for his own use; by age eleven, he had become a significant user himself. About this time, Mason accompanied his father on trips out-of-state to buy drugs. By age fourteen, Mason began to use drugs with his parents; he also ran away from home. In addition to drugs, violence overran the Mason household. Mason's parents struggled through repeated bouts of domestic violence in front of their children; they also beat Mason on a regular basis for stealing their drugs and for the misconduct of his siblings, for which he was blamed. 60 Having received official documents from the prosecution during discovery, trial counsel appears to have been aware of some of this evidence. Mitigation Exhibit 10, for example, apparently concerned Mason's drug use as a teenager, see Mason, No. 93-CR-0153, slip op. at 5, but not his significant use at a much earlier age. We emphasize that the discovery documents by their very nature only concerned the Mason family's limited contacts with the authorities. For example, a record from Marion County Children's Services indicates that Mason's father was charged with assault in 1977 for beating Mason. J.A. at 1874-75 (Crates Aff. at ¶ 20W). This charge, however, stemmed from a missing person report that Mason's father himself filed with the police; Mason had run away while being disciplined. J.A. at 2000-01 (James Michael Mason Aff. at ¶ 31). The authorities do not appear to have been aware of the regular whippings that Mason suffered. Furthermore, Mason's mother never reported episodes of domestic abuse to the police, because it was a no-no in our family ... to call the cops ... [W]e didn't want them around. J.A. at 1871 (Crates Aff. at ¶ 20H). Mason's mother also did not go to the hospital, where social services may have intervened and documented the Mason family's plight. 61 Therefore, the documents provided by the prosecution to defense counsel could not have contained anything close to the amount of mitigating evidence that could have been and later was obtained in an independent and thorough investigation. 12 Indeed, we find it particularly telling that not even the trial court referred to any knowledge on the part of trial counsel about Mason's troubled childhood or the extent to which drugs and violence ravaged Mason and his family. We believe that it was just this evidence, which did not enter the record until the post-conviction stage, that was Mason's best hope. As we observed in Mapes v. Coyle, 171 F.3d 408 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 946, 120 S.Ct. 369, 145 L.Ed.2d 284 (1999), the information about Mason's background may amount to little more than slim evidence of mitigation, but it is something. And what is most important, it was [his] only shield from a death sentence. Id. at 426. Yet trial counsel does not appear to have made any independent effort to investigate the particulars of Mason's history, character, or background. 13 The alleged failure of defense counsel to prepare Mason's family members for their testimony at sentencing further demonstrates that counsel conducted an inadequate investigation of mitigating evidence. 62 Trial counsel's failure to conduct an independent and thorough investigation may have hampered their ability to make strategic decisions at sentencing; it may also have affected their ability to give competent advice to Mason about the meaning of mitigation evidence and the availability of possible mitigation strategies. Indeed, according to Mason, trial counsel did not offer any such advice: 63 Neither of my lawyers ever explained to me what the mitigation trial is or what it was intended to prove. I had no knowledge that mitigation was intended to save my life, or that this was to be the only opportunity for me to demonstrate to the jury why I should not be given the death penalty. 64 Maurice A. Mason Aff. at ¶ 7. The evidence in mitigation that was so readily available in this case offered an arguably reasonable probability of humaniz[ing Mason] before the jury such that at least one juror could have found he did not deserve the death penalty. Carter, 218 F.3d at 592. Because we cannot determine from the record before us whether the Ohio Supreme Court applied Strickland unreasonably by not examining the extent of trial counsel's investigation into mitigating evidence, we remand the case to the district court with the instruction to hold an evidentiary hearing on Mason's claim of ineffective assistance at the sentencing phase of his trial. 65