Opinion ID: 2348914
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Prejudicial Effect of Undisclosed Brady Material

Text: The Court now turns to the ultimate inquiry: whether the suppression of this evidence sufficiently prejudiced the defense that either a new trial or a new penalty phase is warranted. To answer this question requires looking at the way that Mr. Perschbacher was used as a witness by the prosecution in both the guilt phase and the penalty phase of the trial. In the guilt phase, there was no legitimate dispute regarding the basic facts of the crime. Indeed, Mr. Taylor's counsel admitted in opening argument that Mr. Taylor killed Mr. Thomas. The task of the jury, then, was a limited one: to determine whether Mr. Taylor, at the time of the crime, was capable of knowing and appreciating the nature, quality or wrongfulness of his conduct. Sec. 552.030.1. If this defense is successful, the defendant is not found criminally responsible for his conduct. Walkup, 220 S.W.3d at 754. This exception to criminal liability, however, is a narrow one. Although the defense succeeds in appropriate cases, see, e.g., State v. Watkins, 102 S.W.3d 570 (Mo.App. S.D.2003); State v. Gratts, 112 S.W.3d 12, 13-14 (Mo.App. W.D.2003); State v. Weekly, 107 S.W.3d 340, 342 (Mo.App. W.D. 2003) (all noting that defendant was acquitted by reason of mental disease or defect), it is difficult to prove, and it always requires expert testimony. Consequently, the bulk of the evidence during the guilt phase came from expert witnesses for the defense and the state. Although all five of the experts that Mr. Taylor presented (four of whom had been employed by the state to treat him at Fulton and Potosi) testified that he was profoundly mentally ill with a psychotic disorder, only one testified affirmatively that at the time of the crime Mr. Taylor was unable to appreciate the nature, quality or wrongfulness of his conduct. The state's experts each testified as to their belief that Mr. Taylor was not mentally ill. After summarizing the testimony of the state's experts during his closing argument at the guilt phase, Mr. Ahsens argued, Frankly, on top of all of that Scott Perschbacher is a bonus in the process of investigating this case. Mr. Taylor argues that this description of Mr. Perschbacher as a bonus signifies that Mr. Perschbacher's testimony was vital to the outcome of the guilt phase. This Court reaches the opposite conclusion: rather than trying to emphasize Mr. Perschbacher's testimony, the prosecutor was arguing that it was confirming, but not essential, to a finding of guilt because, although his testimony that Mr. Taylor was faking his mental illness buttressed the state's experts conclusions, it was not paramount to the narrow question that was the only one at issue at the guilt phase. In regard to that narrow question, this Court agrees. Mr. Taylor admitted the killing. The only issue was whether he knew right from wrong. There was substantial evidence that Mr. Taylor suffered serious mental illness, evidence that Mr. Perschbacher's testimony seriously undercut. But, merely believing that Mr. Taylor had a serious mental illness may not have been sufficient to persuade the jury that Mr. Taylor, at the time of the crime, did not appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct. Indeed, the fact that Mr. Taylor himself triggered the alarm to notify the correctional officers of his cellmate's death suggests that he knew it was wrong. In light of the weight of the testimony of the state's experts on these issues, the fact that only one of Mr. Taylor's own experts concluded that he did not know right from wrong, the facts and circumstances of the actual offense, and the narrowness of the exception for a defense of mental disease or defect excluding responsibility, the Court cannot conclude that the motion court clearly erred in concluding that there was not a reasonable probability that the result of the guilt phase of Mr. Taylor's trial would have been different had the evidence been disclosed. The penalty phase, however, is a different matter. During the penalty phase, the jury is charged with the much broader task of considering Mr. Taylor's mental health and mental illness for purposes of mitigation. For this reason, instead of simply trying to determine whether Mr. Taylor could appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct at the time of the offense, the jury specifically was instructed to consider two statutory mitigating circumstances: whether Mr. Taylor committed the murder while under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance and whether his capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law was substantially impaired. The jury must also consider nonstatutory mitigating circumstances if they are offered, such as the defendant's early childhood abuse and mental illness, in assessing the punishment. See Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 604, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978) (the jury's consideration of circumstances in mitigation cannot constitutionally be limited). Defendant presented substantial expert testimony on these issues. The expert testimony demonstrated that Mr. Taylor was born into a household where he was subjected to extreme physical abuse at the hands of his father and his mother. At an early age, he was recommended for mental health treatment by counselors and other professionals. Mr. Taylor was placed in a residential mental health facility for a month at the age of 12 to receive treatment for auditory hallucinations and suicidal tendencies. At age 18, while incarcerated for murdering one of his high school classmates, he was treated at Fulton State Hospital, where he was diagnosed with depressive disorder with psychotic features. After the murder of Mr. Thomas, he was evaluated again at Fulton State Hospital, and the prison psychiatrists each concluded that Mr. Taylor suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. Indeed, four of the five experts that Mr. Taylor presented evaluated, diagnosed and treated him for serious mental illness while they were in the employ of the department of corrections. In this context, then, the testimony of Mr. Perschbacher takes on a much deeper significance, as it goes to the separate issue whether Mr. Taylor was afflicted with the degree of mental illness that, under Missouri's statutorily adopted mitigating factors, constitutes mitigating evidence the jury should consider in deciding whether to impose a punishment other than death. See Sec. 565.032.3(2), (6). Although the State's experts may have been successful in undermining [the defendant's] claim to insanity, they did not necessarily undermine the potential mitigating effect of [defendant's] mental health evidence. Bell v. Cone, 535 U.S. 685, 706 n. 4, 122 S.Ct. 1843, 152 L.Ed.2d 914 (2002) (Stevens, J., dissenting). As if to demonstrate the heightened importance of Mr. Perschbacher's testimony at this stage of the trial, Mr. Ahsens did not limit his argument in the penalty phase to the statement that Mr. Perschbacher's testimony was a bonus. Rather, he urged the jury during his penalty phase closing argument that while Mr. Perschbacher might be a racist, that did not mean he was a liar, and he had no reason to lie. Similarly, as noted, he told the prosecutor who was reviewing pending charges against Mr. Perschbacher that the latter had been an aid in the successful prosecution of the trial and fairness demanded his help be considered. The prosecutor's representations to the court and to the jury in the penalty phase argument, and to the local prosecutor after trial, are inconsistent with the state's present argument that the impeachment of Mr. Perschbacher was so complete that the jury would have rejected him and his testimony completely. The available impeachment evidence that was not disclosed to the defendant would have demonstrated both that Mr. Perschbacher had a reason to lie and that he had made false allegations under similar circumstances in the past. Moreover, it would have demonstrated that Mr. Perschbacher's stories were so incredible that the State, although under an obligation to disclose his written statements, often threw them away as being worthless. This would have changed the complexion of the entire penalty phase of the trial. Without Mr. Perschbacher's testimony, the substantial evidence that Mr. Taylor had suffered serious mental illness since childhood and had been found to be seriously mentally ill and was receiving treatment from state doctors even up to and during trial would have taken on far greater significance. The importance of such impeachment evidence is heightened by the fact that the only evidence that the defense put on during the penalty phase was the videotaped deposition testimony of the superintendent of the prison where Mr. Taylor was then incarcerated as to the minimal risks Mr. Taylor presented to other inmates or correctional officers under the conditions of his confinement. Defense counsel did then tell the jurors that they should also consider all the evidence put on during the guilt phase about Mr. Taylor's mental illness, his childhood, and other mitigating factors. But, as the jury had just rejected this evidence as proof that defendant was not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, it needed a separate framework through which to understand the potential mitigating effect of this same evidence, how his mental illness and childhood abuse might support a finding that a life sentence was appropriate. Indeed, Mr. Taylor argues that counsel was ineffective at the penalty phase for failing to offer additional evidence in mitigation. [8] Particularly in the absence of other penalty phase evidence, impeachment of Mr. Perschbacher as a liar who had made false claims in the past in order to obtain benefits, could have made a material difference to the jury. Had he been impeached with this evidence, there is a reasonable likelihood that the outcome of Mr. Taylor's penalty phase would have been different. The motion court clearly erred in concluding otherwise.