Opinion ID: 767064
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Remaining Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims

Text: 31 Tokar raises several other ineffective assistance of counsel claims on which we granted a certificate of appealability. However, in his brief on appeal, he raises and discusses only one of these issues. Consequently, we find the Tokar has abandoned the rest of his ineffective assistance of counsel claims. See Hatley v. Lockhart 990 F.2d 1070, 1073 (8th Cir. 1993). 11 The ineffective assistance of counsel claim raised and discussed by Tokar in his brief deals with his counsel's failure to investigate and present evidence that the testimony of the state's witnesses was inconsistent with his presence at the murder scene at the time of the offense. 32 The district court found this claim to be procedurally defaulted. Tokar concedes that although he raised this claim in his 29.15 petition, he did not appeal the denial of the claim to the Missouri Supreme Court. Under this scenario, the claim would be considered defaulted under Missouri law. See Lowe-Bey, 28 F.3d at 818. Tokar claims that the procedural default should be excused because he raised the issue in his motion for rehearing and his motion to recall the mandate. Alternatively, he argues that his failure to raise the issue on appeal was due to ineffective assistance of appellate counsel which constitutes cause for his default. Since we find the issue can be easily resolved on the merits, we need not delve into all of Tokar's excuses for his procedural default. See Barrett v. Acevedo, 169 F.3d 1155, 1162 (8th Cir.) (en banc) (Although the procedural bar issue should ordinarily be resolved first, judicial economy sometimes dictates reaching the merits if the merits are easily resolvable against a petitioner while the procedural bar issues are complicated.), cert. denied, 120 S. Ct. 120 (1999). 33 The essence of Tokar's claim is that counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate and present evidence that would have cast doubt on his presence at the murder scene. Tokar bases this argument on an investigator's testimony at the 29.15 hearing that it would take at least seven minutes to get from Linda Benoit's home to the Douglass residence. Tokar argues that, given this time sequence, Benoit's testimony that Tokar was at her home for several minutes beginning at 5:25 p.m. and Eva Yager's testimony that she saw Tokar's car just before 5:30 were inconsistent. We disagree. However, even assuming that counsel was somehow deficient for failing to develop this issue, we find that Tokar was not prejudiced by this failure. There was overwhelming evidence against Tokar in the form of testimony by both the victim's young son and by Tokar's accomplice/girlfriend, Sandra Stickley, which clearly placed Tokar at the Douglass home at the time of the murder. Consequently we cannot say that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. See Dodd, 48 F.3d at 1073. 34 In sum, any deficiencies in counsel's performance did not rise to the level of ineffective assistance of counsel as defined in Strickland. 35 Grounds 2, 3, 4, and 5: Penalty Phase Instructions 36 Tokar next claims that jury instructions given during the penalty phase of the trial violated his right to due process of law and his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Fourteenth and Eighth Amendments. 37 First, Tokar asserts that the order in which the instructions were given improperly limited the jury's consideration of mitigating circumstances. Specifically, he argues that the instructions required the jury to decide whether aggravating circumstances warranted imposition of the death penalty before the jury could consider any mitigating circumstances. Under such an instruction scheme, Tokar argues, the jury's decision to impose the death penalty is made solely on the basis of aggravating circumstances because it is not until the jury has already decided that death is the appropriate punishment, that it is told that it may consider mitigating circumstances. Tokar's argument is foreclosed by our decision in Ramsey v. Bowersox, 149 F.3d 749, 757 (8th Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 119 S. Ct. 1083 (1999), where we rejected a similar attack on the Missouri sentencing instructions. Furthermore, we noted in Ramsey that the jury had been instructed that after it found the existence of an aggravating circumstance, it was still not required to impose the death penalty, even if it found no mitigating evidence. See id. Here, the jury was similarly instructed. 38 Second, Tokar claims that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on specific non-statutory mitigating circumstances while instructing the jury on specific non-statutory aggravating circumstances. Tokar claims error in the trial court's refusal to submit his proffered alternative instruction which specifically listed several non-statutory mitigating circumstances. By instructing the jury on statutory and non-statutory aggravators but only on statutory mitigators, Tokar asserts that the trial court minimized the effect of the non-statutory mitigators. A state may not preclude the sentencer from considering any mitigating factor. See Richardson, 188 F.3d at 981. It is not sufficient to allow defendants to present mitigating evidence; the sentencer 'must also be able to consider and give effect to that evidence in imposing the sentence.' Id. (quoting Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 319 (1989)). We find that the jury was adequately able to consider and give effect to such evidence in this case. We agree with the Missouri Supreme Court's determination that the language in the approved instruction which informed the jury that it may also consider any circumstances which you find from the evidence in mitigation of punishment adequately covered the jury's consideration of mitigating evidence and complied with constitutional requirements for the submission of mitigating circumstances in death penalty cases. See Lingar v. Bowersox, 176 F.3d 453, 460 (8th Cir. 1999). Furthermore, Tokar's counsel told the jury in closing argument that it could consider any mitigating circumstances whether listed in the jury instructions or not and the record shows that counsel fully argued such mitigating circumstances to the jury. See id. 39 Third, Tokar asserts that one of the aggravating circumstances submitted to the jury was unconstitutionally vague. In deciding whether to impose the death penalty, the jury was instructed that it had to unanimously find at least one of the two aggravating circumstances as follows: 40 1. Whether the murder of John P. Douglass involved depravity of mind and whether, as a result thereof, the murder was outrageously and wantonly vile, horrible, and inhuman. You can make a determination of depravity of mind only if you find that the defendant killed John P. Douglass after he was bound or otherwise rendered helpless by defendant and that defendant thereby exhibited a callous disregard for the sanctity of all human life. 41 2. Whether the murder of John P. Douglass was committed while the defendant was engaged in the perpetration of burglary. A person commits the crime of burglary when he knowingly enters unlawfully in a building or inhabitable structure for the purpose of committing stealing. 42 Tokar challenges the language outrageously and wantonly vile, horrible, and inhuman used in the first aggravator as unconstitutionally vague. He further contends that the fact that the instruction told the jury it could only find depravity of mind if it found that the defendant killed John P. Douglass after he was bound or otherwise rendered helpless by defendant does not cure this vagueness, because the jury made no specific finding. We reject this argument. We find that the instruction provided sufficient guidance to the jury. See Ramsey, 149 F.3d at 754-55. Furthermore, Missouri is a nonweighing state, which means that only one aggravating factor need be present in order to validly impose a death sentence. See Harris v. Bowersox, 184 F.3d 744, 750 (8th Cir. 1999). Therefore, even if the first aggravator was unconstitutionally vague, the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because the jury found the existence of the second statutory aggravator. See id.; Sloan, 54 F.3d at 1385-86 (in nonweighing state like Missouri, jury's finding of invalid aggravating factor does not invalidate death verdict when jury finds existence of at least one valid aggravating factor.) 43 Tokar's fourth and final claim is that Missouri is a weighing state and that the Missouri Supreme Court erred in holding that the death sentence could be upheld on the basis of one valid statutory aggravating factor. First, we note that Tokar does not raise or discuss this point in his brief, and thus we deem it abandoned. Even if we were to address the claim, our Discussion in the foregoing paragraph reveals that it has no merit. 44 Grounds 6 and 7: Prosecutor's Comments During Opening and Closing Argument 45 Next, Tokar claims that various comments made by the prosecutor in his opening statement at the guilt phase and in his final arguments at the guilt and penalty phases were improper and violated his right to due process and his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Fourteenth and Eight Amendments. We agree with the district court's determination that both of these grounds are procedurally defaulted because Tokar never raised either in his direct appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court. 12 Tokar claims that even if these grounds are procedurally defaulted, ineffective assistance of appellate counsel provides the requisite cause and prejudice to excuse the default. We disagree. 46 Ineffective assistance of appellate counsel may constitute cause and prejudice excusing a procedural default. See Boysiewick v. Schriro 179 F.3d 616, 619 (8th Cir. 1999). 13 To establish ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, Tokar must show under the familiar Strickland standard that appellate counsel's performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and that the deficient performance prejudiced his defense. See Zinzer v. Iowa, 60 F.3d 1296, 1299 (8th Cir. 1995). In order to prove such prejudice, petitioner must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. See Boysiewick 179 F.3d at 620. Having carefully reviewed the record, we conclude that even if we were to assume that some of the prosecutor's comments were improper and appellate counsel was deficient in not raising them, counsel's conduct did not prejudice Tokar because there is no reasonable probability that, but for the failure to challenge these comments, Tokar would have prevailed in his direct appeal. First, as the district court noted and defendant concedes, the Missouri Supreme Court review of the comments was limited to plain error review. Second, the evidence overwhelmingly supported the jury's decision both as to guilt and sentence, and this 'reduced the likelihood that the jury's decision was influenced by the arguments.' 14 See Snell v. Lockhart 14 F.3d 1289, 1301 (8th Cir. 1994) (quoting Darden v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 168, 182 (1986)); cf. Shurn v. Delo, 177 F.3d 662, 667 (8th Cir.) (overturning the death sentence in light of the extensive improper comments by the prosecution, the state's admission that it could not prove that petitioner did the shooting, and the jury's disagreement on punishment), cert. denied, sub nom. Shurn v. Bowersox, U.S., 120 S.Ct. 510, 145 L.Ed.2d 395(1999). 47 In the absence of Strickland prejudice, Tokar cannot establish ineffective assistance of appellate counsel and therefore, cannot show cause for the procedural default of his underlying claims. See Zinzer, 60 F.3d at 1299. Thus, Tokar cannot overcome the procedural bar and we need not consider the prejudice component of the cause and prejudice analysis. See id. Ground 8: Proportionality Review 48 Tokar asserts that the Missouri Supreme Court's review of the proportionality of his sentence violated his right to due process and his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Fourteenth and Eighth Amendments. The Missouri legislature mandates such a review of all cases where the death sentence is imposed in Missouri courts. See Mo. Rev. Stat. § 565.035. While the review is not mandated by the Constitution, once in place it must be conducted consistently with the Due Process Clause. See Kilgore v. Bowersox, 124 F.3d 985, 996 (8th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 118 S. Ct. 2352 (1998). The Missouri Supreme Court reviewed Tokar's death sentence and concluded the sentence was not excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the crime, the strength of the evidence and the defendant. See State v. Tokar, 918 S.W.2d at 773. The Constitution does not require us to look behind that Conclusion to consider the manner in which the Missouri Supreme Court conducted its review or whether the court misinterpreted the Missouri statute. See Six v. Delo, 94 F.3d 469, 478 (8th Cir. 1996); see also Ramsey, 149 F.3d at 754 (Missouri's proportionality review does not violate the Eighth Amendment, due process, or equal protection of the laws). Ground 9: Incompetence to Proceed at Trial 49 Tokar's final claim is that he was incompetent to proceed at trial and as a result his conviction violates the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. The Missouri Supreme Court conducted an exhaustive examination of the issue and found no merit to Tokar's claim. After having reviewed the record, we conclude, like the district court, that there is no reason to question the Missouri Supreme Court's decision on this issue.