Opinion ID: 1224487
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ineffective Assistance by Trial Counsel

Text: Gentry claims his trial counsel represented him ineffectively by failing to discover the evidence his current attorneys obtained regarding the informants, failing to consult with forensics experts, proposing confusing penalty phase instructions, failing to offer a redacted judgment and sentence form on Gentry's rape conviction, and failing to present psychological evidence in mitigation. To prevail on this claim, Gentry must show that his attorneys were not functioning as the `counsel' guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment and their errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); Benn, 134 Wash.2d at 889, 952 P.2d 116; State v. Mierz, 127 Wash.2d 460, 471, 901 P.2d 286, 50 A.L.R.5th 921 (1995). Trial counsel could have discovered Dyste's role as a drug informant, but as discussed above, that involvement was irrelevant to this case. Gentry was not prejudiced by counsel's failure to pursue that issue. Counsel could perhaps have shown Hicks' prison transfer and parole gave him a motive to favor the State, but there is no evidence of any bargain or offers of benefits related to his or the other informants' testimony against Gentry. Finally, Peck did not reveal the alleged conspiracy between Hicks and Smith to seek revenge against Gentry until after trial. Gentry offers no reason why counsel should have interviewed Peck before trial. The defense did interview Gentry himself, as well as Hicks, Smith, and Dyste. [11] Nothing in the information Gentry has provided indicates any of these men identified Peck as a possible witness. Unless counsel were aware of some specific reason to talk to Peck, or they were required to interview all of the inmates who were incarcerated at the same time as Gentry, Hicks, and Smith, their failure to do so was not deficient. We address not what is prudent or appropriate, but only what is constitutionally required. United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 665 n. 38, 104 S.Ct. 2039, 80 L.Ed.2d 657 (1984); Burger v. Kemp, 483 U.S. 776, 794, 107 S.Ct. 3114, 97 L.Ed.2d 638 (1987). Even if a more thorough investigation was constitutionally required, the representation Gentry received did not deprive him of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052. As discussed above, counsel extensively cross-examined all three informants about their criminal histories and discrepancies in their statements. And the State's case relied much more on the forensic evidence than on the informants' testimony. Next, Gentry faults his attorneys for failing to consult with a forensics expert regarding the cause of Cassie's two most serious head injuries and for failing to consult with an expert regarding the DNA evidence. We note initially Gentry's trial counsel vigorously contested the forensic evidence and the trial court conducted a six-week pretrial hearing on DNA evidence. Gentry contends trial counsel should have consulted with an appropriate head injury expert. Defense counsel have now located a witness who says he might, after examining the evidence, be able to testify that the wound on the back of Cassie's head was not caused by a separate blow with the rock, but by her head being pushed back into a tree or branch when she was hit in the forehead. Gentry apparently wants to show Cassie was neither struck with the rock in the back of the head nor struck so hard in the front of the head that her head broke the branch under her head. His expert opines she may have been resting against a nearby tree when she was hit in the forehead, and the back of her head was injured by striking the tree. The expert also suggests that the branch was broken by the officer who moved it or in some other manner than the investigating officer concluded. It is inconceivable pursuing this line of investigation and introducing such testimony would have altered the outcome of trial. It is undisputed Cassie was struck between 8 and 15 times with a two-pound rock, including one blow in the forehead, through her sweatshirt, with sufficient force to cause a fatal injury. She also suffered an independently fatal injury to the back of her head. It hardly matters whether that injury was caused by a separate blow with the rock, or the blow to the front of her head was so hard as to cause two massive wounds. Gentry's trial counsel retained several experts who testified the type of tests the State performed are not accepted in the scientific community, and the State's witnesses' conclusions were flawed. Gentry is now claiming they should also have presented expert testimony disputing the State's expert's calculations of the numerical match between Cassie's blood and the blood on Gentry's shoe and between the Negroid hair on her body and Edward Gentry's hair. The State's experts testified the blood type on the shoe matched that of about .25 percent of the Caucasian population (including Cassie), and the DNA on the hair matched 6 percent of the black population (including Edward Gentry). According to Sandy Zabel, the expert located by Gentry's current attorneys, the proper comparison for the blood is with the entire population, not just Caucasians. By her calculations, the DNA on the shoe matched about 1.8 percent of the entire population (1 in 55). That is still a closer match than the hair to Edward Gentry, and very damaging to Gentry. With respect to the hair, Zabel says the jury should have been told there was about a 45-percent chance either Edward or Jonathan Gentry would match at least one of the two hairs found on Cassie's body. That conclusion seems to be premised on a theoretical comparison of two random persons to two unknown hairs, rather than to the facts of this case. One of the hairs on Cassie's body was from a Caucasian person. Thus, as the jury was told, it could not have come from either Gentry brother. The DNA testing also excluded Jonathan Gentry as the source of the Negroid hair, again as the jury was told. Thus, whatever the theoretical odds of either Gentry brother matching two unidentified hairs, there was in fact a zero percent chance either man was the source of the Caucasian hair or Jonathan Gentry was a source of the Negroid hair. The only relevant remaining question was whether Edward Gentry could have been the source of the Negroid hair. It was not misleading to tell the jury that the DNA in that hair matched that of Edward and 6 percent of the black population. Gentry's trial counsel made no errors here. Although Gentry now claims ineffective assistance of counsel at trial because no psychological expert evaluated him, the record shows trial counsel sought and obtained an order appointing psychologist Dr. Frederick Wise to evaluate Gentry in preparation for the penalty phase. No expert testified at trial, but nothing in the record suggests trial counsel failed to obtain the authorized evaluation. Both trial counsel have submitted affidavits in support of the PRP. Although counsel's affidavits address many of the allegations in Gentry's ineffective assistance claim, they say nothing about whether Dr. Wise evaluated Gentry or why no expert testimony was presented. Gentry himself is also silent on these questions. Nor has he submitted a statement from Dr. Wise. It is possible an evaluation was performed that provided no evidence useful to the defense or that counsel were concerned about opening the door to damaging rebuttal. In any event, the record before us does not support Gentry's current attorneys' claim that trial counsel neglected the issue. In summary, Gentry's trial counsel were not deficient in failing to consult additional experts to a degree that deprived Gentry of a fair trial.