Opinion ID: 2977007
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Employ Any Mitigation Strategy

Text: Finally, we reject Jells’s argument that his counsel erred by failing to develop a mitigation strategy. In support of this contention, Jells points to Dr. Eisenberg’s testimony that Jells’s counsel never discussed a mitigation strategy with him nor indicated that they even had a strategy. Similarly, Jells states in his own affidavit that he does not recall his attorneys ever “discussing with [him] the purpose of mitigation, what the judges would be looking for as mitigating, or what qualifies for mitigation.” However, the fact that trial counsel did not share their mitigation strategy with Jells or with Dr. Eisenberg does not necessarily demonstrate that his trial counsel did not have a mitigation strategy. On the contrary, the Ohio Court of Appeals found that Jells’s counsel were operating “with the essential trial strategy of working to establish reasonable doubt and in turn residual doubt that petitioner committed these offenses.” State v. Jells, No. 72484, 1998 WL 213175, at  (Ohio Ct. App. Apr. 30, 1998). Jells contests this finding as an “unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2). Yet, Jells fails to offer any evidence, let alone the “clear and convincing evidence” needed, to rebut this factual determination of the Ohio Court of Appeals. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1). Moreover, even if the Ohio Court of Appeals’ characterization of counsel’s trial strategy can be viewed as unreasonable, the record clearly demonstrates that defense counsel, at a minimum, employed the “strategy” of presenting Jells as an appropriate candidate for life imprisonment rather than for the death sentence. This conclusion does not negate our earlier conclusion that the Ohio courts unreasonably applied Strickland when they rejected Jells’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim, as “defense counsel’s decision to focus on residual doubt alone could not constitute a reasonable trial strategy because defense counsel never conducted an investigation into mitigation before deciding to pursue residual doubt.” Anderson, 460 F.3d at 804. In this case, Jells’s counsel failed to conduct an adequate investigation into potential mitigation evidence. This failure to investigate was objectively unreasonable, see id., and counsel’s decision to pursue a residual doubt strategy based upon that ineffective investigation was also unreasonable. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690-91 (“[S]trategic choices made after less than complete investigation are reasonable precisely to the extent that reasonable professional judgments support the limitations on investigation.”).