Opinion ID: 180652
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Waiver of Lesser-Included-Offense Instructions

Text: The jury was instructed on first-degree murder and on Moormann's insanity defense. The trial court did not instruct the jury on the lesser-included offenses of second-degree murder and manslaughter because Moormann's trial counsel, after consultation with Moormann, reported they had agreed not to request such instructions; the State opposed giving them. In Moormann's direct appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court, his appellate counsel argued the lesser-included-offense instructions should have been given by the court sua sponte. Appellate counsel did not argue, however, that trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by waiving the lesser-included-offense instructions. On habeas, Moormann contends his trial and appellate counsel were ineffective and seeks habeas relief on the ground that his appellate counsel should have asserted in the direct appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court that trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by waiving the lesser-included-offense instructions. Moormann argues the evidence presented at trial warranted these instructions and reasonably competent trial counsel would have requested them. He asserts he was prejudiced because had the jury been instructed on these lesser-included offenses, it would have acquitted him of the first-degree murder charge. The trial record reflects that Moormann's trial counsel consulted with him and then declined the trial court's offer to instruct the jury on the lesser-includeds. At the close of evidence, the trial judge and the attorneys retired to chambers to work on the jury instructions. Although the discussions that ensued took place off the record, the court the next day, after counsel had made their closing arguments and the jury had retired to deliberate, made the following record concerning those discussions: THE COURT: Now, I guess there is some record that should be made insofar as the forms of verdicts are concerned and then later you may want to make a record on the instructions. . . . . The record may . . . show at the time of settling instructions and discussing verdicts, the question arose as to whether the jury would be instructed on the second degree murder and on manslaughter. Counsel and the Court discussed that matter. The Court stated that it was inclined to give the instruction on those two if requested to do so by Defense Counsel. State opposed the giving of any form of verdict other than the firston first degree murder, and cited State versus Vickers as authority along with the case is [sic] cited in the Vickers case. I requested Mr. Kelly [Moormann's trial counsel] to consider whether or not he wished to request those instructions and forms of verdict on the lesser offenses. He stated that he wished to do so and that he also wished to discuss it with his client. This morning before we started court, Mr. Kelly informed me that he did not wish to have forms of verdicts as to second degree murder and as to manslaughter. Nor did he wish to have the jury instructed on those. I stated a further record could be made by the attorneys on that matter at the first convenient time with the same effect as if made before we started argument. Now you can make any further record. MR. KELLY: Not on that matter, Your Honor. I did  I did discuss with my client the various options concerning charging the jury and the forms of verdict, and it was agreed after speaking with him the course of action that we took. The jury was therefore instructed solely on first-degree murder and the insanity defense. Although Moormann's counsel in the direct appeal of his conviction argued the trial court erred in not sua sponte instructing the jury on the lesser-included offenses of second-degree murder and manslaughter, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected this argument. Moormann I, 744 P.2d at 688. It concluded Moormann had waived his constitutional right to the lesser-included-offense instructions, and that the decision not to request those instructions was strategic. Id. The court stated: While the parties were discussing jury instructions, the trial judge said he was inclined to give the jury an option of convicting Moorman of second degree murder or manslaughter instead of first degree murder. In response, Moorman's attorney said he and his client had discussed the matter and decided that they wanted the jury instructed only on first degree murder. Moorman was not present when this record was made. In his brief on appeal, Moorman claims that he does not recall any discussion of lesser-included offenses or any agreement with his lawyer on the issue. Moreover, Moormann contends that even if he objected to the giving of lesser-included instructions, the trial court had an obligation to give the instructions under Beck v. Alabama [447 U.S. 625, 100 S.Ct. 2382, 65 L.Ed.2d 392 (1980)]. We need not review the record in depth to determine whether the evidence supported the lesser-included instructions. We see no reason why a murder defendant cannot knowingly waive his constitutional right to lesser-included instructions. Apparently, the decision not to request instructions on second degree murder or manslaughter was strategic. We have no evidentiary record on Moormann's claims that his attorney never discussed the matter with him. We therefore do not decide that issue. Id. at 687-88 (citations omitted). In these habeas proceedings, Moormann has submitted a declaration by his trial counsel to support his threshold contention that trial counsel did not act in a reasonably competent fashion when he declined the court's offer to instruct the jury on the lesser-includeds. In his declaration, trial counsel stated there was no strategic decision to forgo the instructions and that Moormann did not understand the proceedings: I do not remember the details regarding the discussions Robert and I had on the lesser included offense instructions. But I do know that I did not make a strategic decision to not request those instructions. I tried talking to Robert about the instructions, but Robert did not understand legal decisions or the consequences of those decisions. When I discussed legal issues with Robert, I was not sure he understood what we were talking about, or even the meaning of the words I used. But the judge had earlier found Robert competent to stand trial, and as a result, I did not think there was anything I could do about Robert's inability to understand much of what was going on. I believed Robert suffered delusions and as a result, did not always understand the content of what he was saying, or what I was saying. Moormann asserts this declaration demonstrates that trial counsel unreasonably relied on Moormann's preferences concerning the giving of lesser-included-offense instructions, even though he knew Moormann was mentally unfit to make legal decisions about his defense. We do not decide whether trial counsel's waiver of the lesser-included-offense instructions in these circumstances fell below prevailing standards of professional competence, because Moormann did not suffer any prejudice from appellate counsel's failure to raise the ineffectiveness claim in Moormann's direct appeal. See Smith, 528 U.S. at 286 n. 14, 120 S.Ct. 746 (The performance component [of an ineffective assistance of appellate counsel claim] need not be addressed first.). The ineffectiveness claim would have been similar or in addition to the claim appellate counsel did make, which was that the trial court erred in not sua sponte instructing the jury on the lesser-includeds. The Arizona Supreme Court concluded that Moormann made a strategic waiver of his right to have the jury instructed on the lesser-includeds, and there was no reason for the trial court to countermand that decision with a sua sponte instruction. Moormann I, 744 P.2d at 688. The finding of a strategic decision, supported by the trial record, would in all likelihood have foreclosed any holding of ineffective assistance of trial counsel as well. Trial counsel's declaration does not change this result. Although counsel made the bare assertion that the decision to waive lesser-included-offense instructions was not strategic, he admitted that he did not remember the details of the discussions he had with Moormann on the subject. There is nothing in trial counsel's declaration to contradict the Arizona Supreme Court's finding that Moormann knowingly waived the lesser-included-offense instructions. Moormann's appellate counsel therefore did not provide ineffective assistance by failing to raise this issue in Moormann's direct appeal.