Opinion ID: 28205
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: federal habeas standard of review

Text: “In a habeas corpus appeal, we review the district court’s findings of fact for clear error and review its conclusions of law de novo, applying the same standard of review to the state court’s decision as the district court.” Thompson v. Cain, 161 F.3d 802, 805 (5th Cir. 1998). Because Foster filed his petition for federal habeas corpus relief after the date of the enactment of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-132, 100 Stat. 1214 (codified as amended at 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (Supp. V 1999)) (“AEDPA”), the district court’s federal habeas review was governed by AEDPA. See Penry v. Johnson, 532 U.S. 782, 792 (2001). Under § 2254(d) of AEDPA, habeas relief is not available to a state prisoner 15 with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim — (1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or (2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) (Supp. V 1999). The Supreme Court recently elaborated on the § 2254(d)(1) standards. See Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 404-13 (2000). Applying statutory construction principles, the Court determined that the phrases “contrary to” and “unreasonable application of” establish “two categories of cases in which a state prisoner may obtain federal habeas relief with respect to a claim adjudicated on the merits in state court.” Id. at 404. According to the Court, a state court decision is “contrary to . . . clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court” if: (1) “the state court applies a rule that contradicts the governing law set forth in [the Supreme Court’s] cases,” or (2) “the state court confronts a set of facts that are materially indistinguishable from a decision of [the Supreme] Court and nevertheless arrives at a result different from [Supreme Court] precedent.” Id. at 405-06. The Court determined that a state court decision is “an unreasonable application of clearly established” Supreme Court 16 precedent if the state court “correctly identifies the governing legal rule but applies it unreasonably to the facts of a particular prisoner’s case.” Id. at 407-08. The Court established two guidelines for ascertaining when an application of federal law is “unreasonable.” First, the Court indicated that the inquiry into unreasonableness is an objective one. See id. at 409-10. Second, the Court emphasized that “unreasonable” does not mean merely “incorrect”: an application of clearly established Supreme Court precedent must be incorrect and unreasonable to warrant federal habeas relief. See id. at 41012. To establish that habeas relief is warranted on the § 2254(d)(2) ground that the state court’s decision was based on an “unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding,” a petitioner must rebut by clear and convincing evidence the § 2254(e)(1) presumption that a state court’s factual findings are correct. Dowthitt v. Johnson, 230 F.3d 733, 741 (5th Cir. 2000); see also 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1) (Supp. V 1999) (“In a proceeding instituted by an application for a writ of habeas corpus by a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court, a determination of a factual issue made by a State court shall be presumed to be correct. The applicant shall have the burden of 17 rebutting the presumption of correctness by clear and convincing evidence.”). III. INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL IN INVESTIGATING AND PRESENTING MITIGATING EVIDENCE As the Supreme Court has recognized, the standard governing claims of ineffective assistance of counsel established in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), “qualifies as ‘clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States’” for the purpose of federal habeas review under § 2254(d). Williams, 529 U.S. at 391. Accordingly, Foster is entitled to relief if the state court’s adjudication of his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim was either contrary to or involved an unreasonable application of Strickland, or if the state court’s decision is based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence before the court. In Strickland, the Court held that in order to establish a violation of the Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel, a defendant must make two showings: First, the defendant must show that counsel’s performance was deficient. This requires showing that counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the “counsel” guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment. Second, the defendant must show that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. This requires showing that counsel’s errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable. 18 466 U.S. at 687. “[B]oth the performance and prejudice components of the ineffectiveness inquiry are mixed questions of law and fact.” Id. at 698. To prevail on an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim, a defendant must tie Strickland’s deficiency and prejudice prongs to particular instances of counsel’s performance, i.e., the defendant “must identify the acts or omissions of counsel that are alleged not to have been the result of reasonable professional judgment” and to have rendered the result of the trial unreliable. Id. at 690. Foster’s ineffective-assistance claim is based on Farrow’s alleged failure to investigate and to present evidence that would have mitigated against imposition of the death penalty in Foster’s case. Initially, Foster contends that Farrow’s performance was constitutionally deficient because Farrow failed to present existing mitigating evidence regarding Foster’s mental condition. According to Foster, Farrow should have presented the Whitfield report because its diagnoses of Foster with Conduct Disorder and Personality Disorder and its determination that Foster had an IQ of 80 constituted substantial mitigating evidence. Foster also argues that Farrow’s investigation into mitigating evidence was inadequate because he failed to seek the following: (1) an expert’s opinion further developing the information in the Whitfield report for purposes of mitigation and (2) further psychiatric and neurological testing and evaluation of Foster, 19 including any medical records regarding Foster’s two head injuries. In support of his claims that the Whitfield report supported statutory mitigating circumstances (and thus should have been presented) and that an adequate investigation would have yielded further “mental health” mitigating evidence, Foster submitted (to the state court as well as the district court) an affidavit of Dr. Marc Zimmermann, a clinical and forensic psychologist. In his affidavit, Dr. Zimmermann highlighted the Whitfield report’s findings that he concluded were evidence supporting the existence of certain statutory mitigating circumstances and recommended that Foster undergo further psychiatric and neurological testing. Foster further argues that, in addition to failing to present and investigate this “mental health” mitigating evidence, Farrow did not adequately investigate mitigating evidence regarding Foster’s family background. In support of this claim, Foster submitted affidavits of his sister, one of his brothers, three of his friends, and one of his neighbors. Each of these individuals explained his or her relationship with Foster and attested that he or she would have testified for Foster if Farrow had asked him or her to do so. Collectively, the affidavits indicated that Foster began consuming alcohol at a young age and suggested that Foster’s father and two older brothers had abused alcohol as Foster was growing up. 20 The Mississippi Supreme Court rejected Foster’s argument that he was denied effective assistance of counsel as a result of Farrow’s alleged omissions. Foster v. State, 687 So. 2d 1124, 1133-34 (Miss. 1996). The court denied Foster’s claim based on the “mental health” mitigating evidence on the ground that he had not established that Farrow’s performance was deficient under the first prong of Strickland. See id. The court denied Foster’s claim based on the “family background” mitigating evidence on the ground that any deficiency in Farrow’s performance had not prejudiced the outcome of trial, as required under the second prong of Strickland. See id. at 1134. Foster contends that the district court erred in denying him relief on both of these claims. We address each of these arguments in turn. A. Failure to Investigate and Present “Mental Health” Mitigating Evidence As noted above, the Mississippi Supreme Court rejected Foster’s ineffective-assistance claim based on “mental health” mitigating evidence because the court determined that Foster had not established deficient performance under Strickland. Id. at 1133-34. In Strickland, the Supreme Court held that deficient performance is established by showing that, “considering all the circumstances,” “counsel’s representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness” “under prevailing professional norms.” 466 U.S. at 688. More specific to Foster’s ineffectiveassistance claim is the Court’s holding that “counsel has a duty 21 to make reasonable investigations or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary.” Id. at 691. “[A] particular decision not to investigate must be directly assessed for reasonableness in all the circumstances.” Id. In particular, counsel’s strategic decisions not to conduct further investigation in pursuit of mitigating evidence are entitled to substantial deference under Strickland. See id. Similarly, “Strickland requires that we defer to counsel’s decision not to present mitigating evidence or not to present a certain line of mitigating evidence when that decision is both fully informed and strategic, in the sense that it is expected, on the basis of sound legal reasoning, to yield some benefit or avoid some harm to the defense.” Moore v. Johnson, 194 F.3d 586, 615 (5th Cir. 1999). Further, this court has held that “a tactical decision not to pursue and present potential mitigating evidence on the grounds that it is double-edged in nature is objectively reasonable, and therefore does not amount to deficient performance.” Lamb v. Johnson, 179 F.3d 352, 358 (5th Cir. 1999) (quoting Rector v. Johnson, 120 F.3d 551, 564 (5th Cir. 1997)). The Mississippi Supreme Court determined that Farrow made “tactical” decisions not to present the Whitfield report to the jury at the sentencing phase and not to seek further “mental health” mitigating evidence. See Foster, 687 So. 2d at 1131. The court concluded that these “tactical” decisions were 22 reasonable because, according to the court, there was a significant risk that such information would harm Foster’s case for a sentence of life imprisonment rather than a sentence of death. See id. With respect to the Whitfield report, the court determined that the information therein “would surely leave the jury with the impression that Foster knew right from wrong and [that] he could not care less about his actions or the consequences thereof.” Id. Accordingly, the court concluded that it was reasonable for Farrow to rely on Foster’s report cards in support of the “limited intelligence” mitigating factor rather than introducing the Whitfield report’s determination that Foster had an IQ of 80. Id. at 1133. Similarly, the court concluded that Farrow’s “tactical decision not to investigate psychological evidence did not deprive [Foster] of effective assistance of counsel” because Farrow “could have judged that [any such evidence] would have been harmful” in light of the information in the Whitfield report. Id. at 1131. Thus, the court determined that Farrow acted reasonably in relying on Foster’s parents’ testimony regarding Foster’s two head injuries rather than seeking medical documentation of those injuries or further expert evaluation of Foster, particularly “[i]n light of the Whitfield Report which indicated that no organic mental disorder existed.” Id. at 1133. 23 Foster argues that the Mississippi Supreme Court’s finding that Farrow made a strategic decision to cease investigation into Foster’s psychiatric condition is an unreasonable factual determination warranting habeas relief under § 2254(d)(2). According to Foster, this determination is unreasonable in light of the undisputed evidence that Farrow filed motions seeking the assistance of a mental health expert for purposes of developing mitigating evidence after the Whitfield report was completed. Foster asserts that Farrow did not make a strategic decision not to pursue further investigation of Foster’s psychiatric condition, but rather “wholly failed to follow through on this request.” The district court agreed with this argument, finding that if the Mississippi Supreme Court had known that “Farrow had moved for funds to obtain a mental health expert to aid in the mitigation phase” after the Whitfield report was completed “and that the trial court proceeded to trial without ruling and without objection from Farrow,” then the Mississippi Supreme Court “would not have concluded that . . . Farrow made a reasonable decision ‘not to pursue further psychological testing.’” The district court did not, however, address whether “this error in the facts” constituted an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence before the Mississippi Supreme Court. 24 In support of his challenge to the Mississippi Supreme Court’s finding that Farrow made a strategic decision not to pursue further investigation into Foster’s psychiatric condition, Foster relies solely on the fact that Farrow filed a motion requesting funds for expert assistance after the Whitfield report was completed. However, the fact that Farrow filed this motion does not necessarily undermine the Mississippi Supreme Court’s finding that Farrow ultimately made a strategic decision to abandon this line of inquiry. The court could have determined that Farrow did not follow up on his motion for expert assistance (by submitting information on the availability and fee schedules of experts) because, after further consideration of the information in the Whitfield report, he concluded that pursuing further expert evidence would not be fruitful or that the potential detrimental effect of such information on the jury would outweigh any potential benefits. If we were reviewing the Mississippi Supreme Court’s factual finding de novo, we might be inclined to agree with Foster that Farrow’s filing of the motion for expert assistance after the Whitfield report was completed indicates that his subsequent failure to pursue this motion was an omission rather than an affirmative decision not to act. However, we must presume that the state court’s factual finding is correct unless Foster rebuts that presumption with clear and convincing evidence. See Dowthitt, 230 F.3d at 741. Foster does not satisfy this burden 25 merely by pointing to the fact that Farrow filed a motion for expert assistance after the Whitfield report was completed. Thus, we cannot conclude that the Mississippi Supreme Court’s finding that Farrow made a strategic decision to limit his investigation of mitigating evidence was an unreasonable determination of the facts based on the available evidence. Foster also challenges the Mississippi Supreme Court’s determination that the Whitfield report was “double-edged in nature,” and the court’s inference therefrom that any further psychological evaluation of Foster would similarly yield “doubleedged” evidence. Initially, Foster contends that reasonably competent counsel would have introduced the Whitfield report at the sentencing phase of trial. He points to Dr. Zimmermann’s testimony that “[w]hile the mental disorders diagnosed at Whitfield (i.e., Conduct Disorder and Personality Disorder) would not relieve a child in Chris [Foster’s] situation of responsibility for capital murder, they would support a jury finding [that] ‘[t]he offense was committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance’ and [that Foster’s] ‘capacity . . . to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired’” (both of which are statutory mitigating circumstances that Farrow stated were applicable in his argument to the jury at the sentencing phase of Foster’s trial). 26 Foster further argues that Farrow’s performance was deficient as a result of his failure to conduct further investigation into Foster’s psychiatric condition. According to Foster, reasonable counsel would have obtained an expert (such as Dr. Zimmermann) to explain how the Whitfield report’s diagnoses and IQ determination support the existence of mitigating circumstances. In support of this argument, Foster points to Dr. Zimmermann’s statements (1) that Conduct Disorder and Personality Disorder “appear[] more often in children of parents with Alcohol Dependence,” (2) that “[p]eople with these disorders tend to have difficulty conforming their behavior to the norms of society,” and (3) that the IQ score of 80 attributed to Foster in the Whitfield report “indicates that on the day Mr. Shelton was killed Chris Foster had a mental age of less than 13 years old.” Foster also argues that Farrow did not provide reasonably effective assistance because he failed to seek further expert evaluation of Foster to determine whether he suffered from “organic brain damage or other serious mental or emotional dysfunction.” In support of this argument, Foster apparently relies on Dr. Zimmermann’s recommendation that “a thorough neuropsychological and/or neurological evaluation should be completed [because] [b]rain damage or dysfunction may be the cause of behavior that is often labeled as Conduct Disorder and would be considered as a mitigating factor.” 27 The Mississippi Supreme Court’s determination that the Whitfield report and any further psychiatric evidence that might have been obtained were double-edged in nature is a factual finding that we presume correct absent clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. Cf. Dowthitt, 230 F.3d at 745 (concluding that under § 2254(d)(2), “we are bound by the state habeas court’s findings that the[] records (indicating that the petitioner suffered from mental illness) included information which could have hurt [the petitioner’s] case [because those] findings are clearly supported by the record”). In concluding that the Whitfield report contained damaging information justifying a conclusion that further psychiatric investigation would be fruitless and potentially harmful, the Mississippi Supreme Court appears to have relied heavily on the following language: At no time during our observation of him here has Mr. Foster displayed any symptom of psychotic disorder or organic mental disorder. Our ward observations, former mental status observations, and psychological testing all supported the diagnosis of Conduct Disorder and Personality Disorder with Antisocial and Narcissistic Features. These diagnoses reflect an individual who tends to disregard the rules of society and places his own needs and desires ahead of those of other people. Mr. Foster tends to over-emphasize his own importance and prowess and minimize his responsibility for his behavior and its consequences. Because of these personality traits he may not always choose to cooperate with his attorney or with the court, but I believe that he is capable of cooperating if he chooses to. He has been involved in physical altercations both in the jail and here and this behavior may well continue. 28 Foster, 687 So. 2d at 1131. The court dismissed Dr. Zimmermann’s opinion, noting that he merely reached different conclusions than the Whitfield staff regarding: (1) the potentially mitigating implications of Conduct Disorder and Personality Disorder, and (2) the need for further testing of Foster for “brain damage or dysfunction.” See id. at 1132-33. The court concluded that reasonable counsel could have determined that the psychiatric evaluation of Foster conducted by the Whitfield staff —— involving “forty-four days of examination and observance” —— was sufficiently comprehensive to justify a conclusion that further psychiatric investigation would only lead to similarly damaging information. Id. at 1131-32. We cannot say that this finding by the Mississippi Supreme Court regarding the “doubled-edged” nature of the information contained in the Whitfield report and of any further psychiatric/neurological evidence is an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence before that court. Accordingly, we presume this finding to be correct. Foster did not provide any evidence suggesting, contrary to the Whitfield report’s conclusions, that he did suffer from “organic brain damage or other serious mental or emotional dysfunction.” As the state points out, Dr. Zimmermann did not interview Foster, but rather based the opinion in his affidavit only on the Whitfield report and affidavits of Foster’s family and friends. Consequently, Dr. Zimmermann did not provide a 29 medical assessment of Foster that differed from that already presented to the trial court in the Whitfield report. Dr. Zimmermann’s affidavit merely suggests that more investigation into Foster’s mental condition should have taken place and expands somewhat on the Whitfield report’s diagnoses and IQ determination. Further, Foster has not proffered “any kind of medical documentation evidencing that [he] changed in personality due to [his] head injuries.” Foster, 687 So. 2d at 1133. Thus, Foster has not shown that Farrow failed to find evidence of organic brain dysfunction as a result of inadequate investigation. Consequently, Foster’s contention that Farrow should have investigated more and presented more mitigating evidence “essentially come[s] down to a matter of degrees.” Dowthitt, 230 F.3d at 743 (internal quotations and citation omitted). We have noted that courts should be particularly cautious about “second-guessing” such questions of degree in evaluating counsel’s performance under Strickland. Id.; cf. Burger v. Kemp, 483 U.S. 776, 793 (1987) (concluding that although counsel’s decision not to present the testimony of a certain witness “may have been erroneous, the record surely does not permit us to reach that conclusion” because the petitioner “has submitted no affidavit from that [witness] establishing that he would have offered substantial mitigating evidence if he had testified”). 30 Given the high level of deference that Strickland requires us to accord to counsel’s strategic decisions, we conclude that the Mississippi Supreme Court did not unreasonably apply federal law in concluding that Foster did not establish deficient performance under Strickland. Neither (1) Farrow’s failure to present the Whitfield report (and thus the diagnoses and IQ determination therein) nor (2) Farrow’s failure to conduct further investigation in pursuit of more evidence regarding Foster’s mental condition (including expert opinions elaborating on the Whitfield diagnoses, medical documentation of Foster’s head injuries, or further evaluation for “organic brain damage or other serious mental or emotional dysfunction”) compels us to conclude that the Mississippi Supreme Court’s assessment of Farrow’s performance was objectively unreasonable.10 Thus, the district court correctly determined that Foster’s ineffectiveassistance claim based on Farrow’s failure to present and investigate “mental health” mitigating evidence does not warrant habeas relief under § 2254(d). B. Failure to Investigate “Family Background” Mitigating Evidence 10 As noted above, the Mississippi Supreme Court did not address the question whether Foster was prejudiced by Farrow’s alleged deficiencies. In Strickland, the Supreme Court noted that “there is no reason for a court deciding an ineffective assistance claim . . . to address both components of the inquiry if the defendant makes an insufficient showing on one.” 466 U.S. at 697. 31 The Mississippi Supreme Court apparently did not address the deficient-performance prong in denying Foster’s ineffectiveassistance claim based on Farrow’s failure to investigate “family background” mitigating evidence, but rather denied the claim after determining that Foster was not prejudiced by the absence of such evidence at the sentencing phase of his trial. Foster, 687 So. 2d at 1134. The Strickland Court held that in determining whether a defendant challenging a death sentence was prejudiced by counsel’s deficient performance, “the question is whether there is a reasonable probability that, absent the errors, the sentencer . . . would have concluded that the balance of aggravating and mitigating circumstances did not warrant death.” 466 U.S. at 695. “A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.” Id. at 694. For the purposes of the second prong of Strickland, a reviewing court “must be confident that at least one juror’s verdict would not have been different had the new evidence been presented.” Loyd v. Smith, 899 F.2d 1416, 1426 (5th Cir. 1990). Under Mississippi law, a jury may not impose the death penalty unless it unanimously determines that the mitigating circumstances do not outweigh the aggravating circumstances. MISS. CODE ANN. § 99-19-101(3)(c). In support of his claim that Farrow inadequately investigated “family background” mitigating evidence, Foster submitted affidavits of his sister, one of his brothers, three of 32 his friends, and one of his neighbors. All of these affiants stated that they had never been contacted by Farrow and that they would have been willing to testify for Foster had they been asked to do so. Each affiant attested to the fact that Foster’s father drank frequently as Foster was growing up or that Foster, who had access to alcohol through his two older brothers, began consuming alcohol at a very young age. Foster maintains that he was prejudiced as a result of Farrow’s failure to investigate more of the available “family background” mitigating evidence because “had counsel conducted an investigation of Foster’s life (beyond speaking to his parents) and interviewed potential witnesses, counsel would have uncovered a wealth of compelling mitigation evidence [on Foster’s background].” According to Foster, the affidavits of his siblings and friends indicate that “Foster’s father is a habitual drunkard,” that Foster “began drinking about age twelve” because of his two older brothers’ “willingness to provide [Foster] with alcohol,” and that his older brother was in “constant trouble with the law because of alcohol abuse.” Foster points out that the jury did not hear such evidence of alcohol abuse in his family. In fact, Foster asserts that his parents’ testimony actually harmed him because they testified that he had never had problems with alcohol, undermining Farrow’s argument that the jury should consider Foster’s intoxication at the time of the offense as a mitigating circumstance. 33 The Mississippi Supreme Court concluded that Foster had not established prejudice because he failed to show “that interviewing [these] additional witnesses would [have] produce[d] a different outcome” at the sentencing phase of Foster’s trial. Foster, 687 So. 2d at 1134. In reaching this conclusion, the court found that the affidavits did not, as Foster claimed, “paint a picture of alcoholic stupor and abusive behavior.” Id. The court further reasoned that “[i]t would have been a disservice [to Foster] to have friends and family brought in to explain the longstanding history of alcoholism because a jury could have inferred a high tolerance level and not credited the twelve beers as being enough to intoxicate such a hard drinker.” Id. Based on our review of the affidavits in light of Foster’s arguments on appeal, we conclude that Foster has not offered the clear and convincing evidence necessary to rebut the presumption of correctness accorded to the Mississippi Supreme Court’s finding that the affidavits do not establish the “alcoholic stupor and abusive behavior [that] Foster claims.” Id. Accordingly, we cannot say that the Mississippi Supreme Court unreasonably applied Strickland in determining that the omission of this evidence did not prejudice the outcome of the trial. The jury was presented with —— and sentenced Foster to death in spite of —— mitigating evidence indicating that Foster was only 34 seventeen years old at the time of the offense, that he did not have any criminal history, that he had a young son, that he had stopped attending school in the middle of his eighth grade year and had performed poorly throughout this brief period, and that he did not carry a gun with him to the convenience store. The Mississippi Supreme Court apparently determined that if this mitigating evidence did not persuade the jury that Foster should not be sentenced to die, it is not reasonably probable that establishing a family history of alcohol abuse would have altered at least one juror’s balancing determination in favor of life. We cannot conclude that this assessment was objectively unreasonable. Accordingly, the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision denying Foster’s ineffective-assistance claim based on “family background” mitigating evidence does not provide a basis for habeas relief under § 2254(d). See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 697 (“If it is easier to dispose of an ineffectiveness claim on the ground of lack of sufficient prejudice, which we expect will often be the case, that course should be followed.” ). The district court did not err in denying Foster habeas relief on this claim.