Opinion ID: 171587
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ineffective Assistance at Mitigation

Text: Petitioner also argues that Mr. Cantrell provided ineffective assistance of counsel at the mitigation stage of trial. [7] Petitioner points out that the defense counsel presented almost nothing on his client's behalf in mitigation of the offense. Aplt. Br. 37. According to Petitioner, Mr. Cantrell conducted an inadequate investigation in that the only preparation he made for mitigation was to interview Petitioner, Petitioner's mother, and a couple of siblings; and the preparations Mr. Cantrell did undertake only began seven to ten days before trial. Id. at 39-40. Petitioner argues that Mr. Cantrell's preparations fell far short of ABA Guidelines [8] and Supreme Court precedent. Id. at 40-47. Petitioner asserts that Mr. Cantrell's unreasonable investigation was prejudicial because there was a wealth of other available information Mr. Cantrell did not uncover, including evidence of deprivation, neglect, physical abuse, psychological problems, addiction, and brain damage. Aplt. Br. 43-44, 52-53. Most of this mitigation evidence was derived from the evaluations of Dr. Lipman and Dr. Fleming, both of whom evaluated Petitioner during state post-conviction proceedings. Id. at 53. Petitioner's brief recounts at length the abuse Petitioner received as a child, his history of drug abuse, evidence of brain damage, and Dr. Lipman's and Dr. Fleming's diagnoses of schizophrenia. Id. at 53-63; see also Smith, 2005 WL 1185815, at -9. The district court, while accepting that there was a wealth of information that defense counsel did not uncover, agreed with the State's argument that the defense counsel's investigation was reasonable. Smith, 2005 WL 1185815, at . The State's basic argument was that the investigation was objectively reasonable, that counsel made a strategic decision not to present certain evidence relating to Petitioner's upbringing because it might actually enhance rather than mitigate the State's argument that he presented a continuing threat, and that counsel's failure to discover the evidence cited by Petitioner was due to the failure of Petitioner and Petitioner's family members to disclose information. Id. at . Counsel has a duty to make reasonable investigation for mitigation evidence or to make a reasonable decision that a particular investigation is unnecessary. Walker v. Gibson, 228 F.3d 1217, 1233 (10th Cir.2000); Brecheen, 41 F.3d at 1366. When reviewing the performance of counsel at the sentencing stage of a capital case, there is a need to apply close scrutiny, Battenfield v. Gibson, 236 F.3d 1215, 1226 (10th Cir.2001), because [m]itigating evidence plays an overwhelmingly important role in the `just imposition of the death penalty,' Romano v. Gibson, 239 F.3d 1156, 1180 (10th Cir.2001) (quoting Mayes v. Gibson, 210 F.3d 1284, 1288 (10th Cir.2000)), and [t]he sentencing stage is the most critical phase of a death penalty case, id. On the other hand, the failure to present available mitigating evidence is not per se ineffective assistance. Hale v. Gibson, 227 F.3d 1298, 1315 (10th Cir.2000); Boyd v. Ward, 179 F.3d 904, 918 (10th Cir.1999). An attorney `is not required to investigate all leads' as long as the decision not to pursue a particular lead... is reasonable under the circumstances. Brecheen, 41 F.3d at 1366; see Strickland, 466 U.S. at 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052 ([C]ounsel has a duty to make reasonable investigations or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary.). The ultimate standard, then, is that the decision either not to pursue a particular lead or not to present mitigating evidence discovered during the investigation into the defendant's background must have been reasonable. Walker, 228 F.3d at 1233; Brecheen, 41 F.3d at 1366. And, of course, the reasonableness of an attorney's investigation is dependent on the circumstances of the case. Walker, 228 F.3d at 1233. Mr. Cantrell's investigation and presentation at the mitigation stage certainly merits close examination. The district court remarked that the mitigation testimony was shocking in its brevity, its failure to humanize the Petitioner or to explain his actions. Smith, 2005 WL 1185815, at . The mitigation testimony was short on detail, and the investigation technically began a mere seven to ten days before trialalthough, as counsel testified, segmenting information in a capital case (for one stage or another) is not always realistic: one uses the information to best advantage wherever possible. 5 R. Tr. 46-47. But attorney Cantrell was understandably reluctant to have Petitioner's mitigation witnesses open the door to Petitioner's lifetime propensity for fighting, thereby supporting an aggravating factor. 5 R. Tr. 68 (What I didn't want the jury to hear is that he spent his life getting in fights and whipping up on people.). With 20-20 hindsight, there is much more that might have been presented, including information regarding Petitioner's abuse as a child, addiction problems, psychological problems, brain injury and borderline intelligence. The district court's summary of this evidence is extensive. See Smith, 2005 WL 1185815 at -8. In this case, as in almost every case, trial counsel could have done more. Turrentine v. Mullin, 390 F.3d 1181, 1209 (10th Cir.2004). However, the question is not whether he could have done more, but rather whether his decision not to do more was objectively reasonable, applying heavy deference to the counsel's judgments. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052; Turrentine, 390 F.3d at 1209. We cannot say that Mr. Cantrell acted unreasonably under the circumstances presented in this case. By necessity, Mr. Cantrell's primary source for securing the mitigating evidence now brought to light regarding Petitioner's past was Petitioner and his relatives. Mr. Cantrell interviewed Petitioner between fifty to one hundred times and his relatives between three and ten times. 5 R. Tr. 34, 53-54. In fact, according to Mr. Cantrell's testimony, he saw Petitioner every day for the better part of three months. 5 R. Tr. 74. Although Mr. Cantrell asked specific, detailed questions about child abuse and addiction because he knew of the natural tendency to hide such information, 5 R. Tr. 62-66, 69-72, neither Petitioner nor Petitioner's family told Mr. Cantrell the information that Petitioner later provided to the psychiatrists, 5 R. Tr. 96-98. Petitioner never told Mr. Cantrell of hearing voices, 5 R. Tr. 83, 89, nor did he tell Mr. Cantrell that he had consumed crank and methamphetamine just prior to the crime or ever, 5 R. Tr. 72, 89-90. [9] To the contrary, Petitioner and his family said he avoided hard drugs, 5 R. Tr. 70, and Mr. Cantrell never observed signs of withdrawal, 5 R. Tr. 75-76. Mr. Cantrell had no information regarding Petitioner's head injury. 5 R. Tr. 47. Certainly, Mr. Cantrell knew that Petitioner had been prescribed antipsychotic drugs, that he had attempted suicide, and that he sometimes did not remember things or explained them in a non-linear fashion. 5 R. Tr. 40-41, 48-49, 78-79, 86-87, 94-95, 105. He acted on this information regarding Petitioner's reduced mental abilities by seeking to have him examined for competency. 5 R. Tr. 86, 89. Thereafter, Mr. Cantrell was able to piece together Petitioner's rendition of events so as to come up with a whole story for the defense (as noted, Petitioner consistently maintained his innocence) and reported that Petitioner was cooperative and communicated with him at trial. 5 R. Tr. 41-42, 77-79, 83 (He's the best defendant I've ever represented at writing things down and then talking to me before the witness went off the stand.), 88. Furthermore, Mr. Cantrell did follow up on the fact that Petitioner had been treated for mental illness, but the only facility of which he was informed that had documents regarding Petitioner only had a record of his admittance and discharge. 5 R. Tr. 34-35, 47-48. Finally, Mr. Cantrell personally paid for two private investigators, one of whom had a psychology degree and helped with mitigation issues. 5 R. Tr. 23-28. The Supreme Court recognized in Strickland that [t]he reasonableness of counsel's actions may be determined or substantially influenced by the defendant's own statements or actions. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052; see Romano, 239 F.3d at 1181; Brecheen, 41 F.3d at 1370. The answers provided by a defendant go a long way toward determining counsel's best line of action because it may reveal information that the counsel should investigate, or, potentially, it could indicate that there is no information to be uncovered by investigation. See Strickland, 466 U.S at 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052. [W]hen a defendant has given counsel reason to believe that pursuing certain investigations would be fruitless or even harmful, counsel's failure to pursue those investigations may not later be challenged as unreasonable. Id. In this circuit, we have previously held that counsel is not ineffective for failure to discover mitigating evidence where his investigation is stymied by a witness's refusal to be forthcoming. See Young v. Sirmons, 486 F.3d 655, 682-83 (10th Cir.2007) (finding no ineffective assistance where the defendant had failed to mention any of the serious physical abuse he endured as a child); Duckett v. Mullin, 306 F.3d 982, 998 (10th Cir.2002) (finding no ineffective assistance where counsel had asked specifically about drug use and physical abuse but the witnesses refused to divulge any information); Romano, 239 F.3d at 1182 (finding no ineffective assistance where counsel was not informed of abuse); United States v. Miller, 907 F.2d 994, 999 (10th Cir.1990) (finding no ineffective assistance where the defendant did not inform counsel of his psychiatric treatment). As these cases demonstrate, we have concluded under circumstances similar to those presented here that counsel cannot be faulted for `failing to raise claims as to which the client has neglected to supply the essential underlying facts... [because] clairvoyance is not required of effective trial counsel.' Miller, 907 F.2d at 999 (quoting Dooley v. Petsock, 816 F.2d 885, 891 (3d Cir.1987)). Here, Petitioner and his family never indicatedin fact, they deniedthat there were fruitful lines of inquiry into his background with drugs, abuse, and mental illness. Almost all of the mitigating evidence of Drs. Fleming and Lipman that Petitioner now presents, which the doctors gained during interviews lasting for hours, came from Petitioner and his family. 4 R. Tr. 11, 64-66, 70-76, 85-88, 112-113; 3 R. Tr. 46-47, 51-53, 56-59, 85. But while Mr. Cantrell tried to obtain this evidence from Petitioner over a span of months, Petitioner and his family did not provide the necessary information. Given the apparent good faith in which the counsel conducted the investigation and the lack of transparency on the part of his primary sources of information, we conclude that counsel's performance did not fall below an objective standard of reasonableness, measured under prevailing professional norms. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 688, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Lack of transparency distinguishes this case from the Supreme Court cases that Petitioner cites. In Williams v. Taylor, the Supreme Court found ineffective assistance where preparation for mitigation began a week before trial, and defense counsel missed evidence of severe neglect and abuse and borderline retardation. 529 U.S. 362, 395-96, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000). However, in that case, counsel failed to return a call to a witness who claimed to have relevant information. Id. at 373, 120 S.Ct. 1495. Here, in contrast, counsel did not have notice of and yet refuse to follow up on a potentially fruitful line of inquiry. In Wiggins v. Smith, the Supreme Court found ineffective assistance where counsel chose to stop investigating after looking into three sources, and failed to uncover evidence of abuse, alcoholism, molestation, and diminished mental capacities. 539 U.S. 510, 524-35, 123 S.Ct. 2527, 156 L.Ed.2d 471 (2003). But there, unlike this case, counsel failed to comply with standard practices in the state courts. Id. at 524, 123 S.Ct. 2527. Finally, in Rompilla v. Beard , the Supreme Court found ineffective assistance where the defense counsel failed to examine a court file regarding the client's prior conviction. 545 U.S. 374, 384, 125 S.Ct. 2456, 162 L.Ed.2d 360 (2005). Again, that case is distinguishable because the counsel knew of a potentially fruitful avenue of investigation and nevertheless refused to investigate. Id. at 383-84, 125 S.Ct. 2456. Here, unlike the cases cited by Petitioner, counsel did not fail to follow up on a lead he knew could be advantageous. Rather, counsel's investigation attempts were thwarted by the client. Having determined that Petitioner's claim fails the first prong of the Strickland standard, we need not address whether he was prejudiced by counsel's performance. See Smith v. Robbins, 528 U.S. 259, 286 n. 14, 120 S.Ct. 746, 145 L.Ed.2d 756 (2000); Romano, 239 F.3d at 1181 (This court can affirm the denial of habeas relief on whichever Strickland prong is the easier to resolve.).