Opinion ID: 852183
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Trial Counsel's Presentation of GBMI at Guilt Phase

Text: Baer asserts trial counsel were ineffective in their investigation and presentation of evidence to support a guilty but mentally ill verdict. (Appellant's Br. at 57.) His contentions are counsel failed to present the jury with additional corroborating evidence about Baer's mental health, failed to withdraw the insanity defense, and failed to offer a preliminary instruction on GBMI that tracked the applicable statute. (Appellant's Br. at 58.) Baer says counsel should have discovered Zola Brown and William Ogden, both of whom could testify that that he heard voices during the years before the crime. But all three mental health experts who testified at the guilt phase discussed Baer's auditory hallucinations and all three experts explicitly stated that Baer was mentally ill. (Trial Tr. at 1779-80, 1785-86, 1869-74, 1886-87, 1894, 1909, 1926, 1929-30, 1945, 1947-53, 1973-74, 1978-79, 1992-93.) The lack of testimony by two lay witnesses who could corroborate the facts used by the experts does not establish ineffective performance. As for failing to withdraw the insanity defense, the Indiana Code provides only two ways that a defendant can be found GBMI. First, a defendant may seek to plead GBMI if that plea is voluntary and supported by an adequate factual basis. Ind.Code §§ 35-35-1-2 & -3 (2008). Second, a jury can return a GBMI verdict if the defendant interposes the insanity defense. Ind.Code § 35-36-2-3(4) (2008). The instant argument is that counsel should have tried to create a third way by asking to pursue GBMI without a plea of insanity in place. Taking the road authorized by the Code conferred multiple advantages. Not the least of these was defense counsel's ability to play off against the prosecutor's contention that Baer was not taking responsibility. Trial counsel frequently told the jury that Baer was not insane and was not using the insanity defense. (Trial. Tr. at 423, 426, 590-91, 641-42, 706-08, 710, 721, 783, 844-45, 910-11, 965, 1023, 1031-33.) As for whether a preliminary instruction on GBMI was required, failure to tender one was not ineffective assistance of counsel because there was a final instruction given on GBMI. Phillips v. State, 550 N.E.2d 1290, 1296 (Ind.1990); Everly v. State, 271 Ind. 687, 691-92, 395 N.E.2d 254, 257 (1979). The post-conviction court was right to deny Baer's claims on these points.