Opinion ID: 77561
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Counsel's Failure to Provide Information to Dr. Afield

Text: 75 Stewart contends that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to provide Dr. Afield, the defense mental health expert, all information necessary to identify mitigating circumstances. Specifically, Stewart asserts that his trial counsel failed to provide Dr. Afield with evidence of: (1) Mr. Scarpo's alleged abuse; (2) Stewart's teenage suicide attempt; and (3) Stewart's longstanding alcohol and drug abuse. Stewart argues that this failure was a product of neglect, not a trial strategy, and that his trial counsel thus rendered ineffective assistance. 76 The state 3.850 court rejected these claims after an evidentiary hearing. As to Stewart's alcohol abuse and suicide attempts, the state 3.850 court found that trial counsel gave Dr. Afield information that Stewart had been drinking heavily, approximately a fifth of whiskey, on the day of the murder; that Barbas was aware of Stewart's suicide attempts in jail; and that Dr. Afield testified about that in the penalty phase. The state 3.850 court also found that Stewart never told trial counsel that he had suffered any type of abuse by Mr. Scarpo. The state 3.850 court also noted that Dr. Afield interviewed and tested Stewart, reviewed documentation concerning Stewart's psycho-social history, and provided adequate mental health assistance. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Stewart's 3.850 motion, finding that trial counsel's preparation of Dr. Afield was not deficient. See Stewart v. State, 801 So.2d at 70. After review, we conclude that the Florida Supreme Court's decision on this issue was neither contrary to, nor an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law. 77 Stewart's primary contention is that Barbas's failure to provide Dr. Afield with evidence of Mr. Scarpo's alleged abuse left the jury with an inaccurate view of Stewart's upbringing. Stewart concedes that Barbas did not know about this abuse, but Stewart claims that information about Mr. Scarpo's mistreatment was readily available from witnesses who testified at the state 3.850 proceeding, particularly his stepsisters and aunt. Although Stewart admits that he did not personally tell Barbas about this abuse, Stewart contends that he could not be expected to inform Barbas about his childhood given his psychological disorders and uncommunicative state. 78 For several reasons, these arguments are meritless. First, Barbas provided Dr. Afield with ample material for the psychiatrist to make an informed opinion on Stewart's mental health. Before Dr. Afield's testimony in the penalty phase, Barbas supplied Dr. Afield with the competency evaluations of the two clinical psychologists at the competency hearing; medical records and other documents; and information gleaned from Barbas's interviews with Stewart and other witnesses, including details about Stewart's background and the circumstances of Harris's murder. Additionally, Dr. Afield met with Stewart three times, conducted psychological and neurological testing, consulted with the clinical psychologists who had evaluated Stewart, and listened to Mr. Scarpo's penalty phase testimony. After reviewing all information, Dr. Afield provided his emphatic expert opinion during the penalty phase that Stewart had diminished capacity to conform his conduct to the law. Dr. Sultan, Stewart's mental health expert at the state 3.850 proceedings, largely confirmed Dr. Afield's diagnosis and denied stating that Dr. Afield could not render an accurate opinion with the information he had on hand. 79 Second, and more importantly, Stewart never informed Barbas about any abuse or mistreatment by Mr. Scarpo. The reasonableness of a trial counsel's acts, including lack of investigation ..., depends critically upon what information the client communicated to counsel. Chandler, 218 F.3d at 1324 (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Van Poyck, 290 F.3d at 1325 (Information supplied by a petitioner is extremely important in determining whether a lawyer's performance is constitutionally adequate.). Because information about childhood abuse supplied by a defendant is extremely important in determining reasonable performance, [w]hen a petitioner (or family members petitioner directs his lawyer to talk to) [does] not mention a history of physical abuse, a lawyer is not ineffective for failing to discover or to offer evidence of abuse as mitigation. Van Poyck, 290 F.3d at 1325; see also Williams v. Head, 185 F.3d at 1237 (An attorney does not render ineffective assistance by failing to discover and develop evidence of childhood abuse that his client does not mention to him.). 80 In this case, the state 3.850 court's finding that Stewart never told trial counsel that he suffered abuse by Mr. Scarpo is entitled to a presumption of correctness and defeats Stewart's ineffective assistance claim. Indeed, the record is clear that despite frequent interaction between Stewart and his trial attorney prior to the penalty phase, Stewart never mentioned Mr. Scarpo's alleged abuse. Barbas provided uncontested testimony in the state 3.850 proceeding that Stewart never told him about any abuse or mistreatment by Mr. Scarpo. Stewart does not dispute that he never told Barbas about the abuse during the nine months that Barbas represented him prior to trial. 81 In fact, Barbas testified that Stewart indicated [j]ust the opposite of poor treatment by Mr. Scarpo in conversations with Stewart. Furthermore, Stewart never contradicted Mr. Scarpo's penalty phase depiction of Stewart's happy childhood in the Scarpo household. The Constitution imposes no burden on counsel to scour a defendant's background for potential abuse given the defendant's contrary representations or failure to mention the abuse. See Henyard, 459 F.3d at 1245 (denying ineffective assistance claim for failure to uncover evidence of sexual abuse in childhood where the defendant repeatedly denied a history of sexual abuse); Callahan v. Campbell, 427 F.3d 897, 934-35 (11th Cir. 2005), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 427, 166 L.Ed.2d 269 (2006) (finding that counsel performed reasonably despite a failure to investigate the possibility of childhood abuse where the defendant never mentioned any abuse); Van Poyck, 290 F.3d at 1324-25 (concluding that counsel was not ineffective by failing to investigate childhood and prison abuse based on the defendant's denial that he had been abused). 82 Although Stewart argues that his failure to mention Mr. Scarpo's alleged abuse to Barbas is excused by his inability to communicate with counsel, the state trial court found that Stewart was competent to proceed to trial, and this finding is entitled to a presumption of correctness. Stewart relies on Dr. Afield's competency hearing opinion that Stewart was uncommunicative. However, Stewart's effort fails because two other mental health experts (clinical psychologists) examined and evaluated Stewart for the competency hearing and found him to be cooperative and coherent. 26 Barbas's testimony in the 3.850 hearing that Stewart was communicative and coherent in their attorney-client discussions corroborates these expert opinions. Accordingly, we agree with the Florida Supreme Court's determination that Stewart's failure to tell either his trial counsel or his defense mental health expert about childhood abuse precludes his claim about that childhood abuse. See Stewart v. State, 801 So.2d at 67. 83 Third, despite Barbas's extensive investigation into potential mitigation witnesses, no family witness provided information about Mr. Scarpo's alleged abuse. Barbas testified in the state 3.850 proceedings that he personally interviewed Stewart's stepfather, stepmother, stepsisters, aunt, and grandparents. 27 It is undisputed that none of these family members informed Barbas of any abuse or mistreatment by Mr. Scarpo. Furthermore, Barbas's lead investigator, Mr. Fernandez, personally interviewed Stewart's stepsisters, and his interview notes corroborate his state 3.850 hearing testimony that neither stepsister mentioned Mr. Scarpo's alleged abuse. In their state 3.850 evidentiary hearing testimony, the stepsisters also confirmed that they never told either Barbas or Mr. Fernandez about the alleged abuse. 84 Instead of describing a history of abuse, family members who testified at the penalty phase described Stewart's childhood as being harmonious and happy. Mr. Scarpo claimed that Stewart had a typical childhood and blended in well with the happy Scarpo household. Joanne Scarpo, his stepmother, described Stewart as a jovial child who idolized his stepfather. Even Medlin, who later claimed that Mr. Scarpo abused Stewart, detailed Stewart's upbringing in the Scarpo household without mentioning any abuse or mistreatment. Moreover, as noted above, Stewart himself never mentioned any childhood abuse to either Barbas, Mr. Fernandez, or even Dr. Afield. 85 Although Mr. Fernandez's notes indicate that Engle once mentioned hearing that Mr. Scarpo abused Stewart, Mr. Fernandez did not remember receiving any indication of abuse. More importantly, Engle did not mention this abuse directly to Barbas despite having an opportunity to do so. Barbas testified, and his billing records confirm, that he spoke with Engle prior to the penalty phase. Given the repeated statements by family members and Stewart himself painting a contrary picture of Stewart's happy childhood in the Scarpo household, Engle's solitary mention of abuse to the investigator, Mr. Fernandez, is not sufficient to establish deficiency of counsel in providing information to the defense mental health expert. See Henyard, 459 F.3d at 1245 (concluding that trial counsel's failure to discover evidence of sexual abuse was not deficient given repeated denials of any abuse, despite trial counsel's note indicating that the defendant once mentioned sexual abuse). 28 86 Fourth, Barbas was not alerted to Mr. Scarpo's alleged abuse by other sources. Both Barbas and Dr. Afield reviewed the competency reports prepared by two clinical psychologists for the competency hearing before trial, and neither report references any abuse by Mr. Scarpo. Additionally, none of the medical reports or jail records indicate any mistreatment by Mr. Scarpo. See id. (reasoning that trial counsel's failure to uncover sexual abuse evidence was not deficient where defendant never mentioned sexual abuse to his psychological experts); Williams v. Head, 185 F.3d at 1237 (concluding that trial counsel was not deficient when neither the defendant, the defendant's mother, nor other witnesses mentioned any mistreatment suffered by the defendant). 87 Stewart also contends that Barbas performed deficiently in failing to provide Dr. Afield with Stewart's juvenile court records, which would have revealed evidence of an adolescent suicide attempt and the early onset of substance abuse. Stewart has provided no evidence that Dr. Afield did not have these records, however. Although Barbas did not recall any teenage suicide attempt, he obtained a court order two months prior to Stewart's trial to receive these juvenile records from the South Carolina Department of Youth Services. Moreover, in the state 3.850 evidentiary hearing, Dr. Afield testified that he was aware of Stewart's suicide attempts and alcohol and drug abuse prior to testifying in the penalty phase. Dr. Afield's testimony in the penalty phase corroborates his state 3.850 testimony — he noted that Stewart trie[d] to kill himself a few times, and he mentioned Stewart drinking alcohol on the day of the murder. 88 Even if Barbas did not obtain these juvenile court records, this failure would not be unreasonable in light of Stewart's failure to apprise Barbas of the teenage suicide attempt. 29 Barbas extensively interviewed Stewart's family members and other mitigation witnesses, but there is no evidence that any witness mentioned a teenage suicide attempt. None of the competency reports reference a teenage suicide attempt. A November 1980 psychological evaluation by Dr. Gerald Mussenden, Ph. D., a clinical psychologist, mentions no teenage suicide attempt, and that report was prepared only a year after the alleged attempt in 1979. 30 Additionally, there is no record of Stewart mentioning a teenage suicide attempt to Barbas. Because the reasonableness of trial counsel's mitigation efforts depends critically upon information communicated by the client, Barbas's alleged failure to provide evidence of a teenage suicide attempt to Dr. Afield was not deficient given his client's silence on the matter. Van Poyck, 290 F.3d at 1325; Chandler, 218 F.3d at 1324; Williams v. Head, 185 F.3d at 1237. 89 Stewart's contention that Barbas failed to provide Dr. Afield with evidence of Stewart's chronic alcohol and drug abuse is also unavailing. The state 3.850 court and the Florida Supreme Court determined that both Barbas and Dr. Afield were aware of Stewart's substance abuse prior to trial. See Stewart v. State, 801 So.2d at 66 n. 7. The record unquestionably supports this finding. 90 First, Barbas testified in the state 3.850 hearing that he informed Dr. Afield of Stewart's alcohol and drug use and described Stewart's alcohol consumption on the day of Harris's murder. 91 Second, the competency reports supplied to Dr. Afield clearly detail Stewart's alcohol and drug consumption. Dr. Mussenden's November 1980 psychological evaluation, which was discussed at the August 1986 competency hearing, indicated that Stewart began consuming alcohol and illegal drugs in the sixth grade and detailed the type of illegal drugs that Stewart regularly used. Dr. Mussenden's August 1986 competency evaluation noted that Stewart admitted that he was an alcoholic, recorded his daily intake of whiskey and cocaine, and opined that Stewart had no control over his alcohol and drug intake. Based on these psychological reports alone, Dr. Afield had ample information about Stewart's substance abuse problem. 92 Finally, Dr. Afield testified at the state 3.850 hearing that he was aware of Stewart's alcohol and drug problems, and his penalty phase testimony confirms this knowledge. At the state 3.850 hearing, Dr. Afield pointed to his penalty phase testimony about Stewart drinking whiskey at his mother's grave as an attempt to convey Stewart's substance abuse problems to the jury. 93 Based on the information provided by Barbas, Dr. Afield had extensive details about the origins of Stewart's alcohol and drug abuse, his regular consumption levels, and his intake on the day of Harris's murder. The Florida Supreme Court's conclusion that Barbas did not perform deficiently in this regard is not objectively unreasonable. 94 Even assuming arguendo that Barbas performed deficiently on all grounds asserted by Stewart, Stewart still has not satisfied his high burden of proving prejudice under the Strickland framework. Dr. Afield provided emphatic testimony in the penalty phase that Barbas suffered childhood abuse and antisocial personality disorders manifested in his alcohol use and suicide attempts. Stewart provides nothing more than mere speculation that providing Dr. Afield with information about Mr. Scarpo's alleged abuse would have altered Dr. Afield's penalty phase testimony. 95 In fact, Dr. Afield testified in the state 3.850 hearing that information about Mr. Scarpo's alleged abuse wouldn't have made any difference in his final opinion. 31 Even if information about Mr. Scarpo's abuse could have bolstered the credibility of Dr. Afield's opinion, [i]t is not enough for the defendant to show that the errors had some conceivable effect on the outcome of the proceeding. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 693, 104 S.Ct. at 2067. We thus agree with the state 3.850 court's and Florida Supreme Court's conclusions that Stewart has failed to show any prejudice. Stewart v. State, 801 So.2d at 67 n. 10. 96 Similarly, even assuming arguendo that Barbas performed deficiently by failing to provide Dr. Afield with evidence of Stewart's teenage suicide attempt and substance abuse problem, Stewart has not demonstrated prejudice. Dr. Afield specifically testified in the penalty phase that Stewart's efforts to kill himself a few times indicated his extreme disturbance. Even if this mention of multiple suicide attempts did not refer specifically to the teenage suicide attempt, Stewart has failed to show that evidence of one more suicide attempt would alter this diagnosis. Dr. Afield also testified in the penalty phase that Stewart demonstrated severe disturbance by drinking whiskey at his mother's grave. Stewart again has not shown a reasonable probability that Dr. Afield would have modified his opinion if he had more information about Stewart's alcohol and drug abuse. 97 For all of these reasons, the Florida Supreme Court's determination that Stewart failed to establish either deficient performance or prejudice as to Barbas's preparation of Dr. Afield was not contrary to or an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law. 98