Opinion ID: 411288
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Actual and Substantial Detriment

Text: 79 The test for prejudice in Frady suggests the proper allocation of the burden of proof on the issue of prejudice. In order to sustain that burden, the petitioner must show that ineffectiveness of counsel resulted in actual and substantial disadvantage to the course of his defense. This burden is of sufficient magnitude to discourage the filing of insubstantial claims and to focus the attention of the district court on the actual harm suffered by the petitioner as a result of his counsel's performance. At the same time, the burden does not require the petitioner to produce evidence to which he is unlikely to have access. It also properly reserves for the state the ultimate burden of showing that any constitutional error that did occur was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus, even if the defense suffered actual and substantial disadvantage, the state may show in the context of all the evidence that it remains certain beyond a reasonable doubt that the outcome of the proceedings would not have been altered but for the ineffectiveness of counsel. See generally Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. at 24, 87 S.Ct. at 828. C. Testimony of Judge Fuller 80 In reaching its decision that Washington did not suffer prejudice, the district court considered testimony from Judge Fuller, the state trial judge who imposed the death penalty. The district court could properly consider that testimony to the extent that it contains personal knowledge of historical facts or expert opinion. See 10 J. Moore & H. Bendix, Moore's Federal Practice Sec. 605.02 (1982). We decide, however, that the portion of Judge Fuller's testimony in which he explained his reasons for imposing the death sentence and his probable response to the evidence adduced at the habeas hearing is inadmissible evidence that may not be considered by the district court. 81 It is a firmly established rule in our jurisprudence that a judge may not be asked to testify about his mental processes in reaching a judicial decision. In Fayerweather v. Ritch, 195 U.S. 276, 25 S.Ct. 58, 49 L.Ed. 193 (1904), the Supreme Court held: 82 [T]he testimony of the trial judge, given six years after the case had been disposed of, in respect to matters he considered and passed upon, was obviously incompetent. True, the reasoning of the court for the rule [prohibiting testimony by jurors] is not wholly applicable, for as the case was tried before a single judge there were not two or more minds coming by different processes to the same result. Nevertheless no testimony should be received except of open and tangible facts--matters which are susceptible of evidence on both sides. A judgment is a solemn record. Parties have a right to rely upon it. It should not lightly be disturbed, and ought never to be overthrown or limited by the oral testimony of a judge or juror of what he had in mind at the time of the decision. 83 Id. at 306-07, 25 S.Ct. at 67-68. See also United States v. Crouch, 566 F.2d 1311, 1316 (5th Cir.1975). 84 There are several strong policy reasons that counsel continued adherence to this rule. First, such testimony poses special risks of inaccuracy. The testimony is often given several years after the fact and a judge is unlikely to be able to reconstruct his thought processes accurately over such a span of time. Second, the finality and integrity of judgments would be threatened by a rule that enabled parties to attack a judgment by probing the mental processes of a judge. Similar considerations underlie the rule against probing the mental processes of jurors. See United States v. D'Angelo, 598 F.2d 1002, 1004-05 (5th Cir.1979); Fed.R.Evid. 606(b). 85 Finally, a rule that allows the probing of the mental processes of a state judge would exacerbate certain problems that are already inherent in the habeas corpus context. The tendency of the habeas proceeding to detract from the perception of the trial of a criminal case in state court as a decisive and portentous event, Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. at 90, 97 S.Ct. at 2508, is enhanced by the prospect that the state trial judge may be called into federal court several years later to recreate his thought processes at the criminal trial. Additionally, the friction between the state and federal systems of justice can hardly be alleviated by a rule that permits the parties to interrogate a state judge in federal court regarding the basis for his decision. See, e.g., Rose v. Lundy, 455 U.S. at 518, 102 S.Ct. at 1203; Sumner v. Mata, 449 U.S. 539, 550 & n. 3, 101 S.Ct. 764, 771 & n. 3, 66 L.Ed.2d 722 (1981). D. The Need for a Remand 86 The district court purported to apply the test in Decoster to determine that the petitioner failed to sustain his burden of showing prejudice. It also considered testimony from Judge Fuller regarding his mental processes in reaching his verdict. Since we reject the Decoster rule and find that one portion of Judge Fuller's testimony was inadmissible, it is necessary to remand the case to the district court for further findings. See Pullman-Standard v. Swint, 456 U.S. at ----, 102 S.Ct. at 1791-92.