Opinion ID: 1663995
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Prior Mental-Health Records

Text: For his third point, Appellant argues that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to discover that he had been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic while he was incarcerated in Arizona. The trial court denied this claim on the basis that there was no information contained in the record showing that such a diagnosis had ever existed. We agree with this ruling, as we can find no proffer of the Arizona records, either in the abstract or the record on appeal. As stated in the previous point, this court will not go outside the record to determine issues on appeal. Martin, 337 Ark. 451, 989 S.W.2d 908; Edwards, 321 Ark. 610, 906 S.W.2d 310. In any event, Appellant has failed to show how counsel's failure to secure the records prejudiced his trial. Indeed, Appellant merely asserted in his petition that had counsel obtained the Arizona records, he would have been able to secure funds to hire an independent psychiatrist to evaluate his mental state. This is a moot point, as the record clearly reflects that when the trial court denied such funds, trial counsel used his own money to secure an independent examination of Appellant. Furthermore, this court affirmed the trial court's denial of such funds on the ground that Appellant got the benefit of the assistance he sought through appointed counsel's generosity and sense of professional obligation. Coulter, 304 Ark. 527, 541, 804 S.W.2d 348, 356. Accordingly, Appellant has failed to demonstrate that he was prejudiced by counsel's failure to obtain his Arizona prison records. We thus affirm the trial court's denial of relief on this point.