Opinion ID: 1202369
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Habeas proceedings in the district court.

Text: Marcrum filed this habeas proceeding, contending that Speer's assistance was ineffective for failure to introduce Marcrum's voluminous records of mental illness, and in particular, the records from the night of June 3 showing his anticonvulsant level was far below therapeutic range and he was diagnosed as suffering from florid psychosis. The district court held it was not a reasonable strategy for counsel to fail to introduce these records on the ground that they were cumulative and would bore the jury. Marcrum v. Luebbers, No. 4:02CV01167 AGF, slip op. at 35 (E.D.Mo. Sept.30, 2005). Moreover, trial counsel appeared to think he had introduced at least some of the records, when in fact he had not introduced them. Id. at 36. Specifically, the district court held that the evidence in the records about the connection between Marcrum's past psychotic episodes and violent behavior was crucial to his case, especially because both experts at trial and Marcrum himself had said that Marcrum was not violent during his psychotic episodes. Further, the evidence showing that Marcrum became psychotic when his anti-convulsant level was too low was also crucial. The district court rejected the idea that testimony about Marcrum's past psychiatric episodes from his friends and family was an acceptable substitute for evidence taken from hospital records. The district court also held that it was unreasonable not to cross-examine Dr. Parwatikar when he said that Marcrum's records showed no history of violent conduct in connection with Marcrum's psychiatric crises, whereas the medical records showed that there was such a connection. Id. at 37. The district court also held unreasonable the state courts' conclusions that there was no prejudice to Marcrum from his counsel's failure to introduce the medical records and to impeach Parwatikar with the inconsistency between the facts disclosed in the records and his opinion that there was no connection between Marcrum's psychosis and his violent behavior. The district court reasoned that the state courts relied on record evidence tending to show that Marcrum was sane during the killing, but that this evidence came solely from Parwatikar and would have been significantly undercut by introducing the records and demonstrating that Parwatikar's testimony was inconsistent with them. Id. The district court conducted its own prejudice analysis and found that, while evidence that Marcrum committed the killing was overwhelming, evidence that he was sane at the time and able to deliberate was not. The evidence that he was sane and able to deliberate was mostly from the tape demanding money, which was made seven years before the killing and was therefore not very probative of Marcrum's sanity or ability to deliberate on the day at the time of the killing. Id. Having concluded that Marcrum received ineffective assistance of counsel in connection with presenting his insanity and diminished capacity defenses and that the state courts' conclusions to the contrary were objectively unreasonable, the district court granted Marcrum's habeas petition. Id. at 40. The court stayed its order pending this appeal. Before moving to the merits of this case, we observe that the Superintendent contends that this petition is barred by the one-year statute of limitations for habeas petitions, 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1). The Superintendent contends that the statute of limitations began to run fifteen days after Marcrum's direct appeal was decided by the Missouri Court of Appeals, whereas the district court counted the time beginning 90 days after the Missouri Court of Appeals' decision. Marcrum v. Luebbers, No. 4:02CV01167 AGF, slip op. at 3 (E.D.Mo. Sept.11, 2003). The case of Riddle v. Kemna, No. 06-2542, which involves the same question concerning the running of the statute of limitations, is now pending before our court en banc. In view of our disposition of the merits of this case, we need not resolve the question of whether the petition was timely filed.