Opinion ID: 1227864
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Adequacy of Counsel at Guilt Phase

Text: (28) The adequacy of counsel claims at the guilt phase are directed primarily at counsel's investigation and handling of Martha's condition and state of mind at the time of her death. Specifically, as noted above, it is alleged that counsel did not consider the potential problems created by ingestion of both Valium and liquor and that he failed to call experts to testify to her condition and state of mind. The same allegations in a different format  i.e., newly discovered evidence  were presented in an earlier petition for habeas corpus. [16] At that time it was alleged that the evidence, newly discovered despite diligent pretrial investigation, required reversal of the judgment. We concluded that defendant had not stated a prima facie case for relief at that time (Crim. 24394) and we reject the same contentions now presented in the format of denial of effective assistance of counsel. The prosecution's case  that defendant first killed Martha and then her father  was supported by the physical and medical evidence. The defense sought to establish that Martha was the killer. It presented evidence of her violent propensities, which intensified when she was drunk. Additional evidence of the effect of Valium on Martha and her state of mind might have more precisely portrayed for the jury the drunken state of Martha on the evening in question, but failure to present additional evidence did not deprive defendant of a crucial defense nor markedly lighten the prosecution's burden. ( People v. Pope (1979) 23 Cal.3d 412, 425 [152 Cal. Rptr. 732, 590 P.2d 859, 2 A.L.R.4th 1]; People v. Fosselman (1983) 33 Cal.3d 572, 584 [189 Cal. Rptr. 855, 659 P.2d 1144].) It must be remembered that the bottle of pills was not found in the robe until the trial had been completed. The only question for counsel at that time was whether the jury could consider it as evidence and, inasmuch as it favored the defense, counsel properly agreed to let it be considered. Neither counsel's failure to pursue the matter of the pill bottle nor his failure to investigate the possible applicability of the paradoxical rage syndrome to Martha's behavior establishes a prima facie case of ineffective assistance of counsel.