Opinion ID: 2062476
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Dr. Ellen McDaniel

Text: As previously noted, after trial, but before sentencing, Daneman requested assistance from the Public Defender's Office. The Public Defender hired Dr. Ellen McDaniel, a psychiatrist. Shortly after the Office of the Public Defender contacted Dr. McDaniel, she sent a letter to Daneman requesting Gilliam's Juvenile Service reports, school records, information about the offense, family history, etc. Dr. McDaniel was supplied with the pre-sentence investigation, Dr. Shapiro's report, offense reports of the murder, Gilliam's statements to the police, as well as the twenty-two page report prepared by the graduate social work students. She interviewed Gilliam on two occasions. Dr. McDaniel's sole contact with Daneman was on October 23, 1989, when she called Daneman and told him that she could not come to any conclusion that would be helpful to Gilliam at his sentencing. According to a contemporaneous memorandum of that telephone conversation made by Daneman and introduced as an exhibit, Dr. McDaniel told him that Gilliam was not psychotic, but is somewhat aggressive with a chip on his shoulder. The memo also indicates Gilliam told Dr. McDaniel four different stories as to what occurred but that he never indicated that he was afraid of Tony. Dr. McDaniel testified that she did not remember asking Daneman for any additional information during that telephone conversation, but she assumes she did. Daneman does not recall any request for additional information, and the memorandum of his conversation with Dr. McDaniel indicates no such request. Following the court's imposition of the death penalty, the Public Defender's Office again retained Dr. McDaniel and sent her a copy of the new psychosocial history prepared by Hans Selvog. Dr. McDaniel interviewed Gilliam one more time and interviewed Gilliam's mother and sister. At the post conviction hearing, according to Gilliam, Dr. McDaniel made it clear that, had Daneman supplied her with the background information reported by Selvog, she would have rendered an opinion at the time of Petitioner's sentencing that Gilliam had a paranoid personality disorder and was substantially impaired in his ability to conform his conduct to the requirements of law. There is some question about how much weight should be given to Dr. McDaniel's newly formed opinion founded on the second psychosocial history, an opinion that she was previously unable to form from her interviews with Gilliam, the first psychosocial history, and the other reports furnished by Daneman. Dr. McDaniel testified that, based on the information she had prior to receiving the Selvog psychosocial history, I was able to state he [Gilliam] had a personality disorder, but I was not able to state he had a paranoid personality disorder, much less to say that he was substantially impaired. (Emphasis added). In fact, the first psychosocial report, which Daneman furnished Dr. McDaniel, specifically observed that [w]e conclude from the information gathered in this report that Defendant Gilliam has a ... somewhat paranoid personality. In addition to this first psychosocial history, at the time Dr. McDaniel told Daneman she would be unable to supply any helpful information, she also had reviewed Dr. Shapiro's written report containing test results showing evidence of Gilliam's paranoia. Thus, Gilliam's paranoid personality was not revealed for the first time in Mr. Selvog's psychosocial history. We have already held that there was no inadequate representation because Daneman did not obtain a better psychosocial history. It follows that there was no breach in the standard of care by not furnishing Dr. McDaniel with information disclosed by the second psychosocial history which was the foundation for the opinion Dr. McDaniel formed after Gilliam's sentencing and to which she testified at the post conviction hearing. If Gilliam's childhood was vital to Dr. McDaniel's psychiatric assessment, Daneman could assume Dr. McDaniel would elicit this information from Gilliam. If additional interviews with Gilliam's family members were important in forming her psychiatric opinion, Daneman could assume that Dr. McDaniel would take the initiative and request those interviews. Gilliam also has not established any inadequate representation because Daneman failed to initiate further meetings with Dr. McDaniel after her October 23rd representation that she was unable to provide any information that would be helpful at sentencing. He has no obligation to pursue her and try to convince her to change her mind.