Opinion ID: 1991907
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: counsel's pretrial investigation

Text: Appellant next claims that his trial counsel failed to conduct adequate pretrial investigation and secure the attendance of mitigation witnesses, and that these failures amounted to representation below that which is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In support, Appellant relies upon affidavits submitted by counsel two months prior to trial in which they concede investigative shortcomings due to heavy workloads, as well as a lack of cooperation from the Commonwealth in providing discovery. The trial court did, in fact, grant a continuance, however Appellant asserts that such was granted to have him psychologically evaluated, and was not in response to counsel's admission that they were unprepared for trial. We are of the opinion that trial counsel's affidavits are, at best, self-serving and, more likely, a disingenuous attempt to inject error into the record. Either way, the test for effectiveness is not whether counsel could have done more, Waters v. Thomas, 46 F.3d 1506, 1514 (11th Cir.1995) (en banc), but rather whether counsel's errors undermined the reliability of the trial. McQueen, supra, at 1311-1312. Counsel's deficient investigation, if in fact it was so, does not appear to have violated this well-recognized standard. Trial counsel has a clear duty to make reasonable investigations or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2066, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). A reasonable investigation is not, however, the investigation that the best defense lawyer, blessed not only with unlimited time and resources but also with the inestimable benefit of hindsight, would conduct. Kokoraleis v. Gilmore, 131 F.3d 692, 696 (7th Cir.1997); Stewart v. Gramley, 74 F.3d 132, 135 (7th Cir.1996); Waters, supra, at 1514. With regard to the alleged failure to secure the attendance of mitigation witnesses, Appellant concedes that his counsel and the trial court went through an elaborate and lengthy process to determine which out-of-state witnesses could offer testimony. Defense counsel even retained an Ohio attorney to facilitate the process of interviewing Appellant's family members located there. In fact, on direct appeal Appellant argued that he was entitled to a directed verdict in light of the substantial mitigation evidence presented at trial. Nonetheless, Appellant now contends that counsel failed to secure several mitigation witnesses who could have shed light on his troubled childhood. Depending on the circumstances, there are many ways a case may be tried. Waters, supra, at 1512. The test for effective assistance of counsel is not what the best attorney would have done, but whether a reasonable attorney would have acted, under the circumstances, as defense counsel did at trial. Id. Appellant offers this Court nothing to demonstrate that trial counsel did not act reasonably by failing to secure the witnesses about whose absence he now complains. Nor is there any evidence as to how these witnesses would have helped, or even which witnesses counsel did or did not interview. It is reasonable and necessary for counsel to place a certain reliance on its client. If the client, his family and friends impede counsel by concealing psychological problems that might have provided an alternative theory of mitigation, counsel cannot be faulted for not exploring the unknown. Strickland, supra, at 691, 104 S.Ct. at 2066-2067; Kokoraleis, supra, at 697; Stewart, supra, at 135; LaRette v. Delo, 44 F.3d 681, 685 (8th Cir.1995). The conduct of a trial is a necessarily constrained operation and attorneys and defendants alike must make, and stand by, difficult decisions concerning the allocation of resources, trial tactics, and countless other issues. Effective assistance of counsel entails the reasonable anticipation and making of these decisions, not the elimination of them altogether.