Opinion ID: 1464908
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mitigating Evidence Testimony of Employer and Family.

Text: Mr. Middleton claims that counsel was ineffective for not contacting and presenting the testimony of four former employers and two family members, an aunt and an uncle. Counsel are not ineffective so long as their investigation is reasonable. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Here, counsel conducted a reasonable investigation that culminated in a reasonable penalty phase defense. Not only did counsel speak with Mr. Middleton on several occasions prior to trial, they contacted his mother, contacted several of Mr. Middleton's recent friends and acquaintances, engaged the aid of two mental health experts, and contacted the sheriff of Adair County, where Mr. Middleton was held during the course of the trial. Based upon this investigation, counsel determined that their best strategy in the penalty phase was to elicit testimony that would establish Mr. Middleton was under a methamphetamine-induced psychosis at the time of the killing. To this end, counsel presented the testimony of two mental health experts, Mr. Middleton's mother, his brother-in-law, and a friend, all providing testimony to support Mr. Middleton's drug-induced psychosis defense. In an attempt to show that Mr. Middleton was amenable to incarceration, counsel elicited testimony from the sheriff of Adair County, who, having supervised Mr. Middleton during the course of his trial, testified to his ability to adjust to incarceration. The additional witnesses that Mr. Middleton says should have been contacted and called to testify would have stated that Mr. Middleton always had limited cognitive abilities, even before his heavy drug use. In addition, the former employers would have testified that he was a good worker. Mr. Middleton's aunt and uncle would have added that his mother had a habit of inhaling gas fumes when she was a child and that his mother and her boyfriend took him to bars as a child. Defense counsels' decision not to present this additional evidence did not require a finding by the motion court that counsel were ineffective. Counsel testified that because their strategy was to present evidence supporting a defense of methamphetamine-induced psychosis, they were not interested in good employee evidence. Counsel cannot be said to have been ineffective in making reasonable strategic choices and decisions as to what evidence to present. See Lyons, 39 S.W.3d at 39. The testimony that Mr. Middleton's aunt and uncle would have provided largely would have duplicated much of Mr. Middleton's mother's and Dr. Lipman's testimony regarding Mr. Middleton's childhood and mental slowness. For this reason, the cases cited by appellant in which counsel did little or no investigation and presented little or no mitigating evidence are not on point. Counsel in Mr. Middleton's case cannot be said to be ineffective for not presenting cumulative evidence about Mr. Middleton's childhood and mental condition. Skillicorn v. State, 22 S.W.3d 678, 683 (Mo. banc 2000), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1039, 121 S.Ct. 630, 148 L.Ed.2d 538 (2000). [5]