Opinion ID: 1377007
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Appellate Counsel's Failure to Raise the Issue of Skillicorn's Unadjudicated Bad Acts

Text: For his penultimate point, Skillicorn argues that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the issue of his unadjudicated bad acts on appeal while at the same time pursuing weaker claims consistently rejected by this Court even though the unadjudicated bad acts issue was preserved for appeal. Skillicorn asserts that this issue was perfected by counsel's objection and its inclusion in his motion for new trial. Appellate counsel, however, did not raise the claim on appeal, as she believed the evidence to be admissible. Skillicorn's claim relates to the evidence of the various crimes that he and Nicklasson committed as they fled Kansas City to the southwest. It included the murders of Joseph and Charlene Babcock in Arizona, an attempted purse snatching in California, and the murder of a woman in a diner in Mexico. The motion court determined that the evidence was properly admissible and that counsel was not ineffective for raising a meritless claim to this Court on direct appeal. We agree with the motion court. The decision to admit evidence of unadjudicated bad acts during the penalty phase rests within the sound discretion of the trial court. State v. Winfield, 5 S.W.3d 505, 515 (Mo. banc 1999). Such material is of assistance to the jury when the jury must assess the punishment of the defendant. Id. This discretion is not unfettered, as the state must reveal to the defendant the aggravating circumstances that it intends to submit to the jury for consideration. State v. Debler, 856 S.W.2d 641, 657 (Mo. banc 1993). In Debler , this Court found that the state had to give notice to the defendant by the instruction conference prior to the penalty phase as to which aggravating circumstances it intended to submit to the jury. Id. Here, Skillicorn had abundant notice of the aggravating factors. The evidence detailing Skillicorn's unadjudicated bad acts came from Skillicorn's own confession to Special Agent McOmber of the FBI. As to the statutory aggravating circumstances, they were first disclosed in November of 1994. The state, in response to discovery requests, indicated that it planned to call witnesses from both Arizona and California regarding these unadjudicated crimes as far back as July of 1995. Perhaps most tellingly, the defense filed a motion in limine to keep these unadjudicated bad acts out of the trial completely on January 18, 1996. In its response filed four days later, the state noted that this evidence, however, is clearly relevant in the penalty phase. After the jury returned its guilty verdict against Skillicorn, the trial court held a conference with all parties in chambers. At the conference, the state discussed all of the aggravating circumstances including the unadjudicated bad acts. Defendant objected to all aggravating evidence but the objection was overruled. After returning to open court, the trial court then read the first instructions to the jury in the penalty phase. Since this evidence was helpful to the jurors in making their determination, and the defendant had notice of it, the evidence was properly before the jury. Winfield, 5 S.W.3d at 515; Debler, 856 S.W.2d at 657. Appellate counsel acted properly and made a reasonable, strategic decision in not presenting this claim on appeal. Skillicorn cannot overcome this presumption. Hall, 982 S.W.2d at 680. The motion court's findings of fact and conclusions of law are not clearly erroneous. Id.