Opinion ID: 3046757
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ponticelli’s Background and Mental Health

Text: Ponticelli also presented the testimony of his trial counsel, numerous lay witnesses, and various mental health experts about his trial counsel’s investigation of Ponticelli’s competency and potential evidence in mitigation. He argued that his right to effective assistance of counsel, under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, had been violated, see Strickland, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S. Ct. 2052, because his trial counsel had failed to conduct an adequate investigation into his background and mental health, which Ponticelli argued prejudiced him. Defense counsel testified that Ponticelli’s trial was his first capital trial, that he did not know how to prepare for a penalty phase, that his only assistance came from a former deputy, and that the vast majority of his preparation was devoted to 28 Case: 11-11966 Date Filed: 08/16/2012 Page: 29 of 90 the guilt phase. To investigate evidence for mitigation, trial counsel talked with Ponticelli’s parents and asked them for names of persons who Ponticelli knew as a child. Although Ponticelli’s parents provided trial counsel with the names of some of Ponticelli’s former teachers, employers, and family members, counsel did not contact any of them. Trial counsel did not consider medical or school records and testified that he had only a partial view of Ponticelli’s drug use and background at the time of trial. Ponticelli III, 941 So. 2d at 1092. When asked about the lack of investigation into Ponticelli’s past, trial counsel agreed that there was mitigating evidence he could have discovered and would have used during the penalty phase. Trial counsel also testified that, had he known more, he would not have conceded in the penalty phase the aggravating circumstance that the killings were cold, calculated, and premeditated. At the first evidentiary hearing, several witnesses testified about Ponticelli’s childhood. Ponticelli’s sister testified that Ponticelli had been born a “blue baby,” which Dr. Conger explained “means there was insufficient oxygen during the birth process.” Ponticelli’s sister explained that Ponticelli was placed in foster-care months after his birth, and later adopted by the Ponticelli family. Many witnesses described Ponticelli as a typical, quiet child who grew up in New York. A few 29 Case: 11-11966 Date Filed: 08/16/2012 Page: 30 of 90 witnesses described Ponticelli as socially-awkward and acknowledged that Ponticelli had worn glasses and was overweight. Several witnesses described how Ponticelli started to abuse drugs as an adolescent. In junior high school, Ponticelli experimented with marijuana and beer. In high school, Ponticelli started to experiment with other drugs, including black beauties, mescaline, hash, Valium, and cocaine. The lay witnesses testified that, when Ponticelli was not using drugs, he was sweet and respectful. But when Ponticelli used drugs, he became paranoid and experienced mood swings. The evidence established that, soon after Ponticelli graduated high school, his family moved to Florida where he stopped using cocaine and held a job. Ponticelli returned to his former relaxed demeanor. But it did not last. When he returned to New York in 1987 to attend a cousin’s wedding, Ponticelli began using cocaine again. John Turner testified, as he did at trial, that he and Ponticelli started using cocaine nearly every day. And Turner was not the only witness to Ponticelli’s return to cocaine use. Ponticelli also presented the testimony of Frank Porcillo, who had not testified at the trial. After Porcillo befriended Ponticelli in Florida, they smoked marijuana and drank alcohol together. Porcillo did not know that Ponticelli used cocaine until after Ponticelli returned from a trip to New York several weeks before the murders. After the New York trip, Porcillo became 30 Case: 11-11966 Date Filed: 08/16/2012 Page: 31 of 90 aware that Ponticelli was smoking cocaine and noticed changes in his behavior. Porcillo witnessed Ponticelli use cocaine once after he returned from New York and observed that Ponticelli acted “paranoid, looking around all the time, just not easy to be around,” and “[h]iding in the corner.” Porcillo’s testimony suggested that Ponticelli used cocaine on the night of the murders. Porcillo testified that he encountered Ponticelli around 8:00 p.m. at a convenience store on the night of the murders. Ponticelli approached a car in which Porcillo was a passenger and spoke to him and other occupants of the car. Ponticelli kept his hands in his jacket and rubbed and scratched his stomach. Porcillo and his companions concluded that Ponticelli was “whacked out” based upon his behavior. Porcillo testified that, based on his familiarity with Ponticelli’s reaction to cocaine, he believed Ponticelli was under the influence of cocaine when he saw him at the convenience store. On cross-examination, Porcillo also recalled seeing a red car at the convenience store when he saw Ponticelli, which he later realized was the Grandinettis’s vehicle. Porcillo testified that he knew about how people could act under the influence of crack cocaine because he had a family member who was addicted to that drug. Ponticelli also presented witnesses to his behavior during his pretrial detention. Ponticelli’s former cellmates testified that “they often saw Ponticelli 31 Case: 11-11966 Date Filed: 08/16/2012 Page: 32 of 90 pacing in his cell, at times with a cloth over his head, and constantly reading his Bible and praying.” Ponticelli III, 941 So. 2d at 1101. Numerous friends and family members testified that “Ponticelli wrote them long letters from jail that were fragmented and uncharacteristically religious.” Id. Trial counsel testified that Ponticelli’s “bizarre behavior continued throughout the trial.” Id. Ponticelli’s sister testified that, although their father had been a religious fundamentalist, she had never known Ponticelli to be one too. Id. In addition to the lay witness testimony, four mental health experts, Dr. Harry Krop, Dr. Barry Crown, Dr. Michael Herkov, and Dr. Mark Branch, testified on behalf of Ponticelli at the evidentiary hearing. Krop, Herkov, and Branch testified that, in the light of Ponticelli’s reported cocaine abuse, both mental health statutory mitigators applied: that is, Ponticelli suffered from an extreme emotional or mental disturbance at time of the murders and Ponticelli’s ability to conform his behavior to the requirements of law had been substantially impaired. Krop and Herkov agreed that Ponticelli had not been competent to stand trial. Crown expressed no opinion about Ponticelli’s competency to stand trial nor about whether the statutory mental health mitigators applied. He concluded that Ponticelli’s brain functioning was impaired and that “his deficits were particularly related to executive functions.” 32 Case: 11-11966 Date Filed: 08/16/2012 Page: 33 of 90 Doctors Crown and Branch conducted only limited research. Crown admitted that he had evaluated Ponticelli seven years after the murders and that he had never been qualified as an expert in neurology in any court of law. He testified that his opinion was based entirely on neuropsychological tests that he had conducted on Ponticelli and that he had not considered other materials or testimony, including testimony about how Ponticelli appeared to exercise executive type reasoning on the night of the murders. Branch, an animal researcher, did not test Ponticelli at all and testified that he was not qualified to testify that Ponticelli suffered from cocaine psychosis. Crown, Herkov, and Krop made several important concessions about Ponticelli’s culpability. Herkov and Krop testified that they could not express an opinion about Ponticelli’s sanity at the time of the murders. Crown conceded that Ponticelli had normal intelligence. Herkov and Krop conceded that Ponticelli understood that his acts were wrong. Krop admitted that he believed that Ponticelli “was sufficiently coherent and relatively well organized and knew that what had happened was a crime and wrong.” All three experts acknowledged that Ponticelli’s behavior on the night of the murder suggested that he was “goal orientated.” Herkov admitted that, even if Ponticelli suffered from an extreme and emotional disturbance at the time of the murders, he could still have formed the 33 Case: 11-11966 Date Filed: 08/16/2012 Page: 34 of 90 heightened premeditation necessary for both the cold, calculated, and premeditated aggravator and the heinous, atrocious, and cruel aggravator to apply. Herkov conceded that Ponticelli’s behavior that night “sound[ed] like he . . . [was] very much trying to avoid the consequences of his actions.” Herkov later was recalled as a witness and conceded that there were facts, some of which were unknown to him when he performed his initial evaluation, that cast doubt on his original opinions. These facts included that Ponticelli had assisted his counsel during the trial and that Ponticelli had attempted to dispose of the evidence by drawing Freeman an accurate map. Herkov also admitted that Ponticelli could have been rationally motivated by pecuniary gain. Dr. Wayne Conger testified, on behalf of the state, that, in his opinion, neither statutory mental health mitigator applied and that Ponticelli had been competent to stand trial. Conger also denied that Ponticelli’s brain functions were significantly impaired. Conger testified that Ponticelli was a “normal functioning individual,” both intellectually and cognitively. He testified that Ponticelli’s actions before, during, and after he killed the brothers “demonstrated significant, goal-oriented behavior that was inconsistent with significant cognitive dysfunction and with the allegation that Ponticelli’s cocaine use prevented him from reasoning 34 Case: 11-11966 Date Filed: 08/16/2012 Page: 35 of 90 effectively.” Ponticelli III, 941 So. 2d at 1094. Conger also testified that Ponticelli’s strong grades in school “rule[d] out significant organic problems.” Conger conducted many of the same tests as Crown, but reached different conclusions. Conger testified that Crown’s results were not valid and that the differences between his results and Crown’s results suggested that Ponticelli had malingered when taking Crown’s tests. Conger testified that, “even if he were to assume that Crown’s tests were accurate, . . . he did not believe the results supported Crown’s hypothesis.” Ponticelli III, 941 So. 2d at 1094. Dr. Conger also testified about the results of a personality test, which showed that Ponticelli had “the typical profile of an antisocial personality disorder: an individual who does not necessarily comply with the requirements of the law and adventure seeking without any particular concern for rules and regulations.” The trial court rejected Ponticelli’s claim of ineffective assistance during the penalty phase of his trial. The trial court found that Ponticelli had failed to establish that he had been prejudiced by trial counsel’s failure to offer the lay witness testimony because that evidence was either cumulative of the evidence presented at trial or “would have had a negative effect on Ponticelli’s case” because “[i]nstead of being a young man who naively experimented with drugs for a short period of time, the lay witnesses . . . portray [Ponticelli] as a man who 35 Case: 11-11966 Date Filed: 08/16/2012 Page: 36 of 90 escaped the ill effects of drugs for a substantial period of time in Florida and then returned to a habit he knew was evil.” Id. at 1095. About the mental health evidence, the trial court found Dr. Conger’s testimony to be the most credible. Id. The Supreme Court of Florida affirmed. Although the court concluded that Ponticelli had established deficient performance, it ruled that Ponticelli was not prejudiced by his counsel’s deficiencies. Id. at 1095–99. The court based its decision on “the significant aggravators and the overwhelming amount of evidence convicting Ponticelli of these homicides”: A number of witnesses testified at trial that Ponticelli first announced his plan to kill the Grandinettis; then, after following through on this plan, confessed that he did it and asked for help in covering it up. Furthermore, two of the three aggravating factors found for Nick Grandinetti’s death, i.e., HAC and CCP, have been recognized as two of the most serious aggravators set out in the statutory sentencing scheme. Id. at 1097 (internal quotation marks omitted). The court determined that the lay witness testimony was weak and cumulative of the evidence presented at trial: The lay witness testimony presented at the evidentiary hearing is certainly not sufficient to establish mitigators that outweigh these aggravators. As the trial court recognized, the testimony presented at the evidentiary hearing was largely cumulative to that presented at trial and to which defense counsel referred in his closing statement during the penalty phase. During the guilt phase, the jury heard a number of witnesses testify to Ponticelli’s positive character and the effect of cocaine on his life. Ponticelli’s father testified that Ponticelli worked a part-time job during high school and was a “good kid.” John Turner, Ponticelli’s close friend, testified that he was with Ponticelli every day after Ponticelli returned from his visit to New York and that Ponticelli 36 Case: 11-11966 Date Filed: 08/16/2012 Page: 37 of 90 used cocaine almost constantly during this time. Turner and Ponticelli’s father also testified to Ponticelli’s paranoid behavior when he was under the effects of cocaine, and Brian Burgess testified at trial that Ponticelli was acting nervous on the night he appeared at Dotson’s. At the penalty phase, which occurred nine days after the guilt phase ended, defense counsel specifically connected the testimony regarding Ponticelli’s paranoid behavior to his cocaine use. Counsel led Dr. Mills to testify that this paranoia was indicative of the mental health mitigators. On numerous occasions, this Court has denied ineffectiveness claims when the evidence presented at the evidentiary hearing was merely cumulative to that presented at trial. . . . Id. The Supreme Court of Florida rejected, on three separate grounds, Ponticelli’s argument that his trial counsel’s failure to discover the mental health evidence had prejudiced him. First, the court reasoned that the mental health evidence was not sufficient to overcome the aggravators because no expert had testified that Ponticelli was retarded or suffered from a major mental illness. Id. at 1098. Second, because there was conflicting testimony about whether the mental health mitigators were established, the court deferred to the finding of the trial court that Dr. Conger was the most credible. Id. Third, the court concluded that the mental health testimony was cumulative of the testimony provided by Dr. Mills at the trial: Dr. Mills unequivocally testified at trial that both statutory mental health mitigators applied in Ponticelli’s case and that Ponticelli’s paranoid behavior was consistent with an extreme cocaine addiction. While Dr. Crown and Dr. Herkov may have presented more compelling testimony 37 Case: 11-11966 Date Filed: 08/16/2012 Page: 38 of 90 at the evidentiary hearing, this is not dispositive. There is no reasonable probability that these experts would have led the trial court to find the mitigating factors at the time of trial. The trial court did not find the mitigators from Dr. Mills’ testimony because there was no evidence Ponticelli had used cocaine on the day of the offenses, and none of the evidence presented at the evidentiary hearing to refute this finding was available to counsel at the time of trial, even after a reasonable investigation. Id. (internal citations omitted). The Supreme Court of Florida also rejected Ponticelli’s claim about his counsel’s performance during the pre-trial phase. The court concluded that Ponticelli’s argument that “counsel was ineffective for waiting until a month before trial to file his motion for psychiatric evaluation and for failing to obtain jail records and to interview cellmates who would have provided additional information regarding Ponticelli’s strange behavior” was “without merit.” Id. at 1102. The court reasoned that Ponticelli had failed to provide “evidence that it was unreasonable for defense counsel to file his motion for a psychiatric evaluation a month before trial; in fact, counsel testified that he filed this motion as soon as he noticed Ponticelli consistently refusing to speak with him about the case.” Id. The court determined that not one of the mental health experts who had testified at the evidentiary hearing had testified that they believed that the mental health evaluations during the competency hearing were inadequate. The court 38 Case: 11-11966 Date Filed: 08/16/2012 Page: 39 of 90 reasoned too that Ponticelli’s former cellmates did not reveal “anything significant that the experts did not know when they evaluated Ponticelli.” Id. F. Successive Postconviction Motion and Second Evidentiary Hearing At a second evidentiary hearing, Ponticelli presented more evidence of the alleged deal with Freeman and about the cocaine party. The evidence about the alleged deal included several letters that suggested Freeman sought gain time for his testimony in the Ponticelli trial and that Freeman’s wife “was told of promises made to Freeman by the [State Attorney’s Office] to reduce his sentence that had not been fulfilled.” Ponticelli also presented evidence that, on the day of Freeman’s deposition, Freeman received 33 days of meritorious gain time and that he was released from prison soon after he testified against Ponticelli. The evidence about the cocaine party included the testimony of Warren Brown, who confirmed that, contrary to his trial testimony, he had met Ponticelli on Thanksgiving night and had smoked cocaine with him that night. Again, the Supreme Court of Florida rejected Ponticelli’s Brady and Giglio claims. The court stated that, “for the same reasons explained in our previous opinion, Ponticelli has failed to meet the prejudice prong under Brady or the materiality prong under Giglio.” Ponticelli v. State, No. SC09–992, 49 So. 3d 39 Case: 11-11966 Date Filed: 08/16/2012 Page: 40 of 90 236,  (Fla. Nov. 10, 2010) (unpublished table opinion). That summary order concluded Ponticelli’s proceedings in the state courts. G. Federal Habeas Corpus Proceedings Ponticelli filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus while his successive postconviction motion was pending in the state trial court, and the district court later denied relief. The district court ruled that the Supreme of Court of Florida reasonably applied clearly established federal law when it rejected the claims presented in this appeal. With respect to the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, the court ruled that “Porter v. McCollum, ---U.S.---, 130 S. Ct. 447 (2009)[,] and Sears v. Upton,---U.S.---, 130 S. Ct. 3259 (2010), are distinguishable and do not announce any new rules of constitutional interpretation; they merely apply Strickland to different sets of facts.” The district court granted a certificate of appealability with respect to Ponticelli’s Brady and Giglio claims and his claim that counsel had rendered ineffective assistance during the penalty phase of his trial. A judge of this Court expanded the certificate to include Ponticelli’s claim that counsel had been ineffective in his preparation of evidence of Ponticelli’s competence to proceed to trial.