Opinion ID: 2790291
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mitigating Evidence at Trial

Text: J.B.’s penalty-phase evidentiary presentation was brief (the testimony of the five witnesses spanned only 35 pages of trial transcript), haphazard, and thoroughly underwhelming. Only two of the five witnesses had even known Doe since before he had moved to California, a few years prior, and the only one who testified about his life before that point was his mother. Doe’s mother testified that Doe’s uncle “did most of the discipline” and would “whip him and as he got older he’d use more physical violence with him,” but “not before [the age of] five” – “[at] about the age of maybe 11, 12.” She said that Doe’s uncle was “very stern,” and that as “[Doe] grew older he handled him more roughly than he did when he was younger.” She stated that she moved out of the house during Doe’s childhood, but moved back in with her mother a few years later. She said that while she was doing domestic work, her mother would care for Doe. She explained that when she married her husband, Doe, then a teenager, had “become 36 The facts of the offense are drawn from Hendricks v. Vasquez, 974 F.2d 1099, 1102 (9th Cir. 1992). 48 DOE V. AYERS withdrawn,” and “would stay in his room, you know, sit in the dark”; she reported that she had taken him to see a social worker or psychologist weekly for some months. She stated that a few days before Doe committed the armed robbery, when she was eight months pregnant, Doe and his uncle got into a fight; his uncle “tried to hit him with a car but [hit her] instead[,]” sending her to the hospital. She testified that Doe had never been in trouble before and behaved and performed well in school, that she visited him often in prison, and that her husband had also been incarcerated in the same prison. She said that after Doe’s release, “[h]e was very nervous.” She stated that for years, Doe had no contact with his father or paternal grandmother. She concluded her testimony by telling the jury that she loved Doe, and asking it to spare his life.37 The second witness, D.P., had been a live-in girlfriend of Doe’s in California. When they lived together in an apartment complex she owned, he helped out as a handyman, and was “very loving and very affectionate” in taking care of her young children. Although she broke up with Doe, they had remained in touch. She described him as “compassionate, warm and considerate of other people. Sometimes angry, sometimes just crushed.” She said that he “showed me nothing but love and affection” and that “he was the first and 37 Although there were glimmers of mitigation in Doe’s mother’s testimony at the penalty phase, J.B. introduced this evidence “in a cursory manner that was not particularly useful or compelling.” Stankewitz, 365 F.3d at 724 (quoting Douglas, 316 F.3d at 1090; citing Bean v. Calderon, 163 F.3d 1073, 1081 (9th Cir. 1998) (considering that “potentially mitigating factors . . . were reported to the jury only in the vaguest of terms” in concluding that confidence in the outcome was undermined as a result of counsel’s failure to present mitigating evidence)). DOE V. AYERS 49 only man that I have been involved with that I let my children have any direct immediate contact with,” and that “they love him and talk to him all the time.” She said that if he were released from prison (and even if not), she would marry him, and asked the jury to “[l]et him live.” The third witness, E.B., met Doe while he was in jail in California, awaiting trial for murder. She studied the Bible with him regularly and spoke with him on a daily basis. She testified that Doe had participated in religious classes, taken tests, and obtained certificates, and that he had begun to organize Bible study classes. The fourth witness, Doe’s father, J.A., had only met Doe a few years earlier. He testified that he had reconnected with his son because when his mother fell ill, she asked to see Doe before she died. Doe lived with him briefly, but then went to live with J.A.’s niece. J.A. also explained that his new wife had expressed concern that Doe’s presence in their home might lead him to get in contact with Doe’s mother. Doe’s father did not know that Doe had been in prison in his home state. The fifth witness, Doe’s aunt, had known him for decades, but was asked – and testified – only about events that occurred after his arrival in California. She stated that he had lived with her, and that she had helped him find temporary work. She testified further that her husband “blew up” at him over a disagreement and kicked him out of the house, but that Doe had remained calm while her husband threatened violence. She acknowledged that she had “pretty strong feelings, love towards [Doe],” and said that she would “stand behind him” if he was allowed to live. 50 DOE V. AYERS The mitigating evidence that was introduced at Doe’s trial was quite bland, and apparently proved insufficient to overcome even the relatively minimal presentation of aggravating evidence offered by the state. It is not altogether surprising that not a single member of the jury voted for life without parole instead of death on the basis of J.B.’s inept penalty-phase presentation. Because the aggravating evidence presented in the penalty phase was, for a capital case, relatively minimal, and any meaningful mitigating evidence virtually nonexistent, Doe will have successfully shown prejudice if he has adduced strong mitigating evidence in his habeas proceedings.