Opinion ID: 853369
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prejudice from Counsel's Shortcomings Affecting a Defense or Sentencing

Text: Segura and the Court of Appeals correctly noted that Van Cleave relied in part on Fretwell in elaborating the Strickland standard in the context of a guilty plea. However, Van Cleave relied not only on Fretwell, but also on Strickland and Hill. 674 N.E.2d at 1296-97. Although Fretwell bolstered our confidence in the conclusion reached in Van Cleave, we conclude that the Van Cleave interpretation of the prejudice prong remains valid under Strickland and Hill, and we reaffirm that holding as to claims of counsel's errors that, if corrected, would either raise a defense or affect the penalty. Strickland dealt with the results of a trial. One year later, in Hill, 474 U.S. at 57-60, 106 S.Ct. 366, the United States Supreme Court addressed the application of Strickland in a guilty plea setting. The petitioner's claim in Hill was that he had been incorrectly advised as to his eligibility for parole if he pleaded guilty. Id. at 60, 106 S.Ct. 366. In the frequently quoted passage on which Segura relies, Hill stated that, in order to satisfy the `prejudice' requirement, the defendant must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's errors, he would not have pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going to trial. Id. at 59, 106 S.Ct. 366. However, later in that same opinion, the United States Supreme Court observed that in the case of many commonly alleged errors of counsel, the resolution of the `prejudice' inquiry will depend largely on whether the affirmative defense likely would have succeeded at trial. Id. Hill further observed that predicting the outcome of a possible trial is to be done on objective evidence, without regard to the idiosyncrasies of the potential decisionmaker. Id. at 60, 106 S.Ct. 366 (quoting Strickland, 466 U.S. at 695, 104 S.Ct. 2052). The Court also quoted with approval a passage from Evans v. Meyer, 742 F.2d 371, 375 (7th Cir.1984), which rejected a claim because it was inconceivable that the petitioner would have gone to trial . . ., or that if he had done so he . . . would have been acquitted. [3] 474 U.S. at 59, 106 S.Ct. 366. These comments were in the context of a discussion of errors that affect a defense, i.e., those that overlook a defense, fail to develop available evidence for a defense, or impair a defense by inadequate legal analysis. Hill reasoned that prejudice from an error or omission of counsel that has the effect of overlooking or impairing a defense is to be evaluated by measuring the likelihood of success of that defense. In those cases, prejudice will closely resemble the prejudice inquiry for an error at trial. Id. This analysis assumes that the uninvestigated evidence or the overlooked legal point will be competently evaluated, and the decision to go to trial or plead guilty will turn on the likelihood of success. If so, the prejudice in the context of a guilty plea is equivalent to an evaluation of the merits of the defense. As we observed in Van Cleave, 674 N.E.2d at 1299, that is the path followed by the Seventh Circuit [4] and the Connecticut Supreme Court [5] in reaching results similar to Van Cleave based solely on Strickland and Hill. Similarly, the Tenth Circuit held it necessary to determine whether it is likely that a jury would have acquitted in evaluating prejudice from failure to advise that a depraved mind was required to be established to prove the crime. Miller v. Champion, 161 F.3d 1249, 1256-57 (10th Cir.1998). We also observe that many cases stating the general proposition that the test of prejudice is whether the petitioner would not have pleaded guilty and would have gone to trial, in fact addressed allegations that, if proved, would have altered the calculus of probability of conviction. [6] As such, they reach the same result as Van Cleave by proceeding to measure the effect on a decision to plead by evaluating the probability of success of the omitted defense or evidence. In Van Cleave, we were less certain that this reasoning applied to all claims of ineffective assistance. [I]n our view, Hill 's reference to the outcome of a possible trial was not put so strongly that we can confidently extract from that case the `reasonable probability' we hold is required under Fretwell. Van Cleave, 674 N.E.2d at 1299. Now that Williams has made clear that Fretwell did not alter Strickland, we must resolve the point we left open in Van Cleave, namely, whether Hill alone leads to the same result we reached in Van Cleave. In Van Cleave, the postconviction court granted relief and ordered a new trial. 674 N.E.2d at 1295. The State appealed the setting aside of the guilty plea, but not the ruling that there was ineffective assistance at the penalty phase. Id. at 1294. As a result, the only contested shortcomings of counselspecifically, the failure to raise an intoxication defensebore on the likelihood of conviction or acquittal. For the reasons given above, we conclude that Hill standing alone requires a showing of a reasonable probability of success at trial if the alleged error is one that would have affected a defense. This result seems preferable for several reasons. In Van Cleave, we identified sound reasons for requiring that a petitioner who pleads guilty show a reasonable probability of acquittal in order to prevail in a postconviction attack on the conviction based on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Id. at 1300-02. As Hill emphasized, the State has an interest in the finality of guilty pleas. 474 U.S. at 58, 106 S.Ct. 366. This is in part grounded in the cost of a new trial, and the demands on judicial resources that are imposed by revisiting the guilty plea, see United States v. Timmreck, 441 U.S. 780, 784-85, 99 S.Ct. 2085, 60 L.Ed.2d 634 (1979), but also in concerns about the toll a retrial exacts from victims and witnesses who are required to revisit the crime years later. A new trial is of course necessary if an unreliable plea has been accepted. But its costs should not be imposed needlessly, and that would be the result if the petitioner cannot show a reasonable probability that the ultimate resultconvictionwould not have occurred despite counsel's error as to a defense. A requirement of a showing of a reasonable probability of success on the merits is consistent with the literal language of Strickland. It is also not unfair. It permits raising any defense that has a reasonable probability of success, but prevents a petitioner who had no valid defense from causing and benefiting from the many difficulties of a retrial years after the events, including missing or deceased witnesses, stale evidence, and fading memories. To the extent that the decision to enter a guilty plea is largely a petitioner's decision, it is different from the tactical or investigatory steps that are the bases of most claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. As this Court observed in Van Cleave, 674 N.E.2d at 1301: Demonstrating prejudice seems particularly appropriate in the context of a claim of ineffective assistance by a defendant who has pleaded guilty. The guilty plea, virtually uniquely among all procedural steps, involves the judgment of the defendant as well as his attorney. . . . [T]he decision to plead is often strongly if not overwhelmingly influenced by the attorney's advice. But it is equally true that the defendant appreciates the significance of the plea and is uniquely able to evaluate its factual accuracy. The requirement that the court satisfy itself as to the factual basis for the plea is designed to ensure that only guilty defendants plead guilty, and also that the defendant's decision to waive a jury trial is an informed and reflective one. Many decisions at trialcalling a given witness, asserting a defense, or the extent of cross-examinationare difficult if not impossible for the defendant to make, and reliance on counsel is unavoidable. In contrast, the decision whether to plead guilty is ultimately the prerogative of the defendant, and the defendant alone. More than conjecture or hope for a lucky break at trial should be required to upset that action years later. The Supreme Court has often reminded us that in judging prejudice and the likelihood of a different outcome, [a] defendant has no entitlement to the luck of a lawless decisionmaker. Nix v. Whiteside, 475 U.S. 157, 175, 106 S.Ct. 988, 89 L.Ed.2d 123 (1986) (citing Strickland ) (internal quotations omitted). Similarly, if the error or omission has the result of overlooking evidence or circumstances that affect the sentence imposed, prejudice is evaluated by the reasonable probability that it had that effect.