Opinion ID: 1595336
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Investigate Potential Mitigating Evidence and Failure to Effectively Present Relevant Mitigating Evidence at the Penalty Phase.

Text: ¶ 83. During the sentencing phase of the trial, defense counsel offered as mitigating evidence the testimony of Ross' mother, grandmother, and daughter, a minister at the jail where Ross had been incarcerated since his arrest, and the sheriff who had arrested Ross in 1989 for armed bank robbery. Ross also testified in his own defense. Much of the testimony concerned the witnesses' opinions of Ross' character. A substantial portion of defense counsel's case for mitigation relied on their characterization that Ross was a good prisoner and functioned appropriately in the prison system. On cross-examination of Ross, the State challenged this characterization, noting that Ross had been moved from a county jail to a higher security facility for possession of a hacksaw and attempting to escape and that he had been punished in federal prison for making alcoholic beverages in his cell. During Ross' competency hearing pending appeal, defense counsel confessed that they were stunned when Ross admitted making alcoholic beverages in prison and about fell through [their] seats. Ross also argues his attorney was ineffective for failing to conduct an adequate investigation into potentially mitigating factors such as Ross' psychological problems and for failing to obtain an expert to testify to these factors. ¶ 84. While courts must defer to lawyers' judgments and strategies, at a minimum, counsel has a duty to interview potential witnesses and to make independent investigation of the facts and circumstances of the case. Ferguson v. State, 507 So.2d 94, 96 (Miss.1987). Under this standard, counsel may be deemed ineffective for relying almost exclusively on material furnished by the State during discovery and conducting no independent investigation. Id. While counsel is not required to exhaust every conceivable avenue of investigation, he or she must at least conduct sufficient investigation to make an informed evaluation about potential defenses. State v. Tokman, 564 So.2d at 1343. Under Strickland, counsel has a duty to make reasonable investigations or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052. ¶ 85. Our state case law has not extensively addressed what constitutes adequate investigation into mitigating circumstances. See, e.g., Brown v. State, 749 So.2d 82, 90-91 (Miss.1999) (defendant entitled to hearing on ineffective assistance where defense counsel had a psychological evaluation administered but failed to submit a mitigation report on the evaluation); Foster v. State, 687 So.2d 1124, 1131-32 (Miss.1996) (decision not to investigate potentially mitigating psychological factors was reasonable and strategic because a preliminary competency hearing found that defendant had no psychotic disorder or organic mental disorder); Ladner v. State, 584 So.2d 743, 757 (Miss.1991) (counsel not ineffective where court-appointed psychologist performed comprehensive evaluation and found no mitigators). ¶ 86. In such cases, the jurisprudence from other jurisdictions proves useful. For example, where defense counsel has sought and acquired a psychological evaluation of the defendant for mitigation purposes, counsel generally will not be held ineffective for failure to request additional testing. Moore v. Parker, 425 F.3d 250, 254 (6th Cir.2005); Hall v. United States, 2004 WL 1908242,  (D.Tex.2004). Similarly, defense counsel cannot be held ineffective for failing to discover a mitigating factor, such as organic brain damage, that the defendant cannot show exists in any post trial motion. Thompson v. Bell, 315 F.3d 566 (6th Cir.2003). ¶ 87. In each of these cases, counsel will not be deemed ineffective if there is proof of investigation or if there is no factual basis for the defendant's claim. However, each of these principles presuppose a certain level of investigation. By contrast, strategic choices made after less than complete investigation will not pass muster as an excuse when a full investigation would have revealed a large body of mitigating evidence. Dickerson v. Bagley, 453 F.3d 690, 696-697 (6th Cir.2006). It is not reasonable to refuse to investigate when the investigator does not know the relevant facts the investigation will uncover. Id. In the present case, Ross undoubtedly alleges facts which demonstrate a need to develop mitigating evidence based on potential psychological problems. The Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield conducted a psychological evaluation of Ross and discovered a number of potential mitigating factors, including accounts of physical and sexual abuse, possible alcoholism, accounts of visual and auditory hallucinations, and the deaths of his ex-wife and four young children in a car accident in 1985 and the brutal murder of his sister in 1982. The supplemental record also reveals that, at the time of his examination, Ross was taking anti-psychotic medication and medication for depression. While Ross testified to the death of his family, physical abuse as a child, and his drinking problems, and his mother testified to the murder of his sister, defense counsel provided no expert evidence about how these events had affected Ross psychologically. The record provides no evidence that defense counsel knew about Ross' hallucinations or the circumstances which would eventually lead to his taking medications for psychological disorders. When asked why he did not try to develop this line of mitigation evidence for his client, Ross' defense counsel stated that Ross maintained he wasn't crazy. Defense counsel's failure to investigate beyond this single declaration cannot be considered reasonable given the serious mitigating issues evident in the post-trial competency hearing. ¶ 88. Far more problematic was defense counsel's apparent failure to properly investigate Ross' record as an inmate. Defense counsel asserted in opening statements that Ross had been a good prisoner since his arrest, but put on only the most superficial evidence of this fact. In doing so, they opened the door for the State to introduce Ross' previous bad acts into evidence. This failure falls below an objective standard of reasonableness and was undoubtedly highly prejudicial, as it tended to cast Ross as unrepentant, a habitual criminal, and a danger to society. Given the severity of the charge against Ross, defense counsel's failure to investigate Ross psychological problems and his disciplinary record in prison substantially undermines our faith in Ross' sentence, and therefore constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel for the sentencing phase of the trial. Davis, 897 So.2d at 967; Tokman, 564 So.2d at 1343.