Opinion ID: 1265027
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Developing Support for this Claim in an Evidentiary Hearing

Text: Notwithstanding our conclusions that Lewis has failed to demonstrate that he is entitled to sentencing relief on his ineffective assistance of counsel claim, we believe that Lewis should be granted an evidentiary hearing to try to develop the record in support of his claim. Section 2254(e)(2) provides that if an applicant has failed to develop the factual basis of a claim in State court proceedings, the court shall not hold an evidentiary hearing on the claim, unless one of the enumerated exceptions applies. The focus of this inquiry is on whether the defendant was diligent in his efforts to provide the factual bases for his claim during the state court proceedings. See Michael Williams, 529 U.S. at 435, 120 S.Ct. 1479 (Diligence for purposes of the opening clause [of § 2254(e)(2)] depends upon whether the prisoner made a reasonable attempt, in light of the information available at the time, to investigate and pursue claims in state court....). Through each stage of his PCRA proceedings, Lewis continued to supplement his claim with additional factual support. While this piecemeal development of the factual basis of a claim is not ideal, we conclude, on these facts, that it suffices to meet the standard set forth in § 2254(e)(2). Therefore, we will remand to the District Court to conduct an evidentiary hearing, which provides Lewis with the opportunity to rebut the presumption of correctness that applies to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's determination that Lewis did not demonstrate that he suffers from serious mental illness or brain damage and to rebut the presumption that his counsel's performance was professionally reasonable by showing that no sound strategy posited by the Commonwealth would support his counsel's decisions regarding the investigation and presentation of mitigating evidence and that the totality of the circumstances establish that his counsel's conduct was unreasonable. The burden is on Lewis to overcome these presumptions, which we expect will be difficult to do if Lewis continues to remain silent. Additionally, the District Court will need to determine the credibility of Lewis's witnesses, rather than simply relying on unsworn statements, and the Commonwealth will have the opportunity to present its own evidence as well. If necessary, after the record is more fully developed, the District Court will need to reweigh the mitigating and aggravating evidence in its entirety in the course of determining if Lewis was prejudiced by any deficiencies in his counsel's performance. Lastly, we note that both the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the District Court considered whether Lewis was able to establish his ineffective assistance claim based on his counsel's failure to present available evidence of his mental health issues. This is understandable in light of the way Lewis framed his claim and his evidence in support of the claim. Nonetheless, Lewis's claim could also be interpreted to encompass a challenge to his counsel's failure to present background information that may have been independently mitigating, even if it did not demonstrate that Lewis suffers from serious mental illness or brain damage. Under Pennsylvania's statute, in addition to several specifically enumerated mitigating circumstances, a defendant may present [a]ny other evidence of mitigation concerning the character and record of the defendant and the circumstances of his offense. 42 Pa. Cons.Stat. Ann. § 9711(e)(8); cf. Terry Williams, 529 U.S. at 395-96, 120 S.Ct. 1495 (concluding that trial counsel did not fulfill their obligation to conduct a thorough investigation of the defendant's background where they failed to uncover and present extensive records graphically describing [the defendant's] nightmarish childhood, including information that the defendant's parents had been imprisoned for the criminal neglect of [the defendant] and his siblings, and that [the defendant] had been severely and repeatedly beaten by his father); see also Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 319, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989) (explaining that evidence about the defendant's background and character is relevant because of the belief, long held by this society, that defendants who commit criminal acts that are attributable ... to emotional and mental problems, may be less culpable than defendants who have no such excuse (internal quotation marks omitted)). Because the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did not consider whether Lewis's counsel may have been ineffective for failing to investigate or present independently mitigating background evidence, on remand, the District Court can review this aspect of Lewis's claim under a de novo standard.