Opinion ID: 2546714
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Failing to Call Dr. Fisher and Dr. Perkowski at Competency Hearing

Text: Baumruk claims that the motion court clearly erred in overruling his claim that his counsel was ineffective for failing to call Dr. Linda Fisher and Dr. Les Perkowski as witnesses during his third competency hearing. Dr. Fisher was the chief physician for the St. Louis police department, who specialized in internal medicine. After examining Baumruk in 1993, she believed that Baumruk's memory deficits were permanent and that he had no real memories of the shooting. Dr. Perkowski was the staff psychiatrist at Fulton State Hospital in 1994; he diagnosed Baumruk with dementia caused by head trauma. Baumruk claims that his counsel's choice not to call these witnesses was not a reasonable trial strategy because, as disinterested witnesses, [5] their testimony would have been more credible than the expert witnesses that his counsel chose to have testify. The motion court found that the testimony of Dr. Fisher and Dr. Perkowski would not have provided Baumruk with a viable defense. It also found that their testimony would have been cumulative, not probative of Baumruk's incompetence, and would have impeached the testimony of Baumruk's other experts regarding his condition. The motion court also recognized that Baumruk's condition had changes since 1994, which made both doctors' testimony less probative. The choice of witnesses is ordinarily a matter of trial strategy and will not support an ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Strong v. State, 263 S.W.3d 636, 652 (Mo. banc 2008) ( Strong II ). During the evidentiary hearing on Baumruk's motion, his counsel testified that they chose not to call Dr. Fisher because her specialty was in internal medicine, not psychiatry, psychology, or neurology like the other experts they chose to call. As for Dr. Perkowski, Baumruk's counsel chose not to call him because his testimony was contrary to the other experts whom they intended to call in that Dr. Perkowski had diagnosed Baumruk with dementia in 1994 while more recent examinations of Baumruk by other experts had determined that he did not have dementia but, instead, had a delusion disorder. Strategic decisions, such as the ones made by Baumruk's counsel here, made after thorough investigation are virtually unchallengeable. Id. The motion court did not clearly err in determining that Baumruk's counsel's strategic decisions not to call Dr. Fisher and Dr. Perkowski were reasonable.