Opinion ID: 1277356
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Present a Mental Health Defense

Text: As noted, defendant committed several sexual assaults against women prior to his arrest for the sexual assault and murder of Diane Harper. His involvement in these previous crimes led to his commitment as a mentally disordered sex offender at Patton State Hospital. At the penalty phase of defendant's trial, defense counsel did not present evidence regarding the basis for defendant's commitment to the state hospital, or otherwise attempt to offer evidence to explain why defendant behaved violently toward women. On appeal, defendant contends that counsel performed deficiently in failing to offer evidence that would explain the basis for defendant's violent conduct. According to defendant, counsel's failure to use qualified mental health experts to place in context defendant's childhood head injury and adult commitment to a state hospital led to the presentation of a constitutionally inadequate defense. We are unpersuaded by defendant's argument, because the record before us does not reveal that counsel lacked a tactical basis for refraining from presenting evidence that would seek to explain defendant's violence toward women, and counsel's decision was not one for which there could be no satisfactory explanation. (See People v. Mendoza Tello, supra, 15 Cal.4th 264, 266, 62 Cal. Rptr.2d 437, 933 P.2d 1134; People v. Wilson, supra, 3 Cal.4th 926, 936, 13 Cal.Rptr.2d 259, 838 P.2d 1212; People v. Fosselman, supra, 33 Cal.3d 572, 581, 189 Cal.Rptr. 855, 659 P.2d 1144.) Because the record on appeal contains no details of the mental health evidence that may have been available to trial counsel, and similarly contains no indication of the potentially damaging aspects of such evidence that might have been rendered admissible had defendant chosen to proffer his mental health background as a mitigating factor, we cannot conclude that there was no conceivable, reasonable tactical basis for trial counsel's actions. (See, e.g., People v. Mickle (1991) 54 Cal.3d 140, 189-190, 284 Cal. Rptr. 511, 814 P.2d 290.) Accordingly, defendant's claim that trial counsel was deficient in failing to present evidence of his mental health background cannot succeed on appeal. We further observe that, although trial counsel did not present the mental health defense that defendant now contends was necessary, counsel did present considerable evidence that sought to portray defendant as a victim of numerous unfortunate circumstances. For example, the defense presented evidence of defendant's childhood head injury, his father's alcoholism and detachment from the family, and defendant's first wife's extramarital affair and his ensuing use of drugs. Although such matters did not comprise a mental health defense based upon the testimony of various mental health experts, they did provide the jury with the opportunity to consider certain factors in mitigation  without exposing the jury to potentially damaging rebuttal evidence regarding defendant's mental health. In view of defendant's lengthy history of behaving violently toward women, and the interest of the defense in portraying defendant as favorably as possible, we cannot say on this record that there could not be a reasonable tactical basis for trial counsel's decision to rely solely upon mitigating evidence that showed defendant to be the victim of numerous unfortunate circumstances, in an effort to generate sympathy, and perhaps leniency, from the jury at the penalty phase. On the record before us, no constitutionally deficient representation appears.