Opinion ID: 1139954
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel at Guilt Phase

Text: As previously noted, Occhicone's main defense at trial was that he was voluntarily intoxicated. Occhicone does not question the strategy to present this defense; rather, he disagrees with the particulars regarding how the defense was presented to the jury. At trial, counsel attempted to establish the defense through the cross-examination of State witnesses rather than by separately presenting independent evidence or witnesses on the issue. Trial counsel testified extensively as to this strategy at the hearing below. In order to prove ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to adequately assert a defense, Occhicone must establish two elements: First, the defendant must show that counsel's performance was deficient. This requires showing that counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the counsel guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment. Second, the defendant must show that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. This requires showing that counsel's errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); see also Rutherford v. State, 727 So.2d 216, 219 (Fla.1998); Rose v. State, 675 So.2d 567 (Fla.1996). In Maxwell v. Wainwright, 490 So.2d 927 (Fla.1986), this Court further explained the application of the Strickland standard: A claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, to be considered meritorious, must include two general components. First, the claimant must identify particular acts or omissions of the lawyer that are shown to be outside the broad range of reasonably competent performance under prevailing professional standards. Second, the clear, substantial deficiency shown must further be demonstrated to have so affected the fairness and reliability of the proceeding that confidence in the outcome is undermined. Id. at 932 (citing Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), and Downs v. State, 453 So.2d 1102 (Fla.1984)). [6] Ineffective assistance of counsel claims present a mixed question of law and fact subject to plenary review based on the Strickland test. See Stephens v. State, 748 So.2d 1028, 1032 (Fla.1999) (citing Rose v. State, 675 So.2d 567, 571 (Fla.1996)). This requires an independent review of the trial court's legal conclusions, while giving deference to the trial court's factual findings. See id. In support of his claim, Occhicone alleges that counsel rendered ineffective assistance at the guilt phase by failing to effectively cross-examine State witnesses Lily Lawson and Cheryl Hoffman; for failing to present the testimony of Patricia Goddard, Kimberly Connel, Michael Stillwagon and Audrey Hall; and for failing to present experts during the guilt phase. Occhicone claims that this evidence would have painted a different picture of Occhicone's intoxicated state on the night of the murders. As we have noted in the past, voluntary intoxication is a recognized defense to premeditated first-degree murder. See Gardner v. State, 480 So.2d 91, 92-93 (Fla.1985). Moreover, evidence elicited during cross-examination of prosecution witnesses may provide sufficient evidence for a jury instruction on voluntary intoxication. See id. At trial, both Lilly Lawson and Cheryl Hoffman, barmaids at Shooter's Bar, testified as State witnesses to help establish premeditation. [7] Specifically, Ms. Lawson testified that two weeks before the murders, Occhicone had told her that he wanted to shoot Gerrety's parents. Ms. Hoffman also testified that on at least two occasions, Occhicone had told her that he wanted to kill Gerrety's parents. On cross-examination, they admitted that Occhicone was a heavy drinker, but they were not asked about their contact with Occhicone on the day and night of the murders. [8] However, at the postconviction evidentiary hearing, they both testified that Occhicone had been drinking for prolonged periods on the day and night of the murders. Specifically, Ms. Lawson testified that during her morning shift, she saw Occhicone consume approximately ten shots of schnapps and also drink a vodka and cranberry. She also testified that she saw Occhicone at the bar again at 7:30 p.m. that evening and that Occhicone was again drinking. Finally, at some time prior to 11 p.m. on the night of the murders, she saw Occhicone leaving the bar with a bottle of vodka. Ms. Hoffman, who had the afternoon shift, testified at the evidentiary hearing that she had served Occhicone alcohol the day of the murder and that she could tell he had been drinking prior to the beginning of her shift. Occhicone also claims that counsel were ineffective in failing to call Kimberly Connell and Patricia Goddard. At the evidentiary hearing they testified that they had met Occhicone on June 8, two days before the murders, when Occhicone crashed his car into a tree outside of Goddard's house. Although they were contacted by the State, they were never contacted by Occhicone's attorneys or investigators prior to trial. Ms. Connell testified that at the time of the crash, Occhicone smelled of alcohol and that he appeared drunk. She further testified that from the day of the crash until the night of the murders, she had drunk with Occhicone and had smoked marijuana with him. Ms. Connell also maintained that she saw Occhicone at approximately 2:30 a.m. on the morning of June 10, just a short time before the murders, and that Occhicone was intoxicated and was very upset and emotional over his ex-girlfriend, Gerrety. Ms. Goddard testified at the evidentiary hearing that when she first came in contact with Occhicone after the accident, he smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech and had trouble standing. She also testified that she saw Occhicone briefly the day after the accident, that he was very distraught over Gerrety, and that he had a gun. Occhicone alleges that counsel also erred in failing to present Michael Stillwagon and Audrey Hall as witnesses. At the evidentiary hearing, Stillwagon testified that he saw Occhicone at Shooter's Bar at approximately 6:30 p.m. on June 9 and left with Occhicone that evening in Occhicone's car at approximately 8:30. According to Stillwagon, Occhicone appeared to be intoxicated. As to Hall, Occhicone alleges that she could have testified that Occhicone routinely parked his car at the Artzers' house where it was found on the night of the murders when he would go to visit Gerrety. He claims that this testimony should have been presented to rebut the State's argument that parking his car away from the victim's house on the night of the murder demonstrated his premeditation rather than his routine practice. As the final category of evidence supporting his ineffective assistance of counsel claim on this issue, Occhicone claims that counsel was ineffective for failing to present experts at trial who had evaluated Occhicone and could have testified that Occhicone did not have the mental state to premeditate the murders. In support of this claim, Occhicone presented Dr. Fireman and Dr. Mussenden at the postconviction evidentiary hearing, both of whom had testified previously during the penalty phase of the trial. Dr. Fireman testified on behalf of the defendant while Dr. Mussenden testified on behalf of the State. At the evidentiary hearing, Dr. Fireman testified that he was requested by the defense team to provide a mental status examination on Occhicone. He was asked to concentrate on the following areas: (1) competency to stand trial; (2) competency at the time of the offense; and (3) sentencing issues. He testified that Occhicone's trial attorneys never consulted with him about assisting them in preparing the guilt phase of Occhicone's trial, even though they could have utilized his expert testimony in the area of diminished capacity by reason of voluntary intoxication. He also testified that counsel never communicated to him that they were attempting to put on a voluntary intoxication defense during the guilt phase. As to the possible harmful rebuttal testimony of Dr. Mussenden concerning Occhicone's detailed description of the events of the murder, Dr. Fireman testified that he could have aided in impeaching the State's expert since, in his opinion, Dr. Mussenden was inadequately informed about the complexity of the case, the data base he used was unreliable for the conclusions he had, and the presence of other people during Occhicone's evaluation placed a constraint on the reliability of the information provided by Occhicone. Notwithstanding this testimony, during cross-examination at the evidentiary hearing, Dr. Fireman concluded that although Occhicone had a diminished capacity to premeditate, he did not have an inability to do so. Moreover, during Dr. Fireman's direct examination, he stated that Occhicone had no equivocation under the diminished responsibility by voluntary intoxication. Dr. Mussenden also testified at the evidentiary hearing. He had testified for the State at the penalty phase of the trial and had opined that Occhicone had the cognitive ability to premeditate. At the evidentiary hearing, he testified that his opinion had now changed in part because of his review of Lawson's and Ann Montana's recent affidavits. He also stated that if he had been aware of these affidavits at the time of trial, he would have testified consistently with the testimony that he was providing at the evidentiary hearing. Moreover, he also conceded that he was not comfortable with the results of his evaluation performed on Occhicone because he had evaluated him in the presence of counsel for the State and the defendant; therefore, Occhicone may not have been completely open with his responses. At the evidentiary hearing, all three defense attorneys testified extensively concerning their reasons for failing to present the evidence and witnesses now claimed by Occhicone to have been critical. They testified that although they intended to present witnesses at the guilt phase of the trial, they changed their minds after the State had rested because they felt that sufficient evidence of Occhicone's intoxication had been presented during their cross-examination of the State's witnesses to permit them to advance the intoxication defense. Moreover, they all testified that it was important for them to be able to have the first and last word with the jury before deliberations, a right they would lose if they presented evidence independent of the State's case. Attorney LaPorte also testified that, to the best of his knowledge, he was not aware of Patricia Goddard or Kimberly Connell and that he only learned of Stillwagon after the guilt phase and prior to the penalty phase. As to Hall, defense counsel testified they did not present her as a witness because they had tried to elicit this same testimony in Gerrety's cross-examination. In addition, attorney Young recalled that the State had a witness available to rebut Hall's testimony that Occhicone routinely parked his car at the Artzers' house, which neighbored Gerrety's house. Moreover, attorney Boyer also noted that presenting Hall would have led to testimony concerning Occhicone's pattern of routinely annoying the neighbors when he would drive away loud and fast at about 3 or 4 a.m. Finally, all three of the defense attorneys testified concerning the reasons for not presenting the additional experts. Boyer testified that his intent and strategy was simply to present sufficient evidence at the guilt phase as to Occhicone's intoxication, without presenting the doctors, and to then use the doctors during the penalty phase only in order to secure more information from their testimony. Young and LaPorte testified that they refrained from presenting any experts during the guilt phase because of the potential harmful rebuttal that could have been presented by Dr. Mussenden concerning Occhicone's vivid recall to him of the details surrounding the murders, a recall inconsistent with heavy intoxication. Moreover, immediately after the State rested its case, the trial court denied Occhicone's motion to exclude and prevent the State from using the taped statements made by Occhicone to Dr. Mussenden during his evaluation. Hence, there was no doubt that the experts could have been cross-examined on these statements. Finally, the attorneys had concluded that there was very little chance of obtaining a verdict of less than first-degree murder, and they consciously decided that they could not credibly and effectively utilize the doctors at both phases of the trial without diminishing their effectiveness. Counsel cannot be deemed ineffective merely because current counsel disagrees with trial counsel's strategic decisions. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689, 104 S.Ct. 2052 (A fair assessment of attorney performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight....); Cherry v. State, 659 So.2d 1069, 1073 (Fla.1995) (The standard is not how present counsel would have proceeded, in hindsight....). Moreover, strategic decisions do not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel if alternative courses have been considered and rejected and counsel's decision was reasonable under the norms of professional conduct. See Rutherford, 727 So.2d at 223; State v. Bolender, 503 So.2d 1247, 1250 (Fla.1987). In the instant case, all three attorneys testified at the evidentiary hearing that they consciously chose not to present evidence during their case because they believed they had presented enough evidence to the jury through cross-examination, and they felt it was more important to have the first and last word with the jury during closing argument. Moreover, they testified they had intended to present several witnesses, including mental health experts, but finally decided against it when the court denied their motion to prevent the State from introducing the taped statements made to Dr. Mussenden, which in part showed that Occhicone had a good recall of what transpired the night of the murders and therefore was not intoxicated to the level of not being able to premeditate the murders. Further, they believed they could not credibly offer these witnesses at both phases of the trial. Finally, as to witness Audrey Hill, counsel testified that they strategically chose not to present her because the State had a witness available to rebut her testimony, and her testimony would have opened the door for negative evidence of Occhicone's behavior when he would regularly visit Gerrety. Clearly, this testimony suggests a carefully considered and planned defense and provides a proper evidentiary basis for the trial court's ruling denying relief. For these reasons, we affirm the trial court's ruling. As to the prejudice prong of this claim, the trial court also concluded that presentation of the independent evidence now advanced would not have materially affected the outcome of the trial because it was cumulative to the other substantial evidence of intoxication that was already before the jury: namely that Occhicone was a heavy drinker, that Newell had served him two drinks the night of the murders and that Gerrety had smelled alcohol on him and had stated that he could not stand up straight and staggered when he came to her house the night of the murders. A review of the record supports the trial court's findings, and we find that the trial court's legal conclusions are also supported by our prior decisions. [9] After a review of the record and the trial court's findings, we find no proper basis for overturning the trial court's conclusion that defense counsel were not deficient nor was Occhicone sufficiently prejudiced by the alleged deficiency to mandate a new trial. We find no error in the trial court's conclusion that counsel's conduct and decision not to present any independent evidence of Occhicone's intoxication constituted a strategic decision of counsel. If we were to accept Occhicone's challenge to this conduct, we would find ourselves engaging in the hindsight analysis so many courts have warned should not occur when evaluating ineffective assistance of counsel claims. The issue is not what present counsel or this Court might now view as the best strategy, but rather whether the strategy was within the broad range of discretion afforded to counsel actually responsible for the defense. See, e.g., Atkins v. Dugger, 541 So.2d 1165, 1166 (Fla.1989) (finding counsel was not deficient for failing to present expert testimony where the record showed that counsel presented substantial evidence of defendant's intoxication).