Opinion ID: 1597347
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Failure to Investigate and Present Mental Health Issues

Text: Taylor claimed below that defense counsel failed to demand a hearing on Taylor's competency or present evidence of Taylor's mental health problems. However, Sinardi testified at the postconviction hearing that he did not feel there was any reason to question Taylor's competence. The trial court found that Taylor did receive a competent mental health evaluation at trial, and he did not prove that his counsel's investigation of this issue was deficient. Taylor cites Futch v. Dugger, 874 F.2d 1483 (11th Cir.1989), to support his claim. In Futch, the Eleventh Circuit considered a habeas petition brought by a defendant convicted of second-degree murder. Id. at 1484. The court stated, In order to demonstrate prejudice from counsel's failure to investigate his competency, petitioner has to show that there exists `at least a reasonable probability that a psychological evaluation would have revealed that he was incompetent to stand trial.' Id. at 1487 (quoting Alexander v. Dugger, 841 F.2d 371, 375 (11th Cir.1988)). The court stated that if Futch was correct in his allegation that a prison psychologist evaluated him and found him incompetent and that trial counsel was aware of this finding, Futch met this burden. Id. The Eleventh Circuit remanded for evidentiary hearing on this issue. Id. at 1488. Unlike the petitioner in Futch, however, Taylor has had an evidentiary hearing on this claim. And, unlike Futch, Taylor has never been declared incompetent by any of the psychologists and neuropsychologists who have examined him. Despite Taylor's reading of this case, the Eleventh Circuit did not mandate that trial counsel investigate a defendant's competency without some cause. Instead, in Futch, the petitioner specifically alleged that although counsel had substantial reason to suspect petitioner's competency, he still failed to investigate. Id. at 1487. We conclude that the trial court did not err in holding Taylor has not demonstrated deficiency of his trial counsel in regard to counsel's investigation of any mental health issues.