Opinion ID: 1562759
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Denial of Mental Health Evaluation

Text: Appellant next argues that he had a substantial history of mental impairment resulting from post-traumatic stress disorder, and therefore, mental health mitigation evidence could have and should have been developed and presented at sentencing. Appellant claims that his rights under the Eighth Amendment, as well as his right to due process and to present a defense, were violated because he was not afforded a mental health evaluation. Appellant asserts that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate his mental health and that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise this issue on direct appeal. Appellant also maintains that this Court's decision in Commonwealth v. Christy, 540 Pa. 192, 656 A.2d 877 (1995), which held that a defendant's right to mental health assistance under Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68, 105 S.Ct. 1087, 84 L.Ed.2d 53 (1985) is limited to cases where it is needed to rebut the prosecution's evidence of future dangerousness, is inconsistent with the later decision in Tuggle v. Netherland, 516 U.S. 10, 116 S.Ct. 283, 133 L.Ed.2d 251 (1995) ( per curiam ) and should be overruled. The Commonwealth counters that Ake is inapposite because, in Commonwealth v. Appel, 547 Pa. 171, 689 A.2d 891, 908 (1997), this Court held that Ake only applies when the defendant demonstrates that his sanity at the time of the offense is to be a significant factor at trial. In the present case, asserts the Commonwealth, there was no indication or demonstration that appellant was insane at the time of the offense, or that he was incompetent at trial. Therefore, concludes the Commonwealth, because appellant was not constitutionally entitled to a mental health evaluation, his counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to request such assistance. The Commonwealth further notes that this claim fails because appellant forbade trial counsel to present any mitigation evidence. The PCRA court dismissed this claim as failing to meet the applicable standards of an ineffectiveness claim.  Ake recognized two scenarios where state-paid psychiatric assistance for an indigent capital defendant could be required: (1) relating to the guilt phase`[w]hen the defendant is able to make an ex parte threshold showing to the trial court that his sanity is likely to be a significant factor in his defense'; and (2) relating to the penalty phase`when the State presents psychiatric evidence of the defendant's future dangerousness.' Commonwealth v. Blakeney, 596 Pa. 510, 946 A.2d 645, 659 (2008) (quoting Ake, 470 U.S. at 82-84, 105 S.Ct. 1087). Appellant did not argue at trial that his mental health was at issue and the Commonwealth did not argue future dangerousness at sentencing. Therefore, under the governing law then in existence, appellant was not entitled to demand a mental health evaluation at sentencing and trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to request such assistance. Moreover, appellant fails to demonstrate that trial counsel or appellate counsel knew, or should have known, of a reason to pursue a mental health evaluation. Furthermore, as discussed above, because appellant specifically directed trial counsel not to present mitigating evidence, trial counsel cannot be faulted for failing to engage in a fishing expedition searching for mental health issues. Nor can appellate counsel be faulted for failing to claim that trial counsel was ineffective. Appellant's claim that Tuggle requires that this Court overrule Christy is misplaced. Tuggle did not exist when counsel had to act, and so it does not further appellant's claim. And, in any event, Tuggle did not purport to broaden Ake's application. See Blakeney, 946 A.2d at 660. Moreover, Tuggle's holding was limited. There, the defendant was sentenced to death in Virginia after a jury found Virginia's future dangerousness and vileness aggravators. The Virginia Supreme Court affirmed. Finding an Ake error, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the sentence and remanded the matter. [34] On remand, the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated the future dangerousness aggravator, but reaffirmed the death sentence based on the other aggravator. Thereafter, the U.S. Supreme Court again invalidated the death sentence. Unlike Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. 862, 886-88, 103 S.Ct. 2733, 77 L.Ed.2d 235 (1983), which stated that a death sentence supported by multiple aggravating circumstances need not be set aside if one aggravator is found to be invalid, the High Court in Tuggle concluded that, following recognition of the Ake error, the death sentence did not rest on firm ground. Tuggle, 516 U.S. at 11-14, 116 S.Ct. 283. Thus, Tuggle does not implicate this Court's holding in Christy. Accordingly, appellant's claim addressing mental health assistance is without merit.