Opinion ID: 1439931
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: failure to present specific mitigating witnesses

Text: Clayton argues that his trial counsel should have called Carolyn Dorsey, Arnold Evans, Les Paul, Norma Mitchell, and Delores Williams to testify during the penalty phase of his trial. As has been noted before, the selection of particular witnesses in general is a matter of trial strategy and is virtually unchangeable on an ineffective assistance claim. Leisure, 828 S.W.2d at 875. In this case, none of the five witnesses Clayton mentions would have added anything significant to his case during penalty phase. Much of the testimony presented by these witnesses would have been needlessly cumulative. Under Missouri law, an attorney is not ineffective for failing to put on cumulative evidence. Skillicorn, 22 S.W.3d at 683. Clayton argues Evans, Dorsey, Paul, Williams, and Mitchell all should have been called to testify about his background, his religious faith, his religious ministry to others, or the change in his personality after the accident. During the original trial, Clayton's two brothers and the chaplain from the county jail gave similar testimony, although sometimes they relied on different incidents. Much of the information the witness would have provided was on Clayton's background. There is no requirement that an attorney present any background information on his client during a capital trial's penalty phase. Richardson, 923 S.W.2d at 329. Their testimony may well have undercut the defense's argument that Clayton's brain injury and ensuing mental incapacity were mitigating factors. For example, Dorsey would have testified about Clayton's violent temper as a young man and would have helped the prosecution argue that Clayton's brain injury was not the only reason behind his actions. Paul would have also testified about how Clayton was still able to do complex mental tasks after his injury, like preaching in revivals. Because the testimony of these five witnesses would have added little to Clayton's case and in some ways may have harmed it, his attorney was not ineffective for failing to call them.