Opinion ID: 2997111
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Investigation into Conner’s mental health

Text: and family background With respect to assertions of inadequate investigation as the basis for an ineffectiveness claim, the principal inquiry as to Strickland’s deficiency requirement is whether the investigation, which justified or supported counsels’ subsequent strategic decisions, was in and of itself reasonable. See Wiggins, 539 U.S. at ___, 123 S. Ct. at 2536. In assessing counsels’ investigation, their performance must be reviewed objectively, measured against “ ‘reasonableness No. 03-1951 29 under prevailing professional norms.’ ” Id. (quoting Strickland, 466 U.S. at 688). Conner relies primarily upon the Supreme Court’s recent Wiggins decision to support his argument that counsels’ investigation was objectively unreasonable. In Wiggins, the Court held that investigation prior to the defendant’s sentencing, with respect to both its scope and depth (i.e., experts consulted, extent of research into known mitigating circumstances), fell below established professional standards of conduct, including the American Bar Association’s Guidelines for capital defense work. Id. at 2536-38. Defense counsel’s investigation in Wiggins relied upon three sources. First, a psychologist determined that the defendant had an IQ of 79, problems coping with difficult situations, and exhibited features of a personality disorder. Second, the presentence investigation report included a onepage account of the defendant’s personal history, noting his “misery as a youth,” quoting his description of his own background as “disgusting,” and observing that he spent most of his young life in foster care. Third, counsel obtained the Baltimore City Department of Social Services (“DSS”) records documenting the defendant’s various placements in the foster care system. Id. at 2536. Although funds were allocated by the state court to retain a forensic social worker, no further inquiries were made, and no social history was compiled by counsel. In response to the ineffectiveness claim, the state of Maryland asserted that counsel’s limited pursuit of mitigating evidence and counsel’s ipso facto decision not to present any mitigating evidence at sentencing (instead arguing that the defendant was not directly responsible for the murder) was a tactical decision. Id. at 2533-34. But the Supreme Court found that counsel deficiently abandoned their inquiry into the defendant’s background “after having acquired only rudimentary knowledge of his history from a narrow set of sources.” Id. at 2537. The Court reasoned that the DSS records alerted counsel to numerous 30 No. 03-1951 issues (like his mother’s alcoholism and his foster system record) in the defendant’s background which merited additional investigation because such was necessary “to mak[e] an informed choice among possible defenses.” Id. No evidence was uncovered, the Court emphasized, to suggest that a mitigation case would have been counterproductive. And counsel never abandoned the possibility of a mitigation defense, even entreating the jury at sentencing to consider “who [the defendant] is” and presenting evidence about the rehabilitation prospects of the defendant, thereby necessitating counsel to “develop the most powerful mitigation case possible.” Id. at 2530. Moreover, at the Wiggins PCR hearing, a licensed social worker certified as an expert by the court testified that the defendant had suffered severe sexual and physical abuse at the hands of his mother and while in the care of a series of foster parents—a fact the state reviewing court erroneously found to have been included in the DSS report. Id. at 2539. In addition, the expert testified about the extreme conditions the defendant endured first in his alcoholic mother’s home (including being abandoned for days and being forced to beg for food and eat paint chips and garbage, an incident where the defendant’s hand was held against a hot stove burner, and repeated instances where the mother had sex with men while the defendant slept in the same bed), then in the homes of various foster parents (repeated physical abuse, rapes, gang-rape, and molestation), and lastly as a runaway. Id. at 2532-33. The Court inferred that “[h]ad counsel investigated further, they may well have discovered the sexual abuse [and other extreme conditions] later revealed during state post[-]conviction proceedings.” Id.at 2537. Hence, the Court concluded that counsel’s failure to investigate thoroughly was the result of inattention, not reasoned strategic judgment, and held that the Maryland court’s determination that counsel’s performance had not been deficient under Strickland was unreasonable. Id. at 2537, 2539. No. 03-1951 31 Conner’s case is easily distinguishable. First, counsel did investigate both Conner’s mental history and family background. In addition to evaluations conducted by two court-appointed psychiatrists, which found Conner both competent and sane, counsel obtained funding for an examination by a psychiatrist of their own choosing, Dr. King. Dr. King subsequently did evaluate Conner. Counsel considered Dr. King’s findings and concluded that the report did not conclusively support a mental-health defense (the wisdom of which we discuss in more detail below). Second, unlike counsel in Wiggins, who focused upon challenging the defendant’s guilt during the penalty phase and failed to elicit more than a scintilla of mitigating evidence despite having promised the jury that evidence about the defendant’s difficult life would be presented, the focus of Conner’s counsel throughout the penalty phase was mitigation—including counsels’ opening statement, presentation of evidence, and closing statement. Third and relatedly, Conner’s counsel investigated and then presented extensive testimony during the penalty phase regarding Conner’s painful family history, alcohol abuse, adoption, and Conner’s positive qualities. And as we have previously held, trial counsel is not required to investigate the defendant’s past with the thoroughness of a biographer. Stewart v. Gramley, 74 F.3d 132, 135 (7th Cir. 1996). Fourth, unlike Wiggins, where the PCR hearing revealed extensive physical and sexual abuse which the court found was unknown to counsel at sentencing but which likely would have been discovered by counsel had they not shirked their investigatory responsibilities, Conner presented very little evidence at the PCR hearing which was materially unknown to counsel. With respect to the “new” evidence which Conner did introduce at the hearing— regarding the significant impact of Conner’s discovery of his adoptive 32 No. 03-1951 status, the extent of Conner’s step-father’s alcoholism, and his own use of alcohol—we cannot consider counsel’s failure to uncover it deficient performance since these facts were at least referenced and/or generally presented to the jury during the penalty phase by many of the same testifying witnesses.6 In summary, we cannot say that the post-conviction court unreasonably held that counsels’ investigation with respect to both the guilt and penalty phases of Conner’s trial did not fall below prevailing professional standards.