Opinion ID: 147525
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Undisclosed mitigating evidence

Text: The following evidence was not presented to the jury during the mitigation phase and Phillips alleges its omission was due to ineffective assistance of counsel.
The nature of Phillips's home life is described in the course of nearly two decades worth of CSB records that his counsel apparently never saw. Phillips's mother had three children in a prior relationship: Tracy (born in 1965), Mary (born in 1966), and Edward, or Eddie (born in 1968). She then married Phillips's father, William, Sr., with whom she had four children: William, Jr. (born in 1972), Petitioner (born in 1973), Eric (born in 1975), and Tanya (born in 1976). The family moved from Pennsylvania to Akron, Ohio, when Phillips was two years old. CSB records state that the CSB's counterpart in Pittsburgh contacted CSB to warn that [w]hile living in Pittsburgh, the three older children were frequently physically abused, and, on the seldom occasions when they came to school, were marked and bruised. The Pittsburgh caseworker described the family's situation as deplorable. CSB visited the Phillips home in Akron and described Donna Phillips as an inadequate mother and the family as functioning marginally with multiple problems. In 1977, when Phillips was three years old, CSB received a complaint that Phillips's father was beating his step-children, grabbing them by the throat, and threatening them with additional physical abuse if they revealed to anyone that they were being beaten. However, the complainant noted that William, Sr. did not abuse his own children in the same manner. The complainant also stated that there were dog feces all over the place at the Phillips home and that the children were always dirty and unkempt. Following a visit to the Phillips home that year, a CSB caseworker stated that [t]he house smelled terrible, was filthy dirty, was messy, and cluttered. The odor was overwhelming; it was a combination of their dog . . . old food and dirt. The children looked hungry and not very well nourished. ( Id. ) During this time, Donna Phillips informed CSB that Phillips's father comes and goes, and she falsely told CSB that they were divorced. The next year, in 1978, CSB received another complaint that the three step-children were being beaten by both parents and that the family had threatened their neighbors with injury if they reported the abuse to CSB. The complainant told CSB that the children are grabbed by the back of the neck, slapped across the face, beaten on [the] back and legs. The caller also believed that there were knives and guns in the house. When a CSB caseworker made a visit to investigate, she could not verify any abuse, but she described Phillips's father as screaming and swearing at the top of his lungs when confronted with the allegations, and she described the children as dirty and of marginal appearance. Two years later, in 1980, when Phillips was six years old, CSB received a call reporting that the three step-children were always being beaten and that the previous day they had been beaten badly. However, the caller stated that the children were afraid to tell anyone. The following year, in 1981, the principal of Eddie's school contacted CSB to report a bruise on his arm allegedly caused by his mother. Donna Phillips admitted that she had hit both Eddie and William, Jr. with a belt in a fit of rage. In 1983, when Phillips was nine years old, Eddie reported to CSB that Phillips's father had grabbed him by the shoulder and thrown him onto a bench, causing a red mark and difficulty moving the arm. At that time, Phillips's father was living at the home sporadically, and a total of fifteen people were living in the home. Later that same year, one of the adults living in the home contacted CSB to report that Phillips's father punches his three step-children and had recently punched Tracy in the face. Also in 1983, Eddie reported to CSB that his stepfather had twice pushed him, had pulled his hair, and had beaten him. On a visit to the Phillips home in 1983, a CSB caseworker described cockroaches crawling on the table and walls while she was interviewing Donna Phillips. In 1984, a caller reported to CSB that in addition to physically abusing the older step-children, William, Sr. was molesting Mary. When interviewed by a social worker, the step-daughter admitted that William, Sr. had physically abused her in the past, but she denied any sexual abuse. Following additional complaints in 1985, all three of the older stepchildren confirmed that they had been physically abused by both parents. Tracy, who is mentally retarded, arrived at work with a bruised arm and a cut lip, stating that her mother had struck her in the face. In 1988, a caller informed the CSB that a drug raid was occurring at the Phillips house, and children were involved. It turned out that Donna Phillips had been illegally selling the prescription drug Ritalin. Both parents and Mary were arrested on drug-related charges, and various drugs and weapons were seized from the house. CSB reported that, at this time, the Phillips home was in an extremely filthy condition with a rancid odor and dog feces throughout the living area of the house. Phillips, who was in seventh grade at the time, was temporarily sent to live with his grandmother. Later in 1988, an anonymous caller informed CSB that the Phillips children were running wild, that Donna Phillips was in jail, and that the children were living with Phillips's father. In 1992, CSB received a report that the house was disgusting [and] uninhabitable for human beings.
In addition to the CSB reports, Phillips's three half-siblings submitted affidavits attesting to the violence and sexual abuse committed against them. Mary Phillips stated that Phillips's father physically disciplined Phillips, along with the three stepchildren. She also stated that Phillips's father would break dishes over my head when I did not do them to his satisfaction. According to Mary, Phillips's father used to beat my sister, Tracy, and me buck naked even when we were of high school age, that he left black and blue marks on my butt for a month, and used to beat us kids with a belt and smack our faces. She stated that her step-father used to sexually fondle Tracy and me. Once, he took Tracy with him while looking for a business associate of his. After getting in the truck, [he] pulled off on a side street and started feeling her breast. She recounted an incident when she was eight years old and her step-father exposed his erect penis to her. She stated that he used to grab my breast and feel on my butt. Mary also stated that William, Sr. would engage in fist fights with Phillips and was emotionally abusive toward him. Mary stated that she was never contacted by Phillips's trial counsel. Tracy confirmed in her affidavit that Phillips's father had frequently beaten her. Edward stated in an affidavit that [t]he home that Ron and I grew up in was screwed up. Ron saw things he should never have seen. He stated that Phillips's father would grab the penises of the male children in the home while wrestling with them. He stated his belief that Phillips's father was having sexual relations with his youngest daughter, Tanya. Edward confirmed the regular beatings that William, Sr. inflicted on his children, stating that he used to throw Tracy, Mary, and me up against the wall. He recounted an incident when he was twelve years old in which his father beat him on the back with a two-by-four. He also stated that William, Sr. had regularly beaten his wife and had thrown knives and dishes at her. Finally, he confirmed that Phillips's father used to molest my sisters, Mary and Tracy, in that he would grab them by the butt or the breast and fondle them.
In the habeas proceeding, Phillips submitted an evaluation from clinical psychologist Dr. Robert Smith. Smith was provided with the CSB records and wrote an initial opinion following two interviews of Phillips in 1995 and 1996. He also wrote a supplemental report based on a follow-up interview in 2004 and testified before the district court. Smith diagnosed Phillips as suffering from a mixed personality disorder with borderline and paranoid traits, and opined that Phillips might also suffer from bipolar or post-traumatic-stress disorder, although Phillips's refusal or inability to discuss certain subjects made him difficult to assess. In his initial written report, Smith noted that Phillips displayed a level of defensiveness [that] is indicative of severe family dysfunction and an abusive background. Smith's administration of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 test resulted in his conclusion that [i]t is likely that [Phillips] suffers from either a severe personality disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. He reiterated in the conclusion of the report: It is believed that Mr. Phillips suffers from a severe psychological disorder beyond his personality disorder, such as bipolar disorder or post traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Smith testified that Dr. Brown's prior determination that Phillips did not suffer from a mental illness or disorder was due to Brown's lack of awareness of the true history of Phillips's life. Phillips admitted to Smith that he had been physically abused by his father. Phillips stated to Smith that, among other things, his father punched the children in the face and frequently hit them with little or no provocation. Phillips himself ran away from home on several occasions to avoid his father's wrath. Phillips also stated that his parents paid for their houses with the proceeds of drug sales and purchased shoplifted food, clothing, and household items from their drug customers. He informed Smith that prostitution was common on the street in front of his childhood home and that he was exposed to drug use and sexual activity from a young age as a result of parties his parents regularly held at their house. Smith concluded that Phillips' home was surrounded by crime and violence [and his] family was enmeshed in this criminal element and served as role models for violent attacks and criminal activities. Dr. Smith was of the opinion that Phillips was sexually abused as a child, although Phillips never admitted it. He stated that childhood abuse is the hallmark of those who develop borderline personality disorder, and that [Phillips] had the same code of silence that the other [Phillips] children had[,] [and Phillips's] feelings of guilt and shame were very evident. Smith opined in his report that Phillips' misplaced loyalty to his family prevented him from sharing openly the extent of the abuse he endured. This protection of family secrets is common among children of abuse. They tend to blame themselves for the abuse the[y] suffer and fail to recognize that the behavior of their parents is abusive and inappropriate. . . . The difficulties Mr. Phillips has experienced with his interpersonal relationships, especially his sexual relations, strongly suggest that he was the victim of sexual abuse. The research has identified several characteristics of victims of sexual abuse (e.g., feelings of guilt and shame, difficulty with impotence, confusion about the role of sexenmeshed with sadistic and masochistic behavior). Mr. Phillips reported many of these behaviors. Smith also testified that it is common for men, even well into adulthood, to deny sexual abuse, noting especially that such men fear being victims of future sexual abuse by other perpetrators and fear that other men within the prison environment may view [them] as open to various sexual activities and that they may take advantage of that. Smith connected Phillips's childhood experiences to his personality disorder, and, in turn, to his crime. He testified: If we take Ronald's background and look at his family, what we have is ongoing history of violence, criminal activity, both by father, mother, and siblings. We know that the household is involving [sic] alcohol and drug abuse. We know there's drugs being sold out of the home. We know there's physical and sexual abuse going on. As a child, you're watching all of that, you're trying to formulate what does all this mean. For borderlines [ i.e., those with borderline personality disorder], the problem is that they are not sure what it means. . . . What they end up doing is reacting in a sort of survival way to their environment and they often misinterpret and overreact because of the dysfunction they experience so they become reactionary, overly aggressive. . . . [I]f you think about Ronald's background and what he knows about parenting, the only role models he has had are his mother and father, both physically abusive [] as long as he can remember and it didn't m[at]ter the age or sex of the child or what the child was doing, the response was always the same. Always physical violence. Smith stated his belief in his initial report that Mr. Phillips's disorders were directly related to the instant offense. In his testimony, he elaborated, explaining that [a]n individual with borderline personality disorder has misperceptions all the time, misperceptions about themselves, [their] abilities and their role and misperceptions about other people and their relationships. Smith opined that Phillips misperceived Sheila's conduct and reacted as follows: [a child who is] not listening, not obeying, not responding, ignoring, becomes a sense of this is a threat to me as a person because I'm telling you, and I'm the authority, I'm the adult, you should respond and when you don't, what happened in my household is you get popped, you get punched, slapped, hit, you get beat because you do what you're told to do. Smith also offered testimony about why Phillips was capable of raping Sheila. He testified that Phillips's borderline personality disorder inclined him toward both anger and a willingness to engage in deviant sexual activities encouraged by Evans: [Evans] is seven years older than [Phillips] is and is clearly the more mature person. Ronald is still living at home, still attending high school, has had really no ongoing sexual relationship and becomes involved with [Evans] who, as he described it, is very very, intriguing but he's sort of uncomfortable and confused and frightened by some of the things she suggests, like sex with her sister and sex with her cousin. He doesn't denies [sic] he's aroused or finds it sexually interesting, but he's still confused and ashamed and doesn't know what is right and wrong. She reassures him and takes on a maternal role. They develop a sexual relationship. She becomes pregnant and they now are forming this sort of very dysfunctional relationship. He explained that Evans then encouraged Phillips to begin molesting and eventually rape Sheila: [Phillips] indicated [that Evans] encouraged him to have physical contact [with Sheila]. I don't know if he saw it as sexual originally. . . . [A]s he described it, she would fondle him as he would touch Sheila so that would be arousing. . . . It's very unfortunate, but in working with [homeless, chemically dependent, and mentally ill women], we know that a number of the women, because of their own backgrounds, their own history of being physically and sexually abused, find various inappropriate behavior very arousing and many of the women will admit that they have sexually abused the[ir] children themselves, or observed their partner or encouraged their partner to be sexually abusive. Dr. Smith testified that a clear connection existed between Phillips' abusive life in his parents' home, his resulting personality disorder, his violent and sexually deviant relationship with Evans, and, eventually, his crime.