Opinion ID: 1562759
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Waiver of Right to Present Mitigation Evidence

Text: Turning to the penalty phase, appellant first argues that his waiver of his right to present mitigating evidence was invalid because it was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. Appellant argues that the record shows that he was not told and did not understand that he would face an automatic death sentence without the presentation of mitigating evidence. Appellant asserts that a death sentence would be automatic in the absence of mitigation because the jury had already found one of the aggravators. This is so, appellant says, because the jury allegedly found him guilty of killing the victim during the course of the rape. Further, appellant contends that, although trial counsel conducted a record waiver colloquy and appellant said he understood the nature of capital sentencing proceedings, his responses and explanations to trial counsel's questions demonstrate that he supposedly did not understand the proceeding. Appellant also maintains that his waiver was the result of trial counsel's ineffectiveness because trial counsel failed to investigate and inform appellant of available mitigating evidence. Counsel's duty to protect a defendant's rights, asserts appellant, is increased when the defendant is mentally or emotionally impaired, as appellant claims he was in the present case. Further, appellant contends that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise this issue on direct appeal. Appellant maintains that prejudice is demonstrated because appellant was sentenced to death as the result of the defective waiver and because, but for counsel's ineffectiveness, appellant could have presented a compelling case for a life sentence. Responding to the PCRA court's conclusion that this issue was previously litigated in Tedford I, appellant argues that this Court's conclusion that appellant could not be compelled to present mitigating evidence did not depend on the validity of his waiver and, therefore, the waiver issue was not previously litigated. The Commonwealth counters that this issue was previously litigated on direct appeal, where this Court concluded that appellant's mitigation waiver was valid and that the waiver colloquy was free from error. The PCRA court also concluded that this claim was previously litigated and that appellant is presently attempting to relitigate this issue under a new theory based on ineffectiveness. In the alternative, continued the PCRA court, appellant's ineffectiveness claim lacks arguable merit because it is clear from the record that appellant's waiver was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. The circumstances surrounding appellant's waiver are as follows. After the conclusion of the guilt phase of trial, at a conference in chambers, trial counsel stated, as he had previously advised the court, that weeks before trial appellant instructed trial counsel not to prepare for the sentencing phase. Trial counsel also stated that he urged appellant to meet with his mother and sister, who were present at trial, to discuss the issue of mitigation, but appellant declined. Trial counsel then stated that, against his advice, appellant was formally waiving his right to present mitigating evidence. Trial counsel requested leave to conduct a colloquy to ensure that appellant knowingly understood what he was waiving. Thereafter, counsel conducted a record colloquy with appellant, the relevant portions of which appear below: [Trial Counsel]: So knowing at what stage we are and knowing what the Commonwealth intends to present, and knowing my desire, willingness and ability to go forward and present mitigating factors for you, is it your desire to give up that right and to not present any mitigating factors on your behalf right now? [Appellant]: One more question: How does this affect the possible appeal? [Trial Counsel]: I don't know the answer to that, because I never had this situation. [Appellant]: Okay. Yes, I give up those rights.     [The Court]: ... Mr. Tedford knows the difference between the burden of proof on aggravating and mitigating? [Trial counsel]: You understand the difference on the burden of proof? [Appellant]: No. [Trial counsel]: The Commonwealth has the burden of proving this beyond a reasonable doubt, that is, they have the burden of proving aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt. We only have to prove mitigating factors by a preponderance of the evidence. [Appellant]: We only have to prove mitigating factors? [Trial counsel]: We only have to prove those by a lesser standard than the Commonwealth has to prove the aggravating factors. [Appellant]: I understand. Obviously, once again I'm trying to deal with something I feel inside rather than the law. I'm looking back at the court situation and we didn't have to prove anything there, and it didn't do any good. Now, we have to prove something. I really don't have any hope. I understand though this, I understand what you're saying. [Trial counsel]: Okay, is it your desire to waive the presentation of mitigating factors? [Appellant]: Yes. Why prolong it? Yes. Why waste time with it? [Trial counsel]: All right.... N.T., 2/6/87, at 762-65. The prosecutor then described to appellant what aggravators the Commonwealth would present. Afterwards, trial counsel stated that appellant could present mitigating evidence in the form of testimony from family members, to which appellant replied, I don't want to put them through that. I think there's been enough of that. Id. at 767. Appellant even requested leave not to attend the penalty phase, but the trial court stated that he was required by law to be present. Later, appellant again firmly stated, [t]here won't be any mitigating circumstances. Id. at 771. In his nunc pro tunc motion for a new trial and arrest of judgment prepared by appellate counsel, appellant claimed that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to present mitigation evidence. Subsequently, on direct appeal, appellant abandoned that version of the claim and converted it into a claim alleging that the trial court had a duty of its own to compel the production of mitigating factors and that it had erred by failing to do so. This Court disagreed and held that a trial court does not have a sua sponte duty to compel the presentation of mitigating evidence against a defendant's will. Tedford I, 567 A.2d at 626-27. [31] Properly framed, appellant's current claims can only be that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to argue that appellant's waiver was invalid because it was a product of trial counsel ineffectiveness for failing to investigate and adequately explain the available mitigating evidence to appellant, a lapse which supposedly caused appellant's waiver. With respect to the nested claim concerning trial counsel, we reiterate that, [c]ounsel has a duty to undertake reasonable investigations or to make reasonable decisions that render particular investigations unnecessary. Basemore, 744 A.2d at 735. Consideration of a claim of ineffectiveness for failure to investigate must focus on whether the investigation supporting counsel's decision not to introduce mitigating evidence of [the defendant's] background was itself reasonable. Wiggins, 539 U.S. at 523, 123 S.Ct. 2527 (emphasis omitted); see also Williams, 529 U.S. at 395-99, 120 S.Ct. 1495 (holding counsel ineffective for failing to investigate and present substantial mitigating evidence); Rompilla, 545 U.S. at 393, 125 S.Ct. 2456 (same). However, as the U.S. Supreme Court has recently stressed, where a capital defendant instructs his trial counsel not to offer mitigating evidence, counsel's failure to investigate mitigation evidence may not be prejudicial under Strickland. Schriro v. Landrigan, 550 U.S. 465, ___, 127 S.Ct. 1933, 1941, 167 L.Ed.2d 836 (2007). This Court addressed a similar situation where a defendant directed his attorney not to present mitigating evidence in Commonwealth v. Sam, 535 Pa. 350, 635 A.2d 603 (1993), and stated: A criminal defendant has the right to decide whether mitigating evidence will be presented on his behalf. We will not remove that right and compel admission of such evidence. Defense counsel has no duty to introduce and argue evidence of mitigating circumstances where his client has specifically directed otherwise. Id. at 611-12. In recent years, this Court has held that a properly preserved challenge to the validity of a waiver of mitigating evidence is generally assessed by examining the thoroughness of the colloquy to ensure that the defendant fully understood the nature of the right and the consequences of waiving the right. See Commonwealth v. Randolph, 582 Pa. 576, 873 A.2d 1277, 1282 (2005); see also, e.g., Commonwealth v. Rega, 593 Pa. 659, 933 A.2d 997, 1027-29 (2007), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 1879, 170 L.Ed.2d 755 (2008); Rega, 933 A.2d at 1034 (Castille, J., joined by Saylor, J., concurring). This Court has assumed in these cases, decided long after the mitigation waiver here, that the waiver of mitigating evidence must proceed according to the constitutional standard of knowing, intelligent and voluntary. See Rega, 933 A.2d at 1028 (discussing Commonwealth v. Wilson, 580 Pa. 439, 861 A.2d 919, 934 (2004) and stating that Pennsylvania demands only that defendant's waiver be knowing, intelligent, and voluntary); see also Commonwealth v. Puksar, 951 A.2d 267, 288-89 (Pa.2008); Randolph, 873 A.2d at 1282. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has more recently noted that there is, as yet, no constitutional requirement that a defendant's decision not to introduce evidence be informed and knowing. Schriro, 550 U.S. at ___, 127 S.Ct. at 1942. Additionally, there is, as yet, no constitutional requirement for a specific colloquy to ensure that a defendant knowingly and intelligently refused to present mitigating evidence. Id. at ___, 127 S.Ct. at 1943; see also Puksar, 951 A.2d at 288 nn. 10-11. More to the point, there was no requirement of a specific colloquy in 1987, when appellant's waiver occurred, or in the ensuing two years while appellant's direct appeal was litigated. Furthermore, a claim alleging that a waiver was constitutionally deficient due to some record-based error obviously is distinct from a collateral claim that the previously unchallenged waiver was invalid due to an external influence, such as the ineffective assistance of counsel. See Mallory, 941 A.2d at 697-98 (jury waiver context) (the not uncommon my-record-waiver-was-my-lawyer's-fault claim is far removed from the `constitutional, structural' error that would be at issue if a timely jury demand was wrongly denied). [L]awyers have an obligation to counsel their clients in conjunction with the waiver of basic rights and [w]hen a presumptively-valid waiver is collaterally attacked under the guise of ineffectiveness of counsel, it must be analyzed like any other ineffectiveness claim, and must focus on the totality of relevant circumstances. Id. at 698. For example, in Sam, this Court concluded that the defendant's waiver of the right to present mitigation evidence was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary where it was clear from the record that the defendant understood the consequences of his waiver after the trial court engaged in an extensive colloquy with the defendant and trial counsel stated for the record the mitigating circumstances he would have argued. Sam, 635 A.2d at 611-12. In any event, what must be controlling here, as it was in Sam, is that the absence of mitigation evidence was at appellant's specific and unequivocal direction. That decision was first made by appellant weeks before trial. Appellant maintained his stance despite counsel urging him to authorize a mitigation defense. Moreover, as this Court noted on direct appeal, the record colloquy that counsel conducted made clear that appellant understood the nature of the penalty proceeding, his right to present mitigation evidence, the aggravating circumstances the Commonwealth was to pursue, and the differing burdens of proof. Appellant was adamant that trial counsel not pursue any mitigation. Indeed, ignoring the advice of counsel, appellant here refused to allow counsel to call family members to testify on his behalf. Appellant now suggests that, if only counsel would have found other arguments to convince him to change his mind, he might have authorized counsel to present a mitigation defense. That, of course, is pure speculation. Moreover, there was no existing check-list or paradigm for counsel to consult in 1987certainly appellant has cited nonein order to dissuade a mentally competent client from this decision. Appellant also suggests that counsel in 1987 was obliged to tell him that a failure to present mitigation evidence would certainly lead to a sentence of death because the jury had already found, at the guilt phase, that he killed the victim during the perpetration of a felonyrape. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(d)(6). But, appellant's assumption is not correct as a matter of fact and as a matter of law. As a matter of fact, the guilty verdict on rape a charge vigorously contesteddid not require the penalty jury to find a specific temporal relationship between the murder and the rape. The penalty phase issue was thus distinct. Moreover, the jury still had to find the specific aggravating circumstance, unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt. Additionally, there was the ever-present prospect of jury nullification, and all it would have taken was one juror. As a matter of law, the claim fails because appellant can cite no authority, in existence at the time trial and appellate counsel were acting, that required a mitigation waiver to include advice from the defendant's lawyer that waiver would certainly lead to death. Indeed, as Schriro makes clear, to this day there is no such authority. [32] In any event, in the wake of cases such as Schriro and Sam, appellant's unequivocal direction to counsel is enough to require rejection of this ineffectiveness claim. Furthermore, this case cannot be likened to the unreasonable-failure-to-investigate-mitigation cases such as Williams v. Taylor, supra , Wiggins, supra, and Rompilla, supra . In those cases, counsel failed to conduct even the most cursory investigation into apparently readily available mitigating evidence. Here, in contrast, trial counsel did not decide not to investigate and decline to present mitigating evidence. Rather, he was instructed not to do so by appellant, notwithstanding counsel's existing investigation and counsel's avowed desire, willingness and ability to go forward with mitigation evidence. In fact, trial counsel advised appellant to present mitigation, urged him to discuss the matter with his family members who could have presented certain mitigating evidence, notified the court that he had mitigating evidence in the form of family member testimony, and repeatedly informed the court that appellant was proceeding against the advice of counsel. Even assuming the truth of appellant's facile current allegationthat his waiver reflected a misunderstanding of the sentencing procedure or was caused by mental impairmentthat fact would not prove counsel ineffective absent proof that counsel knew or should have known of the misunderstanding or impairment, and knew or should have known that, under the law, that fact authorized him to ignore his client's direction. Given the circumstances on the record, appellant's claim that trial counsel was ineffective respecting the mitigation waiver, for failing to investigate and inform appellant about potential mitigating evidence, and/or for failing to realize that appellant's waiver was infirm lacks arguable merit. The corresponding claim that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise trial counsel's ineffectiveness on direct appeal necessarily fails.