Opinion ID: 2082485
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: Defense Counsel at the Penalty Phase

Text: As a ground for post-conviction relief, appellant alleged that his trial counsel had rendered ineffective legal assistance at the sentencing phase of the trial, contrary to the command of the Sixth Amendment. The burden on this ground was upon appellant. The trial court rejected this ground on its merits, finding it unsubstantiated. As we have already stated, the standard of review for ineffective assistance of counsel claims has two parts. First, an appellant must make a showing that the performance of his counsel was deficient. Second, the appellant must show adverse prejudice as a result of the deficient performance. Appellant must prove that his attorney's failure to function was so prejudicial that it deprived appellant of a fair trial. At the post-conviction hearing, Lawrence Giddings, one of appellant's trial counsel, testified that he had contacted appellant's family in preparation for the sentencing phase of the trial, in order to gather possible mitigating evidence. Giddings testified that he placed telephone calls, wrote letters, and met with appellant's family prior to the sentencing hearing. Giddings stated, They didn't have uh the kind of evidence in the case that uh, that in my opinion that was going to be anything conclusive as far as a penalty phase was concerned. Giddings made the discretionary decision not to present their testimony at trial, as he believed that the evidence they would have presented was not helpful. The testimony that Giddings did elicit appears to show that Jim Lowery had a rough childhood. His family was poor. His father was an alcoholic who threatened and bullied the children. Also, appellant is portrayed as the good, older brother who protected his younger siblings, and who the younger children looked to for support. There was testimony that Jim Lowery helped his father with odd jobs when Jim was growing up. There was testimony that Jim Lowery did not have many close friends as he grew up, that he was a loner. When appellant was about fifteen years old, he was committed to a mental hospital for stealing cars. Appellant's family testified that they did not believe that appellant had any mental disorders. Eventually, the Lowerys saved enough money to hire an attorney to gain appellant's release. Appellant introduced evidence to show the conditions at the Logansport State Hospital and the Norman Beatty State Hospital in Westville, which showed that the conditions were miserable. Giddings tried to portray appellant in a favorable light, as a victim of his circumstances. Giddings attempted to show that appellant's childhood within a dysfunctional family served as a mitigating circumstance. Also, Giddings sought to use appellant's possible mental disorder, as well as the time he spent in the mental hospitals as mitigators. At the sentencing hearing, Giddings presented evidence to support the existence of these possible mitigating circumstances. At the post-conviction hearing, Giddings testified that while appellant was imprisoned between the first and second trials, he prevented an inmate from taking his own life, helped clean and repair areas of death row, volunteered to help when needed, and was generally a model prisoner. It appears that appellant now takes issue with the type and amount of evidence that was presented, not whether any evidence had been presented at trial. When ineffective assistance of counsel is alleged and premised on the attorney's failure to present witnesses, it is incumbent upon the petitioner to offer evidence as to who the witnesses were and what their testimony would have been. Wallace v. State (1990), Ind., 553 N.E.2d 456. At the post-conviction hearing, appellant's brothers, sisters, and parents complained that they did not have the opportunity to testify at appellant's second trial. In fact, appellant's parents, Louis and Arlene Lowery, and appellant's brother, Albert Lowery, testified at the sentencing hearing. At the post-conviction hearing, Albert Lowery testified that he had spoken with his appellant's trial attorneys only once, for about ten minutes. Appellant used this information to attempt to show that Giddings had not conducted an adequate investigation for mitigating circumstances. Another brother, Louis Lowery, Jr., testified that Jim Lowery loved kids, liked to be around kids, and bought small gifts for Barbara Lowery's children. Nina Conkright Hopkins, appellant's former girlfriend, testified that Jim Lowery was kind to children. Ruth Fields, appellant's sister, testified about appellant's childhood, and his kindness to children. Appellant argues this evidence shows that appellant does possess some qualities that should operate to mitigate his capital sentence. At the post-conviction hearing, appellant presented some additional evidence about his kindness to children. However, much of the evidence that appellant presented at the post-conviction hearing mirrored evidence that was presented at the sentencing hearing, namely that appellant had a disadvantaged, unfortunate childhood. On direct appeal, we held that the trial court was not required to believe that the circumstances of appellant's childhood necessarily functioned as mitigating factors. While appellant's trial counsel should have included the omitted testimony, we do not believe that these omissions rose to the level of ineffective assistance of counsel. The evidence itself was repetitious and already before the jury and the judge. Appellant's counsel exercised his discretion in choosing to exclude the testimony. The claim of ineffective assistance of counsel during the penalty phase of the trial was properly rejected.