Opinion ID: 3065108
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Protracted State Court Post-Conviction

Text: Proceedings After Schad was sentenced to death, he initiated state postconviction proceedings in 1991 in which he was represented by a new attorney. In Schad’s preliminary state habeas petition, filed on December 16, 1991, he argued the sentencing court failed to give proper weight to mitigating evidence of his troubled family background, but he did not raise a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. The state court ordered Schad to file a supplemental petition by February 18, 1992, and Schad’s legal team requested and obtained seventeen successive extensions of that deadline. During that time, postconviction counsel obtained appointment of an investigator to look into Schad’s family history. In January 1994, Schad was appointed a new post- conviction attorney. The court granted her request for further investigative services, as well as more than ten motions for an extension of the deadline to file Schad’s supplemental state habeas petition. In March 1995, counsel obtained appointment of a mitigation expert. The court denied counsel’s request for disclosure of Schad’s prison file and for contact visits to allow the mitigation expert to interview Schad. After the court ruled that no additional extensions of time would be granted, counsel filed Schad’s supplemental petition on October 19, 1995. The supplemental petition included a general claim that Schad’s sentencing counsel was ineffective for failing to discover and present mitigating evidence regarding Schad’s family background. Attached to the supplemental petition was an affidavit from the expert in which she stated that the presentence report used at Schad’s sentencing hearing did not adequately address the extent of the abuse Schad had suffered as a child. The affidavit described the physical and psychological abuse inflicted by Schad’s father, including beating Schad with a belt or fists, refusing to allow Schad’s mother to show him any affection, and isolating Schad from 13230 SCHAD v. RYAN other children. The expert recommended that a comprehensive psychological evaluation be performed, and stated that she could compile a thorough profile only through further interviews with Schad and his relatives. The state habeas court denied the ineffective assistance claim in June 1996 without holding an evidentiary hearing. The court described Schad’s request for a hearing as amounting to nothing more than a “fishing expedition.” Schad filed a motion for rehearing along with another expert affidavit. That affidavit indicated that she had performed additional interviews with Schad and obtained more information about his life history, but did not describe the new information or include any supporting affidavits or other documents. The trial court denied the motion for rehearing, and in 1997 the Arizona Supreme Court denied Schad’s petition for review.