Opinion ID: 2614079
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Facts Relevant to Petition for Post-Conviction Relief

Text: In April 1988, after representing defendant for almost a year, Thomas Cole moved to withdraw from representation. The trial court granted the motion and appointed Kirk Karman to represent defendant. In April 1989, Karman associated Ralph Malanga to assist in defendant's representation. Shortly thereafter, a disagreement arose between the two, and Karman fired Malanga. After Malanga filed a motion informing the court that he had been privately retained by defendant, the trial court allowed Karman to withdraw from representation and set the trial for May 23, 1989. A few days before the scheduled trial date, Malanga moved for a continuance, claiming that he needed to interview more than 100 witnesses and possibly a number of experts. He subsequently made numerous motions to the court requesting additional time to interview witnesses and/or conduct further investigations. The court granted these motions in an attempt to allow Malanga adequate time to prepare for trial. On October 31, 1989, however, the state filed a motion to determine counsel claiming that Malanga had been derelict in his duties [to defendant] to the point of ineffective assistance. The motion contained a number of specific allegations, the most important of which were that Malanga had failed to: (1) interview any of the state's witnesses, (2) visit the murder scene, (3) review the victim's Department of Corrections file, (4) review certain potential exhibits, and (5) hire an investigator to help prepare for trial. After hearing argument from both sides, the trial court denied the motion. At defendant's retrial, Malanga advanced a conspiracy defense in which he implied that defendant had been framed for Ponciano's murder by the Department of Corrections. Moreover, notwithstanding this court's earlier determination that defendant's statements to Spillman were inadmissible during the state's case-in-chief, Vickers I, 129 Ariz. at 511, 633 P.2d at 320, Malanga withdrew prior counsel's motion to suppress and allowed Spillman to be called as a witness by the state. His purported reason for doing so was his belief that he could elicit testimony on cross-examination that would bolster the conspiracy defense. When Spillman testified, however, he gave a detailed account of his conversation with defendant, including defendant's admission that he had killed Ponciano, as well as defendant's graphic description of how he had planned and carried out the murder. Defendant did not testify in his own behalf. Not surprisingly, the jury found defendant guilty of first-degree murder. Although the trial court scheduled an aggravation/mitigation hearing for December 19, Malanga subsequently made several motions to continue the hearing. On February 14, 1990, the state filed a motion in limine to have co-counsel appointed to represent defendant because Malanga had been sentenced to 30 days in jail for contempt in an unrelated proceeding. Dennis H. Gray was appointed to serve as co-counsel, and the hearing was rescheduled for March 30. Malanga appeared at the first scheduled status conference on March 26, but he virtually disappeared from that point forward. The court, the prosecutor, and Gray made numerous attempts to contact Malanga regarding court matters, but for the most part, they were unsuccessful. On May 30, Gray filed a motion for investigation based upon rumors that Malanga had abused both drugs and alcohol during trial. Judge Coxon treated the motion as a petition for post-conviction relief, and he issued a show cause order requiring Malanga to appear at the rule 32 hearing scheduled for July 10. Malanga appeared as required on July 10 and withdrew from representation at defendant's request. The trial court appointed Gray to represent defendant in all further proceedings. Malanga neither appeared at nor testified during the subsequent rule 32 proceedings. Gray presented several witnesses, however, who testified regarding Malanga's drug and/or alcohol use during trial. One individual who worked as an investigator for Malanga during the summer of 1989 testified that Malanga occasionally would consume alcohol and/or cocaine before court appearances. Moreover, at least 4 different witnesses testified that they smelled alcohol on Malanga's breath during trial. And, finally, both the state's expert witnesses, Michael Vance, M.D., and defendant's expert witness, John Davis Palmer, M.D., concluded that Malanga likely was using cocaine during trial. In denying defendant's petition for post-conviction relief, the trial court concluded that Malanga consumed some alcohol and may have used cocaine during trial, but he was not deficient nor did his performance as such prejudice [the] defense.