Opinion ID: 28219
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Incapacity of Counsel

Text: Next, Guy contends that he was deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial because, during his trial, Wardroup was in the throes of drug and alcohol addiction. Wardroup candidly admitted in several depositions that he had used drugs and alcohol in the past. He also conceded that he used drugs periodically through Guy’s trial, but denied drinking any alcohol. This Court has noted that, “under Strickland the fact that an attorney used drugs is not, in and of itself, relevant to an ineffective assistance claim. The crit ical inquiry is whether, for whatever reason, counsel's performance was deficient and whether that deficiency prejudiced the defendant.” Berry v. King, 765 6 F.2d 451, 454 (5th Cir. 1985) (emphasis in the original). Guy asserts that his trial counsel’s performance was deficient for the following reasons: (1) counsel failed to supervise SoRelle and to investigate the case; (2) counsel failed to object to inadmissible hearsay evidence; (3) counsel failed to object to the insufficiency of the evidence to prove elements of the offense pled in the indictment; (4) counsel failed to object to the admission of evidence during the sentencing phase; (5) counsel failed to object to special punishment jury instructions; and (6) counsel failed to object to incomplete polling of the jury. This Court has held that a conscious and informed decision on trial tactics and strategy cannot form the basis for a constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel claim unless it is “so ill chosen that it permeates the entire trial with obvious unfairness.” Teague v. Scott, 60 F.3d 1167, 1172 (5th Cir. 1995). Guy has failed to show that any of the decisions made by his trial counsel were so ill chosen that they infested the trial with patent unfairness. Further, although Guy paints a dark picture of an attorney allegedly abusing drugs and alcohol during trial, he has failed to point to any specific instances where his trial counsel’s performance was deficient because of drug or alcohol abuse, and none is apparent from the record. Therefore, Guy’s claim must fail under Berry and his request for COA on this issue is denied.