Opinion ID: 2325769
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Alternative Defenses of Diminished Capacity and Heat of Passion

Text: In Appellant's fifth issue, he alleges that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate or to present several alternative defenses, specifically the defense of diminished capacity, due to mental defect or voluntary intoxication, and the defense of heat of passion; in addition, appellant alleges that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise this claim of trial counsel ineffectiveness on direct appeal. The only claim in this issue cognizable under the PCRA is the derivative claim of appellate counsel ineffectiveness. Appellate counsel will not be held ineffective if trial counsel was not ineffective, and hence we begin by considering whether Appellant's allegations as to trial counsel ineffectiveness have any merit. A defense of diminished capacity, whether grounded in mental defect or voluntary intoxication, is an extremely limited defense available only to those defendants who admit criminal liability but contest the degree of culpability based upon an inability to formulate the specific intent to kill. Commonwealth v. C. Williams, 602 Pa. 360, 980 A.2d 510, 527 (2009); Commonwealth v. Gibson, 597 Pa. 402, 951 A.2d 1110, 1131 (2008); Commonwealth v. Spotz, 587 Pa. 1, 896 A.2d 1191, 1218 (2006) (Absent an admission from [the defendant] that he had shot and killed [the victim], trial counsel could not have presented a diminished capacity defense.) [18] If a defendant does not admit that he killed the victim, but rather advances an innocence defense, then evidence on diminished capacity is inadmissible. Commonwealth v. Laird, 605 Pa. 137, 988 A.2d 618, 632 (2010). A diminished capacity defense does not exculpate the defendant from criminal liability entirely, but instead negates the element of specific intent. C. Williams, supra at 527 (citing Gibson, supra at 1131). For a defendant who proves a diminished capacity defense, first-degree murder is mitigated to third-degree murder. Commonwealth v. Saranchak, 581 Pa. 490, 866 A.2d 292, 299 (2005). To establish a diminished capacity defense, a defendant must prove that his cognitive abilities of deliberation and premeditation were so compromised, by mental defect or voluntary intoxication, that he was unable to formulate the specific intent to kill. Commonwealth v. Rainey, 593 Pa. 67, 928 A.2d 215, 237 (2007); Spotz, supra at 1218. The mere fact of intoxication does not give rise to a diminished capacity defense. Spotz, supra ; Commonwealth v. Blakeney, 596 Pa. 510, 946 A.2d 645, 653 (2008) (requiring that a defendant show that he was overwhelmed to the point of losing his faculties and sensibilities to prove a voluntary intoxication defense). Evidence that the defendant lacked the ability to control his or her actions or acted impulsively is irrelevant to specific intent to kill, and thus is not admissible to support a diminished capacity defense. Commonwealth v. Vandivner, 599 Pa. 617, 962 A.2d 1170, 1183 (2009). Furthermore, diagnosis with a personality disorder does not suffice to establish diminished capacity. Commonwealth v. Bracey, 568 Pa. 264, 795 A.2d 935, 946 (2001). In numerous prior cases before this Court, defendants who had maintained their innocence during trial have subsequently raised post-conviction claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel for failure to present and/or to investigate a defense of diminished capacity. We have consistently declined to hold that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to advance a defense that directly and irreconcilably conflicted with the accused's claims of innocence. Rainey, supra at 237 (declining to conclude that defense counsel was ineffective for failing to present a diminished capacity defense when the appellant was unwilling to admit that the shot the victim); Spotz, supra at 1217-19 (declining to conclude that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to present a diminished capacity defense based on mental defect or voluntary intoxication because it would have required the appellant to concede liability, which was inconsistent with his averments of innocence and his recapitulation of events to trial counsel); Commonwealth v. R. Williams, 577 Pa. 473, 846 A.2d 105, 112 (2004) ([E]ven if counsel had thoroughly investigated [the appellant's] past, the presentation of a diminished capacity defense would have directly contradicted [the appellant's] assertions that someone else had committed the crime, and thus would not have been an available defense.). We have recently stated that whether addressing a claim of counsel's failure to investigate or failure to present [a diminished capacity defense], this Court has employed the same analysis. Gibson, supra at 1132. Finally, we have held that the authority to concede criminal liability and to authorize the presentation of a diminished capacity defense rests solely with the accused. Commonwealth v. Weaver, 500 Pa. 439, 457 A.2d 505, 506-07 (1983) (holding that even if diminished capacity was the only viable defense, trial counsel would be deemed ineffective for presenting this defense without the consent of the defendant). In the instant case, Appellant did not concede any liability in the killing of the victim. Rather, Appellant relied on an innocence defense, presenting an alibi witness, attempting to undermine the credibility of the child witnesses, and attempting to inculpate the victim's husband in her murder. Under these circumstances, where Appellant did not admit killing the victim, but rather maintained his innocence, a diminished capacity defense was not available to him, pursuant to this Court's decisional law discussed supra, and trial counsel will not be held ineffective for failing to present an unavailable defense. Nonetheless, Appellant further asserts that counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate diminished capacity defenses. To support this claim, Appellant has submitted an Affidavit/Declaration of his trial counsel, in which counsel asserts the following: [Appellant] advised me he was not present at the time of the murder and provided me with the name of an alibi witness. Based on these representations I did not investigate a diminished capacity, voluntary intoxication or heat of passion defense. Affidavit/Declaration of Stephen P. Patrizio, Esq., pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, and 18 Pa.C.S. § 4904, at ¶ 7. [19] Trial counsel prepared and presented the defense that Appellant sought based on his claim of non-involvement in the murder, his account of his whereabouts at the time of the murder, his naming of the alibi witness, and the testimony of the alibi witness. Appellant has offered absolutely no rationale as to why his counsel should not have accepted his claims of innocence and proffered the alibi witness, except to aver that the alibi case was weak. Appellant's Brief at 72. As we have made expressly clear, the authority to concede liability, which is an absolute prerequisite for a diminished capacity defense, rests solely and strictly with the accused. Weaver, supra at 506. Importantly, even at this stage in the proceedings, Appellant has not conceded any liability for the victim's murder. Appellant cannot succeed in his claim of trial counsel ineffectiveness for failing to investigate and pursue a diminished capacity defense when Appellant has not acknowledged an absolute prerequisite for that defense, i.e., that he killed the victim. Regardless of trial counsel's investigative efforts, counsel had no authority to present a diminished capacity defense in the face of Appellant's assertions that he was completely innocent of the murder, assertions that remain unabated even now. See R. Williams, supra at 112. Therefore, we conclude that Appellant has failed to establish that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to present or to investigate a diminished capacity defense. Because trial counsel was not ineffective, Appellant's derivative claims of appellate counsel ineffectiveness must also fail. [20] We turn next to Appellant's other claim in issue five, i.e., that counsel was ineffective for failing to raise a heat of passion defense. A heat of passion defense, like the diminished capacity defense, is a partial defense, focused on the element of intent. Commonwealth v. Laich, 566 Pa. 19, 777 A.2d 1057, 1061 (2001); Commonwealth v. Legg, 551 Pa. 437, 711 A.2d 430, 432 n. 3 (1998). A defendant accused of murder may establish that he or she is guilty, not of murder, but rather of voluntary manslaughter, by proving that, at the time of the killing, he or she was acting under a sudden and intense passion resulting from serious provocation by the victim. Commonwealth v. Miller, 605 Pa. 1, 987 A.2d 638, 649 (2009); Commonwealth v. Ragan, 560 Pa. 106, 743 A.2d 390, 396 (1999) (citing 18 Pa.C.S. 2503(a)); Commonwealth v. McCusker, 448 Pa. 382, 292 A.2d 286, 288 & n. 4 (1972). Emotions encompassed by the term passion include anger, rage, sudden resentment or terror which renders the mind incapable of reason. Miller, supra at 650. Whether the provocation by the victim was sufficient to support a heat of passion defense is determined by an objective test: whether a reasonable man who was confronted with the provoking events would become impassioned to the extent that his mind was incapable of cool reflection. Id. (quoting Commonwealth v. Thornton, 494 Pa. 260, 431 A.2d 248, 252 (1981)). To reduce an intentional blow, stroke, or wounding resulting in death to voluntary manslaughter, there must be sufficient cause of provocation and a state of rage or passion without time to cool, placing the [defendant] beyond the control of his reason, and suddenly impelling him to the deed. If any of these be wantingif there be provocation without passion, or passion without a sufficient cause of provocation, or there be time to cool, and reason has resumed its sway, the killing will be murder. Id. at 651 (quoting Commonwealth v. Barnosky, 436 Pa. 59, 258 A.2d 512, 515 (1969)). Appellant suggests no evidence that, at the time of the murder, he had been so provoked by the victim as to be compelled by passion beyond the control of his reason. The evidence cited by Appellant, i.e., that Appellant and the victim had been arguing shortly before the murder, that there were serious problems in their relationship, that Appellant was jealous, and that Appellant's prior or concurrent paramours had sought restraining orders against him, does not show that, at the time of the murder, Appellant was uncontrollably compelled by passion or that the victim had provoked him into such passion. Furthermore, Appellant provides no evidence or argument that trial counsel's strategy was unreasonable, except to aver that his alibi defense was weak. Appellant's Brief at 72. We cannot conclude that trial counsel was ineffective in seeking Appellant's acquittal with an alibi defense, based on the testimony of an alibi witness named by Appellant, as opposed to advancing a heat of passion partial defense strategy, for which there was no evidence. Because trial counsel was not ineffective, any derivative claim of appellate counsel ineffectiveness must likewise fail. Appellant's fifth issue does not entitle him to any relief.