Opinion ID: 2756888
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Herring’s postconviction claim

Text: {¶ 19} On September 17, 1999, Herring filed his petition for postconviction relief. He requested discovery and an evidentiary hearing. Herring’s primary claim challenged trial counsel’s effectiveness in failing to conduct an adequate mitigation investigation prior to his mitigation hearing. Herring presented affidavits and other documentary evidence in support of his claim.
{¶ 20} Dr. Jolie Brams, a psychologist, submitted an affidavit stating that the jurors were presented “no meaningful psychological information” about Herring’s “problematic functioning over the course of his life.” She stated that no lay or expert testimony was presented that “would have given the jurors an opportunity to understand the sociocultural, psychological, developmental and intellectual factors that operated to bring Mr. Herring to that particular point in time.” 5 SUPREME COURT OF OHIO {¶ 21} Dr. Brams indicated that the testimony of Herring’s mother and sister during the mitigation hearing presented a distorted picture of Herring’s upbringing. As to their testimony, Dr. Brams stated: “The jurors only saw two supposedly caring individuals which did nothing to educate them regarding the marked dysfunction in Mr. Herring’s family and the amazingly dysfunctional role models by whom this young [man] was raised. Instead, they were presented a picture of a family that cared.” {¶ 22} Dr. Brams discussed her own evaluation of Herring’s family, his history, and his past and present functioning that could have been presented during mitigation. She stated that Herring’s “childhood was remarkably dysfunctional in almost every aspect.” She stated that Herring “was raised in an environment in which basically every parental figure, caregiver, family member, and associate was involved in illegal activities, significant drug and alcohol abuse, and to whom the consequences of violating the law evoked little anxiety.” Dr. Brams described Herring as a “ ‘feral child,’ who roamed the neighborhood aimlessly, without any adult having meaningful or consistent concern.” {¶ 23} Dr. Brams stated that Herring began using marijuana and alcohol on a frequent basis by the time he was 13 or 14. Herring’s active substance abuse was a primary factor leading to his failure in school and his eventual decision to drop out of school. {¶ 24} Herring’s family members introduced him to gangs and drug dealing, which was described to Dr. Brams as “the family business.” Dr. Brams added that Herring’s mother asked him to purchase drugs for her own consumption and that his mother and other family members used drugs openly. {¶ 25} Dr. Brams stated that no psychometric tests were conducted prior to trial assessing any aspect of Herring’s mental capacities. There was also no exploration of his intellectual and academic capacity from other sources, such as interviews with Department of Youth Services (“DYS”) personnel and public 6 January Term, 2014 school teachers or a review of his institutional records. Dr. Brams also stated that a neuropsychological evaluation should have been conducted prior to trial to establish whether Herring suffered from organic brain impairment. {¶ 26} Dr. Brams’s staff administered various tests to Herring. Test results on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (“WAIS-III”) showed that Herring had a verbal IQ of 85, a performance IQ of 91, and a fullscale IQ of 87. Results on the Beery Buktenica Developmental Test of VisualMotor Integration (“VMI”) placed Herring in the third percentile nationally and showed his difficulty with visual-motor functioning. Results on the Matrix Analogies Test (“MAT”) showed that Herring has the perceptual-learning skills of a ten year old. {¶ 27} Dr. Brams also indicated that Herring’s DYS records provided information about Herring’s positive characteristics. She stated that the DYS records “reflect that Mr. Herring was able to meet the expectations of the staff in many areas and complete goals that were set out for him in terms of socialization and education.” {¶ 28} Finally, Dr. Brams set forth her diagnoses of a number of psychiatric disorders as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders (“DSM-IV”). She concluded that Herring presents (1) alcohol abuse, chronic, (2) cannabis abuse/dependence, (3) polysubstance abuse/dependence, (4) depressive disorder, (5) personality disorder with narcissistic and antisocial features, and (6) learning disabilities. {¶ 29} Dr. C. Ronald Huff, the Director of the School of Public Policy and Management at Ohio State University, submitted an affidavit about Herring’s gang involvement. Dr. Huff stated that Herring “grew up with a host of gang members as role models, especially on his father’s side of the family.” He stated that Herring became a gang member when he was 11 or 12 years old and that 7 SUPREME COURT OF OHIO Herring’s substance abuse, drug trafficking, and other crimes were greatly influenced by his gang involvement. {¶ 30} Herring also presented affidavits from his paternal grandmother, two aunts, two uncles, his sister Nicole, his mother, and a cousin. These affidavits discussed Herring’s gang involvement, his life as a drug dealer, his mother’s drug use, and other family members who have been incarcerated. Herring’s cousin and grandmother and an aunt and an uncle would have testified at trial if they had been asked. {¶ 31} Herring’s sister, Nicole, stated that their grandmother took care of her and Herring until he was about 12, when their grandmother moved out of their home. Nicole indicated that their grandmother provided them with structure and discipline. She was strict and made Nicole and Herring do chores and complete their homework. {¶ 32} Herring’s mother, Deborah, stated that she has seven children by four different fathers. Deborah said that she was overwhelmed with caring for her children. Herring’s father had been shot to death over a drug dispute when Herring was four years old. Deborah admitted that she has had a longstanding drinking problem and had been addicted to crack for 12 years. She knew that Herring sold crack but did not think that he had a substance-abuse problem.
{¶ 33} Herring’s petition included a letter from Dr. Douglas Darnall, a clinical psychologist, that had been sent to trial counsel before the mitigation phase. At trial counsel’s request, Dr. Darnall had conducted pretrial testing of Herring by administering the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (“MMPI-2”). Dr. Darnall told trial counsel in the letter that he had not had the opportunity to conduct a clinical interview or a complete assessment and therefore was “unable to derive any specific clinical conclusions.” 8 January Term, 2014 {¶ 34} Dr. Darnall’s letter reported that the results of the MMPI-2 were of “questionable” validity. He stated that certain test results suggested that Herring was “exaggerating his symptoms or not understanding the specific test items.” Dr. Darnall added: The configuration of the clinical scales would suggest that Mr. Herring has made some discriminations in his responses. The configuration would characterize Mr. Herring as a very suspicious individual who is likely to be hostile to authority figures. He is inclined to be rather impulsive, unreliable, egocentric, and irresponsible. Others may perceive him as suspicious, hostile, and hypersensitive to the reactions of others.    It is possible that Mr. Herring may have a delusional disorder that could be distorting his perceptions and interpretations as to what is going on around him. He may feel socially isolated and have persecutory ideas. {¶ 35} Dr. Brams submitted an addendum affidavit that responded to Dr. Darnall’s report. Dr. Brams stated: “Even a cursory perusal of Mr. Herring’s MMPI-2 profile would indicate [the] need for further neuropsychological and psychiatric follow-up in terms of evaluation and testing.” She added: “Defense counsel did not follow-up this MMPI-2 report with any further evaluation of the defendant. Simply stated, the sole use of an MMPI    to determine mitigation factors or lack thereof is grossly limited and in no way could fully describe the functioning or history of that individual.” 9 SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
{¶ 36} The affidavit of Thomas Hrdy, the mitigation specialist engaged by Herring’s attorneys prior to the trial, discussed his employment and his meeting with counsel in preparing for Herring’s mitigation: I believe that I was first contacted by the trial attorneys Mr. Van Brocklin and Mr. Zena around the first week of August, 1997. As it turned out, this did not allow adequate time for me to collect the necessary records for a full investigation of the case, such as school records and medical records. I met with the attorneys only once, at our initial meeting. I do not know what information the attorneys collected. I do not know if the attorneys followed up on my suggestion to bring a psychologist in to evaluate Willie. I do not know these things because the attorneys did not share the information with me, and we did not have subsequent meetings after our initial one. {¶ 37} In his affidavit, Hrdy stated that he had interviewed Herring four times and Herring’s mother once. He did not interview any other family members. Hrdy stated that due to time constraints, he was unable to complete extensive interview research. He did not recall “the specific attempts to collect specific records, such as Ohio Department of Youth Services or Mahoning County Human Services.” Hrdy added: “I felt like before I knew it, I was over my head in terms of time necessary to complete the investigation. I do not recall if I told trial counsel that I was running out of time.” {¶ 38} Hrdy said that he had provided mitigation services “in two or three other capital cases” prior to Herring’s case. He concluded: “Looking back now 10 January Term, 2014 on the work I did for the Herring case, I feel that I did a substandard job of mitigation investigation. This is primarily due to the fact that I underestimated the amount of time which was needed to contact all of the necessary mitigation witnesses and locate all the necessary resources and records.”
{¶ 39} In another affidavit attached to the petition, Dorian Hall, the supervisor of the mitigation section of the Office of the Ohio Public Defender, analyzed the deficiencies in Hrdy’s mitigation investigation. Hall stated that Hrdy obtained education records and attempted to obtain records from Southside Medical Center, “but did not appear to make any attempts to obtain additional records.” Hall also stated that Hrdy interviewed only Herring and his mother and neglected to interview various family members, friends, and professionals who could have provided detailed information about Herring’s life. Hall also stated that there was “a family history of substance abuse and drug dealing, gang involvement, criminal activity, neglect and lack of nurturing” that was not properly investigated.