Opinion ID: 1853745
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Investigate and Present School, Military, and Employment Records in Mitigation

Text: Pooler next claims that Salnick was ineffective for failing to investigate and present his school, military, and employment records in mitigation. According to Pooler, counsel could have used the information contained in these records to mitigate his sentence by showing that Pooler had dull intelligence and a troubled background. At the postconviction evidentiary hearing, Pooler's collateral counsel introduced his military, school, and employment records. Pooler's military records revealed that he was charged with at least nineteen different offenses on fifteen different occasions between October 1969 and February 1971 and that he was court-martialed for several of these offenses. His school records show that he was an average student in early elementary school, but that his grades grew progressively worse each year. Some of Pooler's teachers commented that he was very slow and mischievous, that he play[s] hooky, does not attend school regularly, is not interested in school, need[s] guidance, and may get with the wrong crowd easily. Pooler failed multiple grades and ultimately never graduated from high school. In addition, Pooler's employment records indicate that he had been employed as a refuse worker and quit without notice. Notwithstanding Salnick's failure to obtain these records, the postconviction trial court concluded that he conducted a reasonable investigation, noting that when written documentation was not available, Salnick found alternate means to corroborate Pooler's statements regarding his background (i.e., interviews with Pooler's family members). We affirm the trial court's conclusions. Salnick conducted a reasonable investigation. His failure to obtain Pooler's records does not rise to the level of ineffective assistance. Pooler consistently represented to Salnick that he was an average student, graduated from high school, and was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps. To test the validity of Pooler's representations, Salnick's investigator, Marvin Jenne, traveled to Louisiana and interviewed members of Pooler's family. All of the family members Jenne located and interviewed corroborated Pooler's positive representations. Further, Jenne made an attempt, albeit unsuccessful, to obtain Pooler's school records. Based on Pooler's positive representations of himself which were substantiated by his family members, Salnick had no reason to believe Pooler's records would contain anything negative or mitigating. See Rompilla v. Beard, 545 U.S. 374, 383, 125 S.Ct. 2456, 162 L.Ed.2d 360 (2005) ([T]he duty to investigate does not force defense lawyers to scour the globe on the off chance something will turn up; reasonably diligent counsel may draw a line when they have good reason to think further investigation would be a waste.). Therefore, he formed a reasonable trial strategy of presenting Pooler in a positive light. Moreover, no prejudice resulted from counsel's choice of strategy. At trial, Salnick showed that Pooler had been a productive member of society and crime-free for fifteen years prior to the murder. He presented evidence that Pooler had served honorably in the military in Vietnam, reenlisted, raised a daughter, took care of his relatives, was a good parent, worked at the same job for eight years, and was well liked by his coworkers. Of all the mitigation presented, the trial court gave considerable weight only to Pooler's honorable military service. Had Salnick introduced Pooler's military, school, or employment records, he would have undermined Pooler's only significant mitigation. See Reed v. State, 875 So.2d 415, 437 (Fla.2004) (An ineffective assistance claim does not arise from the failure to present mitigation evidence where that evidence presents a double-edged sword.). Furthermore, Pooler's records would not have opened up mitigation leads sufficient to overcome the aggravation found by the trial court. Accordingly, counsel's failure to obtain these records does not undermine confidence in Pooler's death sentence.