Opinion ID: 1265027
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel at the Penalty Phase Claim

Text: In its cross-appeal, the Commonwealth argues that the District Court erred in granting Lewis sentencing relief based on his claim that his counsel rendered ineffective assistance at the penalty phase of his trial by failing to investigate and present mitigating evidence. The Commonwealth argues that the District Court failed to afford deference to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's reasonable factual findings, instead substituting its own view of the evidence, and that the District Court failed to apply the presumption that counsel performed in a professionally reasonable manner. The Commonwealth also argues that the District Court improperly evaluated the prejudice prong of this claim under a de novo standard of review rather than applying AEDPA's deferential standard. We will address each of these arguments in turn.
Lewis first challenged his counsel's effectiveness at the penalty phase of his trial during his PCRA proceedings. The PCRA court denied relief on this claim and, on appeal from that decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court addressed and rejected the claim on its merits. See Lewis II, 743 A.2d at 909-10. Therefore, under these circumstances, the role of a federal habeas court is to review the state court's disposition through the lens of § 2254. Although the District Court recognized as much when it stated that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reached the merits of this claim and it was thus obligated to apply AEDPA's deferential standard of review, Lewis, 2006 WL 2338409, at  n. 6, the District Court nonetheless went on to determine the facts for itself and, in doing so, failed to give appropriate deference to the state court's decision. In Lewis II, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that the record did not support Lewis's claim that he suffered from serious mental illness and brain damage. 743 A.2d at 909. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court provided the following analysis of this claim: In his PCRA petition, appellant contended that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate, discover and present evidence at the penalty phase of appellant's trial that appellant was mentally ill. In support of this claim, appellant offered affidavits from a psychiatrist who examined him nearly fifteen years after the murder and concluded that he suffered from brain damage and mental illness at the time of the murder and from family members claiming that appellant was `different' as a child and that he suffered abuse at the hands of his father. Negating appellant's claim, however, is the presentencing mental health evaluation conducted on August 18, 1983, less than one year after the murder, in which the evaluator found that appellant did not manifest any major mental illness that could be a factor in the disposition of his case and that appellant appeared to be competent for sentencing. Appellant's claim that he suffers from brain damage or serious mental illness is also simply not supported by the record. Appellant played a very active role in his trial and in pre-trial proceedings. At a conference before the court on May 19, 1983, at which appellant's then-appointed counsel sought leave to withdraw, appellant stated that he was `legally astute and legally competent to represent' himself. N.T. 5/19/83 at 6. Throughout the conference, he spoke in a coherent and cogent manner, displaying a good command of language and vocabulary as well as knowledge of the legal process and his constitutional rights. Id. at 6-16. Further, appellant testified at a suppression hearing on July 27, 1983, where he also demonstrated clarity of thought and intelligence. N.T. 7/27/83 at 182-220. Appellant also testified at length at his trial regarding his alibi defense, once again showing no signs of brain damage or mental illness but rather appearing intelligent and well-spoken. N.T. 8/10/83 at 1054-1113. Because appellant gave no indication at the time of his trial that he suffered from brain damage or serious mental illness, his trial counsel and subsequent appellate counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to investigate, discover and present evidence of such brain damage or mental illness. Id. at 909-10 (footnote omitted). As this passage makes clear, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court evaluated the evidence that Lewis presented in support of his claim that counsel was ineffective at the penalty phase of trial and compared it to the record as a whole in the course of determining that Lewis had not demonstrated that at the time of his trial he was suffering from brain damage or mental illness. However, when the District Court analyzed this claim, it stated that [t]he evidence that [Lewis] has presented, both in the PCRA courts and in his habeas proceedings, reveals that he does in fact suffer from a host of mental health issues, many of which may be attributable to his deeply troubled family background. Lewis, 2006 WL 2338409, at . The District Court reached this conclusion without mentioning the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's finding to the contrary. Under AEDPA, factual determinations made by state courts  such as the one at issue here  are entitled to deference: [A] determination of a factual issue made by a State court shall be presumed to be correct. The applicant shall have the burden of rebutting the presumption of correctness by clear and convincing evidence. § 2254(e)(1). [12] This presumption of correctness applies to factual determinations of both state trial and appellate courts. See Rolan v. Vaughn, 445 F.3d 671, 679 (3d Cir.2006); Duncan, 256 F.3d at 196. Implicit factual findings are entitled to § 2254(e)(1)'s presumption of correctness as well. Campbell v. Vaughn, 209 F.3d 280, 285-86 (3d Cir.2000). Additionally, while § 2254 does not condition deference to state court factual findings on whether the state court held a hearing, Fahy, 516 F.3d at 182, the procedures used in the state court's adjudication of a claim may impact whether the petitioner has rebutted the presumption of correctness, see Lambert, 387 F.3d at 239. Thus state fact-finding procedures may be relevant when deciding whether ... a petitioner has adequately rebutted a fact, but the procedures are not relevant in assessing whether deference applies to those facts. Rolan, 445 F.3d at 679. In light of this standard, the District Court was not free to determine anew the underlying facts of this claim; rather, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's factual determination that Lewis had not demonstrated that he suffered from mental illness or brain damage was entitled to a presumption of correctness and the burden was on Lewis to rebut this presumption with clear and convincing evidence. Because the District Court did not address whether Lewis rebutted the presumption of correctness that attached to the state court's factual determinations, and instead arrived at its own interpretation of the facts without conducting an evidentiary hearing, we will engage in a plenary review of this issue. See Slutzker v. Johnson, 393 F.3d 373, 378 (3d Cir.2004) ([O]ur review of the District Court's factual findings is ... plenary, because [the District] Court relied solely on the state court record, and did not conduct an evidentiary hearing.). Upon review of the evidence that Lewis provides in support of his claim that information was available to his trial counsel pertaining to his mental illness and brain damage, we cannot conclude that he has rebutted the presumption of correctness that attaches to the state court's factual determination. As even a brief summary of the mental health evaluations reveals, the evidence that Lewis relies on to establish his mental illness and brain damage is in large part contradictory. For example, in a psychiatric evaluation conducted shortly after trial in August 1983, Dr. Camiel reported that Lewis was more intelligent than previous testing had shown; that Lewis's thoughts progressed in a normal associative manner without evidence of an underlying thought disorder or rambling pattern of speech; and he diagnosed Lewis as having an Antisocial Personality Disorder, with his grandiose thoughts constituting a narcissistic component to his disorder. (App. at 2162-66.) Similarly, a psychiatric evaluation conducted by Dr. Canals in 1993 provided the following information: Lewis appeared to be very intelligent; during the interview he did not show any symptoms of being psychotic, he appeared to be in good contact with reality, he was somewhat grandiose, admitted to episodes of feeling high without the use of chemicals and his conversation was well organized; he had Polysubstance Abuse Severe, Explosive Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Paranoid Personality Disorder, and Hypomanic Personality Disorder; and Lewis was not suffering from any major mental illness. (App. at 2156-61.) In contrast, a psychological evaluation conducted by Dr. Wellman in 1984 revealed that tests placed Lewis's IQ at 77, considered borderline mentally retarded; mentioned brain damage and a head injury inflicted by his father; and described Lewis's self-image as inflated to the point of mild grandiosity, noting that those persons with this profile type often have paranoid mental activity and disordered thinking. (App. at 2168-69.) Likewise, Lewis was evaluated in 1997 by a forensic psychologist, Dr. Berland, who observed that a test put Lewis's IQ at 86, the bottom of the average range; testing indicated a serious psychotic disturbance involving delusional paranoid thinking, psychotic mood disturbance, and perceptual disturbance including hallucinations; testing suggested diffuse or widespread damage to Lewis's cerebral cortex, which may have been congenital; and Lewis suffered from brain damage and chronic, serious, mental illness. (App. at 2171-72, 2186.) In combination, this evidence is far from conclusive with respect to establishing that Lewis suffers from mental illness or brain damage. In addition to these professional evaluations, Lewis offers declarations from various family members and friends in support of his claim that evidence of his mental illness and brain damage was available to his trial counsel. For example, Lewis's mother stated that she drank turpentine while pregnant with Lewis and that he had suffered a head injury as a young boy when his father slammed Lewis's head into the bathtub. (App.1968-70.) But Lewis himself has never acknowledged any abuse  he informed Dr. Canals that he was raised by very good parents who were decent law-abiding citizens and that he was never abused (App.2156)  nor has he submitted reports from any doctors specializing in neurological issues. Other evidentiary problems include that Lewis has not submitted medical records of psychiatric treatment from before or during his incarceration, he has not submitted any school records showing learning or emotional problems, and he has not addressed the possibility that his allegedly delusional behavior was actually caused by his heavy drug use. Further undermining Lewis's attempt to show that he suffers from mental illness and brain damage is the affirmative evidence of his active and engaged conduct at trial and during pre-trial hearings. (App. at 739-772.) Therefore, at best, the evidence of record with respect to Lewis's mental health and brain damage is in conflict and we cannot conclude that Lewis rebutted, with clear and convincing evidence, the state court's factual determination that the record did not support his claim of mental illness or brain damage. Moreover, the District Court's mistake in disregarding the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's factual determinations in favor of its own infected the remainder of its analysis.
Based on its own determination of the underlying facts of this claim, the District Court concluded that trial counsel failed to present any evidence whatsoever in mitigation [which] leads inexorably to the conclusion that he failed to make any reasonable effort to uncover such evidence, and there can be no reason, strategic or otherwise for trial counsel's failure to investigate and present mitigating evidence. Lewis, 2006 WL 2338409, at . Thus the District Court concluded that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unreasonably applied the Supreme Court's precedents in Strickland and Terry Williams. Id. However, in reaching these conclusions, the District Court failed to apply the presumption that Lewis's counsel performed in a professionally reasonable manner. To reiterate, in order to establish deficient performance, a defendant must show that counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 688, 104 S.Ct. 2052. The courts, in turn, must make every effort ... to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel's challenged conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from counsel's perspective at the time. Id. at 689, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Therefore, in evaluating the first prong of the Strickland test, courts must indulge a strong presumption that counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance; that is, the defendant must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action `might be considered sound trial strategy.' Id. The presumption can be rebutted by showing that the conduct was not, in fact, part of a strategy or by showing that the strategy employed was unsound. Thomas v. Varner, 428 F.3d 491, 499-500 (3d Cir.2005) (footnote omitted). Consequently, [i]n cases in which the record does not explicitly disclose trial counsel's actual strategy or lack thereof (either due to lack of diligence on the part of the petitioner or due to the unavailability of counsel), the presumption may only be rebutted through a showing that no sound strategy posited by the Commonwealth could have supported the conduct. Id. at 500 (footnote omitted) (citing Yarborough v. Gentry, 540 U.S. 1, 8, 124 S.Ct. 1, 157 L.Ed.2d 1 (2003), in which the Supreme Court explained that the presumption of reasonableness has particular force where a petitioner bases his ineffective-assistance claim solely on the trial record, creating a situation in which a court may have no way of knowing whether a seemingly unusual or misguided action by counsel had a sound strategic motive (internal quotation marks omitted)). [13] Nonetheless, even if the presumption is rebutted, a court must still `determine whether, in light of all the circumstances, the identified acts or omissions [of counsel] were outside the wide range of professionally competent assistance.' Jacobs v. Horn, 395 F.3d 92, 106 (3d Cir.2005) (quoting Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690, 104 S.Ct. 2052). In his PCRA proceedings, Lewis framed his ineffective assistance argument as a challenge to his trial counsel's failure to conduct any investigation geared toward the penalty hearing and to present information regarding [his] mental illness. The District Court was persuaded that there was no reason, strategic or otherwise for trial counsel's failure to investigate and present mitigating evidence. Lewis, 2006 WL 2338409, at . However, as we have already discussed, the District Court did not apply the presumption of correctness to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's finding that the record did not support Lewis's claim that, at the time of trial, he suffered from mental illness or brain damage. Thus, the District Court's statement that no reason, strategic or otherwise existed for trial counsel's failure to ... present mitigating evidence of Lewis's mental health issues is incorrect for at least two reasons. First, if evidence of Lewis's mental illness and brain damage was lacking because he did not in fact suffer from either condition  as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found  it cannot be said that no reason existed for failing to present such evidence. A valid reason for not presenting evidence is that it does not exist. [14] Second, even if the state court's factual determination that Lewis had not established that he was suffering from mental illness or brain damage could be disregarded, it was error for the District Court not to employ the presumption that Lewis's counsel acted in a professionally reasonable manner. Instead of applying this presumption, the District Court jumped to the conclusion that counsel's failure to present mitigating evidence was unreasonable. However, under our caselaw, where, as here, the record is silent as to counsel's strategy or lack thereof, the defendant bears the burden of proving that no sound strategy offered by the Commonwealth would have supported the conduct. See Varner, 428 F.3d at 500. Because the District Court did not engage in this analysis, we consider it best not to do so in the first instance at this time. In addition to Lewis's claim that his counsel was ineffective for failing to present evidence of his mental illness and brain damage, Lewis also premised his ineffective assistance claim on grounds that his counsel failed to conduct any investigation in preparation for the penalty phase of his trial. While counsel's failure to present mitigating evidence of Lewis's mental health may have come within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance  either because the evidence to support this claim did not exist or a sound strategy supported the decision not to present the evidence  we must still determine whether counsel's efforts to investigate any mitigating evidence were reasonable. In Strickland, the Supreme Court instructed that counsel has a duty to make reasonable investigations or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary, and therefore, [i]n any ineffectiveness case, a particular decision not to investigate must be directly assessed for reasonableness in all the circumstances, applying a heavy measure of deference to counsel's judgments. 466 U.S. at 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052. The Supreme Court further explained that what investigation decisions are reasonable depends critically on information supplied by the defendant, noting that when a defendant has given counsel reason to believe that pursuing certain investigations would be fruitless or even harmful, counsel's failure to pursue those investigations may not later be challenged as unreasonable. Id. To this end, inquiry into counsel's conversations with the defendant may be critical to a proper assessment of counsel's investigation decisions, just as it may be critical to a proper assessment of counsel's other litigation decisions. Id. Accordingly, before we can assess the reasonableness of counsel's investigatory efforts, we must first determine the nature and extent of the investigation that took place as well as the nature and extent of the communications that occurred between Lewis and his counsel on this issue. This task is made difficult by the fact that Lewis's trial counsel is deceased, having died shortly after the conclusion of Lewis's trial, and Lewis himself has not offered any statements on his own behalf. On this record, Lewis has not established that his counsel in fact failed to undertake any investigation of his family background or failed to consult with him regarding the decision to investigate. Although Lewis offers declarations from his mother and siblings that they were not contacted by Lewis's trial counsel, as the Commonwealth points out, these were unsworn statements not tested by the adversary method, and were offered, in large part, by witnesses who testified at trial in support of Lewis's alibi defense and whose testimony the jury discredited. This is hardly a sufficient basis upon which to conclude that Lewis's counsel conducted no background investigation and that counsel's conduct was not reasonable under all of the circumstances. Moreover, we are unwilling to conclude, as the District Court did, that [t]he fact that trial counsel failed to present any evidence whatsoever in mitigation leads inexorably to the conclusion that he failed to make any reasonable effort to uncover such evidence. Lewis, 2006 WL 2338409, at  11. The record on this issue is too undeveloped for us to conclude that Lewis's counsel failed to conduct any background investigation and did not act in a professionally reasonable manner in this regard. Cf. Thomas v. Horn, 570 F.3d at 125 (noting that it would be premature to decide if counsel's performance was deficient without first conducting an evidentiary hearing to determine the extent, if any, of [the defendant's] counsel's pre-sentencing investigative efforts to obtain mitigating evidence, notwithstanding the fact that the defendant's relative provided a signed statement that she had not been contacted about the defendant's life and mental health and there was no affirmative evidence of an investigation); Marshall v. Hendricks, 307 F.3d 36, 106 (3d Cir.2002) (remanding to the district court to conduct an evidentiary hearing before reevaluating whether counsel's performance was deficient where there was no record before us as to what preparation or investigation, if any, was performed by counsel in anticipation of the penalty phase). In sum, that counsel did not present evidence relating to Lewis's mental health or his family background does not compel the conclusion that counsel failed to conduct any investigation into mitigating evidence, as the District Court reasoned, and thereby failed to act in a professionally reasonable manner. When deference is afforded to the state court's underlying factual determinations and when the presumption that counsel performed adequately is given effect, we cannot conclude that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unreasonably applied Supreme Court precedent in denying relief to Lewis on the basis of his ineffective assistance claim.
Because we disagree with the District Court's analysis of the performance prong of Strickland, and this error alone requires us to reverse the District Court's grant of relief from Lewis's sentence, we do not need to provide an exhaustive analysis of the prejudice prong at this time; however, we will make two observations before moving on. First, the District Court incorrectly determined that de novo review was appropriate. As we have previously noted, the Supreme Court clearly held that the § 2254(d) standards apply when a state supreme court rejects a claim without giving any indication of how it reached its decision. Chadwick v. Janecka, 312 F.3d 597, 606 (3d Cir.2002) (internal quotation marks omitted). Thus, federal habeas courts must distinguish between the denial of a claim without explanation and the failure to adjudicate a claim on its merits; only the former triggers the application of AEDPA's deferential standard of review. Here, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision can be interpreted as concluding that Lewis was not prejudiced by his counsel's conduct just as easily as it can be interpreted as concluding that his counsel's conduct was not unreasonable. Therefore, the District Court erred by not applying § 2254(d) to this aspect of Lewis's ineffective assistance claim. Second, if it becomes necessary to reconsider whether Lewis was prejudiced by any deficiencies in his counsel's performance, the District Court will need to engage in a meaningful reweighing of the aggravating and mitigating evidence in order to decide this issue. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 695, 104 S.Ct. 2052 ([T]he question is whether there is a reasonable probability that, absent the errors, the sentencer ... would have concluded that the balance of aggravating and mitigating circumstances did not warrant death.); see also Marshall, 307 F.3d at 103 (Given the unanimity requirement, the `reasonable probability of a different outcome' would mean that only one juror need weigh the factors differently and find that the aggravating factor did not outweigh the mitigating factors). Also relevant to the prejudice analysis is the issue of whether Lewis would have allowed trial counsel to present disparaging and negative information to show that he was mentally ill, brain damaged, and abused, especially in light of his desire to portray himself as a person of superior intellect and his attempts to control the presentation of his case. (Supp.App. 6-7, 9, 11-18; Tr. 6/16/83 at 12, 14-15; App. at 732-35.) Lewis has yet to provide any statement that the decision not to present background information in mitigation was other than his own choice. See Schriro v. Landrigan, 550 U.S. 465, 478, 127 S.Ct. 1933, 167 L.Ed.2d 836 (2007) (addressing a situation in which a client interferes with counsel's efforts to present mitigating evidence to a sentencing court and deferring to the state court's conclusion that prejudice could not be shown); Taylor v. Horn, 504 F.3d at 455 (reasoning that whatever counsel could have uncovered, [the defendant] would not have permitted any witnesses to testify, and was therefore not prejudiced by any inadequacy in counsel's investigation or decision not to present mitigation evidence); cf. Thomas v. Horn, 570 F.3d at 123 (At no time did my attorney explain to me that evidence concerning my character could or should be presented for the jury's consideration at the penalty hearing.).
Notwithstanding our conclusions that Lewis has failed to demonstrate that he is entitled to sentencing relief on his ineffective assistance of counsel claim, we believe that Lewis should be granted an evidentiary hearing to try to develop the record in support of his claim. Section 2254(e)(2) provides that if an applicant has failed to develop the factual basis of a claim in State court proceedings, the court shall not hold an evidentiary hearing on the claim, unless one of the enumerated exceptions applies. The focus of this inquiry is on whether the defendant was diligent in his efforts to provide the factual bases for his claim during the state court proceedings. See Michael Williams, 529 U.S. at 435, 120 S.Ct. 1479 (Diligence for purposes of the opening clause [of § 2254(e)(2)] depends upon whether the prisoner made a reasonable attempt, in light of the information available at the time, to investigate and pursue claims in state court....). Through each stage of his PCRA proceedings, Lewis continued to supplement his claim with additional factual support. While this piecemeal development of the factual basis of a claim is not ideal, we conclude, on these facts, that it suffices to meet the standard set forth in § 2254(e)(2). Therefore, we will remand to the District Court to conduct an evidentiary hearing, which provides Lewis with the opportunity to rebut the presumption of correctness that applies to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's determination that Lewis did not demonstrate that he suffers from serious mental illness or brain damage and to rebut the presumption that his counsel's performance was professionally reasonable by showing that no sound strategy posited by the Commonwealth would support his counsel's decisions regarding the investigation and presentation of mitigating evidence and that the totality of the circumstances establish that his counsel's conduct was unreasonable. The burden is on Lewis to overcome these presumptions, which we expect will be difficult to do if Lewis continues to remain silent. Additionally, the District Court will need to determine the credibility of Lewis's witnesses, rather than simply relying on unsworn statements, and the Commonwealth will have the opportunity to present its own evidence as well. If necessary, after the record is more fully developed, the District Court will need to reweigh the mitigating and aggravating evidence in its entirety in the course of determining if Lewis was prejudiced by any deficiencies in his counsel's performance. Lastly, we note that both the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the District Court considered whether Lewis was able to establish his ineffective assistance claim based on his counsel's failure to present available evidence of his mental health issues. This is understandable in light of the way Lewis framed his claim and his evidence in support of the claim. Nonetheless, Lewis's claim could also be interpreted to encompass a challenge to his counsel's failure to present background information that may have been independently mitigating, even if it did not demonstrate that Lewis suffers from serious mental illness or brain damage. Under Pennsylvania's statute, in addition to several specifically enumerated mitigating circumstances, a defendant may present [a]ny other evidence of mitigation concerning the character and record of the defendant and the circumstances of his offense. 42 Pa. Cons.Stat. Ann. § 9711(e)(8); cf. Terry Williams, 529 U.S. at 395-96, 120 S.Ct. 1495 (concluding that trial counsel did not fulfill their obligation to conduct a thorough investigation of the defendant's background where they failed to uncover and present extensive records graphically describing [the defendant's] nightmarish childhood, including information that the defendant's parents had been imprisoned for the criminal neglect of [the defendant] and his siblings, and that [the defendant] had been severely and repeatedly beaten by his father); see also Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 319, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989) (explaining that evidence about the defendant's background and character is relevant because of the belief, long held by this society, that defendants who commit criminal acts that are attributable ... to emotional and mental problems, may be less culpable than defendants who have no such excuse (internal quotation marks omitted)). Because the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did not consider whether Lewis's counsel may have been ineffective for failing to investigate or present independently mitigating background evidence, on remand, the District Court can review this aspect of Lewis's claim under a de novo standard.