Opinion ID: 12228
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: lackey received effective assistance of counsel

Text: 15 It is by now well settled that to prevail on an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim, Lackey must show that counsel's performance was deficient and that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2064, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). To prove deficient performance, Lackey has the burden of demonstrating that counsel's actions fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. Id. at 688, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. And to prove prejudice, Lackey must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different, id. at 694, 104 S.Ct. at 2068, and that counsel's deficient performance render[ed] the result of the trial unreliable or the proceeding fundamentally unfair. Lockhart v. Fretwell, 506 U.S. 364, 372, 113 S.Ct. 838, 844, 122 L.Ed.2d 180 (1993). 16 At the outset, we note that we entertain serious doubts about the veracity of Lackey's claim (raised in this appeal for the first time) that he actually informed his attorney that he had molested Rene. The Texas Court of Appeals found no evidence in the record suggesting that Lackey told counsel that he sexually abused Rene, and that counsel could not have been ineffective for failing to discover information Lackey could have disclosed but did not. In addition, the district court noted that Lackey did not allege that counsel had reason to know Lackey abused Rene, thereby compelling the conclusion that counsel could not have been ineffective for accidentally eliciting the information at trial. 17 In general, counsel is not ineffective for failing to discover evidence about which the defendant knows but withholds from counsel. See Randle v. Scott, 43 F.3d 221, 225 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1108, 115 S.Ct. 2259, 132 L.Ed.2d 265 (1995). Lackey alleges for the first time in this appeal that he informed counsel before trial that he had abused Rene sexually. This court reviews contentions not raised in the district court for plain error. Douglass v. United Servs. Auto. Ass'n, 79 F.3d 1415, 1428 (5th Cir.1996) (en banc). Only in the rarest of circumstances do errors involving issues of fact amount to plain error. See Robertson v. Plano City of Texas, 70 F.3d 21, 23 (5th Cir.1995). 18 Whether Lackey informed his attorney before trial that he had abused Rene sexually is a factual issue. Lackey has not demonstrated plain error regarding that issue. Lackey did not inform trial counsel about the previous sexual abuse before trial and our review of the record reveals that there is no evidence that Lackey's attorney knew or should have known about the prior abuse. It must therefore follow that counsel was not ineffective when he elicited testimony about the abuse during trial.