Opinion ID: 1831577
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Cumulative Effect of Instances of Prosecutorial Misconduct.

Text: ¶ 60. Walker next contends that the cumulative effect of the above errors demonstrates ineffective assistance of counsel. Walker contended on direct appeal that the cumulative effect of the several claims of prosecutorial misconduct warranted reversal. However, the Court addressed the merits of this underlying substantive claim on direct appeal and held that Walker had not been denied a fundamentally fair trial by the claimed instances of prosecutorial misconduct. See Walker, 671 So.2d at 619. Therefore, the substantive claim underlying this claim of ineffective assistance of counsel has held to be without merit. Since the claim was held to be without merit, Walker cannot establish the prejudice necessary to sustain a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. This claim is without merit. ¶ 61. Walker also makes an incorrect statement of the law in this application. He contends that Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. at 387-88, 120 S.Ct. 1495, requires that a reviewing court consider the cumulative effect of counsel's deficient performance. The Supreme Court made no such holding. The Supreme Court was considering a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel based on the failure of counsel to introduce significant mitigating evidence. In discussing this claim the Supreme Court held: Second, the State Supreme Court's prejudice determination was unreasonable insofar as it failed to evaluate the totality of the available mitigation evidence both that adduced at trial, and the evidence adduced in the habeas proceeding in reweighing it against the evidence in aggravation. See Clemons v. Mississippi, 494 U.S. 738, 751-752, 110 S.Ct. 1441, 108 L.Ed.2d 725 (1990). Williams, 529 U.S. at 397-98, 120 S.Ct. 1495. ¶ 62. Clearly, this Court made such an analysis of the merits of this claim on direct appeal in the final paragraph of the section dealing with cumulative prosecutorial error. See Walker, 671 So.2d at 619. Looking again to Williams, we find the only mention of cumulative error in the whole opinion of the Supreme Court to be in the next to the last paragraph of the opinion. The Court stated: In our judgment, the state trial judge was correct both in his recognition of the established legal standard for determining counsel's effectiveness, and in his conclusion that the entire post-conviction record, viewed as a whole and cumulative of mitigation evidence presented originally, raised a reasonable probability that the result of the sentencing proceeding would have been different if competent counsel had presented and explained the significance of all the available evidence. It follows that the Virginia Supreme Court rendered a `decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law.' Williams' constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel as defined in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), was violated. Williams, 529 U.S. at 398-99, 120 S.Ct. 1495. Clearly, the Court was not speaking of cumulating the various errors of counsel, but rather was referring to the omitted mitigating evidence. Walker also argues that the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in Moore v. Johnson, 194 F.3d 586 (5th Cir. 1999), that there must be a cumulative error review of ineffective assistance claims. Walker is incorrect in his analysis of Moore. There the Fifth Circuit found no less than four instances of ineffective assistance of counsel, each independently requiring vacation of the death sentence. In the concluding sentence of the paragraph outlining these deficiencies and after finding that each resulted in Strickland prejudice, the court concluded: We therefore conclude that trial counsel's cumulative errors rendered the result of Moore's punishment phase unreliable and affirm the district court's grant of relief as to punishment only. Moore, 194 F.3d at 622. The Fifth Circuit did not state that the cumulative effect of the errors was the basis of its finding of ineffective assistance. Instead, the Fifth Circuit stated the cumulative, meaning four, errors were the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel. ¶ 63. Walker also relies on Henry v. Scully, 78 F.3d 51 (2d Cir.1996) and Harris ex rel. Ramseyer v. Wood, 64 F.3d 1432 (9th Cir.1995). Both of these cases stand for the proposition that once several instances of deficient performance have been found to exist that the prejudice inquiry can take the cumulative effect of the deficient performance into account. In fact, the Ninth Circuit decision clearly states that it had only done this type analysis once before in the post-Strickland era. 64 F.3d at 1438. In the case at bar, the claims raised have all been held to be without merit so no prejudice can be shown individually or cumulatively. In Russell v. State, 849 So.2d 95, 122 (Miss. 2003), this Court refused to adopt the defendant's argument that this Court must review the totality of the circumstances and the cumulative effect of counsel's lapses. Instead, this Court reiterated the proper standard for determining whether counsel was constitutionally ineffective: This Court looks at the totality of circumstances to determine whether counsel's efforts were both deficient and prejudicial. Judicial scrutiny of counsel's performance [is] highly deferential. There is a strong but rebuttable presumption that counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance. Only where it is reasonably probable that but for the attorney's errors, the outcome of the trial would have been different, will we find that counsel's performance was deficient. Russell, 849 So.2d at 122 (quoting Holly v. State, 716 So.2d 979, 989 (Miss.1998)). In Holly, this Court further explained, The record shows that Jones did not raise any objections during the argument, although there were several points at which an objection might have been appropriate. However, we do not find that counsel's failure to object shakes our confidence in the reliability of the outcome. 716 So.2d at 989 (citing Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052). In order for there to be a cumulative effect of errors, there must first be errors. In Walker, this Court has ruled that [t]here is no reversible error in either phase of the trial, thus there is no cumulative error. 671 So.2d at 629 (citing Foster, 639 So.2d at 1303). ¶ 64. Finally, Walker cites Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 115 S.Ct. 1555, 131 L.Ed.2d 490 (1995). We note that Kyles has nothing to do with ineffective assistance of counsel, and we are at a loss as to why counsel has cited this case as authority for an ineffective assistance of counsel claim. ¶ 65. On direct appeal this Court stated it was considering the cumulative effect of the claimed errors in holding the claims of prosecutorial misconduct to be without merit. Therefore, even if Williams could be read as requiring a cumulative effect analysis, which it cannot, this Court considered the cumulative effect of the claims of prosecutorial misconduct and held that Walker had not been denied a fair trial. That said, Walker still has not shown the requisite prejudice to demonstrate ineffective assistance of counsel. He is entitled to no relief on this claim of ineffectiveness of counsel.