Opinion ID: 686522
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel--Failure To

Text: 9 Investigate and Present Evidence of Mental Illness 10 LaRette's primary argument on appeal is that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to adequately investigate his mental condition and in not introducing evidence of that condition at either the guilt or sentencing phase of the trial. LaRette argues that further investigation would have uncovered a plethora of records from hospitals and doctors revealing a twenty-year history of temporal lobe epilepsy, head injuries, brain damage, and seizures. Larette contends that this evidence would have provided both a defense at the guilt phase and a mitigating circumstance at the penalty phase by establishing that the murder was precipitated by [LaRette's] mental illness which causes intermittent rage behavior which he cannot control. 11 This claim was the subject of a post-conviction evidentiary hearing in state court. LaRette's trial counsel testified that he requested a psychiatric evaluation the day after he was appointed to represent LaRette. Dr. Henry Bratkowski examined LaRette and reported that he was of average intelligence, was competent to stand trial, and did not suffer from any mental disorder that would excuse him from criminal responsibility. Counsel further testified that he discussed the possibility of presenting a mental illness defense with his client. LaRette told counsel that he (LaRette) had no mental problems at the time of the murder and instructed counsel not to present a mental illness defense because LaRette would rather die than go back to a mental hospital. At all their pretrial meetings, counsel considered LaRette to be lucid and in control of his faculties. 12 At the guilt phase of the trial, LaRette instructed counsel to present the defense that LaRette was innocent because a hitchhiker had murdered Mary Fleming. After the jury found LaRette guilty of the crime, counsel spent the entire recess before the sentencing phase urging LaRette to testify about mitigating circumstances, including his history of mental illness beginning with a childhood head injury, and his marital problems immediately prior to the murder. LaRette refused to testify. During the sentencing phase, counsel introduced testimony by LaRette's mother as to his emotional state and marital problems at the time of the murder. 13 LaRette first argues that counsel ineffectively investigated LaRette's mental condition. Though counsel obtained a psychiatric evaluation which did not support a competency defense, LaRette contends that this evaluation was flawed because the examiner did not have LaRette's prior medical records. Therefore, counsel should have obtained those records and requested a second evaluation. However, as the state courts noted, this failure to investigate claim must be considered in light of what LaRette told his counsel--that he was competent at the time of the murder and that counsel should not pursue a competency defense. 14 In 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. 15 The reasonableness of counsel's actions may be determined or substantially influenced by the defendant's own statements or actions. Counsel's actions are usually based, quite properly, on informed strategic choices made by the defendant and on information supplied by the defendant.... [W]hen 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. 16 Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2066, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); see also Burger v. Kemp, 483 U.S. 776, 107 S.Ct. 3114, 97 L.Ed.2d 638 (1987); Laws v. Armontrout, 863 F.2d 1377, 1383-84 (8th Cir.1988) (en banc), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1040, 109 S.Ct. 1944, 104 L.Ed.2d 415 (1989). Taking this factor into account, we agree with the Missouri courts and the district court that counsel's investigation did not fall below an objective standard of reasonableness. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 688, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. 17 LaRette also argues that counsel was ineffective in not presenting evidence of mental illness at the guilt and sentencing phases of the trial. The state courts concluded that counsel did not provide constitutionally ineffective assistance (i) because counsel followed LaRette's instruction in not presenting such evidence during the guilt phase, and (ii) because LaRette's refusal to testify frustrated counsel's attempt to address this issue during the sentencing phase. LaRette, 703 S.W.2d at 39-40. Like the district court, we agree. Compare Singleton v. Lockhart, 962 F.2d 1315, 1321-22 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 435, 121 L.Ed.2d 355 (1992).