Opinion ID: 777766
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure to Raise in State Courts

Text: 18 Petitioner did not raise any ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims on direct appeal. He raised the following three ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims on postconviction in the trial court: First, he claimed that trial counsel were deficient by failing to acquire experts who could have established the effect upon the Petitioner of the combination, content, and amount of alcohol and drug use by him on the night of the homicides. He added that [t]he use of a pharmacologist could have proven the effect of the combination of drugs and alcohol used by the Petitioner upon his ability to control his actions and form a specific intent. Second, Petitioner argued that his trial attorneys failed to proceed with a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity notwithstanding the existence of psychological evidence in support of this plea. Third, he claimed that counsel were ineffective for assorted reasons, including (a) permitting petitioner to make an unsworn statement to the jury during sentencing and failing to prepare him to make that statement effective or meaningful; (b) making statements during mitigation indicating their lack of experience and familiarity with death penalty proceedings; (c) failing to bring an improper out-of-court contact with a juror to the attention of the court and failing to move for a mistrial based upon juror bias and predisposition; (d) waiving the right to be present and to have petitioner present during the in-chambers voir dire of a juror who was excused from further service during the trial based upon perceived inebriation during the proceedings; (e) failing to interview and prepare for witness testimony during the mitigation phase of the trial; (f) failing to persist in objecting to the prosecutor's improper closing argument during mitigation following admonishment by the trial court; (g) failing to make proper objections during both the guilt and mitigation phases of the trial; and (h) failing to communicate to the judge that lead counsel had effectively abandoned inexperienced junior counsel during the trial. 19 On appeal of the trial court's denial of his § 2953.21 petition, Petitioner alleged that the trial court erred in denying his request for an evidentiary hearing on the claims as raised by his postconviction petition. See State v. Lorraine, 1996 WL 207676, at . The Ohio Court of Appeals ruled that Petitioner's ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims were barred because they could have been raised on direct appeal. See id. at -3. 20 In the case sub judice, the first claim made by appellant relates to ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Appellant asserts that his trial counsel were also his appellate counsel and that they made numerous errors in his representation depriving him of a fair trial. However, a review of the court record reveals that appellant had three attorneys from the public defender's office to represent him at trial, and four attorneys from the public defender's office represent him on appeal. Thus, appellant's three different appellate attorneys could have raised the ineffectiveness of his trial counsel on direct appeal. 21 Id. at . The appeals court therefore held that res judicata applied because Petitioner had new counsel on appeal. Id. (citing State v. Cole, 2 Ohio St.3d 112, 443 N.E.2d 169 (Ohio 1982)). 22 In his federal habeas petition, Petitioner raised seven categories of claims, including ineffective assistance of counsel and ineffective mitigation/expert assistance. 4 The COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED district court ruled that Petitioner's ineffectiveness claims were not procedurally defaulted in the state courts because on direct appeal Petitioner's trial counsel continued to represent him with the addition of new counsel, creating a potential conflict of interest as to raising ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims, a situation that was not addressed in State v. Cole, supra. See Opinion Dated May 30, 2000 at 9-12; Opinion Granting Writ at 50-51. 23 Although Ohio courts generally require defendants to raise ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims on direct appeal, see Greer, 264 F.3d at 674 (quoting State v. Cole, 2 Ohio St.3d 112, 443 N.E.2d 169 (Ohio 1982) (syllabus)), as the district court ruled, the default is not necessarily fatal here because one of Petitioner's trial counsel remained on the direct appeal team. See Combs v. Coyle, 205 F.3d 269, 276-77 (6th Cir.) (holding that the petitioner's ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims, which were first presented in state postconviction proceeding, were not procedurally defaulted on state res judicata grounds because petitioner's trial counsel continued to represent him with the addition of new counsel, and the potential conflict of interest was not addressed by state procedural rules in effect at the time), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1035, 121 S.Ct. 623, 148 L.Ed.2d 533 (2000). 5 Thus, as in Combs, we are not barred from reviewing the merits because no firmly established procedural rule mandated that Petitioner's ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims had to be raised on direct appeal under these circumstances. See id. at 277. 6 24 Nonetheless, Petitioner's ineffective assistance counsel claims raised on federal habeas rest on different theories than those raised in the state postconviction proceedings, and are therefore procedurally defaulted anyway. See Wong v. Money, 142 F.3d 313, 322 (6th Cir.1998) (holding that a claim was procedurally defaulted because it rest[ed] on a theory which is separate and distinct from the one previously considered and rejected in the state court); Lott v. Coyle, 261 F.3d 594, 607, 619 (6th Cir.2001) (holding that relatedness of issue did not save claim; citing Wong ), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 1106, 151 L.Ed.2d 1001 (2002). Petitioner's closest state claim is that trial counsel failed to use a pharmacologist in the guilt phase to establish an insanity defense, which is an entirely different theory than the failure to develop evidence of organic brain damage and head injuries as mitigation. 25 On the other hand, as Petitioner points out, Respondent did not present this particular default argument — that Petitioner failed to present his ineffective assistance of trial counsel at mitigation — in direct response to Petitioner's habeas petition. 7 Respondent did, however, raise this theory of default in its response to a motion filed by Petitioner to expand the record with information going to the question of mental defect which was or would have been available to trial counsel. See Respondent's Memorandum in Opposition to Lorraine's Proposed Expansion of the Record with Sealed Documents Pertaining to his Claim of a Mental Defect, pp. 2 6. 8 Petitioner therefore had an opportunity to respond. Cf. Magouirk v. Phillips, 144 F.3d 348, 359 (5th Cir.1998) (holding that district court did not abuse its discretion in raising procedural default problem sua sponte because the petitioner had an opportunity to respond; proceeding involving a § 2254 motion). Furthermore, this Court has held in a § 2255 context that it may sua sponte raise procedural default despite the Government's failure to defend on that ground. See Elzy v. United States, 205 F.3d 882, 886 (6th Cir.2000); see also Morse v. Trippett, No. 00-1868, 2002 WL 257207, at  n. 4 (6th Cir. Feb.20, 2002) (applying Elzy in § 2254 context); Smith v. Johnson, 216 F.3d 521, 523-24 (5th Cir.2000) (raising procedural default in a § 2254 case sua sponte at the appellate level).