Opinion ID: 853470
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Form and Execute a Reasonable Trial Strategy

Text: Vowels trial strategy was, in his words: to rely on the good graces of the Circuit Court judge not to put my client on death row. But as Judge Young's comments at Prowell's sentencing make clear, Vowels failed to convey to the court the severity of Prowell's mental illness and connect it to the murders. This failure to investigate adequately Prowell's mental status and secure appropriate expert testimony was compounded by the fact that, at the guilty plea hearing, Vowels affirmatively represented Prowell to be mentally sound at that time and at the time of the murders. These statements significantly undermined an already flimsy sentencing strategy. Although Vowels and Danks had spent several hours preparing Prowell for the guilty plea hearing, Prowell had difficulty stating a factual basis for the plea that was acceptable to the court and prosecutor. In an attempt to remedy the situation, Vowels asked Prowell a few questions to establish that he knowingly committed the murders. Still unsatisfied that Prowell's statements adequately met the culpability requirement, the prosecutor admitted a transcript of Prowell's initial statement to police in order to establish a factual basis for the plea. Worried that the court would still not accept Prowell's plea, Vowels volunteered: Judge, I have no question Mr. Prowell understands this Hearing, understands what he's charged with, understands the proceedings, understands what he's waiving today. He is fully capable of assisting me, he is fully capable of discussing the case with me. He has reviewed the case file with me, he has intelligently discussed the facts of the case, he is lucid, he has a good attention level. My investigation, and I will candidly tell your Honor, at this point I am bound by a privilege, but I can tell you, and it is not my, let me say this, my investigation reveals that my client's plea today is knowingly, voluntarily, and that he is of sound mind today and on the event of the murders. This is an astonishing statement given that Prowell pleaded guilty without a plea agreement and that Vowels' sole sentencing strategy was to convince Judge Young that Prowell was severely mentally ill and therefore should not be sentenced to death. Vowels' statement to the court about Prowell's comprehension of the proceeding, his ability to assist in his own defense, and his sound mind today and on the event of the murders is fundamentally inconsistent with his attempt to argue that Prowell had long suffered from a serious mental illness which mitigated his culpability for the murders. Given the inconsistency of Vowels' statements to the court, the testimony of a psychologist that Prowell merely suffered from a personality disorder, and the paucity of mitigating evidence or testimony regarding Prowell's background, it is not surprising that Judge Young found that Prowell's case bore little resemblance to Anderson's. There is more than a reasonable probability that the decision of the trial court to sentence Prowell to death was a direct result of counsel's ineffectiveness. Vowels' speech was apparently an effort by counsel to cause the court to accept the plea, but it at the same time disavowed Prowell's best hope to avoid the death penalty. It is not too harsh to state that it appears counsel's desperation to avoid a trial for which there was grossly inadequate preparation also drove Prowell's lawyers to jettison his best hope to survive.