Opinion ID: 2782886
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Paul Everett

Text: With regard to Smith’s mitigation investigation, Everett testified that Smith did not bring up mitigating factors with Everett until they were about to go to trial, and Smith did very little to establish mitigating factors beyond “briefly speaking with [Everett’s] family.” Although Smith had Dr. Rowan meet with Everett, Dr. Rowan and Everett met for only “30, 45 minutes tops.” Basically, Dr. Rowan asked Everett about his childhood history, where he went to school, and “a little bit about [his] case.” Her emphasis in interviewing him was on his ability to stand trial, and she did not go into any great length about his background. Everett further testified that Smith never asked him about his problems with drugs. Given that he was steadily drinking alcohol from the age of seven or eight, Everett believed that Smith should have looked into his history with drugs and the 40 Case: 14-11857 Date Filed: 02/27/2015 Page: 41 of 87 effect that certain substances may have had on his brain development as a child. Everett started smoking marijuana around age twelve or thirteen. By the age of sixteen, he was “eating LSD every day, injecting methamphetamine every day.” Although drugs were “pretty much an every day thing” for him, he kept his drug use hidden from his family for several years. As to his two-week stay in Panama City leading up to the murder, Everett testified that he was using cocaine, methamphetamine, LSD, and ecstasy. In the hours leading up to the murder, Everett was using cocaine and methamphetamine together. Using cocaine and methamphetamine together would cause Everett to experience “intense paranoia of the police,” where he felt that he was being watched or followed by law enforcement. He was also experiencing paranoia at the time because he had been manufacturing methamphetamine. When asked whether the paranoia would ever prompt him to commit violence, Everett initially testified, “No,” but then immediately stated that he could not really say because “when it gets to that point it’s self-preservation not wanting to go to jail.” Everett admitted that he never discussed his drug-induced paranoia with either Smith or Dr. Rowan.