Opinion ID: 2487462
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Failure to Investigate and Present Evidence of Brain Impairment

Text: Lastly, Wyatt argues that defense counsel failed to secure a complete neuropsychological evaluation that would have led to the discovery of brain impairment. In support, he cites at length to the postconviction testimony of Dr. Ernest Bordini who Wyatt asserts testified that Wyatt suffered from frontal lobe impairment. The postconviction court denied this claim, finding that Wyatt cited no authority entitling him to the appointment of a neuropsychologist after having first been appointed a psychologist and a neurologist. Based on the facts of this case, we agree. During the 2007 evidentiary hearing, Litty testified that the defense retained Dr. Sheldon Rifkin, a psychologist well known in the legal community, to conduct a psychological evaluation of Wyatt. Litty further testified that in examining Wyatt, Dr. Rifkin conducted a battery of psychological tests, the results of which led Dr. Rifkin to opine that Wyatt was sane and competent to stand trial. Litty explained that Dr. Rifkin did not find any evidence of a closed-head injury. Following the issuance of his initial report, Dr. Rifkin requested from Litty additional medical records regarding a motorcycle accident in which Wyatt was involved years prior to the murders to rule out closed-head injury. Upon receipt of those records, Dr. Rifkin concluded that he could not find evidence of any kind of brain damage resulting from the motorcycle accident. Litty testified that she reviewed Dr. Rifkin's evaluation with Wyatt. Despite Dr. Rifkin's findings, Litty retained a neurologist, Dr. David MacMillan, to conduct a neurological examination on Wyatt. However, like Dr. Rifkin, Dr. MacMillan did not find any evidence of head injury or any other information that the defense could have used for mitigation purposes. Litty finally explained that an MRI conducted after Wyatt's trial on the Domino's murder counts but before Wyatt's trial for the Nydegger murder revealed no objective signs of brain damage or mental injury or disorder. In connection with the postconviction proceedings, Wyatt offered the testimony of Dr. Bordini, a neuropsychologist, who interviewed and administered standard neuropsychological tests to Wyatt. Dr. Bordini saw a pattern of frontal lobe difficulties including some mild frontal lobe difficulties in planning, inhibition, [and] sequencing and opined that frontal lobe damage most likely occurred as the result of a motorcycle accident in 1984. In cases with facts similar to those that are presented here, [t]his Court has established that defense counsel is entitled to rely on the evaluations conducted by qualified mental health experts, even if, in retrospect, those evaluations may not have been as complete as others may desire. Reese v. State, 14 So.3d 913, 918 (Fla.2009) (quoting Darling v. State, 966 So.2d 366, 377-78 (Fla.2007)); see also Stewart v. State, 37 So.3d 243, 251-52 (Fla. 2010). Similar to Reese, Stewart, and Darling, where this Court affirmed the denial of ineffective assistance claims based on counsel's failure to obtain neuropsychological testing, defense counsel in this case relied on the opinions of two mental health experts. Dr. Rifkin suggested that Wyatt be evaluated by a neurologist, Dr. MacMillan, and defense counsel followed that suggestion. Neither Dr. Rifkin nor Dr. MacMillan found any evidence of brain damage or head injury, and Wyatt did not establish that any mental health expert had recommended to defense counsel that Wyatt undergo neuropsychological testing. Further, an MRI conducted after Wyatt's first trial but before his second trial in the Nydegger case revealed no objective signs of brain damage, mental injury, or disorder. A fair assessment of attorney performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel's challenged conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from counsel's perspective at the time. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Even if the evaluations by Drs. Rifkin and MacMillan were somehow incomplete or inadequate when compared to the opinion of others, such as Dr. Bordini's, defense counsel cannot be rendered ineffective for relying on the expert evaluations conducted by Drs. Rifkin and MacMillan at the time. That is, Wyatt did not prove that a reasonable trial attorney should have known to not rely on the conclusions offered by the mental health experts who evaluated him. Thus, he did not prove that his counsel was deficient. Stewart, 37 So.3d at 253. Accordingly, we affirm the postconviction court's denial of relief on these claims.