Opinion ID: 2322936
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Direct Appeals

Text: Although we prefer post-conviction proceedings to address denial of effective assistance of counsel claims, we have recognized, nevertheless, that there may be exceptional cases where the trial record reveals counsel's ineffectiveness to be so blatant and egregious that review on appeal is appropriate. [7] , [8] Johnson, 292 Md. at 435 n. 15, 439 A.2d at 559 n. 15. Review of ineffective assistance of counsel claims may occur on direct appeal in a number of circumstances. For example, when a defendant alleges his counsel's effectiveness was compromised by prejudicial conflicts of interest, we have addressed the issue on direct appeal. [9] See Austin, 327 Md. at 393, 609 A.2d at 737 (concluding that the trial record sufficiently demonstrated that counsel's conflicts of interest adversely affected his performance); see also Harris II, 299 Md. at 518, 474 A.2d. at 893 (acknowledging that an ineffective assistance of counsel claim may be heard on direct appeal when facts related to the claim were heard by the trial court as part of a motion to withdraw a guilty plea). In addition, this Court has reviewed ineffective assistance of counsel claims on direct appeal when reviewing death penalty cases, as required by statute. See Maryland Code, § 2-401 of the Criminal Law Article (2002). [10] See Harris II, 299 Md. at 518, 474 A.2d at 893. A convicted person, in limited circumstances, thus may raise the claim that he or she was denied effective assistance of counsel on direct review without the benefit of a post-conviction proceeding. See In re Parris W., 363 Md. at 727, 770 A.2d at 207; Austin, 327 Md. at 394, 609 A.2d at 737; Harris II, 299 Md. at 518, 474 A.2d. at 893. The Supreme Court has evaluated ineffective assistance of counsel claims on direct review in the rare instance where the critical facts are undisputed, the record is sufficiently developed, and/or the legal representation is so egregiously ineffective that it is obvious from the trial record that a defendant was denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. See Massaro, 538 U.S. 500, 123 S.Ct. at 1694, 155 L.Ed.2d at 720-21 (explaining that post-conviction review is preferable to direct appeal for deciding claims of ineffective assistance and also holding that failure to raise an ineffective assistance of counsel claim on direct appeal does not bar the claim from being brought in a post-conviction proceeding). Numerous other federal courts also have so opined. See, e.g., United States v. Khedr, 343 F.3d 96, 99-100 (2nd Cir.2003)(declining to hear the defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim and, without describing the grounds for the claim, noting a baseline aversion to resolving ineffectiveness claims on direct review but allowing direct appeal in such cases when their resolution is `beyond any doubt'); United States v. Hughes, 330 F.3d 1068, 1069 (8th Cir.2003)(explaining, in a case where defense counsel went to trial to assert and preserve issues that did not relate to the defendant's factual guilt and did not object to the presentence report recommending that the defendant's offense level be reduced by two levels for acceptance of responsibility under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, that collateral proceedings are more appropriate than direct review because ineffective counsel claims usually involve facts outside the original record); United States v. King, 119 F.3d 290, 295 (4th Cir.1997)(observing, in a case where the defendant claimed his counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to move to dismiss the indictment based upon a violation of his right to a speedy trial and for failing to file timely objections to the presentence report, that it is well settled that ineffective assistance of counsel claims should be reviewed at the district court level rather than on direct appeal). Various of our sister state courts in states in which the Uniform Post Conviction Procedure Act is in effect also have so held. In State v. Zernechel, 304 N.W.2d 365, 367 (Minn.1981), the Supreme Court of Minnesota stated that, without indicating with specificity the defendant's claims regarding that he was denied effective assistance of counsel, direct appeals are disfavored because we do not have the benefit of all the facts concerning why defense counsel did or did not do certain things. In State v. Miller, 194 W.Va. 3, 459 S.E.2d 114, 125-26 (1995), the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, in a case where the defendant claimed that her trial counsel lacked an effective trial strategy by failing to offer instructions on her affirmative defense of self-defense, concluded that review of the case on direct appeal was inappropriate because the record did not, and often could not, adequately reveal the counsel's trial strategy, explaining that [t]he mission of the appellate judiciary is neither to mull theoretical abstractions nor to practice clairvoyance and that [t]he very nature of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim demonstrates the inappropriateness of review on direct appeal. See also State v. Kelley, 265 Neb. 563, 658 N.W.2d 279, 290 (2003)(finding the record to be insufficient regarding counsel's trial strategy to determine on direct appeal whether counsel's performance was deficient in his cross-examination of certain witnesses, his failure to object to certain fruits of the purportedly illegal search, and his failure to object to certain evidence that the defendant claimed was irrelevant); State v. Cyran, 586 A.2d 1238, 1240 (Me.1991)(declining to hear on direct review defendant's numerous claims of ineffective assistance of counsel claims and, without elucidating those claims, explaining that they refuse to review ineffective assistance of counsel claims on direct appeal, except in cases where the appeal record shows beyond the possibility of a rational disagreement that the defendant was inadequately represented, leaving defendant to seek relief through post-conviction proceedings). The rare instances in which we have permitted direct review are instructive, because they indicate our willingness to entertain such claims on direct review only when the facts in the trial record sufficiently illuminate the basis for the claim of ineffectiveness of counsel. As we explained in In re Parris W., direct review is an exception that applies only when the critical facts are not in dispute and the record is sufficiently developed to permit a fair evaluation of the claim. 363 Md. at 726, 770 A.2d at 207. In that case, the defense counsel, after issuing subpoenas for five witnesses corroborating the defendant's alibi for the wrong date, conceded he made the scheduling error. Id. at 720, 727, 770 A.2d at 203, 208. Because these facts were undisputed and the trial record was developed sufficiently, we concluded that it was appropriate for us to determine on direct review that counsel rendered ineffective assistance under the Strickland analysis. Id. at 727, 770 A.2d at 207. Similarly, we determined in two cases that direct review was appropriate because defense counsel had apparent conflicts of interest. In Austin, where two law partners continued to represent two criminal codefendants even after one defendant decided to testify against the other, we concluded that the trial record sufficiently demonstrated that defense counsel's conflict of interest adversely affected his performance. 327 Md. at 387, 609 A.2d at 729. We also had occasion to address another conflict of interest issue in Lettley, in which defense counsel represented another client who had not been charged with the crime at issue but had confessed to committing the crime to him. 358 Md. at 29, 746 A.2d at 394. We concluded that, although ineffective assistance of counsel claims were best reviewed in a post-conviction proceeding, [w]here the claim is based on conflict of interest, and the record is clear, direct review is appropriate. [11] Id. at 32, 746 A.2d at 396. We have been willing, thus, to consider these claims on direct review only when the facts found in the trial record are sufficiently developed to clearly reveal ineffective assistance of counsel and that counsel's performance adversely prejudiced the defendant. See In re Parris W., 363 Md. at 726, 770 A.2d at 207. We utilize the same rationale when we have declined to review claims on direct appeal. In Johnson, for example, we emphasized that, if the trial record does not reveal why counsel made certain decisions and only suggests he may have provided ineffective assistance, we prefer post-conviction proceedings because they provide counsel with the opportunity to explain his actions. 292 Md. at 435, 439 A.2d at 559. In that case, we declined to consider the defendant's ineffective assistance claim that his counsel failed to develop a coherent defense theory because the record did not reveal why counsel acted as he did, even though the defendant's new counsel cited many alleged errors by counsel appearing on the face of the record. Id. at 434-35, 439 A.2d at 558-59. Similarly, in Stewart, a case where the defendant's counsel declined to tell a new trial judge that the previous trial judge had recused herself from the case only if the defendant would waive his right to a jury trial and never asked the new judge to allow the defendant to elect a jury trial, we determined that the facts in the record were not sufficiently developed to evaluate whether the defendant voluntarily waived his right to a jury trial or whether his election was premised on counsel's ineffective representation. 319 Md. at 91-92, 570 A.2d at 1234. Moreover, in Walker, we declined to evaluate counsel's performance on direct review even though counsel remained silent throughout the trial because we believed a full record concerning relevant factual issues needed to be developed in a post-conviction proceeding. 338 Md. at 261-62, 658 A.2d at 243.