Opinion ID: 1401004
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Further Testing

Text: When investigating a defendant's mental health, counsel by necessity often relies on expert assistance. See, e.g., American Bar Association, American Bar Association Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases 11.4.1 (1989) [hereinafter ABA Guidelines ] (Counsel should secure the assistance of experts where it is necessary or appropriate for the defense.). Wilson concedes counsel engaged a qualified clinical psychologist, Dr. Reynolds, to evaluate him. Dr. Reynolds met with Wilson on three separate occasions, during which time he administered multiple psychological tests. Reynolds also met with Wilson's mother and had access to Wilson's medical records, school records, and statements from people who knew Wilson well, including a teacher, a fellow church member, and a long-time family friend. Counsel and Dr. Reynolds discussed these findings before trial. In the Supreme Court cases relied upon by the majority, trial counsel did not perform nearly as well. In Rompilla v. Beard , for example, counsel failed to investigate the defendant's prior convictions for rape and assault, despite knowing the state intended to introduce those convictions as aggravating factors at sentencing. 545 U.S. 374, 383-87, 125 S.Ct. 2456, 162 L.Ed.2d 360 (2005). As the Court noted, looking at a file the prosecution says it will use is a sure bet. Id. at 389, 125 S.Ct. 2456. In Wiggins v. Smith , moreover, counsel was deficient for failing to expand his investigation beyond readily available materials. Counsel's knowledge of the defendant's life history rested exclusively on the court-created presentence report and foster care records supplied by the city of Baltimore. 539 U.S. at 523, 123 S.Ct. 2527. Although funds were made available for counsel to retain a forensic social worker to investigate the defendant's background and prepare a report, counsel chose not to commission such a report. Id. at 524., 123 S.Ct. 2527 This paltry investigation stood in stark contrast to the standard practice in Maryland in capital cases at the time. Id. Our Tenth Circuit cases have also faulted counsel for doing far less. See, e.g., Anderson v. Sirmons, 476 F.3d 1131, 1143 (10th Cir.2007) (finding ineffective assistance when defendant was never evaluated by an expert); Smith, 379 F.3d at 939 (finding ineffective assistance when counsel was unaware mental state or mental illness could be introduced as mitigation). In determining what would lead a reasonable attorney to order additional rounds of mental health tests, we may expect counsel to rely on the opinion of a mental health expert. See Bell v. Thompson, 545 U.S. 794, 809-10, 125 S.Ct. 2825, 162 L.Ed.2d 693 (2005) (suggesting defendant would have faced an uphill battle to convince a court the mental health investigation should have continued despite an expert opinion defendant was not mentally ill); Clark v. Mitchell, 425 F.3d 270, 285 (6th Cir.2005) (It was not unreasonable for ... counsel, untrained in the field of mental health, to rely on the opinions of these professionals.). Even Strickland counseled that when determining the appropriate scope of an investigation, counsel should rely on the information already obtained from the defendant and others. 466 U.S. at 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Wilson's counsel appropriately relied on Dr. Reynolds to decide how many rounds of mental health testing should be conducted. The record does not reveal that Dr. Reynolds ever advised counsel further testing beyond the initial round was necessary or advisable. Nor did Dr. Reynolds advise further investigation might yield any definitive diagnoses. Only after trial did Dr. Reynolds indicate he needed additional information to support a schizophrenia diagnosisapparently because of an invalid MMPI-2 test. Even in his post-trial affidavit, however, Dr. Reynolds does not say he told counsel about the invalid test or advised counsel that further testing or investigation would be helpful. Counsel in his affidavit does not indicate he received such advice, and we do not have any report Dr. Reynolds prepared for counsel prior to giving his testimony. [8] Even if Dr. Reynolds had conducted more testing, there is no reason to think counsel's picture of Wilson would have changed. Dr. Reynolds's affidavit, written after he performed a new battery of tests on Wilson after trial, says only it was  possible  Wilson  could have been delusional at the time of the crime. Aplt. Add. 2 (emphasis added). Dr. Reynolds noted there was also a possibility Wilson suffered from delusions or hallucinations. Id. at 2. These generalized possibilities do not show, in any way, that if Wilson's counsel had given Dr. Reynolds more time to conduct more tests counsel's picture of Wilson would have changed in the least. The majority's insistence that further testing was necessary is pure speculation. `An ambiguous or silent record is not sufficient to disprove the strong and continuing presumption' that counsel's performance was reasonable and that counsel made all significant decisions in the exercise of reasonable professional judgment. Sallahdin v. Mullin, 380 F.3d 1242, 1251-52 (10th Cir.2004) (quoting Chandler v. United States, 218 F.3d 1305, 1314 n. 15 (11th Cir.2000)). Without any evidence that counsel disregarded the expert's professional judgment, I conclude counsel reasonably believed he had fulfilled his obligation to investigate Wilson's mental health by hiring an expert and considering the expert's conclusions. Compare Burger v. Kemp, 483 U.S. 776, 793, 107 S.Ct. 3114, 97 L.Ed.2d 638 (1987) (finding no ineffective assistance when record left ambiguity about reasonableness of counsel's decision), with Hooper v. Mullin, 314 F.3d 1162, 1171 (10th Cir.2002) (finding ineffective assistance when counsel disregarded expert report explicitly recommending further diagnostic investigation). [9] Under the circumstances here, and because of counsel's reasonable strategic choices discussed below, counsel's failure to pursue further diagnosis was not unreasonable.