Opinion ID: 1662097
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Analysis of the Evidence of Racial Bias

Text: To succeed on the claim that trial counsel should have disqualified Judge Corrigan on the ground of racial bias, Smulls must show that there was evidence of such disqualifying bias that his trial counsel knew of or could have discovered with a reasonable amount of investigation. White v. State, 939 S.W.2d at 895-96; State v. Twenter, 818 S.W.2d 628, 640 (Mo. banc 1991). Smulls has not done so. Most of the pre-trial, out-of-court evidence that purportedly indicated Judge Corrigan's racial bias should not be considered because it was properly excluded from evidence at the Rule 29.15 hearing before Judge O'Brien. In particular, the newspaper article about the racist joke was hearsay, and the report from Dr. Galliher on Judge Corrigan's allegedly disparate treatment of black defendants was not based on scientific study and lacked credibility otherwise. Even if that evidence had been properly admitted, it is not evidence that trial counsel knew of or could have discovered with a reasonable amount of investigation. To uncover evidence that Judge Corrigan allegedly told a single racist joke to an informal group of judges some ten years before trial, even when the joke was reported in the newspaper, is not required as part of any reasonable investigation. This is especially true considering trial counsel has only limited resources and must necessarily be given deference as to the target and scope of such investigation. See State v. Clay, 975 S.W.2d 121, 143 (Mo. banc 1998). This conclusion applies all the more to the kind of investigation conducted by Dr. Galliher. More importantly, counsel would not know the need to conduct these investigations until the allegedly racially insensitive remarks were made during the Batson hearing after the trial had commenced. Only then did the issue of Judge Corrigan's racial prejudice clearly present itself. Furthermore, even had counsel conducted the kind of pre-trial investigation that Smulls, in hindsight, now claims was required, the investigation would have likely turned up as much evidence that Judge Corrigan was not biased as evidence that he was biased. The five criminal defense lawyers who practice regularly before Judge Corrigan testified unequivocally that their African-American clients had been treated fairly, and even Judge Campbell, who testified that he overheard the racist joke years ago, qualified his statement by then testifying that during the many years he had served with Judge Corrigan, he had never heard of a claim or allegation of racial bias made against him. Under these circumstances, counsel cannot be faulted for failing to move for Judge Corrigan's disqualification before trial. Whether counsel should have moved to disqualify Judge Corrigan after his comments at the Batson hearing is perhaps another question, and ultimately, the issue to be resolved is whether counsel should have attempted to disqualify Judge Corrigan on the basis of his comments during the Batson hearing alone. Although this Court determined in the first Smulls opinion that those comments were racially insensitive, State v. Smulls, 935 S.W.2d at 26, Judge Corrigan's disqualification from the Rule 29.15 proceeding was required because those comments were coupled with the several allegations of pre-trial, out-of-court misconduct and the likelihood that Judge Corrigan, himself, would be a witness for those allegations. Id. at 27. The decision to disqualify a judge is a matter of trial strategy. State v. Ayers, 911 S.W.2d 648, 652 (Mo. banc 1995); see also Wilson v. State, 626 S.W.2d 243, 248-49 (Mo. banc 1982). As with all matters of trial strategy, appellate courts are properly deferential to trial counsel's decisions. Lyons v. State, 39 S.W.3d 32, 36 (Mo. banc 2001). In that regard, it may well be that trial counsel perceived that Judge Corrigan's Batson comments were made innocuously. Further, counsel acknowledged that there was at least one important strategic reason to keep Judge Corrigan on this case: Judge Corrigan believed that the jury instruction that permitted the judge to impose the death penalty if the jury could not agree on punishment, MAI-CR3d 313.48B, was unconstitutional, and Judge Corrigan stated that he would have an extremely difficult time imposing the death penalty if the jury did not. On this record, counsel cannot be convicted of being ineffective for failing to disqualify Judge Corrigan. Finally, hindsight shows that the decision not to disqualify Judge Corrigan did not result in prejudice. Smulls cannot point to any judicial decision that evidences Judge Corrigan's alleged bias or in which Judge Corrigan's alleged bias produced an unjust result. This Court expressed concern in its 1996 decision that Judge Corrigan's refusal to acknowledge race raises serious questions about his willingness to do what Batson requires, Smulls, 935 S.W.2d at 26, and this Court wrote: The trial court cannot add subtle burdens to the Batson process by refusing to take note of race where trial counsel properly places it at issue. Id. However, a careful review of the record shows that Smulls' Batson challenge was heard not once, but twice, and at the first hearing, Judge Corrigan did not dispute that Ms. Sidney was African-American. Indeed, the controversy did not arise until the second hearing on the second day when Judge Corrigan's memory had faded and Ms. Sidney and the other jurors who were not selected were no longer present. Ultimately, this Court determined in the original appeal that the prosecutor's preemptory strike of Ms. Sidney was not pretextual and that Judge Corrigan correctly denied the Batson challenge. Id. at 14-16. Smulls advances no evidence indicating otherwise. The simple fact is that Judge Corrigan's skepticism at Smulls' Batson hearing, whether honest or obstinate, did not prevent Smulls' claims from being heard and did not prove that the outcome of that hearing or the trial as a whole was the product of the judge's bias.