Opinion ID: 6109557
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Call Additional Experts in Penalty Phase

Text: Mr. McFadden argues the motion court clearly erred in rejecting his claim defense counsel were ineffective in failing to call Dr. Norman White to testify during the penalty phase regarding the cultural milieu of Pine Lawn. Dr. White's research focuses on determining what factors cause young people to become involved in crime. Postconviction counsel retained Dr. White to create a social profile regarding what life was like growing up in Pine Lawn. Dr. White interviewed multiple individuals who lived there and interviewed Mr. McFadden on four separate occasions. He also spoke with others who worked in youth services in nearby areas when Mr. McFadden was growing up. He concluded the lack of education and poverty, and the fact the area was rife with teen pregnancy, was predictive of high crime rates for young African-American males. He believed these factors also were the likely result of Pine Lawn's high level of gang activity. Much of the evidence Dr. White presented regarding the cultural milieu of Pine Lawn was not available in 2008. Defense counsel also testified they were unaware of the use of such sociological testimony in capital cases in 2008; at the time, it would have been normal to present evidence of the culture surrounding Pine Lawn through lay witnesses, as counsel did here. 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 performance at the time. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 . In any event, counsel explained they had considered calling a gang expert but strategically decided an expert on the issue would likely have been more harmful than helpful as it could have brought attention to Mr. McFadden's gang involvement, an issue defense counsel specifically wanted to minimize at trial. Dr. White's testimony similarly would have been subject to cross-examination about Mr. McFadden's gang involvement and could have exposed the jury to damaging evidence about Mr. McFadden's drug dealing and other crimes in which he was the prime suspect. Finally, Dr. White never discussed the facts of Mr. McFadden's offenses or related them to the conditions in which he grew up and was unable to render an opinion regarding the impact of growing up in Pine Lawn on Mr. McFadden's choice to murder Leslie. As his testimony was of limited assistance, the motion court did not err in concluding counsel were not ineffective in failing to call him as a witness.
Mr. McFadden also argues defense counsel were ineffective in failing to call Dr. Draper, whom they utilized as an expert during the penalty phase of both trials involving the murder of Mr. Franklin  and the first trial involving the murder of Leslie. Dr. Draper testified at the postconviction hearing that Mr. McFadden suffered from an attachment disorder that arose in reaction to the insufficient structure and bullying of his childhood. Defense counsel testified that while Dr. Draper's opinions were helpful, their usefulness was outweighed by her weakness as a witness. In all three penalty phases in which she testified and at the postconviction hearing, Dr. Draper gave damaging opinions that Mr. McFadden knew the difference between right and wrong, his attachment disorder did not make him a murderer, and he used his free will to choose to murder. Moreover, Dr. Draper had testified really badly in the third trial-that is, in Mr. McFadden's second penalty phase trial for Mr. Franklin's murder, including revealing Mr. McFadden had threatened his mother with a shotgun. She further was badly impeached in that trial, which made it just look as if she just says whatever [defendants] want, if it helps them. Baumruk v. State, 364 S.W.3d 518 , 536 (Mo. banc 2012) , found no clear error in choosing not to present expert testimony regarding movant's brain limitation when it had been presented in Baumruk's first trial to no avail and, therefore, it was a reasonable strategic decision for Baumruk's counsel to present different mitigating evidence during Baumruk's second trial. Similarly here, it was not clear error for the motion court to find defense counsel made a reasonable strategic decision not to call Dr. Draper and instead to rely on lay witnesses who performed better in front of the jury. This decision was not based on inadequate investigation or unreasonable trial strategy but due to concerns Dr. Draper's previous damaging cross-examinations would be used to impeach her in this trial. 7 Counsel will not be found ineffective for choosing to pursue one reasonable trial strategy to the exclusion of another. Davis, 486 S.W.3d at 912 .
Similarly, the motion court did not clearly err in finding defense counsel were not ineffective for failing to call Dr. Gelbort as a neurological expert to testify Mr. McFadden's mental capacity was that of someone under the age of 18. To the extent Mr. McFadden argues a mental age of less than 18 entitles him to be treated as a juvenile for sentencing purposes and precludes imposition of the death penalty even though he was 23 at the time he committed the murder, this Court already has rejected that argument in Tisius, 519 S.W.3d at 430-31 . Tisius held that even though the United States Supreme Court recognized the potential for a defendant's mental age to differ from his or her biological age, it  nonetheless, implemented a bright line rule as to the minority age for imposition of the death penalty and trial counsel were not ineffective for failing to object on grounds that Mr. Tisius' mental age prohibited imposition of the death penalty because his biological age was over 18. Id. at 431 . While it may be, at some future time, courts will prohibit imposition of the death penalty for those younger than 25 years, this is not currently the law. 8 To the extent Mr. McFadden is arguing counsel were unreasonable in deciding not to call Dr. Gelbort as a neurological expert in mitigation, his claim also fails. The record shows counsel's decision was based on their specific familiarity with Dr. Gelbort and their belief calling him would have hurt Mr. McFadden's case. In 2004, he was hired by counsel to perform a neuropsychological exam on Mr. McFadden. He concluded Mr. McFadden had a full-scale IQ in the low-average range, had impulse control problems, and had impairments in the areas of the brain that give rise to decisionmaking. But he also would not characterize Mr. McFadden as mentally disabled and believed Mr. McFadden's mental capacity did not absolve him of responsibility for the murders of Leslie and Mr. Franklin. Defense counsel nonetheless called Dr. Gelbort to testify during the first trial involving the murder of Leslie and the first trial involving the murder of Mr. Franklin, but he performed poorly on cross-examination. Counsel believed Dr. Gelbort's previous testimony was not particularly helpful because he could not definitively say Mr. McFadden's cognitive functioning had any impact on the decision to kill Leslie, the testimony had not been well-received by the jury because Dr. Gelbort had an attitude on the stand, and in both cases, the jury recommended death. Because of Dr. Gelbort's previous poor performance, defense counsel chose to try a new strategy in the retrial by calling only lay witnesses. Such strategic choices made after thorough investigation of law and facts relevant to plausible opinions are virtually unchallengeable. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690 , 104 S.Ct. 2052 . The motion court did not clearly err in failing to find defense counsel ineffective for failing to repeat strategies that did not work at the prior trials, Baumruk, 364 S.W.3d at 536 , and instead choosing to pursue one reasonable trial strategy to the exclusion of another. Davis, 486 S.W.3d at 912 . 9