Opinion ID: 3065796
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Family and Sexual Abuse

Text: West cannot demonstrate that the evidence of physical and emotional abuse by his family or sexual molestation is newlyWEST v. RYAN 9711 discovered because it could have been discovered before trial through the exercise of due diligence. In fact, West knew it all along, and it is undisputed that his counsel knew of at least some of the allegations of sexual abuse in 1996. Under the facts of this case, this was not newly-discovered information which could not have been discovered through the exercise of due diligence. See King v. Trujillo, 638 F.3d 726, 730 (9th Cir. 2011). West now contends that his family life during his childhood was much worse than he had previously admitted. Prior to trial, West discussed his family life with Dr. Allender, a court-appointed psychologist, in 1987.1 Dr. Allender reported on the interview: Mr. West characterizes his growing up years as problematic. He states that his father loved him a great deal and would get him almost anything he wanted. After his father’s work schedule changed however, his older brother was left with the responsibility of getting him off to school. He states that his brother who is five years older was the person who started getting him involved with drugs. In 2010, however, West reported a much different relationship with his parents in interviews with Dr. Smith, a clinical psychologist referred by the Arizona Federal Public Defender: “I was moving around constantly. My mom would dump me on anybody — neighbors, my grandma, any relative that would take me. I even stayed with 1 West was evaluated by two neuropsychologists, Dr. Allender and Dr. Daniel Overbeck, in the fall of 1987. There is no record of Dr. Overbeck’s evaluation, so it is unknown what West did or did not disclose to him. See West v. Ryan, 608 F.3d at 480-81. Even if he had disclosed the purported sexual abuse by the priest, it is entirely possible that a strategic choice was made not to pursue a related mitigation claim. 9712 WEST v. RYAN my friends’ parents. At home, my mom and dad argued all the time. They had vicious physical fights. I just wanted to escape it — wanted it to stop, but they fought over everything. I would get in between to try to stop my dad from hurting my mom and then he would hit me. He hit us over and over. Bloodied my brother’s nose, bloodied and bruised my mom. I would get so scared that they would kill one another that I would just scream at them. One time, I got so scared I pissed myself.” Mr. West shared that he had no real relationship with his father. He explained that “My dad was basically absent except when he was terrorizing us. He never spent any time with us as a family, playing ball with my brother and me or any- thing. All he ever did was call me and my brother assholes, dumb shits, worthless mother fuckers. The neighbors called the police over and over again, but since dad was a fireman the police simply looked the other way. No charges were ever pressed, even when my mom was clearly beaten. My mom would get in the car and leave and then my dad would do the same thing, leaving me and my brother home alone for days at a time. That is what it was like growing up in my house — a fucking nightmare.” The only explanation for the stark difference in stories is in Dr. Allender’s May 7, 2011 letter: When asked specifically why he had told me he had a good relationship with his father back in 1987 he explained that his relationship with his father was like fire and ice. That his father would buy him lots of things like a go cart, a mini bike, a pinball machine when he was being nice, but then had the other side of being abusive physically and emotionally. He also described being in a bit of a stupor from the psychiatric medications he was on during the time [Dr. Allender] was evaluating him. WEST v. RYAN 9713 There is no question that, to the extent West contends his abusive home life is a mitigating factor, West knew about his home life and the alleged family abuse at trial and at sentencing. There is no legitimate reason for his failure to disclose it before this late date. Dr. Allender’s May 7, 2011 letter also describes West’s failure to report sexual abuse: When asked why he never told people about his abuse Mr. West mentioned reasons often reported by victims including, “I was ashamed, I thought it was my fault,” “no one wanted to hear about it,” and “I tried to block it out.” When asked why he had not brought these things up to me in 1987 he said that his attorney had suggested to him that he should only answer questions that I asked and not volunteer any other information, especially about the alleged crime. Regardless, West was at all times aware of the three instances of sexual abuse he now raises. Notably, he does not argue that his counsel was ineffective for failing to inquire about sexual abuse. Rather, he complains only that counsel was not successful in discovering what West already knew and not getting the court to pay for yet another mental health expert. Even if counsel had been successful in securing funding for another mental health expert, it is pure speculation that the information about his abuse would have come out. The mental health defense efforts at the time were not focused on West’s background, but rather on whether he had an organic brain injury. Accordingly, it is by no means clear that the mental health expert, if appointed, would have addressed the psychological consequences of West’s sexual abuse. West acknowledges that his post-conviction relief counsel was aware of one of the childhood sexual abuse allegations as early as 1996. While West identifies several requests for funding for defense 9714 WEST v. RYAN investigations that were denied in 1996 and 1997, the evidence shows that counsel diligently pursued mitigation evidence based on organic brain injury and substance abuse, but sexual abuse was at best peripheral. Similarly, after the Federal Public Defender took over West’s representation in January 2008, it obtained a court order to have West evaluated by a neuropsychologist, who reported in August 2008 that West described childhood sexual abuse by the teacher and the priest. While that report was filed in this court, West did not raise any arguments based on the sexual abuse issue at any point in that first federal habeas proceeding. To the extent West contends his first post-conviction relief counsel was ineffective for not discovering the sexual abuse in 1997 and for not obtaining funding to investigate, the facts do not support his claim. West’s first post-conviction relief counsel, Carla Ryan, explained in her motion for a funded mental health expert, that West “apparently was sexually abused, on numerous occasions, by a teacher. Therefore, a mental health expert is also needed to explain how the family environment and the sexual abuse affected Petitioner’s emotional development.” The court denied this request, but did so without prejudice to bringing the motion again with additional evidence. Thus, West had ample incentive at the time to more fully disclose his background and history of sexual abuse. He might have satisfied the diligence requirement if he had done so then, but he chose not to. West’s primary argument regarding diligence is that we have already found he was diligent, citing West v. Ryan, 608 F.3d at 484-85. West misreads our prior opinion. We held that West’s prior counsel had been diligent in seeking an evidentiary hearing regarding her need for funding for a mental health expert and investigator. We did not hold that West had been diligent in disclosing information about his childhood; he clearly was not. If we were to rule that West had been diligent in pursuing and developing evidence of sexual abuse and abuse by family members by failing to disclose the informaWEST v. RYAN 9715 tion, even to his counsel, for twenty years, we would be creating a strong incentive for capital defendants to withhold the strongest mitigation evidence until the eve of execution. We are not prepared to create that incentive.