Opinion ID: 2995368
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Trial Counsel’s Failure to Raise Issue

Text: of Petitioner’s Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder The Sixth Amendment provides a defendant with a right to counsel and serves to protect the defendant’s right to a fair trial. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 684 (1984). These rights are satisfied as long as counsel’s conduct at trial is competent, and not so deficient as to render the trial meaningless or unreliable. Id. Winters argues that his trial counsel failed to meet this requisite standard. Under the framework set forth in Strickland, to prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, Winters must prove: (1) his trial counsel’s representation was deficient; and (2) the deficient performance so prejudiced him as to deprive him of a fair trial. Id. at 687-88; Lowery, 225 F.3d at 843. A failure to satisfy either part of this standard defeats a petitioner’s claim. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 700. We indulge a strong presumption that counsel’s conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance. Galowski v. Berge, 78 F.3d 1176, 1180 (7th Cir. 1996). A petitioner must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action might be considered sound trial strategy. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689. A petitioner will prevail only by demonstrating a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Id. at 694; Lowery, 225 F.3d at 843. In the course of Winters’ post- conviction proceedings, a psychologist at an Indiana correctional facility examined Winters and concluded that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of his military service in Vietnam and that this disorder would have had some influence on his actions on the night he shot Officer Kee. Another psychologist examined Winters and arrived at a similar conclusion. Winters argues that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to present this evidence to bolster Winters’ claim of defense of others. He argues that evidence of PTSD provided the best support for his defense that he shot Officer Kee because he reasonably believed that Kee was going to seriously injure his brother Jay. Therefore, Winters argues, trial counsel’s failure to raise this issue was unreasonable and falls below the objective standard of professional norms. We agree with the district court that Winters’ claim is without merit. In evaluating Winters’ ineffective assistance claim, we must reconstruct the circumstances surrounding the challenged conduct and determine whether they were reasonable. Foster, 223 F.3d at 631. Accordingly, we evaluate the conduct from counsel’s perspective at the time the relevant decision was made. Id. If an attorney’s strategic decisions were sound at the time they were made, these decisions cannot support a claim of ineffective assistance. Id. Winters’ trial took place in 1987. As the state courts correctly pointed out and the district court reiterated, knowl edge of PTSD was not widely held at that time. Presenting evidence of PTSD to bolster a defense was not within the prevailing professional norms at the time of Winters’ trial. Simply put, Winters has failed to set forth evidence that the defense of PTSD was so interwoven into criminal defense jurisprudence that, under the first prong of the Strickland standard, his counsel’s failure to raise the issue fell below the objective standard of professional norms at the time of the trial. Even if we assume for the sake of argument that Winters had established his counsel’s performance was deficient, Winters failed to demonstrate prejudice to satisfy the second Strickland requirement. To demonstrate prejudice, Winters must show a reasonable probability that but for counsel’s errors, the result of the proceeding would be different. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694. Winters has failed to do so. Winters rests his ineffective trial counsel argument on the assertion that evidence of the PTSD diagnosis would have bolstered his defense of others claim. In light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt established by the government at trial, Winters’ assertion is without merit. Winters shot Officer Kee after the argument between the officers and Winters’ brothers. Winters initiated the attack on Kee, approaching Kee from behind and immediately fired a fatal shot. These facts undermine any claim that Winters acted in defense of his brothers. Further, the evidence that Win ters fled the state after the murder of Officer Kee also supports the jury’s guilty verdict and weakens any claim that his attack on Officer Kee was justified. Dill v. State, 741 N.E.2d 1230, 1232 (Ind. 2001). Winters has not established that, had his counsel used the evidence of PTSD to bolster his defense of others claim, the result of the trial would have been different. Accordingly, based on these factual elements, Winters’ counsel did not so prejudice his trial that the outcome is unreliable. Because we hold that Winters has failed to satisfy the standard set forth in Strickland for a claim of ineffective as sistance of trial counsel, we hold that the Indiana courts’ rejection of Winters’ claim was not unreasonable or contrary to clearly established federal law.