Opinion ID: 2977007
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Ohio Court of Appeals Decision

Text: The Ohio Court of Appeals rejected Jells’s claim that counsel were ineffective in preparing for the sentencing phase of his trial: Petitioner next asserts that his trial counsel were ineffective in failing to introduce evidence regarding his troubled family and early life and in failing to utilize expert assistance. As an initial matter, we “must recognize that trial counsel is afforded broad authority in determining what evidence will be offered in mitigation.” State v. Frazier (1991), 61 Ohio St.3d 247, 255, 574 N.E.2d 483. We also reiterate that post-conviction proceedings were designed to redress denials or infringements of basic constitutional rights and were not intended as an avenue for simply retrying the case. Laugensen v. State, supra; State v. Lott, supra. Further, the failure to present evidence which is merely cumulative to that which was presented at trial is, generally speaking, not indicative of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. State v. Combs (1994), 100 Ohio App.3d 90, 105, 652 N.E.2d 205. In this matter, the mitigation presented at trial tended to focus upon petitioner’s loving behavior to his family, his good behavior at school, his obedience to authority and his teachers, his strong work ethic, and his tendency to walk away from an argument. In addition, trial counsel indicated that petitioner’s family had moved many times, and also presented expert opinion evidence that petitioner was of borderline intelligence and over-controlled his hostility. Finally, petitioner presented an unsworn statement in which he emphasized his work ethic, his empathy for Devon, his sadness at the tragic manner in which Stapleton must have met her death, and his disagreement with the verdict reached by the panel. Further, in its written opinion, the three judge panel observed that petitioner had presented evidence of, inter alia, character, family relationships, employment history, and emotional stability. Examining the evidence now offered de hors the record, we find that a certain measure of the evidence which petitioner now claims should have been admitted to be cumulative of what was presented at trial, i.e., the frequent moves, change of caregivers, borderline intelligence, superficial personality style. We are therefore unable to conclude that there is a reasonable probability that, but for this alleged omission of counsel, the result of his trial would have been different, and petitioner’s challenge to the effectiveness of counsel in this respect fails. See Sowell, supra, at 681, 598 N.E.2d 136. No. 02-3505 Jells v. Mitchell Page 7 As to the remaining items concerning the other more tragic circumstances which petitioner now claims should have been admitted, i.e., his mother’s alcoholism and the abuse which he often witnessed, this information would appear to be completely inconsistent with the favorable portrait of petitioner which counsel presented at trial. That is, trial counsel emphasized the favorable aspects of petitioner’s life and chose to present him as someone who over controlled his negative feelings and had “no pathological difference” or “condition requiring treatment or  thought disorder.” (Tr. 584) Considered in light of the nature of petitioner’s defense at trial, we are compelled to conclude that the more negative information produced in connection with the amended petition for post-conviction relief is inconsistent with the essential trial strategy of working to establish reasonable doubt and in turn residual doubt that petitioner committed these offenses. We are therefore unable to conclude that counsel was ineffective in failing to present this information. Accord State v. Combs (1994), 100 Ohio App.3d 90, 103, 652 N.E.2d 205 wherein the court stated: A post conviction petition does not show ineffective assistance merely because it presents a new expert opinion that is different from the theory used at trial. State v. Jamison (Nov. 10, 1992), Hamilton App. No. C-910736, 1992 WL 333011. The affidavits of Keefe and Smith presented mitigation theories that were no more than alternative or cumulative to the theories used by Fisher. Therefore, they do not support substantive relief under either prong of the Strickland-Lockhart-Bradley test. Accord State v. Lott, supra; State v. Williams (1991), 74 Ohio App.3d 686, 695, 600 N.E.2d 298 (rejecting the argument that trial counsel was ineffective by failing to put forth mitigation evidence on that defendant’s troubled childhood). Indeed, social worker Linda Pudvan’s averment that even negative family history is relevant to provide an “explanation of Mr. Jells life and behavior during his offense” and attorney Ken Murray’s averment that unfavorable information “further serves to explain the stresses and traumatic events that culminated the night of the offense” seem odd in light of the complete denial presented at trial. Jells, 1998 WL 213175, at -6. Because the Ohio Court of Appeals found that counsel’s performance was not deficient, it did not reach the prejudice prong of the Strickland analysis.1 1 The dissent claims that the Ohio Court of Appeals found Jells’s counsel’s performance to be deficient but not prejudicial, Dissenting Op. at 36, but quotes selectively from the Ohio Court of Appeals’ decision when reaching this conclusion. Above, we include the entirety of the Ohio court’s decision on this issue. Read in context, the dissent’s assertion that the Ohio court “largely accepted Jells’ assertion that his counsel’s investigation was deficient and decided the case instead on the question of prejudice,” see Dissenting Op. at 36, is clearly erroneous, as time and again in this section the Ohio Court of Appeals focuses on the standard for deficiency, not the standard for prejudice. In fact, its only explicit mention of the prejudice prong from Strickland is a quotation from another case, which the Ohio Court of Appeals cites as support for the deficiency prong and not the prejudice prong. Jells, 1998 WL 213175, . The complete excerpt from the Ohio opinion demonstrates that the court was determining whether Jells’s counsel’s performance was deficient, not whether Jells was prejudiced. See, e.g., id. at  5 (stating that the court was “unable to conclude that counsel was ineffective in failing to present this information”); id. at  (stating that “[a] post conviction petition does not show ineffective assistance merely because it presents a new expert opinion that is different from the theory used at trial”); id. (citing State v. Williams, 600 N.E. 2d 298 (Ohio Ct. App. 1991) for the proposition that “trial counsel was [not] ineffective by failing to put forth mitigation evidence on that defendant’s troubled childhood”). In contrast to the repeated references to counsel’s performance in this section, there is only one comment in this section that might be interpreted as a reference to the prejudice prong: “but for this alleged omission of counsel, the result of his trial would have been different.” Id. . Even here, the remainder of the sentence makes it clear that the court is, yet again, reaching the issue of ineffectiveness and not prejudice: “Jells’s challenge to the effectiveness of his counsel in this respect fails.” No. 02-3505 Jells v. Mitchell Page 8