Opinion ID: 2317113
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Satisfaction of Moore's Ake Rights in the Instant Case

Text: The bottom line question in this case is whether the State has satisfied its constitutional obligations by establishing the O.P.D., making expert services available to clients of that Office, and requiring that, in order for an indigent to receive State-funded expert services, the defendant must seek representation by O.P.D. We conclude that the State has not deprived petitioner of any of his constitutional rights by requiring that he apply to the O.P.D. for representation before he is entitled as an indigent to State funded expert witness services. The Supreme Court contemplated in Ake that States could place restrictions on indigent defendants' access to state-funded expert services. The Court stated as follows: This is not to say, of course, that the indigent defendant has a constitutional right to choose a psychiatrist of his personal liking or to receive funds to hire his own. Our concern is that the indigent defendant have access to a competent psychiatrist for the purpose we have discussed, and as in the case of the provision of counsel we leave to the State the decision on how to implement this right. Ake, 470 U.S. at 83, 105 S.Ct. at 1096. Thus, while a State might provide funds enabling indigent defendants with retained counsel to hire experts of their own choosing, Ake does not require this approach. Moore is correct that, if he is indigent, he has a right under Ake to state-paid supporting services necessary to an adequate defense. [8] As we have indicated, supra, Maryland has established a State-wide public defender system which provides legal representation, investigative services, and expert assistance to persons deemed indigent under Art. 27A § 2. In 1971, the Legislature created the Office of the Public Defender. See 1971 Md. Laws, Ch. 209 at 486-94. The purpose of the statutes creating that agency was set forth as follows: It is hereby declared to be the policy of the State of Maryland to provide for the realization of the constitutional guarantees of counsel in the representation of indigents, including related necessary services and facilities, in criminal and juvenile proceedings within the State, and to assure effective assistance and continuity of counsel to indigent accused taken into custody and indigent defendants in criminal and juvenile proceedings before the courts of the State of Maryland, and to authorize the Office of Public Defender to administer and assure enforcement of the provisions of this article in accordance with its terms. Art. 27A § 1 (emphasis added). State v. Miller, 337 Md. 71, 651 A.2d 845 (1994), is instructive on the question of whether the State may condition the receipt of constitutionally mandated services on representation by the O.P.D. The indigent petitioner in that case, Bernard Miller, had been convicted at trial of kidnapping, robbery, murder, and other related offenses. On appeal, as at trial, he was represented by private counsel on a pro bono basis. Miller had refused the representation of the O.P.D., and further refused to permit his attorney to seek appointment as an assigned public defender and thereby submit to the supervision of the O.P.D. Had Miller's counsel taken this step, the O.P.D. would have borne the costs of obtaining a stenographic transcript of the trial proceedings. Id. at 74-75, 651 A.2d at 846. Miller filed in the Circuit Court a motion requesting that the court furnish a transcript without charge. The Circuit Court denied the motion on the grounds that Md. Rule 1-325(b) required the court to pay for a transcript only where a party was eligible for O.P.D. representation, had applied to the O.P.D., and had been declined representation by that agency. Id. at 75, 651 A.2d at 846. On appeal, Miller argued that the requirement that he be represented by, or denied representation by, the O.P.D. before receiving a free transcript violated his rights to equal protection and assistance of counsel. We affirmed the Circuit Court. After ruling that the court had correctly interpreted Md. Rule 1-325(b), we noted that under Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 76 S.Ct. 585, 100 L.Ed. 891 (1956), the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits a state from foreclosing all opportunity for appellate review by refusing, based solely on a defendant's indigence, to provide a trial transcript. But we also noted that Justice Black, in his plurality opinion, stated, We do not hold, however, that Illinois must purchase a stenographer's transcript in every case where a defendant cannot buy it. The [Illinois] Supreme Court may find other means of affording adequate and effective appellate review to indigent defendants. Id. at 20, 76 S.Ct. at 591. We then noted that [a]llowing the states to create reasonable alternative systems by which the constitutional rights of indigents would be protected is a concept that has been applied to other rights of indigent defendants as well. Miller, 337 Md. at 83, 651 A.2d at 850. With respect to equal protection, we concluded as follows: Miller is entitled to a free transcript, but he cannot receive it on his own terms; he must go through the Office of the Public Defender. The State is free to place reasonable restrictions on the exercise of Miller's rights, and Rule 1-325(b) is neither arbitrary nor unreasonable in its language or application. There can be no equal protection violation when an individual is denied a right simply because of his own failure to comply with reasonable state procedures and regulations. Miller, 337 Md. at 85-86, 651 A.2d at 852. Turning to Miller's Sixth Amendment claim, we noted that the Supreme Court has held that although an indigent criminal defendant enjoys the right to assistance of counsel, this entitlement does not translate into an absolute right to counsel of the defendant's choosing. Id. at 86-87, 651 A.2d at 852; see Wheat v. United States, 486 U.S. 153, 159, 108 S.Ct. 1692, 1697, 100 L.Ed.2d 140 (1988) (the essential aim of the Amendment is to guarantee an effective advocate for each criminal defendant rather than to ensure that a defendant will inexorably be represented by the lawyer whom he prefers); accord Fowlkes v. State, 311 Md. 586, 605, 536 A.2d 1149, 1159 (1988) (for indigent defendants ... the right to counsel is but a right to effective legal representation; it is not a right to representation by any particular attorney). We concluded as follows: Failure to provide a free transcript to the indigent appellant cannot interfere with the right to choice of counsel where no such absolute right exists. In the absence of such a right to choice of counsel, there is no constitutional violation when the State requires that an indigent defendant avail himself of the services of the Office of the Public Defender in order to obtain a free transcript. The State has set up a system by which all indigent appellants are provided effective assistance of counsel, whether represented by the Public Defender's Office or by a private attorney under the supervision of that office. Miller cannot pick and choose which of the State-provided services he wishes to receive; he must accept the available resources as provided under Art. 27A and the Maryland Rules. Miller has not been denied his right to assistance of counsel, because he may apply to the Office of the Public Defender and receive effective representation. The Public Defender system is Maryland's `alternative solution' as described in Griffin and Bounds [ v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 52 L.Ed.2d 72 (1977)], supra. Public Defender representation, like a transcript, is part of the `package' provided by the State, and requiring Miller to comply with reasonable State procedures in no way infringes upon his right to assistance of counsel. Miller, 337 Md. at 87-88, 651 A.2d at 853. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, sitting en banc, agreed with our holding on federal habeas corpus review. Miller v. Smith, 115 F.3d 1136 (4th Cir.1997) ( en banc ), cert. denied sub nom. Miller v. Corcoran, 522 U.S. 884, 118 S.Ct. 213, 139 L.Ed.2d 148 (1997). Our holding in Miller governs the outcome of the case sub judice. Although the Maryland Rules contain no analogue to Md. Rule 1-325(b) with respect to the appointment of experts, the practical effect of nonseverable O.P.D. services under Art. 27A is the same. Indigent defendants may utilize the O.P.D.'s complete package of services, or forgo them entirely. While such defendants may face difficult choices, the Constitution does not bar the State of Maryland from requiring them to choose between counsel of their choice and ancillary services provided by the O.P.D. Assuming arguendo that the assistance of a DNA expert was necessary to an adequate defense in the instant case, the State did not deny Moore that assistance. Rather, expert assistance was available to him so long as he complied with the procedural requirement that he apply for legal representation through the O.P.D. Imposing this requirement on Moore did not violate his constitutional rights. See Wheat, 486 U.S. at 159, 108 S.Ct. at 1697; Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 830, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 1499, 52 L.Ed.2d 72 (1977); Fowlkes, 311 Md. at 605, 536 A.2d at 1159.
Although we affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals, we disagree with one significant aspect of its opinion. The intermediate appellate court agreed with the State's contention that Moore's constitutional rights were satisfied by the State's disclosure of the Cellmark documents and reports during discovery. The court stated as follows: [T]here is nothing to indicate that Cellmark's evaluation of the samples was not impartial, scientific, and objective. Additionally, appellant's counsel was provided with all the DNA documents and reports generated by Cellmark prior to trial in order to prepare a defense. Thus, the State provided expert analysis and any constitutional duty had ended after that point. Moore v. State, 154 Md.App. 578, 598, 841 A.2d 31, 42 (2004). The intermediate appellate court based its holding in part on Johnson v. State, 292 Md. 405, 439 A.2d 542 (1982), in which we held that a defendant found by the trial court to be competent to stand trial following a court-ordered evaluation by psychiatrists at a State hospital was not entitled to a private psychiatrist of his own choosing to assist in his defense at State expense. Id. at 415, 439 A.2d at 549. We stated as follows: Here, Johnson was evaluated by a team of independent psychiatric experts, he was furnished with copies of the resulting reports prepared by the examiners, and he had the opportunity to subpoena and question at trial members of the examining team. Whatever the amount of required State assistance for the appointment of defense experts to enable the indigent to place this issue of insanity before the trial court, we need not determine here, for it is certain that once an accused is evaluated by state funded, impartial and competent psychiatrists, that constitutional duty, if any, ends. `[T]he State has no constitutional obligation to promote a battle between psychiatric experts by supplying defense counsel with funds wherewith to hunt around for other experts who may be willing, as witnesses for the defense, to offer the opinion that the accused is criminally insane.' Id. (Citations omitted). In light of Ake, decided three years after Johnson, it appears to us that our holding in Johnson has been overruled implicitly to the extent it suggests that the report of a State-employed expert who does not assist in evaluation, preparation, and presentation of the defense would be constitutionally sufficient. We find numerous passages from Ake supportive of the proposition that due process requires the provision of a defense expert. We find the following language particularly revealing: We therefore hold that when a defendant demonstrates to the trial judge that his sanity at the time of the offense is to be a significant factor at trial, the State must, at a minimum, assure the defendant access to a competent psychiatrist who will conduct an appropriate examination and assist in evaluation, preparation, and presentation of the defense.  Ake, 470 U.S. at 83, 105 S.Ct. at 1096 (emphasis added). [T]he assistance of a psychiatrist may well be crucial to the defendant's ability to marshal his defense. In this role, psychiatrists ... know the probative questions to ask of the opposing party's psychiatrists and how to interpret their answers. Id. at 80, 105 S.Ct. at 1095 (emphasis added); [T]he psychiatrists for each party enable the jury to make its most accurate determination of the truth on the issue before them. Id. at 81, 105 S.Ct. at 1095. [W]ithout the assistance of a psychiatrist to conduct a professional examination on issues relevant to the defense, to help determine whether the insanity defense is viable, to present testimony, and to assist in preparing the cross-examination of a State's psychiatric witnesses, the risk of an inaccurate resolution of sanity issues is extremely high. Id. at 82, 105 S.Ct. at 1096 (emphasis added); [E]xperts are often necessary both for prosecution and for defense.... [A] defendant may be at an unfair disadvantage, if he is unable because of poverty to parry by his own witnesses the thrusts of those against him. Id. at 82 n. 8, 105 S.Ct. at 1095 n. 8 (quoting Reilly v. Berry, 250 N.Y. 456, 166 N.E. 165, 167 (1929) (Cardozo, C.J.)). The weight of authority among courts that have considered the issue suggests that the services of a defense expert are required. See, e.g., Powell v. Collins, 332 F.3d 376, 392 (6th Cir.2003); Starr v. Lockhart, 23 F.3d 1280, 1291 (8th Cir. 1994); Cowley v. Stricklin, 929 F.2d 640, 644 (11th Cir.1991); Smith v. McCormick, 914 F.2d 1153, 1156-59 (9th Cir.1990); United States v. Sloan, 776 F.2d 926, 929 (10th Cir.1985); Buttrum v. Black, 721 F.Supp. 1268, 1312-13 (N.D.Ga.1989); Lindsey v. State, 254 Ga. 444, 330 S.E.2d 563, 566-67 (1985); People v. Lawson, 163 Ill.2d 187, 206 Ill.Dec. 119, 644 N.E.2d 1172, 1192 (1994); Binion v. Commonwealth, 891 S.W.2d 383, 386 (Ky.1995); Polk v. State, 612 So.2d 381, 394 (Miss. 1992); State v. Gambrell, 318 N.C. 249, 347 S.E.2d 390, 395 (1986); De Freece v. State, 848 S.W.2d 150, 159 (Tex.Crim.App. 1993). Contra, Granviel v. Lynaugh, 881 F.2d 185, 191 (5th Cir.1989) (holding that a court-appointed psychiatrist, whose opinion and testimony is available to both sides, satisfies the defendant's rights); Commonwealth v. Reid, 537 Pa. 167, 642 A.2d 453, 457 (1994) (finding Ake satisfied when trial court offered indigent defendant the opportunity to be examined by a neutral court-appointed psychiatrist); see also People v. Leonard, 224 Mich.App. 569, 569 N.W.2d 663, 671 (1997) (trial court's refusal to appoint DNA expert did not deny defendant effective assistance of counsel where defense attorneywho had undergraduate degree in chemistryeffectively and comprehensively cross-examined the prosecution's experts after receiving discovery of all documents relating to DNA analysis in the case). In his comprehensive and thoroughly researched law review article, Professor Paul Giannelli addresses this issue as follows: Appellate courts often cite the fact that the cross-examination of the prosecution expert was effective as a reason why a defense expert was not needed.    First, the same reasoning applies when prosecutors seek a psychiatric evaluation of an accused who has raised an insanity defense ... and yet virtually every jurisdiction has procedures recognizing the prosecution's right to have the accused examined by a state psychiatrista prosecution expert. The rationale for this procedure is obvious: the adversary system would be undermined if the prosecution was deprived of its own expert. Second, effective cross-examination of a prosecution expert frequently requires the advice of a defense expert.... Third, there is a significant difference between attacking the opinion of an opponent's expert through cross-examination and attacking that opinion through the testimony of your own expert. In Daubert [ v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 596, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 2798, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993)] the Supreme Court noted that `[v]igorous cross-examination, presentation of contrary evidence, and careful instruction on the burden of proof are the traditional and appropriate means of attacking shaky but admissible evidence.' In 1983, the Court upheld the admissibility of expert testimony concerning future dangerousness in capital cases. In so ruling, the Court noted that `jurors should not be barred from hearing the views of the State's psychiatrists along with opposing views of the defendant's doctors.' Similarly, the 1992 report of the National Academy of Sciences observed that `[m]ere cross examination by a defense attorney inexperienced in the science of DNA testing will not be sufficient.'... Finally, if this factor is relevant at all, it would only be so on appellate review under a harmless error analysis. After all, a trial court cannot wait to review the defense counsel's cross-examination before appointing a defense expert. Paul C. Giannelli, Ake v. Oklahoma: The Right to Expert Assistance in a Post-Daubert, Post-DNA World, 89 Cornell L.Rev. 1305, 1376-78 (2004) (citations omitted). When a defendant has made the threshold showing described supra, the State must, at a minimum, assure the defendant access to a defense expert who will assist in evaluation, preparation, and presentation of the defense. We reject the holding of the Court of Special Appeals relied upon by the State before this Courtthat Moore's Ake rights were satisfied by discovery and the opportunity to cross-examine Dr. Cotton. The State satisfied the Due Process Clause, as interpreted in Ake, by making expert assistance available to Moore through the O.P.D., conditioned on representation by that agency.