Opinion ID: 166515
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Cumulative effect of prosecutor's statements

Text: 80 Finally, we have also considered the cumulative effect of the incidents of misconduct set forth above. See Walker, 228 F.3d at 1243 (considering prosecutor's comments, individually and cumulatively). Again, the strength of the prosecution's case, presented to a properly instructed jury, establishes that the cumulative effect of this misconduct did not deprive Mr. Malicoat of a fair trial. 5. Admission of Tessa's photograph 81 Mr. Malicoat argues that the state trial court erred in admitting a photograph of Tessa taken approximately two months before her murder. The trial court admitted the photograph in the sentencing phase, during the prosecutor's cross-examination of Mr. Malicoat's brother Hugh. The prosecutor then referred to the photograph in closing argument, stating that Tessa Leadford went from being a beautiful, blonde-haired girl with beautiful blue eyes, puppy dog eyes, as [Mr. Malicoat] called it. Tr. Trans. vol. V, at 210. 82 Mr. Malicoat objected to admission of the photograph, but the trial court overruled his objection. On direct appeal, the OCCA noted that [p]hotographs of live victims are generally inadmissible, as they are irrelevant to any issues at trial. Malicoat, 992 P.2d at 404. The court held that the photograph of Tessa was irrelevant and should not have been admitted and that the prosecution's reference to it in closing argument compounded the error. Nevertheless, the OCCA concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that the picture did not contribute to Mr. Malicoat's death sentence. 83 Under Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967), a constitutional error is harmless if it appears beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of did not contribute to the verdict obtained. Here, in light of the evidence offered by the prosecution in support of the aggravating circumstances, we conclude that the OCCA's holding was not an unreasonable application of Chapman's federal harmless error standard. See Spears, 343 F.3d at 1233 n. 14 (stating that when there is a state-court- Chapman determination to defer to under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), the court must decide whether the state court's finding of harmless error was contrary to or an unreasonable application of Chapman ). 84 The jury heard ample evidence in support of the aggravating circumstances urged by the prosecution in support of the death penalty. The OCCA's conclusion that the single living photograph of Tessa did not contribute to Malicoat's death sentence, Malicoat, 992 P.2d at 404, is a plausible reading of the record. Thus, Mr. Malicoat is not entitled to relief on this claim. 6. Ineffective assistance of trial counsel 85 Mr. Malicoat next argues that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. According to Mr. Malicoat, his trial counsel was ineffective because he: (1) did not give an opening statement in the guilt phase; (2) failed to present evidence from a psychologist, Dr. Phillip Murphy, that Mr. Malicoat did not have the intent to injure or kill; (3) failed to conduct an adequate mental health investigation by failing to ask Mr. Malicoat's family about his history of seizures. 86 The first of these alleged deficiencies resulted in part from the trial court's ruling that Mr. Malicoat's counsel would not be allowed to present an opening statement until the close of the prosecution's case. Mr. Malicoat's counsel objected to this restriction, but his objection was overruled. Then, when the time came for the defense's opening statement, Mr. Malicoat's counsel did not give one. He also chose not to put on any defense evidence during the guilt phase. 87 As to testimony from the psychologist, the record indicates that, at the close of the prosecution's case, Mr. Malicoat's counsel informed the trial judge that he intended to call Dr. Murphy on the following day as the first witness for the defense. According to Mr. Malicoat's trial counsel, Dr. Murphy had written a report that stated that Mr. Malicoat was misreading the reality of [his punches to Tessa's stomach] and the effect that [they] would have on someone so small which led to the homicide. Tr. Trans. vol. III, at 285. Thus, Dr. Murphy's report indicated Mr. Malicoat was intending to discipline his daughter and not kill her. Aplt's Br. at 54-55. However, on the following day, Mr. Malicoat's counsel announced that he would be presenting no evidence during the guilt phase. 88 As to the third alleged instance of ineffective assistance of counsel, Mr. Malicoat reports that interviews with his family members indicated that he had a long history of seizures. According to Mr. Malicoat, this information would have supported a conviction on the lesser offense of second-degree depraved-mind murder and would also have been powerful mitigating evidence if it had been presented at sentencing. Mr. Malicoat asserts that trial counsel was deficient for failing to unearth this mental health evidence and that there is a reasonable probability that the jury's verdict would have been different had this evidence been presented. Id. at 59. He adds that the federal district court should have granted his request for an evidentiary hearing because there are factual disputes as to his mental health history and its effect on the offense. 89 On direct appeal, the OCCA rejected Mr. Malicoat's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. As to the failure to present an opening statement, the OCCA characterized Mr. Malicoat's counsel's action as a strategic decision. As to Dr. Murphy's testimony, the OCCA noted that first-degree child abuse murder is a general intent crime and that, as a result, the testimony about Mr. Malicoat's lack of intent to kill or injure would have been irrelevant in the guilt phase of the trial. Thus, Mr. Malicoat's attorney was not ineffective for declining to present it. Finally, as to Mr. Malicoat's history of seizures, the OCCA observed that his counsel had presented at sentencing a thorough and comprehensive picture of Malicoat's personal and family history, concentrating on his experience of severe abuse and resulting personality transformation. Malicoat, 992 P.2d at 406. In light of all of this evidence, Mr. Malicoat had not shown that the additional evidence that he suffered from seizures would have led the jury to conclude [that] the balance of aggravating circumstances and mitigating factors did not support death. Id. 90 In rejecting Mr. Malicoat's claim for ineffective assistance of trial counsel, the OCCA relied in part on the standard set forth in Lockhart v. Fretwell, 506 U.S. 364, 369-70, 113 S.Ct. 838, 122 L.Ed.2d 180 (1993). The OCCA stated that [t]he question [in determining whether Mr. Malicoat was prejudiced by his trial counsel's errors] is not whether the outcome would have been different absent counsel's actions but whether the result of the proceeding was fundamentally unfair or unreliable. Malicoat, 992 P.2d at 405. As Mr. Malicoat argues, this is not the correct standard. In particular, as the Supreme Court explained in Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 392-93, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000), the Lockhart fundamentally unfair inquiry is used to supplement the ordinary prejudice inquiry under Strickland only when the law has changed after counsel's allegedly deficient performance. See also Lockhart, 506 U.S. at 373, 113 S.Ct. 838 (O'Connor, J., concurring) (stating that the majority opinion will, in the vast majority of cases, have no effect on the prejudice inquiry under [ Strickland ]). 91 Because the OCCA applied the incorrect standard, we do not defer to its analysis of this claim. See Spears, 343 F.3d at 1248 (concluding that, because the OCCA had applied Strickland, but as further restricted by Lockhart,  the OCCA's ruling was not entitled to deference under AEDPA). Instead, we examine the claim de novo, applying the familiar two-part standard set forth in Strickland and asking whether Mr. Malicoat's counsel's performance was deficient, and if so, whether counsel's deficient performance actually prejudiced Mr. Malicoat's defense. United States v. Harms, 371 F.3d 1208, 1211 (10th Cir.2004) (discussing Strickland ). 92 a. Failure to give an opening statement 93 As to Mr. Malicoat's counsel's failure to give an opening statement during the guilt phase, we note that, under the first Strickland inquiry—whether counsel engaged in deficient performance—we must impose a heavy presumption that `counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance; that is, ... the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action might be considered sound trial strategy.' United States v. Aptt, 354 F.3d 1269, 1284 (10th Cir.2004) (quoting Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689, 104 S.Ct. 2052). 94 Here, affording Mr. Malicoat's counsel the benefit of that presumption, his decision to waive his opening statement appears sound. During the guilt phase, the prosecution's evidence was overwhelming, and there was little dispute as to the relevant facts. Moreover, because first-degree murder by child abuse is a general intent crime in Oklahoma, there is little indication that Mr. Malicoat had a plausible defense to offer. Thus, his counsel might reasonably have concluded that, in order be more persuasive to the jury at sentencing, it was preferable to refrain from making a fruitless opening statement during the guilt phase. See Fox, 200 F.3d at 1296 (While opening and closing statements are not to be lightly waived in a capital case, it is well-settled that the decision to waive an opening or closing statement is a commonly adopted strategy, and without more, does not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel); Parker v. Head, 244 F.3d 831, 840 (11th Cir.2001) (finding reasonable a state court's conclusion that counsel's concession during the guilt phase closing argument was a strategic decision made ... in order to maintain credibility with the jury for sentencing purposes). Accordingly, we conclude that Mr. Malicoat's counsel's waiver of opening statement did not constitute deficient performance. 95 b. Failure to introduce psychological testimony during the guilt phase 96 As to counsel's failure to introduce testimony from Dr. Murphy during the guilt phase, we agree with the OCCA that Mr. Malicoat's argument is undermined by the fact that, in Oklahoma, first-degree murder by child abuse is a general intent crime. Accordingly, the prosecution was not required to prove that Mr. Malicoat intended to kill or injure Tessa but only that he intended to commit the abusive act. See Fairchild, 998 P.2d at 622-23. Thus, Dr. Murphy's statement about the effects that Mr. Malicoat anticipated from his abuse of Tessa ( i.e., that Mr. Malicoat was misreading the reality of [his] punches to the stomach and the effect that such would have on someone so small, Tr. Trans. vol. III, at 285), could not have provided a colorable defense to the first-degree murder charge. Accordingly, Mr. Malicoat's counsel did not provide deficient performance by failing to offer Dr. Murphy's testimony during the guilt phase. 97 c. Failure to investigate Mr. Malicoat's history of seizures 98 As to the failure to investigate Mr. Malicoat's history of seizures, we conclude that Mr. Malicoat has failed to establish that this evidence, if discovered by his counsel and presented to the jury, might well have influenced the jury's appraisal of [his] culpability. Rompilla v. Beard, ___ U.S. ___, 125 S.Ct. 2456, 2469, 162 L.Ed.2d 360 (2005) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). The record does indicate that Mr. Malicoat's attorney did present to the jury at sentencing fairly extensive evidence about the abuse that Mr. Malicoat had suffered as a child. There is no indication that additional evidence of Mr. Malicoat's mental health history would have affected the jury's imposition of the death penalty. 99 Accordingly, as to this claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, Mr. Malicoat has failed to establish the required element of prejudice. 7. Cumulative error 100 Finally, Mr. Malicoat argues that the cumulative effect of various errors deprived him of a fair trial: (1) the admission of the photograph taken of Tessa when she was alive; (2) the testimony of Mr. Malicoat's estranged wife that he failed to pay child support; (3) the testimony of a social worker that the social worker believed that Mr. Malicoat had intentionally abused Tessa; (4) the prosecutor's statement in closing argument that Tessa was named after an angel in a television show; and (5) testimony that Mr. Malicoat's home was unclean and that the refrigerator was not stocked with food appropriate for a thirteen-month old child. Mr. Malicoat notes that the OCCA found error in the first four instances but further concluded that the errors were not sufficiently prejudicial to warrant a new trial. He now asserts that the cumulative effect of these errors establishes that his conviction and sentence should be overturned. 101 As to this claim, the parties disagree regarding the proper standard of review. According to Mr. Malicoat, the OCCA did not apply the controlling federal standard regarding cumulative error and, as a result, the OCCA's rejection of his cumulative error claim is entitled to no deference. In support of this contention, Mr. Malicoat notes that the OCCA rejected his cumulative error argument in fairly cursory terms: 102 Malicoat claims he is entitled to relief due to the accumulation of error in the case. Malicoat has raised no issue which individually or in accumulation requires relief. We have determined that any individual errors were either cured or did not affect a substantial right or go to the foundation of Malicoat's defense. There is no cumulative error, and this proposition is denied. 103 Malicoat, 992 P.2d at 406. As Mr. Malicoat reads this passage, the OCCA concluded that because none of the individual errors was prejudicial, the cumulative effect of these individual errors was necessarily not prejudicial either. Mr. Malicoat notes that this reading of the cumulative error doctrine is incorrect. See Cargle v. Mullin, 317 F.3d 1196, 1207 (10th Cir.2003) (explaining that to deny cumulative-error consideration of claims unless they have first satisfied their individual substantive standards for actionable prejudice would render the cumulative error inquiry meaningless, since it [would] ... be predicated predicated only upon individual error already requiring reversal) (internal quotation marks omitted). 104 In response, the state contests this reading of the OCCA's opinion. The state contends that the OCCA's application of the cumulative error doctrine comported with the federal standard and that the OCCA did assess the collective impact of the individual errors. It invokes this court's decision in Miller v. Mullin, 354 F.3d 1288, 1301 (10th Cir.2004). There, we applied the deferential AEDPA standard of review to the OCCA's ruling on the petitioner's cumulative error claim. See id. (discussing the OCCA's ruling in Miller v. State, 977 P.2d 1099, 1114 (Okla.Crim.App.1998)). According to the state, the OCCA's ruling on the cumulative error claim in Miller resembles its ruling on the cumulative error claim at issue here, and, as a result, AEDPA deference is warranted in this case as well. 105 Unlike the state, we see an arguable difference between the OCCA's rulings in Miller and in Mr. Malicoat's case. In Miller, the OCCA identified four individual errors that it had found and then concluded that the individual errors gather no force in aggregate and gain no weight in aggregate. 977 P.2d at 1114. That language establishes that the OCCA independently considered the aggregate effect of the individual errors, as required by federal law. In contrast, the OCCA's opinion in Mr. Malicoat's case can be reasonably read to suggest that, because any individual errors were either cured or did not affect a substantial right or go to the foundation of Malicoat's defense, Malicoat, 992 P.2d at 405, there was necessarily no cumulative error. Thus, the OCCA's opinion does not clearly indicate that it considered, in the aggregate, the prejudicial effect of the individual errors. Accordingly, as to the standard of review, we afford Mr. Malicoat the benefit of the doubt and review his cumulative error claim de novo. 106 Nevertheless, even under the de novo standard, we conclude that Mr. Malicoat has not demonstrated that the cumulative effect of the individual errors deprived him of a fair trial. The prosecution's evidence during the guilt phase was overwhelming, and, in light of that evidence, we see no indication that the evidentiary errors and instances of prosecutorial misconduct affected the jury's decision. The evidence offered by the prosecution at sentencing was also quite strong. Given the extent of Tessa's injuries, her young age, the pattern of abuse, and Mr. Malicoat's conduct after inflicting the fatal blows, Mr. Malicoat has failed to establish that these errors had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict. Brecht, 507 U.S. at 637, 113 S.Ct. 1710 (internal quotation marks omitted).