Opinion ID: 2140929
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Guilt was reliably established.

Text: The other evidence Van Cleave presented on postconviction review was of a mitigating but not exculpating character. The postconviction court therefore properly set aside the sentence. However, assuming Van Cleave's lawyer would have presented at trial the mitigating evidence found to cast a reasonable probability of success at the penalty phase, there is no showing of a reasonable probability that Van Cleave would have been acquitted. [23] The State's case against Van Cleave was overwhelming: Van Cleave on several occasions confessed to shooting Falkner; two of Van Cleave's cohorts in the robbery testified to his participation; and all the physical evidence corroborated Van Cleave's culpability for felony murder. Although the mitigating factors found by the postconviction court are relevant to Van Cleave's argument for a lighter sentence, these factors do not negate the State's proof of his guilt. In fact, Van Cleave's trial lawyer testified on postconviction review that the newly-uncovered matters would have caused him to advise Van Cleave to go to trial not because acquittal was likely or even remotely possible, but because a jury might not have recommended the death sentence. Indeed, the defense strategy was aimed chiefly towards securing the most favorable outcome at the penalty phase. Van Cleave can finally achieve in 1997 what was due to him in 1983: the assistance of competent counsel at sentencing. Since Van Cleave has not shown a reasonable probability that he would have been acquitted had a trial for felony murder taken place, Van Cleave has incurred no prejudice within the meaning of Strickland, Hill, and Fretwell. For this reason, the postconviction court erred in setting Van Cleave's conviction aside.