Opinion ID: 2828567
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Penalty-Phase Mental-Health Evidence

Text: Defendant’s final argument is that his trial attorneys were ineffective by failing to properly investigate his background and mental health in preparation for the penalty 27 phase of his case. We evaluate trial counsel’s penalty-phase performance “under the prevailing professional norms at the time of . . . trial [September 2005 in this case].” Porter v. McCollum, 558 U.S. 30, 39 (2009) (per curiam). We must bear in mind that “[b]eyond the general requirement of reasonableness, specific guidelines are not appropriate,” and “[n]o particular set of detailed rules for counsel’s conduct can satisfactorily take account of the variety of circumstances faced by defense counsel or the range of legitimate decisions.” Cullen v. Pinholster, 131 S. Ct. 1388, 1406 (2011) (internal quotation marks omitted). Still, the Supreme Court has emphasized that as a general rule counsel has a duty to pursue leads indicating a defendant’s troubled background and diminished mental capacity. See Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510, 523– 525 (2003); see also Hooks v. Workman, 689 F.3d 1148, 1201 (10th Cir. 2012) (“Counsel has a duty to conduct a thorough investigation—in particular, of mental health evidence—in preparation for the sentencing phase of a capital trial.” (internal quotation marks omitted)). That standard is supported (though not mandated, see Bobby v. Van Hook, 558 U.S. 4, 7‒9 (2009)) by the American Bar Association’s Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases (rev. 2003) (ABA Guidelines), which state that a capital defense team should include a “mitigation specialist” and someone “qualified by training and experience to screen individuals for the presence of mental or psychological disorders or impairments.” ABA Guidelines 4.1.A.1 to .2. 28 The issue before us is whether Defendant’s trial attorneys prepared a mitigation case that measures up to professional norms and, if not, whether that made a difference. In our view, the record before us is inadequate to resolve the issue. Defendant has presented considerable evidence supporting his claims. But other evidence may counter it. Rule 8(a) of the Rules Governing Section 2255 Proceedings requires the district court to review the record “to determine whether an evidentiary hearing is warranted.” That decision turns on “whether such a hearing could enable [the movant] to prove the [motion’s] factual allegations, which, if true, would entitle the [movant] to . . . relief.” Schriro v. Landrigan, 550 U.S. 465, 474 (2007) (stating standard in § 2254 cases). We hold that an evidentiary hearing is necessary to enable the district court to make the findings needed to determine whether Defendant has a valid claim. We therefore reverse and remand for further proceedings on the issue.
We begin with an overview of the penalty-phase defense that was presented. Defendant’s trial attorneys called his mother, father, stepmother, brother, ex-wife, uncle, and cousin to testify that Defendant was a loved family member and good person who was sorry for killing Eales. The defense also called a state-court clerk to testify about Defendant’s state-court proceedings and his lack of prior felonies, several state-prison employees to testify that Defendant was a well-behaved prisoner, two neighbors to testify that Defendant was a good mechanic and a nonviolent person, and a bondsman to testify that he had no concerns about Defendant’s being a danger while his bench warrant was 29 outstanding. None of the witnesses discussed Defendant’s mental health or troubled background in any significant detail, and Defendant’s closing argument included only one mention of his commitment to a hospital almost 20 years earlier “for drug abuse and other treatment,” and that was in the context of describing his “rocky” marriage. R., Vol. 5 pt. 2 at 4108. The defense that was presented apparently helped to some extent. The jury did not find unanimously that the government had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Defendant would pose a continuing and serious danger to others in prison, and unanimously found that he was a father and a loved son and stepson, and that his death would have an impact on his family and friends. Seven jurors found that he was a good neighbor and friend; five found that he had accepted responsibility for Eales’s death from his state-court conviction and that he had been convicted and punished for the killing; and two found that he would not be a danger to society if imprisoned for life without parole. What was missing from the presentation was evidence of Defendant’s mental condition that could have been persuasive to the jury. In his § 2255 proceedings Defendant has presented a case that his defense team did little to investigate his background and mental condition. First, it may never have hired a mitigation expert or a mental-health professional to assess Defendant’s mental capacity. The district court pointed to one of the defense attorneys’ expense vouchers and attached documentation that said that they had retained the services of psychologist Jeanne Russell for “mitigation and assistance on mental health questions” at least in part because “she [had been] 30 consulted during the State trials as the mitigation expert.” Barrett, 2012 WL 3542609, at  (internal quotation marks omitted). There is evidence, however, that Dr. Russell’s work was restricted to an assessment of Defendant’s future dangerousness. According to her declaration in these § 2255 proceedings, she “did not evaluate [Defendant’s] neuropsychological functioning or focus on his psychological make-up, as the referral request was specific to risk assessment.” Am. Mot. for Collateral Relief, to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence & for a New Trial, Ex. 56 at 1–2, Barrett, No. 6:09-civ-105JHP (Sept. 25, 2009). She states that in mid-August 2005, about a month before the federal trial began, she was approached by Bret Smith, one of Defendant’s trial attorneys, to be a mitigation investigator. She declined, stating that she was unqualified to perform such an investigation and there was not time to do so. She updated her risk assessment on Defendant and submitted it to Defendant’s trial attorneys on September 15. On October 12 she visited Defendant in prison but this was after she had already submitted her updated report. Additional evidence further supports Defendant’s assertion of a lack of effort to retain mitigation expertise. According to the declaration of Julia O’Connell, Federal Defender for the Northern and Eastern Districts of Oklahoma, defense attorney Hilfiger called her office less than three months before the start of trial to ask if her mitigation specialist would be willing to meet sometime in the future. O’Connell referred him to Dick Burr, a federal death-penalty resource attorney. Burr declares that he never heard from Hilfiger or Smith on anything of substance. Similarly, the firm that was approved 31 by the court for mitigation services, Inquisitor, Inc., was contacted only once by John Echols (an attorney for Defendant who withdrew and was replaced by Smith) and was never asked to perform any mitigation work. Defendant’s trial attorneys also apparently did little to investigate his background or mental health through his family. According to the declarations of the family members who testified during the sentencing phase, the trial attorneys’ preparation for their testimony consisted more or less of five-minute interviews before going on the stand, and none were asked about Defendant’s background, mental health, or family history. Typically, this kind of superficial investigation would constitute deficient performance. See Hooper v. Mullin, 314 F.3d 1162, 1171 (10th Cir. 2002) (“A decision not to undertake substantial pretrial investigation and instead to ‘investigate’ the case during the trial is not only uninformed, it is patently unreasonable.” (brackets and internal quotation marks omitted)); see also Sears v. Upton, 561 U.S. 945, 952 (2010) (per curiam) (quoting, with apparent approval, the postconviction state-court determination that “the cursory nature of counsel’s investigation into mitigation evidence—limited to one day or less, talking to witnesses selected by [the defendant’s] mother—was on its face constitutionally inadequate”) (ellipsis and internal quotation marks omitted)). The government nevertheless offers three reasons why trial counsel’s efforts were not deficient: first, they had no indications that Defendant suffered from a mental impairment, so there was no reason to pursue that line of inquiry; second, Defendant 32 opposed a mitigation strategy based on personal sympathy or his childhood; and third, they already had a reasonable mitigation strategy. Each is questionable on this record. To support the first argument, the government directs us to the declarations of Hilfiger and Smith. They state that nothing in Defendant’s behavior during the federal case, nor in what his family members reported to them during interviews, nor in what Dr. Russell said to them indicated that Defendant had a significant mental impairment. In essence, according to the government, there were no “red flags” indicating a need to go further. Rompilla v. Beard, 545 U.S. 374, 392 (2005) (internal quotation marks omitted); see Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690–91 (“strategic choices made after less than complete investigation are reasonable precisely to the extent that reasonable professional judgments support the limitations on investigation”). What the trial attorneys’ declarations fail to address, however, is whether they ever asked about Defendant’s mental health, background, or family history. Cf. Cole v. Trammell, 755 F.3d 1142, 1161 (10th Cir. 2014) (“[b]ecause ‘family and social history’ is one of the crucial areas of investigation emphasized in the ABA Guidelines,” court assumes that a failure to contact family members was constitutionally deficient performance). Also, the record suggests that Defendant’s trial attorneys had indications that Defendant’s mental health and background merited further investigation. According to Echols, Defendant’s previous attorney: At the time I withdrew from the case, I advised Mr. Hilfiger that he needed to immediately undertake extensive investigation and preparation for a possible penalty phase. I explained to him that the work performed by 33 Roseann Schaye, the mitigation investigator in the state case, was very preliminary in nature and far from complete. Ms. Schaye’s investigation, and preliminary consultation with mental health experts prior to the state court trial had identified, but not developed, several potentially fruitful areas to pursue, including Mr. Barrett’s mental illness and prior suicide attempt. In particular, the expert advice included seeking assessment of neurological damage and conducting an investigation of family illness. R., Vol. 1a pt. 1 at 547. Hilfiger does not recall this conversation, but factual disputes should be resolved in an evidentiary hearing. Further, it is undisputed that six months before trial Echols and Hilfiger requested funding from the court for an expert on diagnosing organic brain disorders resulting from Defendant’s drug use and significant head injuries, and that even earlier Echols copied Hilfiger on a letter to the court discussing the use of Schaye’s mitigation-investigation services during the state proceedings and stating that she and another psychologist “disagreed completely concerning Mr. Barrett’s mental well being.” Id. at 967. In addition, Hilfiger admits that Echols gave him Defendant’s medical, educational, and mental-health records. Those records reveal that Defendant developed at a delayed pace as an infant, struggled in school, attempted suicide with a shotgun in January 1986, was subjected to a mentalhealth proceeding in October 1986 and committed to a hospital after complaints from his mother and ex-wife that he was violent and very suicidal, and was hospitalized for three days in 1995 after arriving in the emergency room complaining of “losing his mind.” Id., Vol. 2d pt. 8 at 358. During his hospital stay in October 1986 he was diagnosed with substance abuse and mixed personality disorder, and during his hospital stay in 1995 he was diagnosed with substance abuse and organic affective disorder. Also, the report 34 prepared by Dr. Russell and given to Hilfiger and Smith includes a list of records she relied upon, which included records noting Defendant’s suicide attempt in January 1986, hospital stays in October 1986 and in 1995, and a psychological evaluation completed in 2002 by psychologist William Sharp, who found that Defendant was paranoid and had a family history of depression and mental illness, and who said that his behavior warranted investigation for organic brain damage. Defendant’s trial attorneys never contacted Dr. Sharp. This is evidence that counsel failed to make an effort “to discover all reasonably available mitigating evidence” despite ample indication of potential mental-health problems. Wiggins, 539 U.S. at 524 (emphasis and internal quotation marks omitted). The government’s second argument is that Defendant’s trial attorneys were constrained from conducting a mental-health investigation by their client, who did not want a mitigation strategy based on personal pity or embarrassment of his family. The government again cites the declarations of Hilfiger and Smith, which both state in identical words: Mr. Barrett did not want the defense to “beg for his life” during the penalty phase of the trial. He did not want the outcome of the case to hinge on personal sympathy for him. Mr. Barrett did not want the mitigation case to dwell on his childhood. He also wanted to minimize the amount of testimony elicited from his relatives, particularly his son, mother and ex-wife, though he understood that decision could work to his detriment. 35 R., Vol. 2d pt. 8 at 346 (paragraph numbering omitted); see also id. at 349 (same). The government also directs us to Defendant’s outburst during the prosecution’s closing argument in the guilt phase. After United States Attorney Sheldon Sperling mentioned Defendant’s mother, Defendant exclaimed, “Get off my family, Sperling. This is about murder, not my family. . . . I’ve heard enough of him talking about my family. Take me out of the courtroom. Take me out.” Id., Vol. 5 pt. 2 at 4151. This evidence, however, does not establish an unambiguous command to refrain from investigating or presenting evidence of Defendant’s personal history or mental health. Defendant has presented evidence that his trial attorneys were not so constrained. Echols stated in a declaration that during state-trial preparation Defendant willingly submitted to a mental-health examination, provided information about his background, and placed no restrictions on mitigation investigation. Smith stated in his declaration that Defendant “impressed me as among the most cooperative criminal defense clients I have ever had.” Id., Vol. 2d pt. 8 at 345. Most strongly indicating Defendant’s cooperative attitude is his undated letter to Hilfiger apologizing for his changes of mind and expressing his willingness (at least at that moment) to allow his attorneys to do their best to win the case: [A]t this time I don’t know what I’m doing or going to do. Or should do. . . . One day I feel one way and the next I feel another. I guess I have no choice now than to let you do your best. . . . Just try your hardest to beat this to w[h]ere I can go home. . . . I’ve got alot of thangs that are good for this case. So hopefully now that there is no-other means for me but to beat this we can put this behind us and start over and do this right and win. I’ll try my best to act right. 36 Id., Vol. 1a pt. 1 at 555. As for Defendant’s outburst during closing argument (which both his trial attorneys say was an exceptional event), Hilfiger suggests in his declaration that it was not a reaction to the presentation of mitigation evidence, but to argument about Defendant’s family: Mr. Barrett’s outburst during the prosecution’s penalty phase argument was a very unusual and unanticipated event. That outburst must be placed in a perspective that this was toward the end of a very contentious trial. At this stage the U.S. Attorney was arguing about the defendant’s mother or stepmother, as she related to the case, and Mr. Barrett’s outburst was to inform the prosecutor that he was the one on trial and his mother or step-mother should not be subjected to that kind of examination. Id., Vol. 2d pt. 8 at 349. The government nonetheless contends that the Supreme Court’s opinion in Schriro forecloses an evidentiary hearing. We are not persuaded. Schriro involved a challenge under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 to a state death sentence. See 550 U.S. 465. At the sentencing hearing the defendant in Schriro confirmed to the judge that he had told his counsel not to present mitigating evidence and then repeatedly interrupted his counsel’s efforts to do so, often by interjecting incriminating details. See id. at 469‒70. The record in this case (at least as it currently stands) is hardly as definitive as Schriro’s. Defendant’s one ambiguous outburst during closing argument is not the same as repeatedly interrupting at sentencing to strengthen the case against oneself. And the conclusory descriptions of Defendant’s wishes in the declarations of Hilfiger and Smith are a far cry from the Schriro defendant’s statement to the judge at the close of the sentencing hearing, “I think 37 if you want to give me the death penalty, just bring it right on. I’m ready for it.” Id. at 470. Perhaps most importantly, the Court in Schriro was applying § 2254’s deferential standard of review, which permits setting aside the state-court finding of waiver only if it “was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2). Given that standard, a federal-court evidentiary hearing on waiver was unnecessary. Because of the evidence that Defendant (1) changed his mind from time to time on how he wished the case to be tried, (2) at least at some times deferred to the best judgment of his lawyers, and (3) may not have made a fully informed decision (because his attorneys inadequately investigated his background and mental health), we cannot say that the unelaborated statements by his attorneys necessarily establish that those attorneys were barred by Defendant from pursuing a defense to the death penalty based on his background or mental health. We express no opinion on the issue; an evidentiary hearing can resolve the matter. Finally, the government suggests that the actions of Defendant’s trial attorneys were justifiable because they were able to present an alternative yet still effective portrayal of Defendant as a beloved family member. But an uninformed choice is not a reasonable tactical decision: “[A] decision to focus on one potentially reasonable trial strategy [cannot be] justified by a tactical decision when counsel did not fulfill their obligation to conduct a thorough investigation of the defendant’s background.” Sears, 561 U.S. at 954 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); see also Littlejohn v. 38 Trammell, 704 F.3d 817, 867 (10th Cir. 2013) (Sears and Rompilla “emphasized the need for courts to consider the prejudicial effect of counsel’s failure to investigate a viable mitigation theory even in the face of an otherwise reasonable mitigation defense”); Brecheen v. Reynolds, 41 F.3d 1343, 1368 (10th Cir. 1994) (“If . . . the decision is not tactical, and counsel’s performance is therefore deficient, then the first prong of Strickland is satisfied.”). Defendant’s trial attorneys had an obligation to investigate carefully before setting out on a course of action, and there is evidence that they did not do so.
To obtain relief, Defendant must also establish that the alleged deficient performance of counsel caused him prejudice. His burden is to show that “there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.” Rushin, 642 F.3d at 1302 (internal quotation marks omitted). “To assess that probability, we consider the totality of the available mitigation evidence—both that adduced at trial, and the evidence adduced in the [§ 2255] proceeding—and reweigh it against the evidence in aggravation.” Porter, 130 S. Ct. at 453–54 (brackets and internal quotation marks omitted). This is a “probing and factspecific analysis,” which “will necessarily require a court to ‘speculate’ as to the effect of the new evidence.” Sears, 561 U.S. at 955–56. But we need not be certain that the omitted evidence would have changed the outcome of the proceeding: it is sufficient if confidence in the outcome has been undermined. See Byrd, 645 F.3d at 1168. 39 Taking Defendant’s proffered mitigation evidence as true, it is sufficient to require an evidentiary hearing. It includes documents and declarations and the assessments of three experts: Dr. Bill Sharp, who examined Defendant in 2002; Dr. Myla Young, a clinical neuropsychologist who examined Defendant in 2009 and reviewed his records; and Dr. George Woods, a psychiatrist who also reviewed Defendant’s records and examined him in 2009. The evidence supports the following: Defendant’s family has a long history of mental-health problems, alcoholism, and abuse. On Defendant’s maternal side, several members of his extended family suffer from mental-health problems and relatives of his grandparents committed suicide or were involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment. On his paternal side, several members of the extended family have mental-health problems, his great-great-grandfather was once committed to a psychiatric hospital, his great-grandfather committed suicide, and his grandfather was an alcoholic who spent time in a mental hospital under a Certificate of Lunacy and who chronically abused his family members, including Defendant’s father. Defendant’s childhood was less than ideal. His father supported the family financially but was largely absent. Throughout Defendant’s childhood and adolescence his father drank, fought constantly with Defendant’s mother and others, and engaged in numerous extramarital affairs. He once had a violent altercation with Defendant’s mother. He also punched Defendant once when Defendant was in ninth grade. Defendant’s parents separated when he was 10 or 11 years old. His mother drank constantly and subjected him to physical and emotional abuse and neglect. Such 40 evidence of childhood abuse, neglect, and instability can play a significant role in mitigation. See Sears, 561 U.S. at 948 (emotionally abused by parents, who fought physically and divorced, and sexually abused by cousin); Wiggins, 539 U.S. at 516–17 (neglected and abused by birth mother and abused physically and sexually in foster care); Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 395 (2000) (“nightmarish childhood” of abuse and neglect by parents and foster home); see also, e.g., Hooks, 689 F.3d at 1203 (defendant’s “premature birth, . . . abusive father, frequent moves, educational handicaps, and personal family tragedies” constituted “a life story worth telling”). Also, Dr. Woods said that Defendant’s genetic history and poor upbringing increased his risk for developing mental disorders and chemical dependency. Defendant’s own history suggests mental illness. His mother drank alcohol while pregnant with him, he was developmentally delayed as an infant, repeated a grade in school, and dropped out after being referred to special-education classes. He suffered various incidents of head trauma while growing up and as a young man. He began consuming alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs between the ages of 11 and 14, when the brain’s frontal lobes are first beginning to develop. In January 1986, at the age of 24, he attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a shotgun, after which he received psychiatric intervention and was prescribed antidepressants. Later that year he was involuntarily committed to a hospital after complaints from his mother and ex-wife that he was violent and suicidal; he was diagnosed as suffering from substance abuse and mixed personality disorder. In 1995 he was again hospitalized for three days after 41 arriving in the emergency room complaining of “losing his mind.” R., Vol. 2d pt. 8 at 358. He was discharged with diagnoses of substance abuse and organic affective disorder. According to Dr. Woods, throughout Defendant’s life he has had a significantly impaired ability to function normally and live independently and has suffered from irritability, racing thoughts, paranoia, and cognitive impairment. Drs. Young, Woods, and Sharp concluded that Defendant labors under substantial mental impairment. Dr. Woods diagnosed Defendant with bipolar disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. Dr. Sharp’s evaluation from 2002 (during the state-court proceedings) found that Defendant had avoidant personality disorder, long-term memory problems, a tremor in his hands, and buzzing in his ears. Most important are the findings relating to Defendant’s judgment. Dr. Young said (1) that Defendant’s history suggests he has sustained brain damage that inhibits his ability to process new information and (2) that tests she administered likewise indicated that Defendant’s executive functioning—which involves the ability to reason, anticipate consequences to actions, and respond to new information and act accordingly—was significantly impaired. She stated that Defendant’s “brain dysfunction . . . would particularly impair his abilities to organize, think, reason, plan, anticipate consequences of actions, and change actions as needed based on information he receives from the environment. His disabilities would be further exacerbated under conditions of complexity and/or highly stressful situations.” R., Vol. 1a pt. 1 at 1105. Dr. Woods concurred with Dr. Young’s findings. He determined that Defendant suffers from brain 42 damage sustained early in his life, which impairs his inhibition, reasoning, and judgment. He opined that Defendant’s “frontal lobe impairments are known to be the foundation for disinhibition, impaired judgment, and grandiosity/paranoia found in bipolar disorder.” Id. at 1297. Dr. Sharp’s 2002 evaluation found Defendant to be fearful and paranoid, and he agreed with Dr. Young’s findings and Dr. Wood’s diagnosis. We have said that evidence of mental impairments “is exactly the sort of evidence that garners the most sympathy from jurors,” Smith v. Mullin, 379 F.3d 919, 942 (10th Cir. 2004), and that this is especially true of evidence of organic brain damage, see Littlejohn, 704 F.3d at 864 (“Evidence of organic mental deficits ranks among the most powerful types of mitigation evidence available.”). Organic brain damage is so compelling, according to one of our decisions, because “the involuntary physical alteration of brain structures, with its attendant effects on behavior, tends to diminish moral culpability, altering the causal relationship between impulse and action.” Hooks, 689 F.3d at 1205. This evidence goes beyond the generalized mental conditions we have determined to be unhelpful in mitigation. See Grant v. Trammell, 727 F.3d 1006, 1020– 21 (10th Cir. 2013) (generalized personality disorders, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, compulsive personality disorder, and severe emotional distress). It enables counsel to “explain to the jury why [the] defendant may have acted as he did[,] . . . connect[ing] the dots between, on the one hand, [his] mental problems, life circumstances, and personal history and, on the other, his commission of the crime in question.” Hooks, 689 F.3d at 1204. Little of this evidence was presented to the jury. 43 On the other hand, “we do not consider omitted mitigation evidence in a vacuum.” Wilson v. Trammell, 706 F.3d 1286, 1305 (10th Cir. 2013). “[W]e must consider not just the mitigation evidence that Defendant claims was wrongfully omitted, but also what the prosecution’s response to that evidence would have been.” Id. at 1306; cf. Burger v. Kemp, 483 U.S. 776, 788–95 (1987) (reasonable for counsel not to present evidence of defendant’s background in mitigation because it would have revealed defendant’s violent tendencies). That response would have surely called into question Defendant’s diagnoses of various mental defects and suggested he was simply a dangerous drug addict. The government directs us to evidence that when Defendant was involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment in 1986, his then-wife executed a sworn statement describing Defendant as “a very dangerous person to himself and others” and stating that he was abusing drugs and had sexually abused her, had kidnapped their son, had destroyed and burned her possessions, and had threatened to kill her and to take away their son. R., Vol. 2d pt. 8 at 350. A medical history sheet completed at that time stated that he had no symptoms of neurological problems and that he denied having suffered any head injuries. Although his discharge summary from that stay diagnosed him with a “[m]ixed personality disorder,” it also described him as a drug abuser who had failed to continue taking his medication after his suicide attempt. Also, it offered a prognosis of “[g]uarded, because of the unpredictability of his behavior, depending on the circumstances and depending on whether or not he is taking drugs at the time.” Id. at 44 353. A few months after his release from the hospital, Defendant had a claim denied by the Social Security Administration. The denial letter stated that “[m]edical reports show that you are moderately depressed but there are no signs of a severe mental illness. Most of the time you are able to think clearly and to carry out your normal activities.” Id. at 362. As for Defendant’s 1995 hospitalization, the government points out that a physician’s evaluation found him to be calm, normal, and free of any paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, or homicidal ideation, but still addicted to drugs. And finally, the government could have introduced evidence that Defendant had amphetamines and marijuana in his system on the night of the shooting. Perhaps the evidence of spousal abuse and drug involvement would not have surprised the jury and presented little downside risk to Defendant’s offering evidence of his mental condition. See Smith, 379 F.3d at 943 & n.11 (when aggravating aspects of defendant’s mental illness had already been presented to jury, little risk to presenting the mitigating aspects as explanation for defendant’s behavior). After all, the jury heard extensive testimony of Defendant’s abuse of his ex-wife, including her requests for and his violations of multiple protective orders, an incident in which he destroyed her furniture and other items, and his threat after their separation to “blow off her head.” Id., Vol. 5 pt. 2 at 3486. Their divorce was granted, the jury learned, on grounds of physical abuse. The jury was also presented with significant evidence of Defendant’s drug use, including the testimony of a drug addict that he took methamphetamine with Defendant, and the testimony of a state prison employee that Defendant self-reported first using 45 alcohol at age 12, cocaine and heroin at age 14, and methamphetamine at age 20, and had been using marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin, tranquilizers, and other drugs up until the time of the shooting. And, of course, there was the guilt-phase evidence of Defendant’s outstanding warrant for failure to appear in state court on drug charges and the drug paraphernalia found on Defendant’s person and property after the shooting. But additional current mental-health evidence could have been offered by the government once Defendant opened the door to such evidence. In particular, the government could have called Dr. Randall Price in rebuttal. Dr. Price conducted a psychological evaluation of Defendant on behalf of the government, and he may have testified that Defendant was a psychopath and would be at a high risk of committing violent offenses if freed. Such expert testimony can be devastating. See Wilson, 706 F.3d at 1298–99, 1307–08. We hesitate, however, to rely on Dr. Price’s evaluation to establish lack of prejudice. Although the district court noted the report and apparently relied on it to some extent, it is not clear how much of the report was disclosed to Defendant, which may explain why the government’s appellate brief does not discuss it. In short, we believe that Defendant presented sufficient evidence of deficient performance and prejudice to entitle him to an evidentiary hearing. Based on the evidence presented at a hearing, the district court can make findings on disputed facts and render its decision, both on performance and prejudice. 46