Court Opinion

ID: 9687068
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:15:22.729915+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:24.058495
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(concurring specially).
Although Primeaux meets the deficient performance part of the Strickland test, *271he has not shown that the deficient performance prejudiced his defense to the extent that he was deprived of a fair or reliable trial. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064, 80 L.Ed.2d at 693.
In my view, even present counsel fails to show that Primeaux’s violent acts were caused by mental illness. He has produced no medical reports to that effect. There is no showing that these violent acts resulted from anything other than “voluntary alcoholic intoxication.” Even at this time, there is “no objective data to support the supposition of the presence of mental illness at the time of the alleged criminal activity that would either substantially reduce this individual’s abilities to know right from wrong or prevent him from maintaining his behavior in conformity with the requirements of the law.” See Dr. Bean’s conclusion. As further stated by Dr. Bean, it was “highly doubtful that any form of central nervous seizure disorder was present at the time of the alleged criminal activity which would in any manner explain or void the culpability of this individual’s alleged criminal activity.”
In summary, even the present record reflects that Primeaux’s violent acts resulted from voluntary alcoholic intoxication, which is neither a mental illness nor a defense. A showing that the medical examination could have been more thorough is not enough to establish the second prong of Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064, 80 L.Ed.2d at 693. Therefore, there is no showing that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense.