Court Opinion

ID: 9558349
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:08:15.484845+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:08:54.678265
License: Public Domain

LUMPKIN, Judge,
specially concurring:
I concur in the Court’s decision in this case and agree the fifth element contained in OUJI-CR (2nd) 4-91 should be modified. This modification reconciles a conflict which has existed between the elements set out in the Instruction and the committee comments to the Instruction. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Committee for Uniform Jury Instructions has set out an excellent analysis of the historical evolution of what is now Section 701.8 of Title 21, defining murder in the second degree. The Court now adopts that analysis. In addition, this holding by the Court provides a bright fine for trial practitioners and judges in determining the lesser included offenses applicable to a charge of first degree murder. That determination not only helps ensure error is not created in the trial court but provides an objective basis for this Court to analyze issues presented on appeal.
I also agree with the Court’s determination Appellant’s Proposition IV relating to ineffective assistance of counsel is without merit. However I do so based on the further legal evolution established by the United States Supreme Court concerning the Strickland standard. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 686, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2064, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Strickland sets forth a two-part test which must be applied to determine whether a defendant has been denied effective assistance of counsel. First, the defendant must show that counsel’s performance was deficient, and second, he must show that deficient performance prejudiced the defense. Unless the defendant makes both showings, “it cannot be said that the conviction ... resulted from a breakdown in the adversary process that renders the result unreliable.” Id. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. This means appellant must demonstrate the counsel’s representation was unreasonable under prevailing professional norms and that the challenged action cannot be considered sound trial strategy. Id. at 688-89,104 S.Ct. at 2064-66. When a claim of ineffectiveness of counsel can be disposed of on grounds of lack of prejudice, that course should be followed. Id. at 696, 104 S.Ct. at 2070, 80 L.Ed.2d at 699. Concerning the prejudice problem, the Supreme Court, in interpreting Strickland, has held:
[an appellant] alleging prejudice must show “that counsel’s errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable.” Strickland, 466 U.S., at 687, 104 S.Ct., at 2064; see also Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U.S. 365, 374, 106 S.Ct. 2574, 2582, 91 L.Ed.2d 305 (1986) (“The essence of an ineffective-assistance claim is that counsel’s unprofessional errors so upset the adversarial balance between defense and prosecution that the trial was rendered unfair and the verdict rendered suspect”); Nix v. Whiteside, 475 U.S. [157], at 175, 106 S.Ct. [988], at 998[, 89 L.Ed.2d 123 (1986)]. Thus, an analysis focusing solely on mere outcome determination, without attention to whether the result of the proceeding was fundamentally unfair or unreliable, is defective. To set aside a conviction or sentence solely because the outcome would have been different but for counsel’s error may grant the defendant a windfall to which the law does not entitle him. See [United States v.] Cronic, 466 U.S. [648], at 658, 104 S.Ct. [2039], at 2046 [80 L.Ed.2d 657 (1984) ].
Lockhart v. Fretwell, 506 U.S. 364, 369-70, 113 S.Ct. 838, 842-43, 122 L.Ed.2d 180, 189 (1993) (footnote omitted). Although we must consider the totality of the evidence which was before the factfinder, our “ultimate focus of inquiry must be on the fundamental fairness of the proceeding whose result is being challenged.” Strickland, at 695, 104 S.Ct. at 2069; Fisher v. State, 736 P.2d 1003, 1012 (Okl.Cr.1987), cert. denied 486 U.S. 1061, 108 S.Ct. 2833, 100 L.Ed.2d 933 (1988). In reviewing the evidence contained in this record, *1090together with a review of the allegations in the proposition of error, I find the Appellant has not been denied a fair trial, a trial whose result was reliable and agree the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel must be denied.