Court Opinion

ID: 9748811
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 16:13:43.528658+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:39.650211
License: Public Domain

ELDRIDGE and ROBERT M. BELL, JJ.,
dissent.
Dissenting opinion by ROBERT M. BELL, Judge, in which ELDRIDGE, J., joins.
I was one of the dissenters in Thomas II. See State v. Thomas, 325 Md. 160, 193, 599 A.2d 1171, 1187 (1992). At that time, I was of the opinion that the record was “abundantly clear that petitioner’s trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel to petitioner’s prejudice” and that the only effect of remanding the case, as we did, was to “make even more obvious how ineffective trial counsel’s performance really was.” Id. at 193-94, 599 A.2d at 1187 (footnote omitted). The record developed on remand convinces me that I was correct on both counts. Therefore, respectfully, I once again dissent.
It is not necessary to repeat all that I said in my prior dissenting opinion. In view of the majority opinion, however, I find it necessary to reiterate and, perhaps, expand upon a couple of points.
As to the court’s first ground for granting post conviction relief — that a reasonably competent defense attorney, equipped with the information Kinsley had as to his client’s psychiatric makeup, would not have allowed even an independent psychiatric investigation — the majority is convinced that the decision to permit the petitioner to be interviewed by a psychiatrist proposed by the State was, under the circumstances sub judice, a strategic and reasonable one, which, being within the wide range of professionally reasonable judgments, was allowable under Strickland v. Wash*564ington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984).1 Majority op. at 560. In so concluding, the majority purports to apply “several of Strickland’s tenets.” Op. at 559. In particular, it notes that “strategic choices made after less than complete investigation are reasonable precisely to the extent that reasonable professional judgments support the limitations on the investigation.” Op. at 561, quoting Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. at 690-91, 104 S.Ct. at 2066, 80 L.Ed.2d at 695.
While focusing on that “tenet” is appropriate, the majority’s application of it in this case is not. The majority proceeds as if the only relevant inquiry is whether, given the prior psychiatric evaluations, it was reasonable for defense counsel to permit a further psychiatric investigation of his client by yet another psychiatrist. To the majority, it is apparently irrelevant whether the psychiatrist who is to conduct the evaluation is independent. I see it differently. However bleak the prognosis of the psychiatrists retained by the defense may be and however anxious defense counsel may be to obtain something favorable for sentencing purposes, different considerations obtain when defense counsel knows that a psychiatrist is independent than when he or she knows that the psychiatrist is not. Trial counsel recognized this to be true when he testified that, had he known that Dr. Spodak was a State agent he would not have permitted him to examine his client. Notwithstanding that counsel asked no questions of the State concerning the capacity in which Dr. Spodak was to act and, indeed, did nothing to confirm the assumptions he made as to the nature of the examination the State sought, the majority finds that trial counsel’s decision to permit the examination was reasonable and entitled to deference. In so doing, it overlooks, and excuses, a most basic and critical omission.
*565In my opinion, a strategic decision, not subject to sanction as ineffective assistance of counsel, is one made after investigating and understanding available options and their relevant merits and/or consequences. Given the circumstances of this case, it is clear to me that trial counsel’s decision to allow his client to be examined by Dr. Spodak was not such a decision. But, even if it appropriately could be characterized as a strategic decision, as I said in dissent in Thomas II, the decision by trial counsel in this case “most assuredly was not one made after a ‘thorough investigation of the law and facts relevant to plausible options.’ ” 325 Md. at 202, 599 A.2d at 1191, quoting Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690, 104 S.Ct. at 2066, 80 L.Ed.2d at 695.
An alternative holding of the post conviction court was that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by permitting his client to be interviewed by Dr. Spodak alone. Rejecting that conclusion, the majority relies very heavily on the testimony of trial counsel as to why he did not attend the examination. That testimony revealed that trial counsel made certain assumptions about the nature of the examination as well as the capacity in which Dr. Spodak was acting. As we have seen, it did not reveal, nor even suggest, however, that trial counsel made any inquiries to justify the assumptions he made. As was true, therefore, with regard to the main holding, the majority excuses as “a professionally reasonable judgment” basic, and critical, omissions made by trial counsel. In my opinion, in this regard as well, trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel.
The majority suggests that even if it were error for counsel to have permitted the interview to go forward without being present, the petitioner failed to produce any evidence to prove that he was prejudiced. I do not agree. Counsel testified very clearly and, indeed, emphatically, that, had he been aware of the nature of the evaluation Dr. Spodak would do and for whom Dr. Spodak was acting, he would not have allowed his client to be interviewed. Dr. Spodak testified that before conducting the examination, he *566advised the petitioner that he was acting on behalf of the State. It is clear, therefore, that the evidence which formed the basis for the death sentence in this case would not have been generated had trial counsel been present; taking him at his word — deferring to his judgment, if you will — clearly he would have terminated the examination before it started.
Judge Eldridge has authorized me to state that he joins in the views stated herein. He also continues to adhere to the views he set forth, in dissent, in Thomas v. State, 301 Md. 294, 340-352, 483 A.2d 6, 30-36 (1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1088, 105 S.Ct. 1856, 85 L.Ed.2d 153 (1985) and in Thomas II. See 325 Md. at 192-93, 599 A.2d at 1186-87.

. The majority agrees that, as to this ground, there is no legitimate issue as to the prejudice prong of the test enunciated in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Op. at 558, n. 3.