Court Opinion

ID: 9492238
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:35:58.085856+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:12.083396
License: Public Domain

' SILER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent, for I believe that the decision by the Michigan Court of Appeals in Michigan v. Tucker, No. 153967 (Mich.Ct.App. Sept. 13, 1994), was, not an unreasonable application of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), under the standard set out in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). My reasons for this conclusion are set out herein.
*758First, the majority goes beyond the determination of the district court in this case in finding that trial counsel was ineffective. The district court found that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to obtain and present Henderson’s medical records as impeachment before the court. This may include the failure of defense counsel to request a continuance in order to obtain the records, but the district court did not state that as a ground for granting the writ. More specifically, however, the district court found that the failure of defense counsel to use the letter (that Henderson could not identify Tucker) from Henderson’s civil attorney, the failure to obtain and use information showing that Henderson had initially implicated Wiley, and the failure to use Henderson’s inconsistent testimony at two preliminary hearings, did not amount to a deficient representation and, therefore, were not ineffective assistance of counsel. These findings were not appealed to this court. The only decision by the district court in granting the writ had to do with the failure to obtain and present Henderson’s medical records which contradicted Henderson’s testimony as to the length of time that he was in a coma and whether he had any broken ribs. Therefore, I confine my analysis to whether this conclusion by the district court below comported with the criteria of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d).
The majority correctly analyses the law when it says that we are bound by the decisions in Nevers v. Killinger, 169 F.3d 352 (6th Cir.1999); and Herbert v. Billy, 160 F.3d 1131 (6th Cir.1998). Thus, the conclusion from Nevers, as- well as from the majority here, is that “the unreasonableness of [the Michigan Court of Appeals’] application of clearly established Supreme Court precedent will not be ‘debatable among reasonable jurists,’ if it is so ‘offensive to existing precedent, so' devoid of record support, or so arbitrary, as to indicate that it is outside the universe of plausible, credible outcomes.’ ” Nevers, 169 F.3d at 362 (internal citations omitted).
I cannot find that this failure to present the medical records of the prosecuting witness was so prejudicial to the case that the determination by the Michigan Court of Appeals that it was not prejudicial is devoid of record support, or so arbitrary as to indicate it is outside the universe of plausible, credible outcomes.
When counsel on appeal first raised the question of ineffective assistance of counsel, as the majority indicates, the case was remanded to the original trial judge for a Ginther hearing to determine ineffective assistance of counsel. This case differs substantially from the usual type of case involving ineffective assistance of counsel, because the trier of fact was the judge who presided at the Ginther hearing. Although on remand the trial judge never did look at the medical records involved, he still stated that if trial counsel erred, it did not affect the outcome of the trial, because his decision would have been the same. The test is whether “there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.” Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Ordinarily, when a court makes this determination, there is no way to present the question back to the original fact finder, which likely would be a jury. Instead, this case presents an anomaly: the judge who tried the case said that it would not affect his decision. Tucker could not show to the Michigan Court of Appeals that, but for the claimed error, he would have had a reasonable chance for acquittal. If I were a state appellate judge, it is possible that I might have reached a different conclusion. However, that does not mean that the conclusion reached by the Michigan Court of Appeals was unreasonable. It was not devoid of record support, for the finder of fact said that it would not have affected his decision. It was also not arbitrary. Therefore, I would reverse the granting of the writ by the district court in this case.