Court Opinion

ID: 9719696
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:00:11.3983+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:09.101190
License: Public Domain

Justice CASTILLE,
Concurring and Dissenting.
Although I join the Majority Opinion in the denial of collateral guilt phase relief, I respectfully dissent from its affirmance of the grant of penalty phase relief.
I. Guilt Phase
With respect to the guilt phase collateral claims, Majority op. at 51-71, 888 A.2d 567-79,1 join the Majority Opinion with *81the exception of the following minor points concerning the previous litigation provision of the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”), 42 Pa.C.S. § 9541 et seq. First, I do not join in the Majority’s oblique reference to retroactivity principles, where it cites to Blackwell v. Com., State Ethics Com’n, 527 Pa. 172, 589 A.2d 1094, 1101 (1991) for the proposition that “new rules of procedure are commonly applied only to the case currently pending before the court.” Majority op. at 61-63, 888 A.2d at 574. The question of the proper scope of the PCRA’s previous litigation bar is not one Implicating a discretionary procedural “rule” fashioned by this Court. Rather, it is a lawful, substantive statutory requirement and this Court has no choice but to apply the existing statute as we understand it.
Second, in supplementation of the Majority’s previous litigation analysis, which I otherwise join, I believe it is worth emphasizing that there is an obvious distinction between non-record-based claims of ineffective assistance of counsel (e.g., failure to investigate, discover material evidence, or call witnesses) which will rarely be subject to a previous litigation bar, and claims which allege deficient attorney performance in the manner in which a particular claim was litigated in the trial court or upon direct appeal. With respect to the latter circumstance, it has too often been the case that this Court has been presented with a mere boilerplate assertion of counsel ineffectiveness attached to a new theory involving a record-based ruling which was already challenged and denied at trial or on direct review. Such undeveloped claims should always fail, and it may be a matter of semantics whether the failure is attributed to previous litigation or lack of (demonstrated) Sixth Amendment arguable merit. In addition, there are other instances where the manner of disposition on direct review (such as a finding that any alleged error was harmless) effectively operates to preclude relief upon any alternative theory advanced under the guise of ineffective assistance of counsel. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Gribble, 580 Pa. 647, 863 A.2d 455, 462 (2004); see also Majority op. at 61-65, 888 A.2d at 574-75 (rejecting ineffectiveness claim respecting severance/due process “for the reasons discussed on direct appeal”). *82There obviously is an element of issue preclusion at work in such an instance. Having said this, I ultimately have no quarrel with the general distinction drawn by the Majority, which recognizes the constitutional underpinnings of counsel ineffectiveness claims. The Majority’s analysis should encourage the bench and bar to pay heed to substantive requirements (ie., the elements of the claim) necessary to prove a viable Sixth Amendment claim of counsel ineffectiveness.
II. Penalty Phase
The Majority affirms the PCRA determination of the Honorable Carolyn E. Temin (who was not the trial judge) that appellant’s trial counsel was ineffective in 1994 for failing to uncover and present a different and supplemental case in mitigation focusing on appellant’s supposedly abusive childhood, an alleged brain injury, and his cognitive dysfunctions. In granting a new penalty hearing, the PCRA court discussed none of the many cases from this Court which have considered similar issues, but instead, relied almost exclusively upon a select, non-binding Third Circuit panel decision, Jermyn v. Horn, 266 F.3d 257 (3d Cir.2001). I respectfully dissent from the Majority’s affirmance of this grant of relief, as I do not believe appellant rebutted the presumption that his counsel was effective and the legal determination below, however much it may square with the Third Circuit’s non-deferential approach to this Court’s performance of its federal constitutional duty, flies in the face of binding authority from this Court. Moreover, I do not believe appellant has proven prejudice.
On the question of the performance aspect of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), the Majority assumes, as the PCRA court did, that a constitutionally reasonable investigation by counsel under standards extant in 1994 would have uncovered the additional mitigation evidence counsel is belatedly faulted for failing to uncover. I do not believe the record concerning counsel’s performance compiled below, viewed through the deferential *83and contemporaneous lens required of Strickland, and viewed through this Court’s precedent, supports that assumption.
Trial counsel, John T. Drost, Esquire, testified at the PCRA hearing. Counsel noted that, by the time of appellant’s trial, he had had considerable criminal trial experience, both as a prosecutor and as a defense attorney, experience which included over 100 murder cases defended and six prior capital trials. Counsel further noted that he was appointed to represent appellant in two other murder cases contemporaneously with the double murder at issue here; in one of those cases, counsel secured an acquittal and in the other the prosecution was dropped. Counsel then testified as to his penalty phase strategy and investigation into appellant’s background. Counsel’s overall strategy was to develop and present any mitigation evidence that he could muster. To that end, counsel retained Dr. Allan M. Tepper, who is both a licensed psychologist and an attorney, and a recognized expert witness in forensic psychology. Dr. Tepper, who also testified at the PCRA hearing, understood his task to be to evaluate appellant to determine if any mitigating circumstances existed.
In addition to retaining Dr. Tepper, counsel interviewed appellant, appellant’s mother, appellant’s fiancée, and other members of appellant’s family. These family meetings were fruitful, as they revealed information which was positive about appellant, i.e., that he had a loving relationship with family members and had performed numerous good works for family members and others in his community. Counsel presented this positive evidence at the penalty phase along with evidence from Dr. Tepper and, in point of fact, the jury found the “catchall” mitigator.
Given the passage of time since trial, counsel could not specifically recall what information he had provided to Dr. Tepper, but he noted that his general practice would have been to provide all discovery materials, the preliminary hearing notes, appellant’s prior record, and some background concerning appellant and his case. Counsel also met numerous times with appellant, not only in connection with this case but in connection with appellant’s other pending cases as well, *84and thus counsel had an opportunity to observe and form his own opinion concerning appellant’s mental functioning. Counsel noted that appellant was able to provide him with relevant information and consult with him in preparing the defense. Counsel noted that “only in hindsight” could he say so much as that appellant’s “affect was extremely flat” which might have been an indication of some brain injury. Counsel noted, however, that he “absolutely” was aware that a flat affect could result from other causes and that, over the course of the two years he represented appellant, the idea of connecting his affect to organic brain damage simply “did not occur to me.”
Counsel also noted that Dr. Tepper, who interviewed, examined and tested appellant, detected no evidence of organic brain damage or mental disease. Dr. Tepper’s testimony confirmed this fact; in addition, Dr. Tepper noted that he had detected nothing that would warrant neuropsychological testing of appellant. As the Majority concedes, the doctor’s failure to diagnose brain injury or impairment no doubt resulted at least in part from the fact that appellant had specifically denied suffering any head injuries. Indeed, it was Dr. Tepper’s practice to ask his subjects whether they had ever been stabbed, shot, run over, been in a car accident, or hit in the head. Appellant disclosed no such medical/physical injury to the doctor. Further, appellant never informed Dr. Tepper that he had been the victim of any physical abuse. Whatever brain damage or impairment appellant had, obviously it was mild enough so as not to be apparent to counsel or to a trained mental health professional who spent hours interviewing and evaluating appellant. Surely, counsel cannot be faulted for assuming that the experienced mental health expert he retained specifically for mitigation purposes would uncover any such mental health mitigation evidence.
Counsel testified that he did not pursue the notion of a previous brain injury because his penalty phase preparations, as well as his interaction with appellant during a lengthy course of representation, gave him no reason to believe that appellant had suffered a significant head injury. Although counsel could not specifically recall if he had asked appellant *85and his family questions concerning appellant’s medical and “social” history and whether he had suffered any head injuries (counsel said that in all likelihood he did not specifically ask about prior head injuries or social history), counsel did note that if such information had been forthcoming by appellant or his family members he would have acted upon it and followed it up. In this regard, counsel noted that he certainly was aware at the time of trial that evidence of a prior significant head injury was an area that could be pursued in developing a defense case in mitigation.
In short, the record below demonstrates that the fact that counsel did not present mental health mitigation evidence does not mean that counsel failed to pursue such evidence — here, counsel clearly did, it just did not pan out. Similarly, the fact that counsel did not produce additional negative information concerning appellant’s childhood, background, and mental state does not mean that counsel failed to develop and present a case in mitigation. To the contrary, counsel presented a cogent mitigation case consisting of the testimony of appellant, members of appellant’s family, and Dr. Tepper, which served to personalize appellant and present him in a sympathetic light. Dr. Tepper thus told the sentencing jury that appellant’s father had left the family home when appellant was nine or ten years old and that appellant subsequently lacked a stable male role model or “father figure,” a circumstance which led him to develop behavioral problems in school. Continuing with this personalized social history, Dr. Tepper also informed the jury that appellant had slightly lower than average intelligence, that he had completed the tenth grade, and he opined that with some more effort and focus, appellant could succeed in academics or in his vocation. The doctor also noted that appellant had owned up to an “extensive drug and alcohol history or problem” that began with the very early use of marijuana and alcohol while in seventh grade, and then escalated into the frequent abuse of cocaine, cough syrup, and Valium. In addition to this expert psychological testimony, trial counsel presented testimony from several family members, including appellant’s fiancée, three aunts, and two cous*86ins. These witnesses stated that appellant was an intelligent, sweet, loving, caring, and good man, who acted as an older brother to his younger cousins, was helpful to his aunts and grandmother, and had three children of his own. Significantly, none of those witnesses described the injury or abuse which forms the basis for the Majority’s grant of a new penalty phase hearing.
Under this Court’s authority, I do not see how counsel can be labeled ineffective upon a record such as this. Indeed, I see little material difference in the claim forwarded in this case and the claim forwarded and rejected in Commonwealth v. Fears, 575 Pa. 281, 836 A.2d 52 (2003), a case which is front and center in the Commonwealth’s brief. I understand why the PCRA court did not discuss Fears, since the case was decided after the court issued its opinion.1 But I do not understand why Fears is ignored by the Majority, except in response to this dissent. Majority op. at 77-78 n. 25, 888 A.2d at 583-84 n. 25. In Fears, as here, trial counsel produced the testimony of a mental health expert at the penalty phase in support of the catchall mitigator and the trial court, sitting as factfinder, found that mitigator, but nevertheless returned a sentence of death. Fears later alleged that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to conduct an adequate mitigation investigation, one which would have uncovered additional evidence relating to his mental health and what might be called “social background,” evidence which was similar in material respects to the undiscovered evidence at issue here. Thus, according to Fears, an adequate investigation would have revealed that he was prematurely born to a twelve-year old girl and suffered from cardiac arrest within an hour of birth, causing severe lack of oxygen to his brain; he was placed in foster care a few months later; and he suffered from a serious mental illness (including a diagnosis of “severe psychopathology including schizoid personality disorder and schizoaffective disorder”). Fears, 836 A.2d at 72-73. Fears argued, as appellant does *87here, that this evidence would have supported two additional and distinct mitigating circumstances, ie., extreme mental and emotional disturbance, 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(e)(2), and substantial impairment of his capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the law. Id. § 9711(e)(3).
In an Opinion by Mr. Chief Justice Cappy, the Fears Court found that appellant’s claim possessed arguable merit, but we denied relief after finding that counsel had a reasonable basis for not discovering and producing the additional evidence concerning the two mental health mitigators. The Chief Justice, writing for the Majority, emphasized that neither counsel’s interactions with his client, nor the client’s disclosures, had put counsel on reasonable notice that he should pursue this course:
We reiterate that reasonableness in this context depends, in critical part, upon the information supplied by the defendant. Commonwealth v. Basemore, 560 Pa. 258, 744 A.2d [717,] 735 [(2000)].... [T]rial counsel testified that Appellant displayed no overt psychotic behavior between the time of the arrest and trial____ Appellant also did not inform trial counsel of any mental impairment or of any birthing injury that would affect his mental stability at the time of the offense. Nevertheless, he presented psychiatric testimony in mitigation, albeit in support of the catchall mitigating circumstance.... We find [counsel’s] performance in this regard reasonable. Based on the information trial counsel possessed at the time, he was not ineffective for failing to find another psychiatric expert who would support additional mitigating factors. Thus, trial counsel will not be deemed ineffective for “failing to present mitigation evidence that he did not know existed.” Commonwealth v. Roderick Johnson, 572 Pa. 283, 815 A.2d 563 (2002).
Id. at 73-74 (footnotes and record citations omitted). If today’s Majority means to overrule Fears, it should do so directly and with an explanation, rather than by inference.2
*88I know of no case or other authority extant in 1994 which required that defense counsel in all capital cases must ask the defendant and his family about prior head injuries or other mental health factors — instead, the Majority imposes that obligation upon counsel retroactively. Indeed, if there were such authority in 1994, we could not have rendered the decisions that we did in the Fears line of cases. Particularly where, as here, counsel’s extensive interactions with his client, and the opinion of the mental health expert counsel retained, provided no indication that there was any fodder for mitigation in this area, I do not think counsel’s investigation should be second-guessed. Based upon the facts adduced following counsel’s reasonable course of investigation, counsel in this case presented a positive and cogent case in mitigation, one which personalized appellant and considered his background, and succeeded in convincing the jury that a mitigator existed. In light of this Court’s long-standing precedent, counsel cannot be labeled ineffective.
The Majority “distinguishes” and dismisses Fears by suggesting that (1) the PCRA judge here, unlike the judge in Fears, found that counsel’s performance was unreasonable, and this Court is obliged to defer to the PCRA court’s assessment of reasonable basis; and (2) “this area of the law is constantly evolving,” a rather strange articulation of legal principle which apparently means “only the most recent cases (or supporting cases) matter.” Majority op. at 77-78 n. 25, *89888 A.2d at 583-84 n. 25. Neither point is remotely persuasive in a Strickland inquiry.
Although this Court must defer to the credibility findings of the PCRA court in cases where contested material facts are at issue, the determination of the reasonableness of counsel’s conduct under the Sixth Amendment — the performance prong of Strickland — is not one warranting any particular deference to the PCRA hearing judge, particularly where, as here, that judge is not the same judge who presided at trial. Cf. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 396-99, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000). Indeed, if the Majority were correct that reviewing courts should defer to the PCRA judge’s assessment of the reasonableness of counsel’s performance, the U.S. Supreme Court could not have rendered its remarkable decision in Rompilla v. Beard, 545 U.S. 374, 125 S.Ct. 2456, 162 L.Ed.2d 360 (2005). As Mr. Justice Nigro’s opinion on Rompilla’s PCRA appeal noted, the PCRA court in that case held a hearing on the question of ineffectiveness respecting undiscovered additional mitigation evidence, determined that the claim had arguable merit, but then found that counsel’s actions were reasonably based. This Court affirmed. Commonwealth v. Rompilla, 554 Pa. 378, 721 A.2d 786 (1998). The U.S. Supreme Court granted federal habeas corpus relief, by a narrow 5-4 margin, by simply rejecting the conclusions of the PCRA court respecting the reasonableness of counsel’s performance, while finding this Court’s application of Strickland in our reviewing capacity “objectively” unreasonable. Does the Majority mean to suggest that deference is due to the PCRA judge only when she rules in favor of the defendant concerning constitutional reasonableness?
With respect to the Majority’s second point, the PCRA court certainly seemed to assert that it could simply pick and choose whichever precedent — here, non-binding Third Circuit precedent — supported its conclusion. Of course, the law matures and evolves. But, the Strickland inquiry requires an assessment of trial counsel’s performance under the standards that existed when counsel tried the matter. The penalty phase in this case was in October 1994; the penalty phase in *90Fears was later, in February 1995. The law would have had to de-evolve in order to fault counsel for failing to do what counsel in Fears also failed to do, while being deemed effective. As principled precedent, I fear, Fears simply is no more.
In lieu of the line of cases which includes Fears, the Majority discusses three recent cases, Commonwealth v. Malloy, 579 Pa. 425, 856 A.2d 767 (2004), Commonwealth v. Brown, 582 Pa. 461, 872 A.2d 1139 (2005), and Commonwealth v. Hall, 582 Pa. 526, 872 A.2d 1177 (2005), two of which (Brown and Hall) involved claims deemed meritless, and the third of which (Malloy) involved a finding of ineffectiveness and a grant of penalty phase relief. The Majority concedes that this case is “a step removed from Malloy,” but nevertheless concludes that appellant, like Malloy, is entitled to relief. Majority op. at 75-76, 888 A.2d at 582. But this case is more like a quantum leap removed from Malloy. Malloy involved a near total failure to undertake any effort to prepare or present a case in mitigation; indeed, counsel did not do so much as sit down -with Malloy and discuss having family members testify on his behalf. Counsel conducted little investigation and presented no testimonial evidence at the penalty phase. Although counsel argued for two mitigating circumstances from the trial record, the jury found neither and it returned a sentence of death after finding the existence of a single aggravating circumstance. Counsel’s penalty phase performance in Malloy was so remarkably inadequate that, on appeal, the Commonwealth conceded that counsel was ineffective, arguing only an absence of prejudice.
In contrast, counsel in this case did undertake an investigation and it was a reasonable one, as it included retaining a mental health professional, meeting with appellant and his family and presenting an actual case in mitigation, which resulted in the jury finding the existence of a mitigating circumstance. This case is more like Brown, Hall, Fears and such cases than it is like Malloy, a case occupying the outer limits of deficient performance.
I also respectfully disagree with the Majority’s offhanded conclusion that appellant proved Strickland prejudice. In so *91finding, the Majority cites only to Malloy, but without explanation; the Court thereby fails to appreciate Malloy’s rather more sophisticated application of the prejudice standard. In Malloy, this Court analyzed prejudice, in pertinent part, as follows:
Although we recognize that the unpursued evidence in this case is not the strongest, we further note that trial counsel’s presentation at the penalty phase included no affirmative evidence at all, but only a brief argument and a stipulation. Such a performance, which was not motivated by any strategic decision, left the jury with a dry assessment of appellant’s individual circumstances. In short, it is not just the failure to present evidence of appellant’s background which concerns us, but the fact that the failure occurred in a case where there was little effort to personalize appellant for the jury. Indeed, personalizing appellant’s background may have made one or more of the jurors more likely to accept the other mitigating circumstances which were pursued. We are satisfied that it is probable that at least one juror would have accepted at least one mitigating circumstance and found that it outweighed the Commonwealth’s single aggravating circumstance. Thus, had the jury heard testimony and been able to consider all of the mitigation evidence and argument together, there is a reasonable probability that at least one juror would have struck a different balance and voted not to impose the death penalty.
856 A.2d at 789 (emphasis original).
The circumstances here, respecting prejudice, are not the same as in Malloy. Counsel in the case sub judiee went to great lengths to personalize his client for the jury, and indeed secured a finding that a mitigating circumstance existed. Moreover, I am unconvinced that there is a reasonable probability that the introduction of this somehow belatedly discovered evidence of appellant’s childhood abuse and his head injury would have swayed a jury into returning a life sentence for both murders. This is a case where appellant shot one victim five times over an argument about a woman, shot at another person because appellant suspected she stole his money, and *92five days later shot and killed two other victims. The jury found appellant guilty of two counts of murder and returned a sentence of death on each count. One of the aggravators found, as to each death penalty, was the multiple murder aggravator. As this author recently noted in Commonwealth v. Zook, 585 Pa. 11, 887 A.2d 1218, 1236 (Pa.2005) (Castille, J., concurring), 2005 WL 3160270, *11: “I think that it is unrealistic in the extreme ever to discount the difficult uphill battle any capital defense lawyer faces where, as here, one of the aggravating circumstances involves the fact that his client elected to commit multiple first degree murders. This is a mark of distinction that seems different in kind from other statutory aggravators.” Even if I could fault counsel for failing to discover what appellant, appellant’s family, and the mental health expert failed to discover/disclose until appellant found himself on death row, I am unconvinced that evidence of childhood abuse and brain damage would have resulted in a different weighing and different penalty verdict in a case such as this. Therefore, I dissent.
Justice EAKIN joins this concurring and dissenting opinion.

. It is more perplexing why the PCRA court inexplicably ignored all authority from this Court on this commonly-recurring issue and instead followed only a Third Circuit panel decision.

. Fears is not an aberrational decision; to the contrary, it is consistent with a long line of Pennsylvania authority. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Bond, 572 Pa. 588, 819 A.2d 33, 45-46 (2002) (noting that “[c]ounsel *88cannot be found ineffective for failing to introduce information uniquely within the knowledge of the defendant and his family which is not provided to counsel;” ”[b]ecause appellant and his family, who were in a position to know about the additional childhood trauma to which appellant allegedly was exposed, failed to reveal that trauma to counsel, and appellant has not shown how counsel should otherwise have learned of it, counsel was not ineffective in this regard.”); Roderick Johnson, supra; Commonwealth v. Miller, 560 Pa. 500, 746 A.2d 592 (2000); Commonwealth v. Rollins, 558 Pa. 532, 738 A.2d 435, 448 (1999) (“We have stated that we will not find that counsel was ineffective in failing to produce mitigating evidence relative to an alleged mental infirmity where there is no indication that counsel had any reason to know that the defendant might have a mental problem.”); Commonwealth v. Howard, 553 Pa. 266, 719 A.2d 233, 238 (1998).