Court Opinion

ID: 9615300
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:33:50.528754+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:44.811547
License: Public Domain

MARTONE, Justice,
dissenting in part.
While I join the court in affirming the convictions, I dissent from that part of the opinion which remands for resentencing.
The court holds that the trial judge should have continued the sentencing hearing and arranged for the appointment of an expert. Ante, at 1018. But how did the judge abuse his discretion in denying the motion to continue? Was it because, as the court argues, defense counsel had only two weeks, the time between the March 15 order authorizing expenses of $1,000 and the April 2 hearing date, to retain a mental health expert? Id. But the defendant clearly had more than two weeks to retain an expert. He just failed to make the necessary effort to do so.
The first sentencing hearing was set for December 20, thirty days after the trial ended. Although defense counsel had scheduling conflicts that prevented him from being fully prepared for the hearing, and was therefore granted a continuance, he could have at least begun the process of searching for an appropriate expert. If nothing else, he could have asked the defendant’s mother, a practicing psychologist, to provide him with a list of qualified experts in the area. Instead, he did not begin searching until mid-February, claiming he did not understand the importance of retaining a mental health expert. Ante, at 1016. Yet, in his January 14 witness list, he indicated his intent to retain an expert, and in his January 25 motion to continue, he indicated that he had found one. Ante, at 1015.
Apparently, however, the Tucson expert referred to in defendant’s January 25 motion opted out because he knew the defendant’s mother. From that point on, defense counsel made absolutely no attempt to retain an expert from Pima County, claiming that there were “none at all” that could get involved in the evaluation. Ante, at 1015. Given the size of Tucson’s mental health community, this seems unlikely in the extreme. On February 18, he wrote to two Phoenix experts who agreed to examine defendant and testify. Thus, even excusing counsel’s delay until that point, we know that he had from at least February 18 to find another expert—much longer than the two weeks he claimed to have had. I, therefore, conclude that defendant had plenty of time.
If defendant had the time, then did the trial judge abuse his discretion in limiting expert expenses to $1,000? The record shows that Tucson experts charged approximately $600. Thus, for the judge to have abused his discretion, defendant would have had to have shown an inability to retain any Tucson or Phoenix expert willing to work within the $1,000 limit. But there is nothing in the record from which we could draw either of these conclusions. Defense counsel contacted only one Tucson expert. After that expert said that he would not conduct the examination, defense counsel turned immediately to the Phoenix market. He apparently contacted only two experts who ultimately agreed to evaluate the defendant. The Phoenix psychiatrist, however, charged $3,000 to testify in court, $300 an hour and travel expenses. The trial judge found that this was totally out of line with the fees charged by other mental health experts. Ante, at 1015. Even assuming defense counsel could not have anticipated that the judge would reject an expense over six times that necessary for a local expert, counsel made no further attempt to retain a local expert or make any kind of showing that no Phoenix expert was willing to conduct the examination within the $1,000 limit.
I agree with the court that in a capital case a trial judge ought to authorize the reasonable funds necessary to assist an indigent defendant at a sentencing hearing. But this trial judge did just that. He granted the defendant multiple continuances even when the defendant was making no progress. The *267amount the trial judge allotted was reasonable. Defense counsel found at least one mental health expert who would work for the court approved fee. The judge understandably said that four months was long enough. Id. How can this be an abuse of discretion? How can the defendant’s delay be visited upon the trial judge? If it can, as the court holds here, then how can the judge ever control his docket?
Nor did the defendant ever make the sort of showing that would have suggested that any of the evidence he hoped to find would have assisted him. In State v. Michael Apelt, 176 Ariz. 349, 365-67, 861 P.2d 634, 650-52 (1993), we upheld the denial of a motion for extraordinary expenses that was more specific than this one. There, the defendant wanted to go to Germany to develop some evidence regarding a prior psychiatric hospitalization, a difficult childhood, and his low educational level. He did not explain why any of this would be mitigating. We there noted that mere undeveloped assertions that the requested assistance would be beneficial were not enough. In Apelt, the defendant moved to continue his sentencing hearing claiming that he was unable to adequately prepare, but we affirmed the trial judge’s denial of that motion. Id. We said “[wjhether a defendant has made an adequate showing that assistance is reasonably necessary for his defense is left to the discretion of the trial judge.” Id. We noted, as the court notes here, ante, at 1017, that to find an abuse of discretion we must find that the denial or restriction of investigative funds substantially prejudices the defendant.
In Apelt the defendant at least offered some explanation. Here, the defendant offered nothing. Instead, the court itself, on a post hoc basis, speculates about what an evaluation might uncover and labels them “red flags.” Ante, at 1017. But what are these? The court notes his use of cocaine, his antisocial personality, and his early life in foster homes. In Apelt, the defendant did not offer any reason why “a difficult childhood and lack of education would be mitigating.” 176 Ariz. at 366, 861 P.2d at 651. We relied upon State v. Wallace, 160 Ariz. 424, 427, 773 P.2d 983, 986 (1989) for the proposition that a difficult family background is not a mitigating factor absent a showing that it had something to do with the murder. There was no such showing here. The sentencing judge had the reports of two Rule 11 physicians with respect to the defendant’s mental condition. At the hearing, he heard from the defendant’s mother, a practicing psychologist, and from Dr. Nichols, a social scientist. Why do we suppose that one more consultation would have made a difference? In my view, the “red flags” uncovered by the court, and not offered by the defendant, are not sufficient to suggest mitigation. Most people who kill others are, by definition, antisocial. Many of them abuse drugs, including cocaine. L. Thomas Winfree, Jr. et al, Alcohol, Drugs and Murder: A Study of Convicted Homicide Offenders, 18 J.Crim.Just. 217, 220 (1990). The failure to properly bond and attach during the early part of one’s life is the reason that many people are sociopathic. Thus, I would conclude that the red flags, even if properly developed, would not lead to sufficient mitigating evidence to warrant leniency in this case.
We ought not vacate sentences because of the speculative possibility that an additional expert opinion might have been helpful. The defendant made no showing that he would be able to produce mitigating evidence substantial enough to call for leniency. Indeed, he admitted that he could not tell the court whether he would even have mitigating evidence. Ante, at 1016. The trial judge here was properly suspicious of the defendant’s claim that he could not find a single psychologist in Tucson to testify. The judge authorized a reasonable fee and allowed counsel over four months to find an expert.
I therefore dissent.
FELDMAN, C.J., having recused himself, did not participate in the determination of this matter. Pursuant to article 6, § 3 of the Arizona Constitution, THOMAS C. KLEINSCHMIDT, Judge, Court of Appeals, Division One, sat in his stead.