Court Opinion

ID: 9750668
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 15:18:49.145753+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:16.910802
License: Public Domain

Justice SAYLOR,
concurring and dissenting.
I join parts I through IV, VI, and VIII of the Majority Opinion, concur in the result with respect to Part VII, and dissent relative to Part V.
As to Part V (concerning the mitigation-related claims), in the first instance, I would credit the PCRA court with identifying deficient stewardship on the part of trial counsel. I read the relevant line of United States Supreme Court decisions as requiring capital counsel, as a general rule, to assemble at least the reasonably available, basic life-history records. I also believe the PCRA court’s finding that trial counsel did not fulfill this responsibility in this case is supported by the record. To the extent PCRA counsel did not present suffi*182cient evidence to establish the wider range of available records not collected by trial counsel, see Majority Opinion, at 143-14 n. 23, 971 A.2d at 1149 & n. 23, this suggests deficient stewardship on their part as well.
Some additional perspective arises from review of a declaration from the mitigation expert who testified at the penalty hearing, Dr. Tepper.1 The proffer is as follows: Dr. Tepper was first contacted by trial counsel one week before trial and was able to meet with Appellant for the first time the day before he testified. Dr. Tepper repeatedly requested life-history records, but was never provided with Appellant’s medical records, juvenile file, prison report, or complete school records. Faced with a “dearth of background information” and “severely constrained circumstances,” Dr. Tepper had “great difficulty” in his evaluation; performed only brief intelligence testing; did not unearth available evidence suggestive of organic brain impairment; failed to recommend neuropsychological testing which he would have advocated had he been properly prepared; and, thus, was unable to incorporate material findings of full scale borderline intellectual functioning and organic brain impairment into his testimony. Appendix to Brief for Appellant, at Tab 7.2
I also differ with the majority’s conclusion that the evidence stipulated to by the Commonwealth (in the form of Dr. Heilbrun’s report), and that offered by present counsel (the submissions of Drs. Tepper and Mack) is not qualitatively different from that presented at trial. As the majority explains, Dr. Tepper testified at the penalty stage that Appellant demonstrated average intellect and no serious mental health *183disorder or organic brain impairment. See Majority Opinion, at 148-49, 971 A.2d at 1152. However, the stipulated post-conviction evidence shows full scale borderline intellectual functioning, and the proffer on appeal, if believed, demonstrates brain damage, resultant dementia characterized as an Axis I clinical disorder per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV, and Axis I psychiatric disorders. Further, an opinion is presented that, combined with Appellant’s age (at the time of his crimes) of nineteen years, the conditions substantially impacted on his reasoning, thought processes, and judgment. This evidence seems to me to much more clearly implicate what the United States Supreme Court has characterized as “the belief, long held by this society, that defendants who commit acts that are attributable to ... emotional and mental problems may be less culpable than defendants who have no such excuse,” Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 319, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 2947, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989), compared with what Dr. Tepper apparently regards as his effort to make the best of an untenable situation at the penalty hearing. Respectfully, I have great difficulty with the majority’s perspective that a finding of brain damage and Axis I clinical disorders is “different, but not more extensive mitigation,” measured against an opinion that there is no brain damage or serious mental health issues. See Majority Opinion, at 154, 971 A.2d at 1155.3
In terms of the availability of review of the claim of ineffective assistance of PCRA counsel, I acknowledge Mr. Chief Justice Castille’s concern with abuses of the post-conviction process. Nevertheless, as long as jurisdiction is secure I support the majority’s holding that we are empowered to *184address challenges to the fundamental fairness in such proceedings, either via our own immediate review (if no material factual controversies exist) or a remand (if such controversies are present). While I also favor consideration of additional measures to curb the abuses,41 believe that, as new measures are devised, they should be implemented prospectively and not imposed on those who are not fairly apprised.
Finally, in light of the substantially abbreviated hearing and in the absence of specific factual findings, the post-conviction proceedings seem to me to represent a well-meaning effort on the part of PCRA counsel and the PCRA court, in colloquial terms, to cut through the red tape. However, a study of this Court’s decisional law over the past ten years demonstrates that, at least in the absence of extraordinary circumstances, such truncated procedures will not generate a sustainable award of state post-conviction relief in contested cases. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Gibson, 597 Pa. 402, 421-22, 951 A.2d 1110, 1121-22 (2008) (discussing the present state of post-conviction jurisprudence in Pennsylvania and explaining, “particularly in close cases, a developed post-conviction record accompanied by specific factual findings and legal conclusions is an essential tool necessary to sharpen the issues so that differences at the appellate level can be mitigated”).
In light of the above, I would vacate the present award of penalty relief and remand to the PCRA court for additional proceedings consistent with this opinion, including consideration of whether leave should be granted to amend the pleadings to state claims of deficient stewardship on the part of post-conviction counsel. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 905(A) (“The judge may grant leave to amend or withdraw a petition for post-conviction collateral relief at any time. Amendment shall be freely allowed to achieve substantial justice.”).

. Although the majority indicates the declaration is unsigned, the copy in the appendix provided with Appellant's brief appears to contain a signature.

. In terms of the effectiveness of PCRA counsel, Dr. Tepper was an obvious source of potentially helpful evidence at the post-conviction stage. Thus, if the above-described declaration is accurate, it bears on PCRA counsel’s stewardship, since they did not seek to introduce such helpful information into the record. For this and other reasons arising from a review of the transcript of the very brief PCRA hearing, and in the absence of a hearing on the effectiveness of PCRA counsel, I do not support the majority’s couching of their performance as laudatory at this juncture. See Majority Opinion, at 154, 971 A.2d at 1155.

. Some reluctance to consider organic impairment to be substantially mitigating may arise from skepticism as to the truth of the allegation, as we are seeing such claims surface pervasively for the first time on post-conviction review. Since, however, the condition is well recognized in the medical and scientific communities and may in fact be considered by reasonable jurors to be substantially mitigating, I do not believe the appropriate response is to dilute the potential impact of this category of evidence by equating it with the sort of emotional factors described by Dr. Tepper at the penalty hearing. Rather, the evidence should be reviewed by a factfinder to assess its believability and force before it properly can be credited or discounted in terms of its material significance in capital sentencing.

. These would include a requirement for a specific proffer pertaining to claims raised on appeal and perhaps an elevated standard of review if workable.