Court Opinion

ID: 9534342
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:38:46.623969+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:30:18.197831
License: Public Domain

Justice SCOTT
concurring:
I concur in the reasoning and judgment of the majority. “[A] sentence of death is qualitatively unlike any other punishment and [thus] a corresponding need exists for reliability in the death sentencing procedure.” Maj. op. at 253 (citations omitted). Because a sentence of death is uniquely severe and final, Justice Lohr dissenting op. at 323, I write separately to further address the ineffective assistance of counsel argument. In the briefs and at oral argument, Rodriguez posits that a direct correlation exists between the delivery of professional services and race, or defense counsel’s ability to represent a *321client and defense counsel’s racial or ethnic attributes. Without addressing the merits of any such claim, I find the argument, as made today, unacceptable.
Rodriguez contends that the use of a public defender or defense investigator of a race or ethnic background that differs from that of Rodriguez is patently unreasonable. Rodriguez reaches that conclusion by asserting that he would have more likely disclosed mitigating evidence of child abuse had he and those enlisted to serve him been of the same race. Maj. op. at 296. During the 35(c) ineffective assistance of counsel hearing, Rodriguez’ initial public defender attempted to substantiate the unreasonableness of the employee selection. When asked whether she had received mitigating evidence from Rodriguez during the course of their meetings, the public defender responded:
I was aware, even at the time that I asked him that, that he was not going to tell me that he had been sexually abused. Our backgrounds were very incredibly different, and although we got along, I don’t believe it would have been possible for him to tell me....
... I come from an upper middle-class Anglo background from Southport, Connecticut, where there are no racial problems because there is no one but Ang-los....
[Rodriguez’] background was from the west side projects of Denver, a Chicano background. We got along, but there was nothing about the relationship that would have ever let me believe that he would have been able to give me the type of personal information that I realized it was necessary to have.
R., v. 65 at 35-36. Neither Rodriguez’ briefs nor his arguments provide a further basis for his claim. Without more, his argument is unpersuasive.
It is insightful, however, to contextualize the circumstances in which the public defender asserts Rodriguez’ ineffective assistance claim and to evaluate the integrity of the argument within that framework. The claim . strains credulity when measured against the racial characteristics of the attorney now presenting the argument or, for that matter, the hiring or contracting practices of the Public Defender.1 The diversity in the Public Defender’s Office is strikingly negligible, especially when, presumably, significant members of the Public Defender’s clientele are people of color. This paucity is more clearly highlighted, however, when the public defender contends that a client received ineffective assistance of counsel because an absence of commonality prohibited the delivery of effective legal services, including the collection of mitigating evidence.
I assume the initial public defender and Nora Kelly, Rodriguez’ current attorney, both of whom are apparently not of the same race or ethnic background as the defendant, have given Rodriguez’ ineffective assistance claim great consideration before (1) asserting the argument, and (2) continuing to represent him, a person of different racial or ethnic background. Because both attorneys appearing on behalf of Rodriguez fail to reflect the very racial or ethnic characteristics Rodriguez posits as necessary to his effective representation, I can only question the integrity of the argument here.
In any event, based on the facts set forth in the record and legal argument offered, I remain unpersuaded that race provides a basis for Rodriguez’ claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. While the majority accurately concludes that this issue is without merit, I write separately to raise my concerns and join the judgment of the majority.

. The record does not reflect the racial or ethnic characteristics of the clients represented by the Public Defender or the experience of Rodriguez' current attorney in representing clients of Hispanic descent. However, I do note that out of 51 investigators in the Public Defender's Office 40 are white (78%); 10 are Hispanic (20%); and 1 is African American (2%). Out of 171 Public Defenders 145 are white (85%); 18 are Hispanic (11%); 7 are African American (4%); and 1 is American Indian/Alaskan (.006%). These statistics are taken from the February 12, 1996 State of Colorado Department of Personnel General Support Services: Human Resource Services ADHOC Report: EEOlc.