Court Opinion

ID: 9491994
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:29:35.965999+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:03.227824
License: Public Domain

SILER, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the majority opinion on all issues except that pertaining to the effectiveness of appellate counsel. I also concur with the conclusion by the majority that Mapes has sufficiently raised the question of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel by the failure to raise on appeal the trial court’s instruction that in the sentencing phase, “the mitigating factors do not apply to the prior murder conviction at all.” That issue appears to have had validity at the time of the trial. See Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 113-114, 102 S.Ct. 869, 71 L.Ed.2d 1 (1982). Agreeing with the majority, I would remand that issue for an evidentiary *430hearing, so that appellate counsel, if he can recall, may explain why he failed to raise that issue on appeal. He may have had strategic reasons for omitting the issue, or his client may have requested that it be omitted. Because no court has yet heard testimony from appellate counsel on that question, it is appropriate for the district court to decide whether appellate counsel’s performance met the test under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984).
However, I depart from the decision by the majority to remand this matter to the district court for consideration of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel for failing to raise the other issues, to-wit, (1) ineffective assistance of trial counsel; (2) other jury instructions requiring the jury to reject the death penalty unanimously before considering a life sentence; and (3) the hesitation of Juror Chatman to reply in a more positive matter at the time of the jury poll.
The general principles of ineffective assistance of counsel bear repeating, to some degree. First, there is a strong presumption that counsel was constitutionally effective. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 688,104 S.Ct. 2052. Second, counsel decides which issues to pursue on appeal and there is no duty to raise every possible claim. See Jones v. Barnes, 463 U.S. 745, 751-52, 103 S.Ct. 3308, 77 L.Ed.2d 987 (1983). The “process of ‘winnowing out weaker arguments on appeal and focusing on’ those most likely to prevail, far from being evidence of incompetence, is the hallmark of effective appellate advocacy.” Smith v. Murray, 477 U.S. 527, 536, 106 S.Ct. 2661, 91 L.Ed.2d 434 (1986) (quoting Jones v. Barnes, 463 U.S. at 751-52, 103 S.Ct. 3308). Finally, “[effective advocacy does not require the appellate attorney to raise every non-frivolous issue under the sun, of course.” Mason v. Hanks, 97 F.3d 887, 893 (7th Cir.1996) (citing Jones v. Barnes, 463 U.S 745, 103 S.Ct. 3308). These principles require that the court find that a particular omission of counsel both was not only ineffective but that the omission prejudiced the defendant, thus rendering the proceeding fundamentally unfair and the result unreliable. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052. This is why the district court must hold a hearing, to give the petitioner an opportunity to call his appellate counsel and allow him to explain the omission of the issue discussed herein. See Sistrunk v. Vaughn, 96 F.3d 666, 671 (3d Cir.1996).
On the other issues concerning the ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, I would uphold the decision of the district court. The majority has raised the issue of the ineffective assistance of counsel on appeal because he did not raise the question of ineffective trial counsel for their failure to conduct a mitigation investigation and present a mitigation defense other than Mapes’s statement. I agree with the district court’s conclusion that Mapes has not shown that trial counsel was ineffective at the sentencing phase, so appellate counsel could not have been ineffective in failing to raise this issue on direct appeal. The affidavits of an attorney and a mitigation specialist do not show what mitigating evidence could have been produced that was not. In addition, although Mapes has presented some evidence that he was not the trigger man in the New Jersey homicide, this evidence was not discovered until 1987, and there is no proof that defense counsel could have discovered it at trial. As to the references to the New Jersey police report, the petitioner has not even yet produced copies of it. Finally, the trial court instructed the jury, anyway, that it was not to consider any mitigating factors pertaining to the New Jersey murder. Therefore, if the trial court’s instruction effectively precluded the jury from considering any mitigation in connection with the New Jersey homicide, then such evidence could not have been introduced.
Next, I dissent from the conclusion of the majority that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the issue that the trial court’s instructions were errone*431ous by requiring the jury to reject the death penalty unanimously before considering a life sentence. I agree with the district court that the instruction by the court was in accordance with the language from R..C. § 2929.03(D)(2). Obviously, according to the majority opinion, State v. Brooks, 75 Ohio St.3d 148, 661 N.E.2d 1030, 1041 (1996), later indicated that similar language was erroneous. However, Brooks was decided many years after the trial of this case, and it cited for authority Mills v. Maryland, 486 U.S. 367, 376-377, 108 S.Ct. 1860, 100 L.Ed.2d 384 (1988). Thus, at the time of the trial here, there was no authority that such an instruction was erroneous under Ohio law. It was even said in Brooks, 661 N.E.2d at 1042: “In Ohio, a solitary juror may prevent a death penalty recommendation by finding that the aggravating circumstances in the case do not outweigh the mitigating factors. Jurors from this point forward should be so instructed.” Thus, it appears that Brooks was stating that the law which affected that particular case was to be considered prospectively only. Mapes in this case cites State v. Thomas, 40 Ohio St.3d 213, 533 N.E.2d 286 (1988), as authority that this instruction was erroneous, but Thomas, as analyzed by the district court, involved the guilt phase of a trial and involved a lesser-included offense, which is not the situation here. Thus, Thomas is not applicable to this case. It is not ineffective assistance of counsel when counsel fails to anticipate a change in the law. See Sistrunk, 96 F.3d at 671.
Finally, I also dissent from the conclusion of the majority that the district court should conduct a hearing on the failure of appellate counsel to inquire further into the poll of the jury. During the poll, Mrs. Chatman, the juror, said that she signed the verdict. In response to the court's question, “Are these your verdicts, Mrs. Chatman,” she replied, “It’s to me, it’s the State’s verdict.” Although the court could have returned the jury to the jury room for further deliberation, receiving the verdict under the circumstance was not erroneous. I disagree with the majority that State v. Fields, 176 N.E.2d 845, 849-50 (Oh.Ct.App.1960); State v. Brown, 110 Ohio App. 57, 168 N.E.2d 419 (Oh.Ct.App.1953); and Emmert v. State, 127 Ohio St. 235, 187 N.E. 862 (1933), hold to the contrary. Although the issue is one which could have been raised on appeal, the failure to do so does not constitute ineffectiveness of counsel. That issue was not a “dead-bang winner” as used by one of our sister circuits, in describing an issue that is obvious from the trial record (and one which would probably have resulted in a reversal on appeal). See Banks v. Reynolds, 54 F.3d 1508, 1515 n. 13 (10th Cir.1995). Appellate counsel did a commendable job on direct appeal in this case. He raised twelve issues. Although, in hindsight, we now criticize the brief for not raising other issues, the only question which arguably should have been raised is that pertaining to consideration of mitigation evidence surrounding the homicide in New Jersey. Even the failure to raise that issue may be excused after a hearing in the district court when appellate counsel has an opportunity to explain how he conducted the case. The difficulty in this case will be whether the attorney can even remember why he did certain things on appeal, for the direct appeal concluded in 1985. It would be very hard for any of us to explain our conduct which occurred some thirteen years ago.
Therefore, I would affirm the decision of the district court, except to the extent that the remedy provided would be to conduct a hearing on the failure of appellate counsel to raise the question concerning mitigating factors in the murder conviction. Then, the district court would be able to determine if the failure of appellate counsel to raise that issue on appeal constituted ineffective assistance of counsel under Strickland.