McLaughlin v. State

• Decision Date: 14 August 2012
• Docket Number: No. SC 91255.,SC 91255.
• Citation: 378 S.W.3d 328
• Parties: Scott A. McLAUGHLIN, Appellant, v. STATE of Missouri, Respondent.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

378 S.W.3d 328

Scott A. McLAUGHLIN, Appellant,

v.STATE of Missouri, Respondent.

No. SC 91255.

Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc.

July 3, 2012.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 14, 2012.

Melinda K. Pendergraph, Public Defender's Office, Columbia, for McLaughlin.

James B. Farnsworth, Shaun J. Mackelprang, Attorney General's Office, Jefferson City, for the State.

PATRICIA BRECKENRIDGE, Judge.

Scott A. McLaughlin appeals the overruling of his Rule 29.15 motion for post-conviction relief from his convictions for first-degree murder, forcible rape, and armed criminal action. Because Mr. McLaughlin was sentenced to death on the first-degree murder charge, this Court has jurisdiction. Mo. Const. art. V, sec. 10; order of June 16, 1998. On appeal, Mr. McLaughlin claims that the motion court erred in overruling his motion to disqualify the trial judge, who sentenced Mr. McLaughlin to death, from presiding over Mr. McLaughlin's Rule 29.15 post-conviction relief proceeding and erred in denying his eight claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Mr. McLaughlin also claims that Missouri's death penalty is unconstitutional because it is arbitrary and capricious for failing to narrow the class of people eligible for the death penalty. This Court affirms the motion court's denial of post-conviction relief.

I. Factual and Procedural Background ¹

After meeting in 2002, Mr. McLaughlin and Beverly Guenther began a relationship and eventually lived together for several months. During that time, Mr. McLaughlin frequently would call and visit Ms. Guenther at her place of employment. Their relationship was marked by turbulent, serious break-ups, which at times resulted in Ms. Guenther obtaining restraining orders against Mr. McLaughlin. Their relationship ended in the spring of 2003, although they continued to see each other on social occasions.

On October 27, 2003, Mr. McLaughlin was arrested and charged with burglarizing Ms. Guenther's home. He was arraigned on November 18, 2003. He asserted that he was reclaiming things that he left at her house after they ceased living together. Based on the incident, Ms. Guenther sought and received an order of protection against Mr. McLaughlin.

On November 20, 2003, with the protective order still in effect, Mr. McLaughlin drove to Ms. Guenther's place of employment and waited until she emerged from the office. Mr. McLaughlin forced Ms. Guenther to the ground, raped her, and then stabbed her repeatedly, causing a fan-shaped blood stain on the parking lot. Mr. McLaughlin dragged her body to his car, placed it in the hatchback, and drove her body to the river to dispose of it. When Mr. McLaughlin was unable to put the body into the river because of the thick underbrush, he left her body along the bank. He then returned to his parked car and, due to a flat tire acquired while trying to dispose of the body, slept in the car.

The police apprehended Mr. McLaughlin the next day at a hospital in St. Charles, where he was taken by a friend to get medication to treat his increased hyperactivity and nervousness. The police discovered that Mr. McLaughlin had bleached the interior of his car and cut large sections of fabric from the rear seat. Despite these efforts, the police found Ms. Guenther's blood in his car. Mr. McLaughlin was charged with first-degree murder, forcible rape, and two counts of armed criminal action, one arising from the murder charge and the other arising from the rape charge.

Mr. McLaughlin was tried by a jury. During the guilt phase of trial, the jury found Mr. McLaughlin guilty of first-degree murder, forcible rape, and armed criminal action arising from the first-degree murder. Mr. McLaughlin was acquitted of the armed criminal action charge arising from the rape.

During the penalty phase of trial, the jury heard victim-impact evidence from Ms. Guenther's family and extensive evidence about Mr. McLaughlin's troubled and abusive childhood. Mr. McLaughlin's biological father was an alcoholic and was abusive toward his mother, a prostitute. When he was taken into the custody of the juvenile division, he lived in multiple foster homes until the age of five, when he and his younger brother and sister were placed with Louise and Harlan McLaughlin, who eventually adopted them. His adoptive parents also were abusive toward Mr. McLaughlin. His adoptive father, a police officer, would hit him with a paddle referred to as the “board of education” and would use his taser and nightstick on him. The McLaughlins often would limit the children's access to food by locking the refrigerator and cabinet doors. Their house was referred to by Mr. McLaughlin's childhood friends as “the house of horrors.”

During the penalty phase, Mr. McLaughlin also presented expert testimony regarding Mr. McLaughlin's psychological and mental problems to the jury. Dr. Anthony Udziela, a psychologist, testified about extensive intelligence testing the doctor performed on Mr. McLaughlin when he was 9 years old due to poor performance and peculiar behavior at school. The testing indicated that Mr. McLaughlin has a full-scale IQ of 82, which is in the low average range. Dr. Udziela diagnosed Mr. McLaughlin at that time with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, expressed language disorder, and adjustment disorder with depressed features.

Mr. McLaughlin also was evaluated when he was 9 years old by Dr. Pasquale Accardo, a pediatrician, for neurodevelopmental impairments. Dr. Accardo found that Mr. McLaughlin suffered from brain impairment, although he could not determine the cause. He testified that Mr. McLaughlin suffered from cognitive limitations, language limitations, and attentional limitations. According to Dr. Accardo's testimony, these limitations were neurologically based.

Dr. Mark Cunningham, a clinical and forensic psychologist, testified about his examination of Mr. McLaughlin that he performed prior to the Rule 29.15 hearing. He also testified about his interviews with Mr. McLaughlin's biological and adoptive family, as well as his extensive review of Mr. McLaughlin's school, prison, and hospital records. Dr. Cunningham testified that the abuse and neglect Mr. McLaughlin was exposed to as a child led to neurodevelopmental problems, such as a low IQ, difficulty with language, issues with visual-spatial cognition, and symptoms of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity. Dr. Cunningham also identified psychological disorders affecting Mr. McLaughlin as an adult. He diagnosed Mr. McLaughlin with major depression, antisocial personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder. According to Dr. Cunningham's testimony, each of these conditions existed at the time Mr. McLaughlin committed the crimes.

Finally, Mr. McLaughlin presented the testimony of Dr. Sripatt Kulkamthorn, Mr. McLaughlin's treating physician in 2002 and 2003. During that time, Dr. Kulkamthorn found that Mr. McLaughlin struggled from both depression and anxiety. To treat his depression and anxiety, he prescribed Paxil for Mr. McLaughlin. Mr. McLaughlin was unable to afford the prescription, however, so he only received Paxil during office visits with Dr. Kulkamthorn.

After hearing all of the evidence in the penalty phase, the jury deliberated and made its findings. The jury found in step one that the statutory aggravating factor of depravity of mind had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. In step two, the jurors did not find unanimously that the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating factors. Therefore, the jurors proceeded to step three, which directed them to determine whether death was warranted under all the circumstances. The jurors were unable to agree as to the punishment. Consequently, under section 565.030, RSMo 2010,² the adjudication of punishment went to the trial court. After considering all of the evidence, including the aggravating factor of depravity of mind found by the jury, the trial court sentenced Mr. McLaughlin to death. Mr. McLaughlin appealed his conviction and death sentence, and this Court affirmed. State v. McLaughlin, 265 S.W.3d 257, 259 (Mo. banc 2008). He then filed a motion asserting ten claims for post-conviction relief under Rule 29.15.

The judge presiding over Mr. McLaughlin's post-conviction relief proceedings was the same judge that presided over his trial in both the guilt and penalty phases. Mr. McLaughlin filed a motion to disqualify the judge on the ground that, because the judge imposed the death sentence during the trial, the judge had prejudged the facts and issues and could not be fair and impartial in adjudicating his claims of error in his Rule 29.15 motion. The motion court overruled Mr. McLaughlin's motion to disqualify and set an evidentiary hearing for three of his ten claims. After the hearing, the motion court issued detailed evidentiary findings and legal conclusions, denying each of Mr. McLaughlin's 10 claims. In its judgment, the motion court found that Mr. McLaughlin failed to demonstrate that his trial counsel were ineffective and further found that any claimed ineffective assistance did not result in prejudice. The motion court also found that Mr. McLaughlin's claim that the trial court improperly instructed the jury against considering records relied upon by mental health experts for the truth of the matter asserted was not cognizable in a motion for post-conviction relief and that the death penalty in Missouri is constitutional. Mr. McLaughlin appeals the denial of post-conviction relief.

II. Standard of Review

In reviewing the overruling of a motion for post-conviction relief, the motioncourt's ruling is presumed correct. Zink v. State, 278 S.W.3d 170, 175 (Mo. banc 2009). A motion court's judgment will be overturned only when either its findings of fact or its conclusions of law are clearly erroneous. Id.;Rule 29.15(k). To overturn, the ruling must leave the appellate court with a “definite and firm impression that a mistake has been made.”...