Middleton v. Dugger
| Decision Date | 22 June 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-5520,86-5520 |
| Citation | 849 F.2d 491 |
| Parties | William MIDDLETON, Petitioner-Appellee, Cross-Appellant, v. Richard L. DUGGER, Respondent-Appellant, Cross-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., State of Fla., Dept. of Legal Affairs, Michael J. Neimand, Asst. Atty. Gen., Miami, Fla., for respondent-appellant, cross-appellee.
Eugene F. Zenobi, Louis M. Jepeway, Jr., Jepeway and Jepeway, P.A., Miami, Fla., for petitioner-appellee, cross-appellant.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Before RONEY, Chief Judge, HILL and KRAVITCH, Circuit Judges.
Petitioner William Middleton was convicted of first-degree murder, grand theft and After an evidentiary hearing on Middleton's 28 U.S.C.A. Sec. 2254 motion for habeas corpus relief, the district court concluded that Middleton did not have effective assistance of counsel at his sentencing proceedings, as required by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The State appeals this determination, and Middleton cross-appeals the denial of relief on several issues, all related to his death sentence, not to his conviction: that comments by the trial judge and the prosecutor diminished the sense of responsibility the jury felt in determining sentence; that the instructions given to the jury improperly limited its consideration of mitigating evidence; and that his appellate counsel was ineffective for not having raised these two issues on appeal. Since we conclude that the district court properly determined that Middleton is entitled to a new sentencing proceeding, because of ineffective assistance of counsel, it is unnecessary to resolve the issues raised by Middleton's appeal.
unlawful use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The trial court sentenced Middleton to death for the crime of first-degree murder. The judgment and sentence were affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court, Middleton v. State, 426 So.2d 548 (Fla.1983), and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. Middleton v. Florida, 463 U.S. 1230, 103 S.Ct. 3573, 77 L.Ed.2d 1413 (1983)
Middleton was convicted and sentenced to death for the premeditated murder of Gladys Johnson, a woman who had taken him into her home, upon his parole from prison, because of his friendship with her son. The facts of this case have been documented in detail elsewhere and need not be restated here. See e.g., Middleton v. State, 426 So.2d 548 (Fla.1983).
The steps for a proper analysis of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim in a case such as this are well established. Under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), counsel is deemed to have been ineffective when his acts or omissions were outside the wide range of professionally competent assistance. An attorney has a duty to conduct a reasonable investigation, including an investigation of the defendant's background, for possible mitigating evidence. Thompson v. Wainwright, 787 F.2d 1447, 1451 (11th Cir.1986). First, it must be determined whether a reasonable investigation should have uncovered such mitigating evidence. If so, then a determination must be made whether the failure to put this evidence before the jury was a tactical choice by trial counsel. If so, such a choice must be given a strong presumption of correctness, and the inquiry is generally at an end. Funchess v. Wainwright, 772 F.2d 683, 689-90 (11th Cir.1985). If, however, the failure to present the mitigating evidence was an oversight, and not a tactical decision, then a harmlessness review must be made to determine if there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Thus, it must be determined that defendant suffered actual prejudice due to the ineffectiveness of his trial counsel before relief will be granted.
Middleton's trial counsel conducted almost no background investigation, despite discussions with Middleton concerning the existence of such mitigating evidence. As a consequence, the district court concluded that counsel failed to uncover an overwhelming amount of documentary mitigating evidence, such as:
First, a child psychiatric discharge summary from Elmhurst State Hospital. This discharge summary would have shown that Middleton was placed in a psychiatric hospital for about two weeks at the age of twelve. The written diagnostic impression of Middleton stated simply: "Schizophrenic Reaction, Chronic Paranoid Type with Passive Features." The resident psychiatrist, Dr. Ursula Thunberg, M.D., recommended that he be placed in a residential treatment center for emotionally-disturbed children. Dr. Thunberg would have been available to Second, an affidavit by Dr. Mark Kane. Dr. Kane's affidavit refers to the psychiatric report made in connection with Middleton's stay at the Elmhurst State Hospital. In his affidavit, Dr. Kane states that psychological testing performed in 1968 strongly indicated that Middleton had a schizoid personality and was susceptible to schizophrenia.
testify at Middleton's trial, and did testify at the district court's evidentiary hearing.
Third, records from the various reform schools in which Middleton was confined, from family court, youth services, and prison health services. These records chronicle a childhood of brutal treatment and neglect, physical, sexual and drug abuse, a low I.Q. and mental illness.
The documentary evidence discussed above could have been obtained from a reasonably competent investigation into Middleton's background. Gail Anderson testified at the evidentiary hearing that in March 1985, she contacted the New York institutions holding the records discussed above, and within a period of two weeks had copies of these records. At that time, Ms. Anderson had been working for just three weeks at the Florida Clearing House for Criminal Justice, and she had no legal training or experience with the judicial system. This evidence amply supports the district court's conclusion that the documentary mitigating evidence was readily discoverable had trial counsel performed a reasonable background investigation, and his failure to marshal this already existing mitigating evidence was outside the range of professionally competent assistance.
Next, it must be determined whether trial counsel might have had a tactical reason for not making such an investigation. The district court's conclusion that trial counsel had no valid tactical reasoning behind his failure to perform a background...
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...diagnosed as schizophrenic and available documents which counsel ignored showed a history of mental problems); Middleton v. Dugger, 849 F.2d 491 (11th Cir.1988) (petitioner diagnosed as schizophrenic, had low I.Q. and suffered physical and mental abuse as a child); Thomas v. Kemp, 796 F.2d ......
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...v. Harris, 42 F.3d 1350, 1367 (11th Cir. 1995); Blanco v. Singletary, 943 F.2d 1477, 1500-01 (11th Cir. 1991); Middleton v. Dugger, 849 F.2d 491, 493 (11th Cir. 1988) (all finding counsel's performance deficient because of failure to follow up), with Cunningham v. Zant, 928 F.2d 1006, 1015-......