Schiro v. State

• Decision Date: 08 February 1989
• Docket Number: No. 07S00-8807-PC-656,07S00-8807-PC-656
• Citation: 533 N.E.2d 1201
• Parties: Thomas N. SCHIRO, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 1201

533 N.E.2d 1201

Thomas N. SCHIRO, Appellant (Defendant below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).

No. 07S00-8807-PC-656.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Feb. 8, 1989.

Alex R. Voils, Jr., Indianapolis, for appellant.

Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Joseph N. Stevenson, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

PIVARNIK, Justice.

This direct appeal arises from a denial of post-conviction relief. The history of this cause in this court is extensive. On September 12, 1981, Defendant Schiro was found guilty of the offense of murder while committing, and attempting to commit, the crime of rape. The trial court entered judgment of conviction on the jury's verdict. The jury recommended that the death penalty not be imposed but the trial court overruled that recommendation and ordered the death sentence for Schiro. This court affirmed the trial court's judgment. Schiro v. State (1983), Ind., 451 N.E.2d 1047. On November 28, 1983, the United States Supreme Court denied Schiro's writ of certiorari to vacate the death penalty. Schiro v. Indiana (1983), 464 U.S. 1003, 104 S.Ct. 510, 78 L.Ed.2d 699. On May 11, 1984, Schiro filed an amended petition for post-conviction relief which was denied by Special Judge James M. Dixon on May 29, 1984. This court affirmed the trial court's denial of post-conviction relief on June 28, 1985. Schiro v. State (1985), Ind., 479 N.E.2d 556. On February 24, 1986, the United States Supreme Court denied Schiro's writ of certiorari to vacate the death sentence. Schiro v. Indiana (1986), 475 U.S. 1036, 106 S.Ct. 1247, 89 L.Ed.2d 355.

Thereafter Schiro instituted a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division. Judge Allen Sharpe remanded to the state court, allowing Schiro to exhaust all available state remedies as required for federal habeas corpus proceedings pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254(b); Ex Parte Hawk (1944), 321 U.S. 114, 64 S.Ct. 448, 88 L.Ed. 572. Subsequently, on March 5, 1987, Schiro filed the instant action, his second post-conviction relief petition. He filed the timely motion for change of venue from the trial court and Monroe County Circuit Judge John Baker was appointed special judge, qualified, and assumed jurisdiction on March 25, 1987. Schiro's petition for post-conviction relief was denied by Judge Baker.

The issues raised in Schiro's direct appeal to this court are:

1. trial court error in dismissing four allegations of error based on a finding they were res judicata or waived as available but not taken in direct appeal at the original post-conviction relief petition;

2. ineffective representation of counsel at trial, in the direct appeal, and in the first post-conviction relief petition;

3. the jury's guilty verdict on felony murder was a conclusive finding of lack of intent such that a possible death sentence was foreclosed; and

4. accumulated error on all above issues which amounts to prejudice warranting reversal.

The post-conviction petitioner bears the burden of establishing the grounds for relief by a preponderance of the evidence. Rule PC 1 Sec. 5. The PC 1 hearing judge is the sole judge of the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses. Popplewell v. State (1981), Ind., 428 N.E.2d 15, 16. A petitioner who has been denied PC 1 relief is in the position of one who has received a negative judgment; he will not obtain a reversal unless the evidence on this point is undisputed and leads inevitably to a conclusion opposite to that of the trial court. To prevail on a claim of ineffectiveness of counsel, a petitioner must satisfy both sides of a two-prong test. He must prove counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness under prevailing professional norms. Then he must prove that such substandard performance was so prejudicial as to have deprived him of a fair trial. A fair trial is denied when the conviction or sentence resulted from a breakdown in the adversarial process which rendered the result unreliable. Strickland v. Washington (1984), 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674, reh. denied (1984), 467 U.S. 1267, 104 S.Ct. 3562, 82 L.Ed.2d 864; Lawrence v. State (1984), Ind., 464 N.E.2d 1291.

I

Schiro claims it was erroneous to dismiss four sections of his petition which alleged: a) failure of the statute to provide guidelines for consideration of the jury's recommendation and for appellate review of sentences; b) error in admitting a search warrant, affidavit, and physical items; c) error in excluding a handwritten document; and d) error in providing verdict forms. The trial court found these matters were either res judicata or waived as available but not taken in direct appeal or the original PCR petition.

The purpose of the post-conviction relief process is to raise issues not known at the time of the original trial and appeal or for some reason not available to the defendant at that time. Where an item was available to the defendant on direct appeal but not pursued, it is waived for post-conviction review. Sims v. State (1988), Ind., 521 N.E.2d 336, 337. An issue which is raised and determined adverse to petitioner's position is res judicata. Ingram v. State (1987), Ind., 508 N.E.2d 805, 807. In Schiro's direct appeal this court spoke directly of guidelines for considering the jury's recommendation and for appellate review of sentences. Our discussion included the standard of review of death sentences where the court's judgment is contrary to the jury's recommendation, the degree of conclusiveness regarding a jury recommendation of leniency, double jeopardy, where both the jury and the judge consider the imposition of the death penalty where their views are in conflict, and the finding that the judge independently considers the same facts on the same standards as the jury. Schiro, 451 N.E.2d at 1054-1058. Questions of legality of the search warrant, affidavit, and seizure of physical items were fully discussed and disposed of on direct appeal. Schiro's contention concerning the failure of the trial court to admit as evidence a certain handwritten document was fully presented and disposed of in the opinion on direct appeal. This court noted the document was given to a witness by a third party who said Schiro wrote it. The witness did not authenticate the document through knowledge of handwriting or presence at its penning, or any other accepted basis to authenticate a piece of handwriting. The only basis he had to believe the document was the out-of-court declaration of the person who gave it to him. We upheld the trial court's finding an insufficient foundation existed to permit admission of the document.

Finally, the direct appeal opinion considered and disposed of, adverse to Schiro, his contention he was harmed by lack of some necessary verdict forms. The entire record of the trial and the original PCR petition were put into evidence in the instant cause. The trial court had the ability to read the opinion and compare issues, and the power to dismiss these issues disposed of in this court's prior proceedings. The trial court properly found all four issues were so disposed and there was no error in dismissing them as res judicata.

II

Schiro claims in the instant cause there were several instances of inadequate assistance of counsel at the trial level and that subsequent counsel were deficient in not raising these issues on direct appeal or original post-conviction action. The state responds Schiro was not entitled to raise these issues in a subsequent post-conviction petition and moreover, when examined, these allegations fail to show prejudice or performance below the norms of professional representation. Schiro claims there were serious matters he brought to his attorney's attention before and during trial and that trial counsel brushed them off and failed to raise them. The record shows that after all these alleged events, when asked at the end of trial if he was satisfied with his representation, Schiro responded in the positive. He then accepted the same lawyer to prosecute his appeal. He now says counsel failed to present certain issues he wanted raised on appeal. However, when the time came to present his original post-conviction petition, Schiro failed to allege even one of these trial or appellate level matters.

The court of appeals recently stated in Alston v. State (1988), Ind.App., 521 N.E.2d 1331, 1335, that they would not "take a step backward and create a new vehicle by which a defendant could use a PCR to attack a previous PCR on the grounds of incompetency of counsel in that PCR hearing, and then use yet a third PCR to attack the competency of counsel of the second PCR and so on in perpetuity." In Lane v. State (1988), Ind., 521 N.E.2d 947, this Court noted that ineffective assistance of trial counsel would have been an issue available in the post-conviction petition. "Lane's allegation of ineffective assistance is clearly an attempt to circumvent Rule PC 1, section 8, in order to present evidence on issues that had been waived." We stated further, "Lane cannot evade PC Rule 1, section 8, just by typing the words 'ineffective assistance of counsel.' " Id. 521 N.E.2d at 949.

If a petitioner is to prevail on a claim of ineffectiveness of counsel he must show he was denied a fair trial when the conviction or sentence resulted from a breakdown in the adversarial process which rendered the result unreliable. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 696, 104 S.Ct. at 2069, 80 L.Ed.2d at 699; Lawrence, 464 N.E.2d at 1294. To meet this burden, a petitioner must overcome by strong and convincing evidence a presumption that counsel has prepared and executed his client's defense effectively. Williams v. State (1987), Ind., 508 N.E.2d 1264, 1266-67. The question is factually oriented. This court does not speculate about what may have been the most advantageous strategy. Isolated bad tactics or inexperience do not...