Taylor v. State

• Decision Date: 18 July 1984
• Docket Number: No. 83-223,83-223
• Citation: 352 N.W.2d 683
• Parties: Robert Frank TAYLOR, Appellant, v. STATE of Iowa, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 683

352 N.W.2d 683

Robert Frank TAYLOR, Appellant, v. STATE of Iowa, Appellee.

No. 83-223.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

July 18, 1984.

Charles L. Harrington, Appellate Defender, and Fern S. Shupeck, Asst. Appellate Defender, Des Moines, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., John P. Messina and Sherie Barnett, Asst. Attys. Gen. and James C. Bauch, County Atty., for appellee.

Considered by REYNOLDSON, C.J., and UHLENHOPP, LARSON, SCHULTZ and WOLLE, JJ.

WOLLE, Justice.

Petitioner was convicted of first degree murder for the shotgun slaying of his wife. His direct appeal from that conviction was affirmed, but we expressly reserved for postconviction proceedings petitioner's assertions of ineffectiveness of his trial counsel. State v. Taylor, 310 N.W.2d 174, 179 (Iowa 1981). Those claims have now been tried and decided adversely to petitioner by the postconviction trial court. We affirm.

The essentially undisputed background facts are set forth in our previous opinion and need only be summarized here. When petitioner returned from work around 11:30 p.m. on June 1, 1979, his wife and children were not at home. He began drinking beer. He then found a letter written by his wife in which she mentioned she was seeing another man. When his wife came home around 5:30 a.m. petitioner and she got into an argument about her infidelities. The petitioner then got his shotgun from a closet and shot her twice, killing her. Thereafter he first admitted shooting her but later made inconsistent statements about his involvement in her death. At trial petitioner relied heavily on his defense of diminished capacity. See State v. Taylor, 310 N.W.2d at 176.

I. Review of Claims of Ineffectiveness of Counsel.

We first address the legal standards by which we measure claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Because petitioner is asserting that his constitutional right to a fair trial was violated, we make an independent evaluation of the totality of the relevant circumstances; this is the equivalent of a de novo review. State v. Wilkens, 346 N.W.2d 16, 18 (Iowa 1984); Hinkle v. State, 290 N.W.2d 28, 30 (Iowa 1980). The person claiming that his trial attorney was ineffective, depriving him of his sixth amendment right to counsel, must show that (1) counsel failed to perform an essential duty, and (2) prejudice resulted therefrom. Snethen v. State, 308 N.W.2d 11, 14 (Iowa 1981). Petitioner has the burden to prove both of these elements by a preponderance of the evidence. Sallis v. Rhoades, 325 N.W.2d 121, 122 (Iowa 1982).

In deciding whether trial counsel's performance was deficient, we require more than a showing that trial strategy backfired or that another attorney would have prepared and tried the case somewhat differently. Fryer v. State, 325 N.W.2d 400, 413-15 (Iowa 1982); Hinkle v. State, 290 N.W.2d at 30-31. Petitioner must overcome a presumption that counsel is competent. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, ----, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2065-66, 80 L.Ed.2d 674, 693-94 (1984) ("Because of the difficulties inherent in making the evaluation, a court must indulge a strong presumption that counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance; that is, the defendant must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action 'might be considered sound trial strategy.' "). The ultimate test is whether under the entire record and totality of the circumstances counsel's performance was within the range of normal competency. Henderson v. Scurr, 313 N.W.2d 522, 524 (Iowa 1981).

In deciding the second component of a claim of ineffectiveness of counsel, prejudice, we have required the person making the claim to show that counsel's failure to perform an essential duty worked to the client's actual and substantial disadvantage and thereby constituted "a denial of the accused's due process right to a fair trial, a fundamental miscarriage of justice, or an equivalent constitutional deprivation." State v. Miles, 344 N.W.2d 231, 234 (Iowa 1984). The United States Supreme Court has recently articulated the following test for determining whether specified errors of counsel have resulted in the required prejudice.

The defendant must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.

Strickland v. Washington, --- U.S. at ----, 104 S.Ct. at 2069, 80 L.Ed.2d at 699. We apply this appropriate test for prejudice to the facts of this case.

Finally, we need not determine whether counsel's performance was deficient before examining the prejudice component of an ineffectiveness claim.

The object of an ineffectiveness claim is not to grade counsel's performance. If it is easier to dispose of an ineffectiveness claim on the ground of lack of sufficient prejudice, which we expect will often be so, that course should be followed. Courts should strive to ensure that ineffectiveness claims not become so burdensome to defense counsel that the entire criminal justice system suffers as a result.

--- U.S. at ----, 104 S.Ct. at 2070, 80 L.Ed.2d at 700. In the light of these principles governing our review, we now address each of petitioner's assignments of error.

II. The Medical Examiner's Testimony.

At trial, the State called Black Hawk County Medical Examiner Dr. Albert Dolan, who had gone to petitioner's home the next morning to investigate the wife's death. Dr. Dolan first used photographic exhibits to describe to the jury the position of the victim's body, with the head face down under the bed. After describing the space under the bed he further testified,

... the thing that I was interested in is that the victim's head from approximately the top of the shoulders was completely under or almost completely under the bed, indicating to me at least that she had to crawl-- At that point defense counsel objected that the testimony was "speculation," but the trial court overruled the objection, allowing Dolan to explain that she could not have fallen into that position and therefore must have crawled and forced herself into that area. He used that crawling testimony as a basis for determining which of the two shotgun wounds was inflicted first and which wound caused the victim's death. See State v. Taylor, 310 N.W.2d at 174.

On direct appeal of the trial court's ruling on this objection, we found that trial counsel had failed to preserve error. The objection was not sufficiently specific, and trial counsel had not moved to strike the doctor's answer, to place the objection before the answer, or to offer an excuse for his delay in objecting to the evidence. See State v. Taylor, 310 N.W.2d at 176-77.

In this postconviction proceeding petitioner vigorously argues that trial counsel failed to prepare adequately to meet Dr. Dolan's crawling theory. He contends that his counsel should have interposed timely and sufficient objections to the testimony; he also argues that counsel did not effectively cross-examine Dr. Dolan. We conclude that petitioner has not shown that there is a reasonable probability that the jury's verdict would have been different if defense counsel had been successful in excluding or casting more doubt on Dr. Dolan's testimony. See Strickland v. Washington, --- U.S. at ----, 104 S.Ct. at 2069, 80 L.Ed.2d at 699. Even if Dr. Dolan's testimony supporting the State's "crawling" theory did provide some evidence of premeditation which defense counsel could more effectively have challenged, the record is replete with other evidence which persuasively supported the jury's finding of premeditation. On direct appeal, we summarized the evidence which adequately supported the elements of planning and motive, and thereby was sufficient to establish premeditation:

The State produced witnesses who testified that defendant

(1) was pointing a gun at his wife prior to the shooting,

(2) had found a letter written by his wife that mentioned another man,

(3) intended to end the marriage,

(4) stated he could kill his wife and children, and

(5) had purchased a gun and loaded it just prior to the shooting.

310 N.W.2d at 178. On careful further review of the entire record we find that this other evidence of premeditation was independent of the crawling theory, not inconsistent with that theory, and entirely adequate to support the jury's finding of premeditation. Consequently the petitioner has not borne his burden to show that he was prejudiced by either the admission of Dr. Dolan's testimony or the manner in which the cross-examination of Dr. Dolan was conducted.

III. Failure to Move to Suppress Petitioner's Statement.

Immediately after his wife's death petitioner told several persons that he had just shot her. When arrested, however, he denied any involvement in the shooting and instead told the officers to be on the lookout for the persons from Des Moines who had shot her. Petitioner argues that he was denied effective assistance of counsel because his trial counsel did not move to suppress those statements.

Defendant's statements were relevant because a false story concocted by defendant...