Fondren v. State

675 So. 2d 1348, 1995 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 17, 1995 WL 11471
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJanuary 13, 1995
DocketCR-93-0423
StatusPublished

This text of 675 So. 2d 1348 (Fondren v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fondren v. State, 675 So. 2d 1348, 1995 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 17, 1995 WL 11471 (Ala. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinions

PATTERSON, Judge.

The appellant, Michael Richard Fondren, appeals his conviction for first degree rape [1349]*1349and sentence of life imprisonment without parole. After Fondren was sentenced and had filed his notice of appeal, the trial court appointed counsel to serve as his appellate counsel (hereinafter referred to as “initial appellate counsel”). Initial appellate counsel filed a motion for a new trial and subsequently filed an amended motion for new trial. The amended motion was denied without a hearing on December 28, 1993. The case action summary shows that on January 14, 1994, a hearing was held on the motion for a new trial1 and the amended motion and that both motions were denied (the amended motion being denied twice). Thereafter, the trial court granted initial appellate counsel’s motion to withdraw, and present appellate counsel was appointed.

Fondren contends that his initial appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the issue of ineffectiveness of trial counsel. He asserts that initial appellate counsel was ineffective on the following grounds:

(1) Fondren first asserts that, although counsel did in fact assert ineffectiveness of trial counsel in a motion for a new trial, as amended, he failed to follow the procedures set forth in Ex parte Jackson, 598 So.2d 895 (Ala.1992), and that such failure procedurally baiTed Fondren from pursuing the ineffective claim alleged in the motions.

(2) Fondren further asserts that initial appellate counsel was ineffective because more egregious examples of ineffectiveness of trial counsel would have been discovered had counsel filed a Jackson motion and received the trial record. (See infra for grounds that allegedly should have been asserted.)

(3) Fondren further contends that those grounds that were asserted in the motion for a new trial were not preserved for appellate review because the record is devoid of any supporting evidence. He asserts that because allegedly there was no evidentiary hearing or any affidavits accompanying the motions, there is nothing for this court to review in regard to the propriety of the denial of the motions. For example, Fon-dren points out that the ground of trial counsel’s failure to call witnesses was waived because initial appellate counsel failed to identify witnesses who were alleged to have been ready to testify to certain facts and because counsel failed to include with his motions affidavits of these alleged witnesses.

In arguing that he has satisfied the prejudice prong of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), Fondren states that “it is clear [he] was denied his right to present various legal issues, specifically issues regarding the ineffectiveness of his trial counsel on direct appeal.” He contends that had initial appellate counsel preserved the issues presented in the motions and followed Jackson to preserve other alleged errors of trial counsel, there is a reasonable probability that his conviction, or at least his sentence, would be reversed.

Fondren also contends that his trial counsel’s errors, taken together, amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel, which prejudiced him to the point that a reversal of his conviction would have been mandated but for the fact that the issue of ineffectiveness of trial counsel could not be considered on appeal. He asserts four areas of alleged ineffectiveness.

(1) Trial counsel failed to object to the consolidation for trial of the prosecutions of Fondren and the victim’s mother on the ground that their defenses were antagonistic to the point of being irreconcilable and mutually exclusive. Fondren also contends that because of this consolidation, the mother’s statements to the police detailing Fondren’s actions were allowed into evidence although the mother did not testify. He argues that, consequently, the victim’s testimony was corroborated, and the impact of the impeaching evidence was greatly lessened. He also asserts that the trial court’s granting of the mother’s motion for a judgment of acquittal at the conclusion of the state’s case had a devastating negative impact on his case.

(2) Trial counsel failed to object to the introduction of the statements by the mother, a nontestifying codefendant, to police, pursuant to Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968).

[1350]*1350(3) Trial counsel failed to request instructions on the allegedly lesser included offenses of attempted rape and first degree sexual abuse.

(4) Trial counsel failed to object to the prosecution’s failure to introduce evidence of the prior felony convictions that were used to enhance his sentence and to prove that he was in fact the individual named in the judgments relating to those convictions and that he was represented by counsel.

The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel may not be considered for the first time on direct appeal. Jackson, 598 So.2d at 897. Here, initial appellate counsel was not able to raise all arguable issues before the trial court, including the claims of ineffective trial counsel, because he had not procured a transcript pursuant to Jackson and reviewed it. Thus, present appellate counsel had available to present for review only those issues of ineffective trial counsel asserted in initial appellate counsel’s motion for a new trial. Obviously, no claim of the alleged ineffectiveness of Fondren’s initial appellate counsel was presented to the trial court.

We have available to us two possible courses of action. Our first course of action, if the instant issues of ineffective trial and initial appellate counsel were not properly presented to the trial court, is to hold that any remedy lies in a petition for post-conviction relief filed pursuant to A.R.Crim.P. 32. See, e.g., Whitley v. State, 628 So.2d 1030 (Ala.Cr.App.1993); Hale v. State, 611 So.2d 1202, 1205 (Ala.Cr.App.1992). Cf. Page v. State, 622 So.2d 441 (Ala.Cr.App.1993) (wherein the court held that because the appellant’s counsel failed to strictly follow the requirements of Ex parte Jackson, the issue of ineffective counsel asserted for the first time on appeal was procedurally barred). The second course of action was recognized by the Alabama Supreme Court in Thompson v. State, 525 So.2d 820, 831 (Ala.1985), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 834, 109 S.Ct. 94, 102 L.Ed.2d 70 (1988). There, the supreme court held that this court may remand a case for the trial court to hear an ineffective counsel claim, where that claim is first raised on appeal, “if it determines justice would require it.” Id. (emphasis in original). Accord McLeod v. State, 627 So.2d 1065 (Ala.1993). See, e.g., Miller v. State, 568 So.2d 1253 (Ala.Cr.App.1990); Harris v. State, 512 So.2d 129 (Ala.Cr.App.1987).

We find that the case before us falls into this latter category. Several of the issues now asserted by Fondren, in the factual context presented by the record, are troubling, and we believe that justice demands a remand to allow Fondren to litigate the issue of ineffective counsel of both his trial counsel and his initial appellate counsel.

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Related

Bruton v. United States
391 U.S. 123 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Schneble v. Florida
405 U.S. 427 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Trawick v. State
431 So. 2d 574 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1983)
Madden v. State
624 So. 2d 1082 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1993)
Gladden v. State
551 So. 2d 1141 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1989)
Miller v. State
568 So. 2d 1253 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1990)
Page v. State
622 So. 2d 441 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1993)
Hudgins v. State
615 So. 2d 1297 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1993)
Whitley v. State
628 So. 2d 1030 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1993)
Ex Parte Stinson
401 So. 2d 262 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1981)
Stinson v. State
401 So. 2d 257 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1981)
Thompson v. State
525 So. 2d 820 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1985)
Ex Parte Jackson
598 So. 2d 895 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1992)
McLeod v. State
627 So. 2d 1065 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1993)
Hale v. State
611 So. 2d 1202 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1992)
Harris v. State
512 So. 2d 129 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1987)
Nelson v. Metropolitan Life Insurance
488 U.S. 834 (Supreme Court, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
675 So. 2d 1348, 1995 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 17, 1995 WL 11471, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fondren-v-state-alacrimapp-1995.