Lewis v. State

1998 OK CR 34, 970 P.2d 1177, 69 O.B.A.J. 2045, 1998 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 33, 1998 WL 324846
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 1, 1998
DocketNo. PC-97-1251
StatusPublished

This text of 1998 OK CR 34 (Lewis v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lewis v. State, 1998 OK CR 34, 970 P.2d 1177, 69 O.B.A.J. 2045, 1998 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 33, 1998 WL 324846 (Okla. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinions

STRUBHAR, V.P. J.

¶ 1 Petitioner, Napoleon Lewis, Jr., was tried by a jury and convicted of First Degree Murder (Count I) and Child Abuse (Count II) in the District Court of Oklahoma County, Case No. CF-95-2135. In accordance with the jury’s recommendation he was sentenced to death on Count I and life imprisonment on Count II. Petitioner appealed this judgment and sentence to this Court, and the case was affirmed in Lewis v. State, 1998 OK CR 24, 69 OBJ 1501, 970 P.2d 1158. Petitioner subsequently filed with this Court an application for post-conviction relief.

¶ 2 Under the Post-Conviction Procedure Act, the only issues that can be raised on post-conviction are those that “[w]ere not and could not have been raised in a direct appeal ... and ... [which] [sjupport a conclusion either that the outcome of trial would have been different but for the errors or that the defendant is factually innocent.” 22 O.S.Supp.1995, § 1089(C)(1) and (2). On review, this Court will determine: “(1) whether controverted, previously unresolved factual issues material to the legality of the applicant’s confinement exist, (2) whether the applicant’s grounds were or could have been [1179]*1179previously raised, and (3) whether relief may be granted-” 22 O.S.Supp.1995, § 1089(D)(4)(a). Further, this Court will not consider issues which were raised on direct appeal and are barred by res judicata, or issues which have been waived because they could have been, but were not, raised on direct appeal. Cannon v. State, 1997 OK CR 13, 933 P.2d 926, 928.

¶ 3 In Proposition I, Petitioner claims he was denied a fair trial because the prosecutor knowingly used false testimony which prejudiced him. He specifically complains about instances wherein the prosecutor argued that Petitioner had thrown gasoline on his former wife and threatened to light her up. These statements were brought to this Court’s attention in Petitioner’s brief on direct appeal.1

¶ 4 Petitioner argues that the facts of this claim were not available at the time his direct appeal was filed because appellate counsel was unable to fully investigate the impact that the evidence had upon the jurors who convicted him. We are not persuaded by this argument as we find appellate counsel did fully litigate this claim on direct appeal. Because the propriety of this evidence was raised and thoroughly considered on direct appeal, it is now barred from review by the doctrine of res judicata. 22 O.S.Supp.1995, § 1089(C).

¶ 5 Petitioner argues in his second proposition that his state and federal constitutional rights to a fair trial, presumption of innocence and due process were violated when he was chained and shackled daily in the presence of the jury and when armed guards filled the courtroom in an obvious show of force. This issue could have been raised on direct appeal, but was not. Accordingly, the claim is waived and barred from review under section 1089(C).

¶ 6 In his third proposition, Petitioner complains he was denied his constitutional right to be tried before an impartial jury because a juror used the fact that he did not testify as an aggravating circumstance in the second stage and another juror acted as an expert on insanity, bringing to the deliberations extraneous evidence regarding sanity. Again, this issue could have been raised on direct appeal, but was not. We find it is waived and barred from review under section 1089(C).

¶ 7 Petitioner argues in his fourth proposition that he was denied effective assistance of trial counsel by counsel’s failure to prepare, investigate and present critical information during the first and second stages of trial. Claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel are appropriate under the capital post-conviction procedure statute only if they “are based upon facts which were not available to the applicant’s direct appeal attorney and thus could not have been made part of the direct appeal record.” See Walker v. State, 1997 OK CR 3, 933 P.2d 327, 332, cert. denied, — U.S. -, 117 S.Ct. 2524, 138 L.Ed.2d 1024. See also 22 O.S.Supp. 1995, § 1089(D)(4)(b)(1). While some of the information Petitioner relies upon in making this claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel is not found in the trial record, many of the allegations concerning trial counsel’s deficiencies are found within the trial record. Petitioner has not demonstrated that any of this information was not available to his appellate counsel. Because this claim should and could have been raised on direct appeal, under section 1089(D) we cannot review it now.

¶ 8 Petitioner goes on to assert that if this Court finds his claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel could have been raised on direct appeal, the Court should also find that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise it. Under the Post-Conviction Procedure Act, a claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel is not procedurally barred if,

it is a claim contained in an original timely application for post-conviction relief relating to ineffective assistance of appellate counsel and the Court of Criminal Appeals [1180]*1180first finds that if the allegations in the application were true, the performance of appellate counsel constitutes the denial of reasonably competent assistance of appellate counsel under prevailing professional norms.

22 O.S.Supp.1995, § 1089(D)(4)(b)(2). Applying these statutory guidelines, this Court recently held:

[T]he threshold inquiry is (1) whether appellate counsel actually committed the act which gave rise to the ineffective assistance allegation.... [T]he next question is (2) whether such performance was deficient under the first prong of the two-pronged test in Strickland v. Washington.2 ... If a petitioner meets his or her heavy burden to prove deficient attorney performance, we may then consider the mishandled substantive claim. The question then becomes (3) whether such a claim meets the second prerequisite to capital post-conviction review.

Walker, 933 P.2d at 333 (footnotes omitted).

¶ 9 A review of the record reveals that part of the above mentioned issue was not raised by appellate counsel on direct appeal.3 As to the portion of this issue not raised before, Petitioner has made the threshold showing that counsel committed the act which gave rise to the ineffective assistance allegation. Having found such, we must now determine whether counsel’s failure to raise this on direct appeal constitutes deficient performance.

¶ 10 Petitioner argues that counsel has an obligation to raise meritorious issues and accordingly, appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the issue of trial counsel’s ineffective representation. This Court has held that “[w]hile appellate counsel has a duty to raise relevant issues for this Court’s consideration, there is no obligation to raise all available non-frivolous issues.” Romano v. State, 1997 OK CR 37, 942 P.2d 222, 224. The brief filed in Petitioner’s direct appeal reflects that appellate counsel raised sixteen propositions. Many of these propositions included numerous sub-propositions, all of which were equally meritorious to those which were omitted and are at issue here. We cannot find that appellate counsel’s omission of the allegations argued in this proposition rendered his performance unreasonable under prevailing professional norms.

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Related

Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Murray v. Carrier
477 U.S. 478 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Lockhart v. Fretwell
506 U.S. 364 (Supreme Court, 1993)
Cooper v. Oklahoma
517 U.S. 348 (Supreme Court, 1996)
Trice v. State
1996 OK CR 10 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1996)
Braun v. State
1997 OK CR 26 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1997)
Fowler v. State
1995 OK CR 29 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1995)
Lewis v. State
1998 OK CR 24 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1999)
Walker v. State
1997 OK CR 3 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1997)
Cannon v. State
1997 OK CR 13 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1997)
Scott v. State
1997 OK CR 40 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1997)
Romano v. State
1997 OK CR 37 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1997)
Mitchell v. State
1997 OK CR 9 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1997)
Wallace v. State
1997 OK CR 18 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1997)
Hooks v. State
1995 OK CR 56 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1995)
Singh v. Commissioner of Social Services
521 U.S. 1125 (Supreme Court, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1998 OK CR 34, 970 P.2d 1177, 69 O.B.A.J. 2045, 1998 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 33, 1998 WL 324846, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lewis-v-state-oklacrimapp-1998.