Maxfield v. Cain

435 P.3d 779, 295 Or. App. 553
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJanuary 3, 2019
DocketA163470
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 435 P.3d 779 (Maxfield v. Cain) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maxfield v. Cain, 435 P.3d 779, 295 Or. App. 553 (Or. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

POWERS, J.

*554This post-conviction case comes to us for a second time after we initially reversed and remanded the judgment denying petitioner relief. See Maxfield v. Nooth , 278 Or. App. 684, 377 P.3d 650 (2016). In this proceeding, petitioner argues, and the superintendent concedes, that the post-conviction court exceeded the scope of remand by revisiting the issue of whether trial counsel failed to exercise reasonable professional skill and judgment instead of addressing the issue of prejudice under the correct standard. For the reasons set out below, we agree with the parties that the post-conviction court exceeded the scope of remand and we remand again to the post-conviction court to determine whether trial counsel's deficient performance prejudiced petitioner.

Our first opinion set out the circumstances of petitioner's conviction and petition for post-conviction relief:

"Petitioner was convicted in a bench trial of nine counts of robbery-three counts of first-degree robbery and six counts of second-degree robbery. The trial court sentenced him to a sum of 40 years' incarceration. It did so by imposing consecutive sentences on five of the counts.
"Petitioner seeks post-conviction relief on the ground that he received inadequate and ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing, in violation of his rights under Article I, section 11, [of the Oregon Constitution] and the Sixth Amendment [to the United States Constitution]. Specifically, he contends that, by failing to present a mitigation case at sentencing, his trial counsel performed below constitutional standards, and that his trial counsel's deficient performance prejudicially affected the trial court's sentencing decision. To prove this claim, petitioner introduced affidavits from friends and family members, and presented live testimony from a legal expert and a neuropsychological expert.
"The post-conviction court was persuaded by petitioner's evidence that trial counsel performed deficiently by not presenting mitigation evidence at petitioner's sentencing. However, as noted, the court determined that petitioner had not persuaded it that the omitted mitigation evidence *555'would have had any effect on the decision that [the sentencing judge] made or the sentence that he received.' "

Id. at 685-86, 377 P.3d 650 (first and second bracketed text added; third bracketed text in original).

In his first appeal, petitioner challenged the post-conviction court's prejudice determination, arguing that the court's ruling illustrated that it had erroneously required petitioner to prove that it was more likely than not that the omitted mitigation evidence would have affected the court's sentencing decision. Id. at 686, 377 P.3d 650. We agreed and held that the post-conviction court had applied an incorrect legal standard to decide *781prejudice under both Article I, section 11, and under the Sixth Amendment. Id. at 688, 377 P.3d 650. Accordingly, we reversed and remanded "for the post-conviction court to evaluate prejudice under the legally correct standard." Id. at 689, 377 P.3d 650. Notably, the superintendent did not challenge on appeal the post-conviction court's determination that trial counsel's performance was deficient. Id. at 686, 377 P.3d 650.

On remand, it appears that the post-conviction court invited the parties to file written submissions summarizing the parties' claims and arguments, which the superintendent did.1 The post-conviction court then entered an amended general judgment denying petitioner relief on the basis of deficient performance. The post-conviction court explained:

"[A]ny attempt to by the Petitioner to shift the blame for his crimes onto his very difficult family life or drug usage would have been contrary to his trial counsel's sound advice that Petitioner's best chance for a lenient sentence was to accept full responsibility for his actions-not blame them on other circumstances. Trial counsel's conduct did not fall below the standard by failing to engage a more extensive investigation into petitioner's background given the facts and circumstances of this case."

As noted above, on appeal petitioner asserts, and the superintendent agrees, that the post-conviction court exceeded the scope of remand.

*556To evaluate an inadequate assistance of counsel claim, a court engages in a two-step inquiry: First, it must determine whether petitioner demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence that counsel failed to exercise reasonable skill and judgment; and then second, if the court determines that petitioner met that first burden, the court must further determine whether petitioner proved that counsel's deficient performance had a tendency to affect the result of the trial. See , e.g. , Lichau v. Baldwin

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Related

Dept. of Human Services v. M. P.
344 Or. App. 661 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2025)
Maxfield v. Cain
520 P.3d 890 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2022)
Vasilash v. Cain
454 P.3d 818 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2019)

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Bluebook (online)
435 P.3d 779, 295 Or. App. 553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maxfield-v-cain-orctapp-2019.