TAVON FULLWOOD v. STATE OF MARYLAND
Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, Raker, Aug. 31, 2017,
IAC – Failure to investigate- Where the defendant’s version of the case was that the victim was raped by someone else, trial counsel was not constitutionally ineffective where he did not challenge the accuracy of a SAFE (Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner) nurse’s testimony.

15p
I decided to start tracking opinion lengths. We’ll see how this goes…

Facts:
In 2001, a woman in Baltimore County was raped, sodomized, and stabbed multiple times.
In 2002, Fullwood was tried before a Baltimore County jury for first-degree rape, attempted murder, and related charges. At trial, the state presented testimony by a SAFE nurse who testified about the injuries suffered. Fullwood did not challenge the SAFE nurse’s testimony, but instead tried to put the blame on Fullwood’s cousin. Fullwood testified that he went to the victim’s apartment with his cousin (who lived in the same apartment building as the victim and was later found with the victim’s blood in his sink) and merely watched as his cousin raped and stabbed the victim.
Fullwood was found guilty and received consecutive life sentences. Fullwood appealed, but his convictions were affirmed.
In 2012, Fullwood filed a post-conviction motion requesting a new trial on the basis of ineffective trial counsel.
During post-conviction, Fullwood called a forensic expert who testified that the SAFE nurse didn’t sufficiently document evidence of the rape and some of the injuries claimed by the SAFE nurse could have been caused during treatment.
His original trial counsel, Kenneth “Kenny” Ravenell, agreed that he “absolutely” would have presented this evidence to the jury if he had it and there was “no strategic reason” not to do so.
Note- This is referred to as “falling on your sword,” where a defense attorney who loses at trial fails to defend his decisions from the trial during a post-conviction proceeding even if the decisions were rational and easily justifiable.
Fullwood’s motion was denied in 2015 by a Baltimore County judge who found that there was no dispute the victim was raped, and so there was no prejudice where trial counsel failed to challenge the SAFE nurse’s testimony.
In 2016, Fullwood requested an appeal, arguing that the trial judge was wrong in his ruling.

Held:
The Court of Special Appeals disagreed. There was no dispute that the victim was raped, so it was reasonable to not attack the SAFE nurse’s testimony.

IAC- The Sixth Amendment guarantees a defendant the right to assistance of effective counsel.

IAC – A defendant who is deprived of his right to effective counsel may request a new trial by filing a post-conviction alleging ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC)

IAC – Test– The burden is on the defendant in an IAC proceeding to show:

• Deficient Performance- Trial counsel’s action (or inaction) was objectively unreasonable
• Prejudice- But for this deficient performance, there is a substantial possibility the outcome would have been different

IAC- Performance- A trial attorney’s testimony that he would have done something different does not automatically make his trial performance deficient

From the case: The defense attorney from trial testified that he would have attacked the SAFE nurse’s exam if he had the information, but he didn’t investigate further. However, the Court of Special Appeals noted that this doesn’t decide the issue since the test is based on counsel’s perspective “at the time” and not with the hindsight knowledge that he would lose.

IAC- Performance- Failure to Investigate- A trial attorney’s decision based on incomplete information is reasonable if the decision not to investigate further was reasonable.

From the case: Where the defense’s case was built on blaming another suspect for the rape, there was no reason to criticize/attack the rape exam.

IAC- Performance- It is reasonable for a trial attorney to not put every single available argument in front of a jury. It is reasonable to believe that putting a weak argument before a jury/judge may weaken their support for your position rather than strengthen it.