Stanley, Demico ( 2021 )

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
OF TEXAS
NO. WR-90,993-02
EX PARTE DEMICO STANLEY, Applicant
ON APPLICATION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS
CAUSE NO. F-15-1131-16-WHC2 IN THE 16TH DISTRICT COURT
FROM DENTON COUNTY
Per curiam.
ORDER
The State charged Applicant with capital murder. A jury convicted him of murder and
assessed a seventy-five year prison sentence. Applicant, through habeas counsel, filed this
application for a writ of habeas corpus in the county of conviction. The district clerk forwarded it
to this Court. See TEX . CODE CRIM . PROC. art. 11.07.
Applicant argues he received ineffective assistance of counsel for, among other things, trial
counsel’s failure to investigate and present mitigation evidence at punishment, particularly
Applicant’s history of mental illness and trauma. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984).
Trial counsel has provided a response, and the trial court has entered findings and recommends
denying habeas relief. It appears to this Court that, at the time trial counsel filed her response,
2
Applicant had not yet attached all his mental health medical records as exhibits to his habeas
application because trial counsel’s response and the trial court’s findings did not address the exhibits.
The first exhibit contains records from Applicant’s three-day stay at Green Oaks Hospital in April
2009 when he was sixteen years old. The second exhibit is a psychiatric examination report prepared
by a medical doctor who evaluated Applicant when he was sixteen years old.
The habeas record should be developed, and the trial court is the appropriate forum for
findings of fact. TEX . CODE CRIM . PROC. art. 11.07, § 3(d). In developing the record, the trial court
may use any means set out in Article 11.07, § 3(d). The trial court shall order trial counsel to
respond as to whether she discovered these records in the course of her punishment-evidence
investigation. If not, trial counsel shall explain why; if so, trial counsel shall explain why she did
not utilize the records in mitigation of punishment.
The trial court shall make findings of fact and conclusions of law: (1) as to whether trial
counsel’s performance regarding the presentation of mitigation evidence at punishment was
deficient; and (2) whether the jury’s punishment assessment lacks confidence because it was not
aware of Applicant’s complete history of mental illness and trauma. The trial court may make any
other findings and conclusions that it deems appropriate.
The trial court shall make findings of fact and conclusions of law within ninety days from
the date of this order. The district clerk shall then immediately forward to this Court the trial court’s
findings and conclusions and the record developed on remand, including, among other things,
affidavits, motions, objections, proposed findings and conclusions, orders, and transcripts from
hearings and depositions. See TEX . R. APP . P. 73.4(b)(4). Any extensions of time must be requested
by the trial court and obtained from this Court.
3
Filed: April 21, 2021
Do not publish