State v. Calhoun

1

STATE OF DELAWARE, v. CHAON CALHOUN, Defendant.

I.D. No. 1804000397

Cr. A. Nos. IN18-04-0406-0411, IN18-07-1843-1845

Superior Court of Delaware

January 23, 2024

Submitted: October 23, 2023

Upon Defendant Chaon Calhoun's Motion for Postconviction Relief, DENIED.

Brian L. Arban, Esquire, Deputy Attorney General, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Wilmington, Delaware, for the State of Delaware.

Herbert W. Mondros, Esquire, RIGRODSKY LAW, P.A., Wilmington Delaware, Karl Schwartz, Esquire, Catherine Trama, Esquire WISEMAN & SCHWARTZ, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for Chaon Calhoun.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Paul R. Wallace, Judge On Easter Sunday 2018, Chaon Calhoun-who had a history of drug use and mental health issues that had troubled him and his family for more than a decade- went on a violent rampage at his mother's home. In the end, one innocent person was dead, a toddler suffered life-threatening injuries, and two others had been stabbed or sliced to varying degrees.

The trial for the Easter events was conducted before the Court without a jury. There was little contention over what happened and whether Mr. Calhoun had engaged in the brutality. But the parties hotly contested what spurred Mr. Calhoun to act as he did that night. As submitted to the Court for verdict, the questions were: (1) which offense fit the injury to each victim; and, (2) whether Mr. Calhoun could be held criminally responsible for them. The Court entered a verdict of guilty but mentally ill as to each conviction attained and later sentenced Mr. Calhoun accordingly.

His convictions and sentence having been affirmed on direct appeal, Mr. Calhoun has returned here seeking postconviction relief under this Court's Criminal Rule 61. According to Mr. Calhoun, his trial counsel was ineffective in her presentation of his insanity defense. She was not. And, for the reasons now explained, Mr. Calhoun is due no postconviction relief.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Tragedy on Easter Sunday 2018.

Mr. Calhoun was staying temporarily at his mother Wanda Berry's home on April 1, 2018.^[1] Living there too was Connie Saunders and her eighteen-month-old child, who was Mr. Calhoun's niece.^[2] On that Easter Sunday, Ms. Saunders had invited a friend, Andrew Moore, over to the house as well.^[3]

After the three had been out earlier visiting family and friends, Mr. Moore and the baby were watching movies with Ms. Saunders in her bedroom at the Berry home.^[4] Mr. Calhoun came into the bedroom unexpectedly and told Ms. Saunders that he wanted to keep her child safe by giving Ms. Saunders a knife for protection.^[5]He then left the bedroom to look for a knife.^[6] Fearful of Mr. Calhoun's strange behavior, Mr. Moore closed and locked the bedroom door behind him.^[7]

Mr. Calhoun came back with a knife in hand.^[8] Realizing the door was locked, Mr. Calhoun started to break it open while Mr. Moore tried to barricade it.^[9] Upon gaining partial entry, Mr. Calhoun offered to give Ms. Saunders the knife. She told him to leave it in the hallway.^[10] Mr. Calhoun responded that Ms. Saunders was "alright," but that Mr. Moore had to die.^[11] He then broke the rest of the way in and stabbed Mr. Moore repeatedly.^[12] At some point, Mr. Calhoun also stabbed Ms. Saunders and the baby.^[13] Ms. Saunders escaped with her daughter through a back door and flagged down a car that took them to a hospital.^[14]

Ms. Berry had been outside of the house when the violence began but ran inside when she heard yelling from the bedroom.^[15] She saw what was happening and implored Mr. Calhoun to stop.^[16] She, too, was stabbed in that exchange.^[17]Eventually, Mr. Moore was able to wrestle the knife away from Mr. Calhoun.^[18]

The police arrived soon thereafter, finding Ms. Berry on the front porch, Mr. Moore near the doorway, and Mr. Calhoun in the living room.^[19] According to police testimony, Mr. Calhoun appeared to be intoxicated and out of sorts.^[20]Among other things, Mr. Calhoun told police that there were people "teleporting" around the room.^[21]

Mr. Calhoun was taken to a local hospital to receive treatment for an injury to his hand.^[22] At the hospital, Mr. Calhoun said that everyone was dead because PCP was draining out of his body,^[23] that he killed his own family for PCP, and that he deserved to die.^[24]

B. The Trial Testimony Key to the Present Challenge

During Mr. Calhoun's six-day bench trial,^[25] the State presented numerous witnesses, including police officers, Ms. Saunders, Ms. Berry, and others. The defense focused on Mr. Calhoun's claims of mental illness, particularly his increasingly erratic behavior just before Easter. In short, the parties disagreed on what part Mr. Calhoun's regular PCP use and purported mental illness played in his crimes.

The Court need not further reconstitute the entirety of the detailed factual background and trial proceedings here; the parties and Court are well-acquainted with the record to this point.^[26] That said, a brief recounting of three witnesses key to the present claim is helpful.

Ms. Berry explained that her son had been living with his girlfriend, Brittney Hannah, at the time of the incident.^[27] According to Ms. Berry, Mr. Calhoun had been acting strangely in the days leading up to Easter, exhibiting paranoia and making statements about how he believed Brittany was trying to kill him.^[28]Ms. Berry decided to let him stay at her home so that she could try to get him medical help.^[29]

Forensic and Clinical Psychologist Robert Thompson was called as the defense expert witness in support of Mr. Calhoun's Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity ("NGRI") defense.^[30] Dr. Thompson evaluated Mr. Calhoun following the crimes and prepared an extensive report on his competency and mental state when the crimes occurred.^[31] Per Dr. Thompson's report, Mr. Calhoun was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as a child and had taken medication for that disorder, but he hadn't received mental health care as an adult until his incarceration.^[32] Dr. Thompson diagnosed Mr. Calhoun with, inter alia, unspecified schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders.^[33]

Dr. Thompson's report detailed Mr. Calhoun's version of events leading up to the stabbings.^[34] The report recounted Mr. Calhoun's psychotic incident with Brittany Hannah at a bus stop the day before, when Mr. Calhoun believed his life was in danger.^[35] Additionally, the report included Dr. Thompson's interview with Ms. Berry, who also recalled the bus incident.^[36]

During his trial testimony, Dr. Thompson opined that Mr. Calhoun lacked the substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct at the time of the crimes.^[37] He agreed, too, that Mr. Calhoun suffered from a mental illness that sufficiently disturbed his thinking, feeling, or behavior, or that left him with insufficient willpower to choose whether to commit or refrain from committing the crimes.^[38]

Dr. Thompson explained that Mr. Calhoun has a history of drug use and frequently used PCP and marijuana.^[39] Yet, the psychologist opined that Mr. Calhoun was not voluntarily under the influence of PCP or suffering PCP-induced psychosis when the crimes occurred.^[40] Dr. Thompson based this opinion on what he viewed as insufficient evidence of Mr. Calhoun's most recent PCP use^[41] and also, importantly, because Mr. Calhoun continued to exude psychotic disorder behaviors while imprisoned-well after his PCP usage had stopped.^[42] Dr. Thompson's conclusions regarding Mr. Calhoun's capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his acts were unaffected by Mr. Calhoun's immediate remorseful statements to police officers at the hospital. Because, said Dr. Thompson, a psychotic person could still express remorse.^[43]

On cross-examination, the State asked Dr. Thompson about not having received certain police reports prior to authoring his pretrial report.^[44] Dr. Thompson confirmed that he was aware of Mr. Calhoun's statements to police, but that he "still believe[d] there was sufficient information to form an opinion."^[45] On redirect, Dr. Thompson confirmed that he knew about Mr. Calhoun's various statements to others, that he had received copies of law enforcement's recorded interviews with Ms. Saunders and Ms. Berry after he completed his report but prior to trial, and that he had reviewed witness statements before last meeting with Mr. Calhoun and testifying at trial.^[46]

The State called Clinical and Forensic Psychiatrist Stephen Mechanick as its rebuttal expert witness. According to Dr. Mechanick, there was insufficient evidence that Mr. Calhoun suffered from a mental disorder that could cause psychotic symptoms.^[47] Instead, Dr. Mechanick opined, Mr. Calhoun's behavior at the time of the crimes was explained by PCP intoxication.^[48] Dr. Mechanick posited that Mr. Calhoun was under the influence of PCP when the incident occurred and explained that side effects of PCP use can include paranoia and aggression.^[49]Dr. Mechanick also opined that Mr. Calhoun showed an appreciation for the wrongfulness of his actions based, in part, on his remorseful statements after the incident.^[50]

C. The Verdict and Appeal

On September 20, 2019, the Court returned its verdict. Mr. Calhoun was found guilty but mentally ill ("GBMI")^[51] of first-degree murder (Mr. Moore), attempted first-degree murder (the child), first-degree assault (Ms. Berry-as an included offense of attempted first-degree murder), first-degree assault (Ms. Saunders), and the related weapons counts.^[52] Mr. Calhoun was later sentenced cumulatively to two life terms plus 20 years and a 3-year imprisonment term suspended for decreasing levels of supervision.^[53]

Mr Calhoun appealed his convictions and...