True v. State, 2017 Ark. 323

Douglas True pleaded guilty to two counts of capital murder for stabbing his pregnant girlfriend to death and later filed a pro se Rule 37.1 petition alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and an involuntary plea.
True claimed counsel failed to fully investigate defenses (including mental-health defenses), failed to obtain a mental evaluation or complete military medical records, and pressured him to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty.
The trial court appointed postconviction counsel, ordered a mental evaluation, and held an evidentiary hearing. The evaluator found True competent, diagnosed antisocial personality disorder and alcohol-abuse disorder, and discounted claimed hallucinations.
Trial counsel testified he had investigated the case, gathered social-history and mitigation evidence, obtained military records, and hired an investigator; he also acknowledged there was no formal prosecutor notice seeking death at the time of the plea.
The trial court denied relief, finding counsel’s investigation reasonable, any failure to further investigate mental-health history not prejudicial, and that True’s plea was voluntarily and intelligently entered given the real possibility of a death sentence.

Issue	True's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Ineffective assistance for failing to investigate/prepare defenses	Counsel did not fully investigate facts or develop defenses and pressured plea	Counsel conducted substantial investigation, interviewed family, obtained records, hired investigator	Court: counsel’s investigation was reasonable; no clear error finding ineffective assistance
Failure to obtain mental evaluation / military medical records	Counsel should have requested evaluation and obtained full military records revealing depression/anxiety	Postconviction evaluation showed competence and diagnoses that would not support affirmative insanity-type defense; counsel obtained military records	Court: no prejudice shown; additional investigation unlikely to change outcome
Plea involuntary because counsel pressured plea to avoid death penalty	True pleaded only to avoid death; prosecutor had not given formal notice of intent to seek death	Prosecutor has discretion; death penalty is presumed a possibility absent waiver; defense must presume death may be sought	Court: plea voluntary and intelligent; fear of death penalty is a valid basis for plea
Failure to inform True that prosecutor had not filed death-penalty notice	Counsel erred by not telling True no formal death notice existed	No authority imposes duty on prosecutor to announce intent; statute presumes death will be sought unless waived	Court: counsel’s advice about possible death sentence was reasonable; no error

State v. Herred, 332 Ark. 241 (discussing Rule 37 and applying Strickland to guilty pleas)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-part ineffective-assistance standard)
Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52 (1985) (prejudice standard for plea-withdrawal claims)
Simpson v. State, 339 Ark. 467 (prosecutorial discretion to seek death penalty)
Camargo v. State, 327 Ark. 631 (intent inferred from nature/extent of injuries)
Bryant v. State, 323 Ark. 130 (limits on Rule 37 claims after guilty plea)
Thompson v. State, 307 Ark. 492 (difficulty showing prejudice after guilty plea)
Henington v. State, 2012 Ark. 181 (no need to address both Strickland prongs if one fails)
Polivka v. State, 2010 Ark. 152 (standard for clear-error review)