By: Derek Hawkins//January 22, 2018//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: Fredrick Michael Baer v. Ron Neal
Case No.: 15-1933
Officials: BAUER, FLAUM and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.
Focus: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
Fredrick Michael Baer murdered a young woman and her four‐year‐old daughter in their home. In connection with this crime, he was convicted in Marion Superior Court of the two murders, robbery, theft and attempted rape. He was sentenced to death. He filed a direct appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court raising several issues including prosecutorial misconduct, but his convictions and death sentence were affirmed. Baer filed state post‐conviction proceedings alleging that his trial and appellate counsel were ineffective. The court denied his petition and this denial was affirmed by the Indiana Supreme Court. Baer then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, which was also denied. After we issued a certificate of appealability, Baer appealed the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
Baer asserts that the Indiana Supreme Court’s ruling was unreasonable under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), for failing to find that Baer’s trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to (1) object to improper and confusing jury instructions given at the penalty phase of his trial, (2) object to prejudicial prosecutorial statements made throughout trial, and (3) investigate and present mitigating evidence on Baer’s behalf. While we affirm his convictions, we agree with Baer that, at the penalty phase, Baer’s counsel failed to challenge crucial misleading jury instructions and a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct, and that the state court unreasonably applied Strickland in denying Baer relief. Counsel’s deficiency resulted in a denial of due process, and we find the errors were sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome of Baer’s penalty trial and so we find prejudice. While Baer’s offenses were despicable and his guilt is clear, he is entitled to a penalty trial untainted by constitutional error.
Reversed in part. Affirmed in part. We REVERSE the district court’s denial of Baer’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus with regard to the penalty phase of the trial. Baer’s convictions stand.