Ex parte Imoudu

In Ex parte Imoudu, 284 S.W.3d 866 (Tex. Crim. App. 2009), Imoudu had been diagnosed with various mental illnesses about six or seven months before the commission of the offense with which he was charged; counsel neither investigated nor discovered the medical records detailing those mental illnesses, despite having concerns about Imoudu's competency as evidenced by the fact that he requested the trial court to order a competency examination for Imoudu. (Imoudu was found competent to stand trial.) Imoudu's trial counsel remained so concerned about Imoudu's behavior that he advised Imoudu and his family to accept the State's plea offer because counsel was worried about how Imoudu might behave should he have taken the stand to testify. Id. at 870. Imoudu pled guilty and was sentenced to seventeen years' incarceration. Post-conviction, his counsel in a habeas corpus proceeding discovered "extensive" medical records, compiled while Imoudu was jailed on the felony charges to which he eventually pled guilty, as well as a misdemeanor offense, for which Imoudu had been jailed six months before the felony arrest. Id. at 868. These medical records indicated significant mental illness; in jail, Imoudu was prescribed antipsychotic medications, used to treat schizophrenia. Post-conviction, a psychiatrist reviewed these medical records and concluded that at the time of the offense, Imoudu suffered from untreated schizophrenia; as a result of that illness, he could not discern right from wrong and was, therefore, insane. Id. at 868-69, 871.