Full opinion text
KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge: I. Case History On March 21, 1974 appellant Charles Proffitt was tried and convicted of first degree murder by a jury in the Circuit Court of Hillsborough County, Florida. In the second phase of the bifurcated proceeding the jury issued an advisory sentence recommending the death penalty, and the judge, in agreement with that recommendation, sentenced appellant to death. Pursuant to Florida’s capital sentencing statute, Pub.L.No. 72-724, § 9,1972 Fla. Laws (current version at Fla.Stat.Ann. § 921.141 (West Supp.1982)), appellant was afforded an automatic appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, which upheld his conviction and sentence. Proffitt v. State, 315 So.2d 461 (Fla. 1975). Appellant then sought review by the United States Supreme Court, which granted certiorari to consider the constitutionality of the Florida death penalty statute. 423 U.S. 1082, 96 S.Ct. 1090, 47 L.Ed.2d 94 (1976). Seven members of the Court, in three separate opinions, held that the statute did not violate the eighth or fourteenth amendments, Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 244-60, 96 S.Ct. 2960, 2963-70, 49 L.Ed.2d 913 (1976) (opinion of Powell, Stevens, and Stewart, JJ.); id. at 260-61, 96 S.Ct. at 2970 (opinion of White and Rehnquist, JJ. and Burger, C. J.); id. at 261, 96 S.Ct. at 2970 (opinion of Blackmun, J.), and hence affirmed appellant’s sentence. Having exhausted his direct remedies, appellant sought collateral relief — first in the state courts, which denied relief summarily without an evidentiary hearing, see Proffitt v. State, 360 So.2d 771 (Fla.1978), cert. dismissed on appellant’s motion, Proffitt v. State, 372 So.2d 1111 (1979), and finally in the federal district court, the decision of which denying habeas corpus is the subject of this appeal. In the district court appellant urged several grounds for relief. He claimed the representation he received at the guilt phase of his trial was ineffective rendering his conviction unconstitutional under the sixth amendment. He also raised several constitutional challenges to the state court’s sentencing decision, including (1) ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty hearing; (2) admission of testimony and reports by court-appointed psychiatrists without adequate opportunity for confrontation; (3) limitation of the jury’s consideration of mitigating evidence in violation of Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978); and (4) consideration of aggravating factors not authorized by the sentencing statute in violation of the due process clause and eighth amendment. The district court appointed a magistrate to conduct the evidentiary hearing required by Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963). The magistrate, after thorough and probing analysis, recommended denial of relief on all of appellant’s claims except that based on ineffective assistance of counsel at the sentencing stage of the trial. As to the latter, he found defense counsel’s representation constitutionally deficient and recommended remand to the state court with instructions either to conduct a new sentencing hearing or, alternatively, to resentence appellant to life imprisonment. The district court adopted the magistrate’s findings and recommendations on all issues except the last. It rejected the claim of ineffective counsel at sentencing and the magistrate’s conclusion on that ground and thus dismissed appellant’s habeas petition. Appellant challenges the district court’s substantive conclusions and further argues that the district court committed procedural error in rejecting the magistrate’s recommendation on his ineffective counsel claim without conducting a new hearing on that issue. We address the procedural question first because its resolution, if favorable to appellant, would require a remand to the district court obviating the need for us to decide most of appellant’s substantive claims at this juncture. Since an understanding of the operation of the Florida capital sentencing statute under which appellant was sentenced is necessary for informed evaluation of both the procedural and substantive issues, we preliminarily set forth a brief description of that act and of the sentencing proceeding in this case. II. Florida’s Capital Sentencing Statute Under Fla.Stat. § 921.141, following the guilt phase of trial for a defendant convicted of a capital felony, the trial judge conducts a separate sentencing proceeding before the jury that convicted the defendant. At the sentencing hearing, the parties may introduce evidence of and argument concerning aggravating and mitigating factors. On the basis of the evidence presented at the sentencing hearing together with that presented at the guilt phase of the trial, a majority of the jury renders an advisory sentence. Fla.Stat.Ann. § 921.-141(2), (3) (West Supp.1982). The jury is instructed to consider “[wjhether sufficient aggravating circumstances exist”; “[wjhether sufficient mitigating circumstances exist which outweigh the aggravating circumstances found to exist”; and, “[bjased on these considerations, whether the defendant should be sentenced to life imprisonment or death.” Id. § 921.141(2). The trial judge then independently evaluates the evidence, makes the same determination as to the existence of aggravating and mitigating factors, and decides which sentence to impose. Id. § 921.141(3). In this case, the sentencing proceeding was brief. The prosecution called one witness: a Dr. Crumbley who, acting as psychiatric consultant for the County Sheriff’s Office, had examined appellant shortly following his arrest. In the course of two interviews with the doctor, appellant had confessed to committing the murder. Appellant’s attorney waived his doctor-patient privilege for purposes of sentencing only, allowing the doctor to testify. On direct examination, Dr. Crumbley testified that appellant had expressed concern about a feeling he had that was “so overwhelming that he felt he would do damage to people in the future.” Dr. Crumbley testified that appellant told him his uncontrollable desire had built up an unbearable tension, which he had “fought as hard as he could,” but that it finally overcame him with the result that he killed a man and was now awaiting trial. Appellant had further expressed concern that if he was acquitted he might kill someone again, and he asked Dr. Crumbley about arranging psychiatric help for him. At a second interview, appellant again spoke of the tension he had experienced prior to the killing and described a sense of relaxation he had felt afterward. He told the doctor the tension was building up again with his hostility directed toward a particular inmate. He asked whether he could be moved to a different cell or whether something could be done to relieve the emotional pressure he was experiencing. Dr. Crumbley further testified that appellant killed the victim (who was a total stranger to him) solely to satisfy his emotional tension and that in Crumbley’s opinion appellant could be dangerous to society and to other inmates. Dr. Crumbley stated that his two interviews with appellant took fifteen to twenty minutes each and that he had performed no psychiatric or psychological testing. Appellant’s counsel then cross-examined the doctor, eliciting his opinion that appellant was acting under extreme, uncontrollable emotional distress when he committed the murder, that appellant “couldn’t help what he did,” that appellant’s condition was treatable, and that if treated appellant would no longer be dangerous. Dr. Crumbley explained that there were confinement facilities specializing in treatment of individuals with the kind of emotional disturbance suffered by appellant. Defense counsel called no witnesses, and following the doctor’s testimony the attorneys argued briefly concerning the aggravating and mitigating factors enumerated in the Florida capital sentencing statute. The prosecuting attorney argued that five of the aggravating factors and none of the mitigating factors were present. Appellant’s counsel argued that at most the prosecution had established only one aggravating factor and that this was outweighed by the mitigating evidence. III. Procedural Issue In 1976, Congress expanded district courts’ delegatory authority by permitting appointment of magistrates to conduct evidentiary hearings in federal habeas cases. See note 5 supra. In United States v. Raddatz, 447 U.S. 667, 100 S.Ct. 2406, 65 L.Ed.2d 424 (1980), the Supreme Court, interpreting the Federal Magistrates Act, held that a district court judge need not rehear the testimony on which the magistrate relied in accepting the magistrate’s findings or recommendation. Rather, the Court held, the statutory command to district court judges to “make a de novo determination” of those portions of the magistrate’s findings and recommendations to which the parties object is satisfied as long as the judge, rather than the magistrate, exercises “ultimate adjudicatory power.” Id. at 674-76, 100 S.Ct. at 2411-12. The Court also held that this arrangement does not violate the due process clause or article III of the Constitution. Id. at 677-84, 100 S.Ct. at 2413-16. The Court left open the question whether a district court judge may constitutionally “reject a magistrate’s proposed findings on credibility when those findings are dispositive and substitute the judge’s own appraisal ... without seeing and hearing the witness or witnesses: whose credibility is in question.” Id. at 681 n.7, 100 S.Ct. at 2415 n.7. The Fifth Circuit addressed the latter issue in Louis v. Blackburn, 630 F.2d 1105 (5th Cir. 1980). It held that in cases involving the constitutional rights of a criminal defendant due process requires that, before entering an order inconsistent with the credibility choices made by a magistrate, a district court judge must himself hear the testimony of witnesses whose testimony is determinative. Id. at 1109. Appellant argues that the district court judge’s rejection, without hearing testimony, of the magistrate’s recommendation concerning his ineffective counsel claim was erroneous under Louis v. Blackburn. Determining whether the judge’s order is “inconsistent with credibility choices made by the magistrate” is a two-step process. First, we must review the magistrate’s recommendation and decide whether credibility choices he made in assessing appellant’s ineffective counsel claim were dispositive. If the answer is affirmative, we must then scrutinize the district court’s order to ascertain if the judge’s rejection of the magistrate’s recommendation was also a rejection, whether express or implicit, of the magistrate’s credibility choices. See id. at 1107-08. In support of his ineffective counsel claim, appellant presented to the magistrate numerous detailed allegations concerning the defense attorney’s actions before trial, at the guilt stage of the trial, and at the sentencing phase. The magistrate rejected all of appellant’s ineffective counsel arguments except that based on the sentencing phase, and the district court adopted the magistrate’s findings with respect to the pre-sentencing claims. Hence, appellant’s Louis v. Blackburn due process challenge is limited to his claim of ineffective counsel at sentencing, on which the magistrate and judge disagreed. The magistrate concluded appellant had received ineffective assistance at the penalty hearing due to five flaws in defense counsel’s representation: (1) the attorney’s failure to present any mitigating evidence, (2) his consent to the admission of Dr. Crumbley’s testimony, (3) his failure to request a presentence investigation report, (4) his failure to explain the circumstances of appellant’s prior conviction, and (5) the brevity of his argument. The magistrate’s conclusion that these omissions, viewed cumulatively, amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel was based partly on his analysis of the constitutional requirements for sentencing in capital cases and partly on his assessment of the reasons for the attorney’s failure to ensure those requirements were met at Proffitt’s trial. The district court addressed each of the bases for the magistrate’s conclusion that appellant received ineffective assistance of counsel and rejected all five. We now consider whether the magistrate’s conclusions on these issues were based on credibility choices concerning testimony at the evidentiary hearing and, if so, whether the district court’s disagreement with the magistrate involved a rejection of such credibility choices. A. Failure to Present Mitigating Character Evidence 1. The Evidence Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978), established a constitutional requirement in capital cases that the sentencing authority consider all mitigating evidence proffered by the defendant relating to his character and record and to the circumstances of the particular offense. Appellant’s trial took place in 1974, some four years prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Lockett. At that time, the rule had not yet been established that the Constitution compels consideration of all relevant mitigating character evidence. Moreover, although the Supreme Court subsequently interpreted the Florida statute as not limiting sentencer consideration of mitigating evidence, the ambiguous wording of the statute left open the question whether that act allowed consideration of mitigating character evidence other than that falling within the statutorily enumerated factors. At the sentencing phase of appellant’s trial his counsel presented no evidence of his character or personal history. The attorney’s testimony at the magistrate’s evidentiary hearing indicates that, at the time of appellant’s trial, he understood the Florida statute as limiting the mitigating evidence that could be introduced to that falling within the statutory mitigating circumstances. Transcript of Evidentiary Hearing 190-91, 218-20. In a pre-trial motion to dismiss the indictment the defense attorney asserted inter alia that the Florida death-penalty statute unconstitutionally limited presentation of mitigating evidence. The trial judge denied the motion, however, and defense counsel made no further attempt to introduce nonstatutory evidence. Although the attorney testified that his interpretation of the statute influenced his decision as to what evidence to present at the sentenc- ■ ing hearing, he suggested that other reasons were important as well. In particular, he stated that he believed that he could fit any mitigating evidence within the statutory mitigating factors, id. at 191 — 92, and that, in any event, the defendant had instructed him not to introduce any mitigating evidence. Id. at 220-21. 2. The Magistrate’s Findings In assessing whether defense counsel’s failure to present mitigating evidence constituted ineffective assistance, the magistrate recognized that Proffitt was one of the first capital cases tried under the then newly-enacted Florida death penalty statute and that Proffitt’s trial preceded the Lockett decision by several years. The magistrate did not believe the attorney’s “misperception of the law” was excused, however, by the indefiniteness of that constitutional rule at that time. The magistrate accepted defense counsel’s testimony “that he went into the trial assuming that he could not put on any evidence in mitigation except as set forth in the statute.” Nonetheless, the magistrate concluded that the subsequent Supreme Court holding against limiting mitigation evidence was reasonably foreseeable and that the attorney had in fact anticipated it. The magistrate rejected defense counsel’s statement that he introduced no mitigating evidence pursuant to an instruction from appellant based on his not wanting to spend twenty-five years in jail. The magistrate also rejected respondent’s assertion that defense counsel failed to present mitigating evidence because no such evidence was available. The magistrate relied on a written proffer of evidence submitted by appellant in finding that the attorney could have procured favorable character evidence to present at the penalty phase. In addition to the proffer, defense counsel’s testimony that he did not call appellant’s mother because he could not think of any reason to do so except for “the possible sympathy that it might have evoked from the jury,” instead of supporting counsel’s decision, in the magistrate’s view bolstered appellant’s claim that she should have been called as a witness to testify concerning appellant’s character and personal history. The magistrate attributed defense counsel’s failure to present mitigation evidence to a “lack of preparation” as well as to a mistake of law. In summary, the evidence considered by the magistrate on the issue of defense counsel’s failure to present mitigating evidence included (1) the trial record (including pretrial motions filed by defense counsel), (2) defense counsel’s testimony at the evidentiary hearing, and (3) a written proffer of evidence submitted by appellant. The testimonial evidence he referred to in his memorandum included the defense attorney’s statements concerning his understanding of the law respecting the Florida death penalty statute, his description of his preparation for the penalty stage of trial, and his statement that his failure to introduce mitigating evidence was in response to appellant’s instructions. The magistrate accepted the attorney’s testimony as to his interpretation of the statute and his preparation for the penalty stage of trial; indeed, the magistrate relied on this testimony in finding counsel’s assistance inadequate. The magistrate disbelieved defense counsel’s statement that he was following Proffitt’s instructions in not introducing mitigating evidence, however, and the rejection of this testimony was critical to the magistrate’s decision. 3. The District Court’s Opinion The district court disagreed with the magistrate’s conclusions concerning defense counsel’s failure to introduce mitigating evidence at the penalty stage. The judge’s disagreement stemmed primarily from a difference in his interpretation of the standard for judging ineffective assistance of counsel claims rather than from differences in his view of the evidence. The judge agreed with the magistrate that defense counsel had labored under the impression that evidence in mitigation was limited to the specific mitigating circumstances enumerated in the statute. He disagreed, however, with the magistrate’s conclusion that defense counsel had erroneously interpreted the law as it existed at the time of trial. The attorney’s “misapprehension of the law,” the judge found, could “only be characterized as a misapprehension through hindsight which has the advantage of Lockett v. Ohio decided four years later.” The attorney’s belief that evidence in mitigation was limited to the statutory circumstances was, in the judge’s view, “understandable,” and his inclusion in a “comprehensive” pre-trial motion of the contention that, as such, the statute was unconstitutional did not undermine that conclusion. The judge disagreed with the magistrate’s assessment of the evidence insofar as the magistrate attributed counsel’s omission to insufficient preparation rather than unavailability of mitigating evidence. The judge cited the defense attorney’s testimony concerning his general preparation for trial — testimony not referred to in the magistrate’s memorandum. The judge relied on the attorney’s statements that he had met with appellant weekly to discuss the case, that he had engaged the assistance of an investigator, that he had talked to witnesses in Tampa who knew and worked with appellant, and that he had personally traveled to Connecticut to interview members of appellant’s family. Moreover, the judge found convincing the attorney’s testimony that he had not called appellant’s sister as a mitigating witness because she had a criminal record; that he had not called appellant’s half-brother because he and appellant “had not had a relationship for some time”; that he had not called appellant’s mother because she was ill and therefore unable to travel from Connecticut to Florida for the trial, because appellant did not want to get his family involved, and because the attorney felt appellant’s mother had nothing of substance to contribute in any event; and that he had not called appellant’s'wife because he did not feel she would make a good witness since she was unhappy with appellant’s lifestyle and because he was concerned that calling her to testify might constitute waiver of the marital privilege, which appellant had asserted to prevent her from testifying at the guilt phase of trial. In accepting the above-described testimony, the judge did not reject any credibility determinations implicitly made by the magistrate in violation of Louis v. Blackburn, supra. Although the magistrate ultimately concluded that the attorney’s failure was the product of his “misperception of the law” and “not the result of tactical considerations,” nothing in the magistrate’s findings indicates he did not credit the above testimony. First, the magistrate’s acceptance of appellant’s proffer describing mitigating evidence that could have been introduced does not indicate that he rejected the defense attorney’s testimony concerning why he did not present certain witnesses. In addition to appellant’s relatives, whom the defense attorney declined to call, the proffer lists as possible witnesses several other persons, including one of appellant’s supervisors and a psychiatrist who examined appellant after trial. The magistrate, without accepting “all the details in the proffer as true,” simply found that the information it contained generally indicated that the defense attorney could have called character witnesses on appellant’s behalf. Since the magistrate did not expressly reject the defense attorney’s testimony as to why he did not call certain of the enumerated witnesses, the only conclusion one can draw from his partial reliance on the proffer is that he felt it probable the attorney could have called some of the witnesses listed by appellant in the proffer and not that the reasons the attorney gave for rejecting particular witnesses were not believable. The district court judge, on the other hand, rejected appellant’s written proffer of evidence, correctly concluding that the magistrate’s reliance on the proffer was improper. Even if the proffer had constituted competent evidence, however, rejection by the judge of such nontestimonial evidence would not require a second evidentiary hearing under Louis v. Blackburn. Second, the magistrate’s memorandum does not evince disbelief of the defense attorney’s description of his general preparatory efforts. Rather, the magistrate thought the attorney’s failure to plan a separate strategy for the sentencing phase rendered his assistance inadequate irrespective of whatever other preparatory efforts the attorney undertook before and during trial. Nor does the district court’s contrary conclusion indicate that the judge disbelieved the defense attorney’s testimony, which the magistrate accepted, to the effect that the attorney engaged in no special preparation for the penalty phase; the judge simply disagreed that such separate preparation was required to meet the legal standard of reasonably effective counsel. We conclude that the judge’s rejection of the magistrate’s recommended ruling that defense counsel’s failure to present mitigating evidence rendered his representation inadequate did not depend on differences in credibility choices requiring a rehearing under Louis v. Blackburn. B. Absence of Presentence Investigation The magistrate concluded that defense counsel erred by failing to request a presentence investigation report. Such investigation he found was necessary to provide information on appellant’s character and background, on which no other information in the record had shed any light. Moreover, because “the only view the jury and the judge had of the petitioner was the impersonal picture drawn by Dr. Crumbley of an obsessed killer,” presentation to the sentences of information about appellant’s personality and characteristics could be critical. The defense attorney’s testimony at the evidentiary hearing on this point was as follows: Q Do you believe there was a pre-sentence investigation? A Should have been. Q If there was not one, should you have asked for one? A Should have been automatic. Q Why would it be automatic? A Well, let me put it this way. I know it’s automatic now unless waived by statutory authority. Whether that statute was in effect at the time of Proffitt’s trial, I can’t tell you. But I do recall a pre-sentence investigation being run. Q Did you recall thát there was a presentence investigation? A I think so. Q And if there hadn’t been one, should you have asked for one? A If there were such things as pre-sentence investigations then, and I think there were, I should have asked for one. Transcript of Evidentiary Hearing 275-76. As the magistrate noted, the record indicates that no presentence investigation was conducted for Proffitt’s trial. The magistrate’s conclusion that counsel’s failure to demand such an investigation constituted ineffective assistance rested partly on the magistrate’s opinion that the Crumbley testimony, which presented a very negative picture of appellant’s character, created a strong need for “humanizing information” about appellant. The magistrate also viewed the statement by the attorney at the evidentiary hearing that he “should have asked for” a presentence investigation as an admission that he erred in not doing so. The district court judge, noting that the attorney’s testimony “was given from unaided memory more than five years after the trial,” found it “noteworthy that counsel in his testimony talked about ‘now’ as distinguished from ‘then.’ ” The judge observed that the Florida rule governing presentence investigation reports in criminal cases was amended shortly before appellant’s trial to extend authorization for trial courts to order presentence investigations from only “cases in which probation is authorized by law” to “all cases in which the court has discretion as to what sentence may be imposed.” Compare Rule 1.790, Fla.R.Crim.P. [adopted by Florida Supreme Court, 196 So.2d 124 (1967) (effective Jan. 1, 1968), as amended by 211 So.2d 203 (Fla. 1968) and 253 So.2d 421 (Fla.1971)] with Rule 3.710, Fla.R.Crim.P. [adopted by Florida Supreme Court, 272 So.2d 65 (Fla.1972); codified at 34 Fla.Stat.Ann. § 3.710 (West 1975) ]. Although the language of the new rule seems to encompass capital cases (as compared with the old rule, which was expressly limited to cases in which probation could be granted), the Committee Note indicates it was not intended to cover capital cases. The district court judge recognized that later cases have held Rule 3.710 neither requires nor precludes presentence investigations in capital cases, see Thompson v. State, 328 So.2d 1 (Fla.1976); Songer v. State, 322 So.2d 481 (Fla.1975); Swan v. State, 322 So.2d 485 (Fla.1975). Nonetheless, he found that “at the time of Petitioner’s trial in 1974, both historical as well as contemporary legal opinion and authority was to the effect that presentence investigation reports were not customary or necessary in capital cases; and, in fact, there was a serious question at the time that the use of a presentence report might even be error.” The district judge’s disagreement with the magistrate on whether counsel’s failure to request a presentence investigation constituted ineffective assistance directly concerns the attorney’s testimony at the evidentiary hearing. In some sense, the disagreement can be viewed as a difference in interpretation of that testimony. The difference was not a matter of credibility, however. This is not a situation in which the magistrate believed the attorney was telling the truth but the district court disbelieved his testimony. Rather, the magistrate interpreted the attorney’s statement as a simple admission that he should have requested a presentence investigation, while the district judge interpreted it as a conditional admission that he should have requested one if the law authorized such investigations at the time of Proffitt’s trial. These circumstances thus present us with an issue we have not previously faced: whether the reasoning of Louis v. Blackburn, supra, requires that a district court judge conduct a new evidentiary hearing when the judge’s interpretation of a witness’s testimony differs from that of the magistrate on a point critical to decision of the issue to which the testimony is relevant. The rationale for requiring district judges to rehear testimony before rejecting credibility choices made by a magistrate lies in the recognition that credibility choices frequently depend on the trier of fact’s assessment of the witness’s demeanor. Obviously, observation of such factors as witnesses’ facial expressions and tone of voice cannot be observed by reading a “cold and impersonal written transcript.” See Louis v. Blackburn, 630 F.2d at 1110. These factors not only reflect on the witness’s credibility (i.e., on his sincerity and the degree of certainty with which he asserts matters about which he testifies) but may also reflect on the meaning the witness intends by the words he uses when such meaning is unclear from the words alone. We thus do not hold that a judge need never rehear testimony when he attributes a different meaning to words uttered by a witness than the meaning ascribed to them by the magistrate. Unless the words spoken by the witness are inherently ambiguous, however, the decision whether a second hearing is necessary must be left to the sound discretion of the district judge. In the case before us, the witness’s testimony was not inherently unclear. The attorney’s remark that “if there were such things as pre-sentence investigations then, ... I should have asked for one,” itself suggests that at some point relevant to the period in question there was a change either in the law or in practice with respect to conducting presentence investigations. The magistrate made no apparent attempt to decipher the attorney’s ambiguous reference to change and interpreted the attorney’s testimony without the benefit of such understanding. The district judge, on the other hand, determined what changes had occurred and took them into consideration in interpreting the attorney’s testimony. When viewed in the context of the changes in Florida’s law governing presentence investigations that occurred shortly after Proffitt’s trial, the import of the defense attorney’s statement becomes clear: if Proffitt’s trial took place after the statute requiring presentence investigations in felony cases was enacted, see note 25 supra, then he should have requested such an investigation; if the trial took place before it became clear that such investigations were proper in capital cases, however, he was admitting to no such obligation. Since the defense counsel’s testimony was not inherently vague, and since any uncertainty it presented was resolvable by reference to matters within the judicial notice of the court, J. M. Blythe Motor Lines Corp, v. Blalock, 310 F.2d 77 (5th Cir. 1972) (federal courts will take judicial notice of state laws without requiring proof thereof), the district judge did not abuse his discretion in rejecting the magistrate’s interpretation of that testimony without rehearing the witness. C. Failure to Object to Admission of Crumbley Testimony At the penalty stage of appellant’s trial, the defense attorney waived appellant’s doctor-patient privilege and allowed the prosecutor to introduce Dr. Crumbley’s testimony. After cross-examining the doctor, he argued that the testimony established two mitigating circumstances: that the crime was committed while appellant was under extreme mental or emotional stress and that appellant’s capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct and to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired. The prosecutor countered these arguments by contending that the doctor’s opinions concerning appellant’s mental state were not reliable because the doctor had no psychiatric credentials and had performed no psychiatric tests on appellant. The prosecutor argued further that the doctor’s testimony showed appellant was likely to kill other people in the future and was therefore a danger to society — an argument not justified by any of the statutorily enumerated aggravating circumstances but nonetheless likely to appeal to the emotions of the jurors. At the evidentiary hearing, the attorney testified that he allowed the introduction of the doctor’s testimony because he thought it would establish mitigating circumstances. He also stated that he had hoped the trial judge, who under the Florida statute renders the final decision on sentencing, “would be able to cut through the emotional impact of that information, recognize it as a mitigating circumstance, and rule in accordance with that recognition.” The magistrate concluded that defense counsel’s failure to object to the admission of Dr. Crumbley’s testimony was so grievous an error that “a substantial contention can be made that this failure alone constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel.” In the magistrate’s view, the introduction of this “frightening” testimony was unnecessary to obtain evidence of psychiatric mitigating circumstances because the attorney could have obtained other psychiatric opinions through a privately employed psychiatrist. Moreover the magistrate noted that Dr. Crumbley’s “opinion as to whether the petitioner was laboring under emotional distress or a substantial mental impairment did not carry much force” in light of his lack of psychiatric credentials. At the very least, the magistrate concluded, “the use of Dr. Crumbley’s testimony significantly increased the need to present humanizing information in order to counteract the dramatic impact of that testimony.” The district court judge disagreed that the attorney’s decision to waive appellant’s privilege constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. The judge found that the record of the penalty hearing, as well as defense counsel’s testimony at the habeas hearing, showed that the attorney had had a “cogent reason” for his decision: “[t]he Petitioner had already been found guilty at that point in the proceeding and counsel expected to develop on cross-examination the existence of two of the statutory mitigating circumstances, namely, that the Petitioner acted ‘under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance,’ and that ‘the capacity of the defendant . . . to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired.’ ” The judge found that defense counsel’s cross-examination of the doctor at the penalty hearing was clearly directed toward developing the enumerated mitigating circumstances and that his argument at the habeas hearing reinforced the conclusion that development of those circumstances was the basis for his waiving the privilege. The judge disagreed with the magistrate’s statement that Crumbley’s testimony was unnecessary to establish the statutory mitigating factors: [T]he magistrate’s reasoning is further flawed on this point because it presupposes the contemporary availability of such testimony from other qualified sources. The fact is that two other practicing psychiatrists subsequently appointed by the trial judge failed to support Dr. Crumbley’s view concerning the mitigating circumstances about which he testified. Defense counsel used what he had, and it may well have been all he could get. The judge’s disagreement does not rest on rejection of credibility choices made by the magistrate. The factors on which the magistrate’s conclusion rested included (1) the content of appellant’s conversations with Dr. Crumbley, which the magistrate found to be “frightening”; (2) the doctor’s “lack of psychiatric credentials,” which in the magistrate’s view rendered his opinion “without much force”; and (3) a presumption that other psychiatric opinions supportive of the statutory mitigating circumstances could have been obtained. The magistrate did not derive any of these considerations from testimony given at the evidentiary hearing, nor could he have done so. The facts involved were all taken from the record of the penalty hearing, with the exception of the question of availability of alternative favorable psychiatric testimony, which may have been based partly on information contained in appellant’s proffer. As noted above, the judge was not required to accept the written proffer. Neither, of course, was he required to accept the magistrate’s assessment of facts contained in the trial record. Although the district judge’s opinion indicates that he gave credence to defense counsel’s testimony concerning the reasons for his decision to waive appellant’s privilege, that testimony was not mentioned by the magistrate. The testimony established that despite the frightening nature of the evidence and its potential negative emotional impact on the jury, the defense attorney “hope[d]” that the judge would recognize it as a mitigating circumstance. Not only did the magistrate not explicitly reject this testimony, but such rejection is not implicitly required by his conclusion. See Louis v. Blackburn, 630 F.2d at 1108. D. Failure to Explain Prior Conviction Under the Florida capital sentencing statute, prior criminal conduct by a defendant is relevant to sentencing in two respects. First, a defendant’s prior conviction for “another capital felony or [] a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person” may be considered by the sentencer as an aggravating circumstance. Fla.Stat.Ann. § 921.141(5)(b) (West Supp. 1982). Second, that “[t]he defendant has no significant history of prior criminal activity” is a statutory mitigating circumstance. Id. § 921.141(6)(a). At the sentencing phase of appellant’s trial, the prosecution introduced a certified copy of a judgment of conviction against appellant for “Breaking and Entering Without Permission.” The defense attorney made no attempt to explain the circumstances of this conviction, and appellant claims that the facts render the conviction insignificant either as an aggravating circumstance or to rebut the mitigating one. The magistrate accepted the explanation of the conviction provided by appellant in his written proffer and concluded that defense counsel should have presented these facts in rebuttal. No testimony or other evidence was presented to the magistrate either by the state or by appellant concerning the circumstances surrounding appellant’s prior offense. The district judge rejected the magistrate’s conclusion that the defense attorney should have presented evidence to explain or rebut the prior conviction. Citing United States v. Gray, 565 F.2d 881, 887 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 955, 98 S.Ct. 1587, 55 L.Ed.2d 807 (1978), the district court stated that, in its view, the magistrate mistakenly accepted “speculative and inconcrete claims of ‘what might have been if.’ ” The judge’s primary basis for disagreement, however, was his conclusion, after reviewing the record of the penalty hearing, that “[t]he matter of Petitioner’s prior conviction was a low profile subject which, in terms of Petitioner’s best interests at that time, might well have been handled by his counsel with utmost skill in choosing to leave it that way.” Neither the magistrate’s nor the judge’s conclusions on this issue were based on any testimony at the evidentiary hearing; the opinions of each and the disagreement between them were based solely on appellant’s written proffer and on a review of the trial transcript for the penalty phase. Hence Louis v. Black burn, supra, provides no basis for challenging this portion of this district judge’s order. E. Brevity of Argument Similarly, the magistrate’s comment that the generality and brevity of the defense counsel’s argument at the sentencing hearing “adds weight” to appellant’s ineffective counsel claim and the district judge’s disagreement with that statement were based on their differing views about facts contained in the trial record and not on any evidence brought out at the evidentiary hearing. F. Conclusion For the reasons stated above, we find that the district court’s disagreement with the magistrate on appellant’s ineffective counsel claim did not turn on rejection of credibility choices made by the magistrate. Hence appellant was not entitled, under Louis v. Blackburn, supra, to a second evidentiary hearing. IV. Substantive Issues A. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel at Guilt Phase Appellant contends his attorney’s representation at trial was inadequate to meet minimum constitutional standards. This contention involves the testimony of the prosecution’s key witness, a boarder named Mary Bassett who resided with appellant and his wife in their trailer. Bassett testified at trial that she was awakened early on the morning of the murder and overheard a conversation between appellant and his wife in which appellant related the facts of the killing. Appellant’s attorney filed a pre-trial motion to suppress this testimony on the ground that the conversation was a confidential communication between appellant and his wife and therefore was privileged under Florida law. The attorney renewed the objection at the close of the testimony and, after an adverse ruling on that issue and appellant’s ensuing conviction, asserted it as a ground of error on appeal. Appellant now argues that the defense attorney’s failure to present evidence in support of the suppression motion violated his right to effective assistance of counsel. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s rejection of appellant’s assertion of privilege. Appellant describes the court’s holding as based on an absence of evidence supporting the alleged confidentiality of the conversation. He attributes this lack of evidence to his trial counsel and maintains that had the attorney put appellant or his wife on the stand or brought forth other available evidence, confidentiality would have been shown. We reject appellant’s argument for two reasons. First, in contrast to appellant’s characterization, the Florida Supreme Court not only found an absence of evidence that the statements were made in confidence; it found affirmative evidence in the record indicating that they were not. See Proffitt v. State, 315 So.2d 461, 465 (Fla.1975). Thus, even had the attorney presented contrary evidence the evidence would have been conflicting, and the likelihood that appellant would have prevailed on the privilege claim is not great. More importantly, appellant presents no convincing evidence that his attorney might have proffered to support the privilege claim. Appellant contends, for example, that he or his wife “could have testified to their actual, subjective expectations of privacy.” Such testimony would not have aided appellant, however, since Florida employs an objective standard of confidentiality. As the Florida Supreme . Court stated on appellant’s direct appeal, no privilege attaches to marital communications where the spouses knew or should have known that the communication was being overheard. Proffitt v. State, 315 So.2d at 464. The Florida court specifically found appellant and his wife “were speaking in a manner and place where they had a reasonable chance of being overheard, and [] knew of that possibility at that time.” Id. at 465. To the extent Mrs. Proffitt’s testimony at the evidentiary hearing suggested different facts, the district court found her testimony incredible. Hence, even if appellant or his wife had testified and the court had believed they were unaware that Bassett could hear their conversation, such conversation would not have been privileged under Florida law. Nor does appellant’s proffer of evidence that Bassett may have derived some of her information from conversations with appellant’s wife or the police rather than by overhearing appellant convince us that his attorney failed him. The district court found the attorney had investigated fairly thoroughly how Bassett learned of the information about the killing and had eliminated the possibility that she had heard it from news reports, appellant’s wife, or the police. These findings are not clearly erroneous. We therefore conclude that appellant received reasonably effective assistance at the guilt phase of his trial. B. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel at Penalty Phase Appellant’s claim that he was denied effective legal assistance at the penalty phase of his trial rests on arguments substantially similar to those he made to the district court. We begin our analysis by considering the standard governing our review of the district court’s holding and, in turn, of the performance rendered by appellant’s trial attorney. As to the former, the Fifth Circuit has held that “whether a defendant has enjoyed effective assistance of counsel is a mixed question of fact and law” as to which “the court of appeals must make an independent evaluation based on [the district court’s] subsidiary findings.” Washington v. Watkins, 655 F.2d 1346,1354 (5th Cir. 1981). In other words, the district court’s conclusion on this question is entitled to no special deference; rather this court must review the record of counsel’s “actual performance [in] conducting the defense” and determine independently whether the constitutional standard was met. Id. at 1355. Once having reviewed the record, the sixth amendment standard we must apply in assessing counsel’s performance is that of “reasonably effective assistance.” This standard is not to be viewed as a guarantee of “errorless counsel”; nor may counsel’s performance be judged by benefit of hindsight. Id. Rather, the assistance rendered must be evaluated “from the perspective of counsel, taking into account all of the circumstances of the case, but only as those circumstances were known to him at the time in question.” Id. at 1356. We note further that the constitutional standard for effective counsel is no more stringent in capital cases than in cases where less severe punishments are imposed. Nonetheless, the seriousness of the charges against the defendant is a factor that must be considered in assessing counsel’s performance. Id. at 1357. With this standard in mind, we now consider the alleged defects that appellant claims rendered his trial counsel’s representation inadequate. 1. Failure to Present Character Witnesses Appellant argues that his attorney should have called character witnesses to testify on his behalf at the sentencing hearing. The magistrate agreed that the attorney erred by not presenting “humanizing information [ ][ ] to counteract the dramatic impact of [Dr. Crumbley’s] testimony.” We do not dispute that the jury’s impression of appellant, based on the evidence introduced by the prosecution at the guilt and penalty stages of his trial, was possibly unbalanced. We further agree that a cogent presentation of character evidence could have influenced the jury to recommend a life sentence. We do not agree, however, with the magistrate’s conclusion that the attorney’s failure to introduce such nonstatutory mitigating evidence rendered his assistance ineffective. Even accepting arguendo appellant’s allegation that character witnesses willing to testify in his favor were available at the time of his trial, we cannot say that the attorney’s performance, evaluated “from the perspective of counsel, taking into account the circumstances . .. known to him at the time,” Washington v. Watkins, 655 F.2d at 1356, was not reasonably effective. At the time of appellant’s trial in 1974, the law concerning capital sentencing was in a state of reformation. The Supreme Court’s holding in Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978), that the sentencer in a capital case must be free to consider all relevant mitigating evidence had not yet been decided; nor was that result clearly foreshadowed by Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972) — the only contemporary death penalty case decided by the United States Supreme Court prior to appellant’s trial. Moreover, Florida’s capital sentencing statute was barely a year old at the time of appellant’s trial, and the only Florida Supreme Court case addressing its constitutionality supported an interpretation of the statute as limiting the mitigating evidence that could be considered to that falling within the seven statutory factors. In view of these facts, the defense attorney’s belief that he could not, under the Florida statute, introduce evidence of mitigating factors not listed in Fla.Stat. § 921.141(6) was entirely reasonable. His decision not to call witnesses at the penalty stage to testify about appellant’s general character and background was therefore justifiable and fully within the sixth amendment standard of reasonably effective assistance. 2. Failure to Request Presentence Investigation Report Appellant claims that his trial attorney’s failure to request a presentence investigation report prior to sentencing “left the court completely in the dark concerning petitioner’s individual circumstances and constituted gross ineffectiveness of counsel.” As noted above, the magistrate agreed with appellant but the district court did not. We agree with the conclusion reached by the district court for two reasons. First, appellant’s argument and the magistrate’s recommendation are predicated largely on the assumption that a presentence investigation, had it been conducted, would have revealed favorable evidence concerning appellant’s character and background that in turn could have served as the basis for a claim of mitigating circumstances. To the extent such investigation might have provided evidence of nonstatutory mitigating circumstances, appellant’s argument must fail for the same reason as his claim concerning the attorney’s failure to present character witnesses; the attorney reasonably understood the law as limiting mitigating evidence to the statutory mitigating factors. Second, any claim that a presentence investigation would have revealed evidence of statutory mitigating factors, or evidence that would have rebutted the statutory aggravating factors, must also fail. Appellant has submitted no evidence demonstrating that a presentence investigation conducted at the time of his trial would have revealed evidence substantiating any statutory mitigating factors or repudiating any of the aggravating factors asserted by the prosecution. Moreover, having reviewed the testimony of defense counsel at the evidentiary hearing and the rules and cases relied on by the district court, we concur in the court’s finding that at the time of appellant’s trial Florida law did not provide for presentence investigations in capital cases. Under these circumstances, the attorney’s failure to request such investigation cannot be viewed as falling below the level of reasonably effective assistance. 3. Mishandling of Psychiatric Evidence Appellant discusses at length his attorney’s handling of the psychiatric evidence at the sentencing phase of his trial. At the core of his argument is the fact that the attorney learned of the conversations between appellant and Dr. Crumbley by a telephone call from the doctor the night before the trial and, without requesting a continuance or further investigating this matter, relied solely on Crumbley’s testimony to establish a mitigation defense at appellant’s sentencing hearing. Appellant enumerates many ways in which the attorney failed him, arguing that he should have requested a continuance, obtained expert psychiatric assistance, and perhaps should not have allowed admission of Dr. Crumbley’s testimony at all. While having reviewed the transcript of the evidentiary hearing and the record of appellant’s sentencing proceeding we may in hindsight agree that the attorney’s performance was less than stellar, we cannot conclude that it fell below the standard of reasonably effective assistance. 4. Other Ineffective Assistance Arguments Appellant details a long list of other shortcomings in his trial counsel’s performance to buttress his ineffective assistance claim, including the brevity of the attorney’s sentencing argument and his failure to object to various arguments and evidence presented by the prosecution. As we have noted, the constitutional right to effective legal assistance is not a guarantee of errorless counsel, Herring v. Estelle, 491 F.2d 125, 127 (5th Cir. 1974) (quoting MacKenna v. Ellis, 280 F.2d 592, 599 (5th Cir. 1960), modified, 289 F.2d 928 (5th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 368 U.S. 877, 82 S.Ct. 121, 7 L.Ed.2d 78 (1961)); nor will we assess counsel’s effectiveness “through the finely ground lenses of 20/20 hindsight.” Washington v. Watkins, 655 F.2d at 1356. We therefore find appellant’s contentions without merit. C. Denial of Confrontation Rights in Using Information from Court-Appointed Psychiatrists After the jury rendered its advisory sentence of death the trial judge, in the presence of appellant and his counsel, suggested that appellant be examined by two court-appointed psychiatrists prior to the final sentence determination. Appellant’s attorney agreed to the examinations, and appellant was subsequently seen by Drs. Coffer and Sprehe. Both doctors submitted reports to the court, which stated that appellant was competent at the time of the examination and had been capable of distinguishing right from wrong when he committed the offense. Dr. Sprehe’s report additionally opined that appellant’s “long standing compulsion to kill someone ... did not involve a break in reality testing and did not involve psychosis... . ” Dr. Sprehe described appellant as having a long standing sociopathic personality characterized by resort to violence as a solution to his life problems and [¶] a rather chaotic life history with a lot of anti-social behavior including an Undesirable Discharge from the Armed Forces and numerous minor criminal convictions and other charges where he was not convicted. He had three rather chaotic marriages and has genérally lived his life outside the usual standards of society. Following submission of the reports the judge ordered a hearing, at which the defense attorney waived appellant’s right of presence. Dr. Coffer appeared and testified that he did not believe appellant committed the murder while under the influence of extreme emotional or mental pressure nor that appellant’s capacity to conform his conduct to law was substantially impaired at the time of the offense. Dr. Sprehe was unable to attend, and defense counsel requested an opportunity to cross-examine him about the report. The judge indicated he would allow Sprehe’s testimony to be taken and made part of the record at a later date but proceeded to sentence petitioner without it. Appellant raises two arguments with respect to the psychiatrists’ reports and testimony. First, he claims the court’s consideration of Dr. Sprehe’s report without affording him an opportunity to confront and cross-examine Dr. Sprehe violated his rights to confrontation, due process, and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. Second, appellant contends his constitutional right to be present at trial was violated by Dr. Coffer’s testifying outside his presence and without his knowledge. The dis-r trict court rejected these claims. The court held that appellant’s rights were not violated by his not being afforded an opportunity to cross-examine Dr. Sprehe because the trial judge “did not consider [Dr. Sprehe’s] report in imposing sentence.” Moreover, while accepting appellant’s argument that his attorney’s waiver of his right to be present during Dr. Coffer’s testimony was ineffectual because not authorized by appellant personally, the court held that appellant’s nonconsensual absence was harmless error. 1. Use of Dr. Sprehe’s Report Without Affording Appellant Opportunity for Cross-Examination The right to cross-examine adverse witnesses is guaranteed to criminal defendants by the confrontation clause of the sixth amendment. Douglas v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 415, 418, 85 S.Ct. 1074, 1076, 13 L.Ed.2d 934 (1965); Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 404, 85 S.Ct. 1065, 1068, 13 L.Ed.2d 923 (1965). Indeed, it has been said that [t]he primary object of the [confrontation clause] was to prevent depositions or ex parte affidavits ... being used against the prisoner in lieu of a personal examination and cross-examination of the witness in which the accused has an opportunity, not only of testing the recollection and sifting the conscience of the witness, but of compelling him to stand face to face with the jury in order that they may look at him, and judge by his demeanor upon the stand and the manner in which he gives his testimony whether he is worthy of belief. Douglas v. Alabama, 380 U.S. at 418-19, 85 S.Ct. at 1076-77 (quoting Mattox v. United States, 156 U.S. 237, 242-43, 15 S.Ct. 337, 339-40, 39 L.Ed. 409 (1895)). Accord Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 315-16, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 1109-10, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974). Cross-examination has been placed on a par with the right to notice and an opportunity to be heard and the right to counsel, which are considered fundamental minimum requirements of a fair trial comporting with the due process clause. Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 294-95, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 1045, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973); Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. at 405, 85 S.Ct. at 1068 (both quoting In re Oliver, 333 U.S. 257, 273, 68 S.Ct. 499, 507, 92 L.Ed. 682 (1948)). So basic is the' right that the Supreme Court has held that its denial, “without waiver . . . would be constitutional error of the first magnitude and no amount of showing of want of prejudice would cure it.” Smith v. Illinois, 390 U.S. 129, 131, 88 S.Ct. 748, 749, 19 L.Ed.2d 956 (1968); Brookhart v. Janis, 384 U.S. 1, 3, 86 S.Ct. 1245, 1246, 16 L.Ed.2d 314 (1966). The rights guaranteed by the sixth amendment, including the right to cross-examination, are only applicable to proceedings that constitute critical stages of the trial. See, e.g., United States v. Harris, 458 F.2d 670, 677-78 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 888, 93 S.Ct. 195, 34 L.Ed.2d 145 (1972) (preliminary hearing); Ryan v. State of Montana, 580 F.2d 988, 992 (9th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 977, 99 S.Ct. 1548, 59 L.Ed.2d 796 (1979) (probation revocation and deferred sentencing hearing); Polizzi v. United States, 550 F.2d 1133, 1138 (9th Cir. 1976) (judge’s in camera questioning of jurors re possible improper influence); United States v. Mitchell, 540 F.2d 1163, 1165 n.1 (3d Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1099, 97 S.Ct. 1119, 51 L.Ed.2d 547 (1977) (preliminary hearing). But cf. Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778, 790, 93 S.Ct. 1756, 1763, 36 L.Ed.2d 656 (1973) (due process guarantees right of cross-examination in probation revocation hearing); Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 489, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 2604, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972) (limited right of cross-examination applies to probation revocation proceedings). Traditionally, sentencing hearings have not been accorded the significance of the guilt-determination portion of trial; by and large, sentencing has been left to the broad discretion of the judge or jury, United States v. Tucker, 404 U.S. 443, 447, 92 S.Ct. 589, 591, 30 L.Ed.2d 592 (1972); McGautha v. California, 402 U.S. 183, 91 S.Ct. 1454, 28 L.Ed.2d 711 (1971), and courts have declined to apply to sentencing most of the procedural rights gu