JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence of a Poplar Bluff man facing the death penalty for killing his daughter's grandmother in 1997.
In an unanimous opinion, written by Judge George W. Draper III and issued on Tuesday, the court found Circuit Judge Kelly Parker did not err in denying relief to Terrance Anderson's various claims raised in his most recent appeal.
In that appeal, the 43-year-old had challenged Parker's May 2017 denial of his request for post-conviction relief.
Parker made his ruling following a February 2017 evidentiary hearing in which Anderson challenged various aspects of his penalty-phase retrial from 2008, including claims of ineffective counsel at the trial and appellate levels.
"The motion court (Parker) did not clearly err in overruling (Anderson's) ... motion for post-conviction relief after an evidentiary hearing," Draper wrote in the court's opinion. "The motion court's judgment is affirmed."
Parker had heard Anderson's latest appeal after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that a new judge was to be assigned to hear further proceedings in his case. This came after the court reversed an earlier decision by Presiding Circuit Judge William Syler of Cape Girardeau County.
Anderson was convicted by a Cape Girardeau County jury in January 2001 of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to die in connection with Debbie Rainwater's July 25, 1997, death.
Anderson also was sentenced to life in prison without the eligibility for probation or parole in the death of Stephen Rainwater, his daughter's grandfather.
According to earlier reports, armed with a stolen handgun, Anderson forced his way in the Rainwater home in the 1000 block of Montclair Drive.
Anderson killed Debbie Rainwater before ambushing her husband in the front yard when he arrived home. Both died of a single shot to the head.
Anderson then used his infant daughter as a shield for at least 10 minutes while police tried to coax him out of the house.
His ex-girlfriend and the mother of the baby, Abbey Rainwater, then 17, ran to a neighbor's house for help. Two of her teenage friends and her then 11-year-old sister, Whitney, hid in closets.
After his 2001 conviction, Anderson subsequently appealed, and the Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing hearing in 2006 after concluding defense attorneys should have sought to strike a juror from the case who had indicated a preference for imposing the death sentence.
At the conclusion of the November 2008 sentencing hearing, Anderson again was sentenced to death for killing Debbie Rainwater.
On Anderson's automatic, direct appeal of his death sentence, the Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and sentences in March 2010.
Anderson then sought post-conviction relief, and evidence was presented during a September 2010 hearing before Syler, who presided over Anderson's trial, sentencing and other proceedings. The hearing focused on potential abuse and possible mental defects caused by the abuse.
Syler subsequently overruled the motion, as well as a defense motion seeking he disqualify him as judge.
Anderson appealed Syler's denial of his post-conviction relief to the Supreme Court, and the court ordered Syler disqualify himself from Anderson's case.
Parker subsequently denied Anderson's post-conviction relief in which he alleged his attorneys violated his constitutional rights and/or caused him to be prejudiced due to their ineffectiveness.
Anderson raised 10 points in his appeal.
Five of those points related to his attorneys ineffectiveness for failing to call certain mitigation witnesses to testify in his penalty-phase retrial concerning his mental health before and after the murders, as well as witnesses regarding his stepfather, Robert Smith's violent behavior toward him and other family members.
In issuing its opinion, the Supreme Court agreed with Parker in his denial of Anderson's claims that his trial attorneys were not ineffective as "the choice of witnesses is a matter of trial strategy ... is virtually unchallengeable."
The Supreme Court further said Anderson's attorneys were not ineffective for not objecting sooner to questions during Anderson's cross-examination or in advising him to testify.
Anderson had argued he was prejudiced by the state's line of questioning because it interjected arbitrariness into his penalty-phase retrial.
The court said Anderson's attorney had "a general strategy for addressing these lines of questions, which included addressing the issue in closing argument" and in raising a "meritorious objection, which the court sustained."
The Supreme Court found Anderson did not present evidence his trial attorneys acted unreasonably when advising him to testify.
Further, the court said Anderson's attorneys were not ineffective for not objecting to the introduction of an ex-parte order as evidence. Abbey Rainwater got an ex-parte the day of her parents' murders.
Anderson argued the petition's factual allegations at the very least should have been redacted as he had not been given a chance to challenge the accusations it contained. Abbey Rainwater had accused him of physically abusing her.
Parker found the ex-parte was admissible, and since it was, "this court will not hold trial counsel ineffective for failing to make a nonmeritorious objection," the opinion said.
The court further said Anderson failed to present any independent evidence that Parker failed to "thoughtfully and carefully consider his claims."
Anderson's claim, the court said, does not warrant his case being remanded for a new evidentiary hearing.
Anderson's appellate court, according to the Supreme Court's opinion, was not ineffective for failing to raise, on his direct appeal, questions as to whether his death sentence was proportional.
Anderson "failed to demonstrate the outcome of the appeal would have been different had appellate counsel" raised that issue on appeal, the court's opinion said.