Hafdahl v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 15 May 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-10268,00-10268
• Citation: 251 F.3d 528
• Parties: (5th Cir. 2001) RANDAL WAYNE HAFDAHL, Petitioner-Appellant, v. GARY L. JOHNSON, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, Respondent-Appellee
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 528

251 F.3d 528 (5th Cir. 2001)

RANDAL WAYNE HAFDAHL, Petitioner-Appellant, v. GARY L. JOHNSON, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 00-10268

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS, FIFTH CIRCUIT

May 15, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas Before JOLLY, JONES, and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges.

E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:

In 1986, Randal Wayne Hafdahl was convicted of murder in a Texas state court and sentenced to death for killing a police officer. The conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal. Hafdahl now seeks federal habeas corpus relief. He contends that his constitutional rights were violated, both in the guilt phase and the punishment phase of his state trial, when the prosecutor knowingly used false testimony of a forensic pathologist and when the state court admitted testimony relating to a prior unadjudicated kidnaping offense. The district court denied his habeas petition. We granted a Certificate of Appealability ("COA") and now affirm the district court's judgment.

I

A

Shortly after 4:00 p.m. on November 11, 1985, Randal Wayne Hafdahl shot and killed Sergeant James D. Mitchell, Jr., of the Amarillo, Texas police department.

Hafdahl had been driving across Texas with two friends, Shawn Terry and Daniel Helgren. Hafdahl, who admits that he had been consuming alcohol and hallucinogenic mushrooms earlier in the day, was driving recklessly and lost control of his car. The car left the highway, crossed a frontage road, crashed through a wooden fence around a private residence, and eventually came to rest in the backyard. When the car would not start, Hafdahl took a loaded 9mm pistol from the glove box, hid it under his coat, and attempted to flee. He testified that he wanted to hide the gun because he knew the police would arrive soon and discover that he was a convicted felon (for possession of a controlled substance) who had stopped reporting to his probation officer.

Sergeant Mitchell was driving home from work when he witnessed the accident. He was still dressed in his police uniform and was wearing an unzipped windbreaker with "Amarillo City Police" and a badge insignia emblazoned on it. Hafdahl testified that he first saw Mitchell when the officer entered the backyard through the downed fence. At that point, Hafdahl turned from Mitchell and tried to escape through a gate, which he could not unlatch. Mitchell pursued Hafdahl across the yard and, according to one eyewitness, identified himself as a policeman and ordered Hafdahl to stop. Mitchell apparently had his police revolver drawn, although he never fired a shot. When Mitchell had almost caught up with him, Hafdahl turned and shot Mitchell four times from approximately six feet away.

B

Hafdahl was then indicted for the capital offense of murdering a police officer. Texas law provides that a person commits the offense of capital murder of a peace officer if (1) that person knows that the victim is a peace officer, (2) he intentionally murders the peace officer, and (3) the peace officer is then acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty, such as investigating a traffic accident. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 19.03(a)(1). The critical issue at trial was whether Hafdahl knew that Mitchell was an officer.

Hafdahl testified that he believed Mitchell was an angry motorist whom Hafdahl had run off the road. Hafdahl contends that, because he was under the influence of drugs and the events took place so quickly, he did not realize Mitchell was a police officer until after he had fired the fatal shots.

As the district court observed, however, the State put on extensive evidence that Hafdahl must have known that Mitchell was an officer. First, a worker who was only 20 to 25 feet from the crime scene, testified that Mitchell identified himself as a police officer as he approached Hafdahl. Numerous witnesses testified that Mitchell was gesturing and yelling at Hafdahl but that they were too far away to hear what he was saying. When asked whether Mitchell had ever identified himself as an officer, Hafdahl replied, "I can't say if he did or he didn't. All I can say is I didn't hear him."

Second, twelve witnesses, most of whom had stopped on the highway, testified that they immediately recognized Mitchell as a police officer because of his uniform. One of Hafdahl's traveling companions, who was still in the car when Mitchell entered the yard, testified that Mitchell's police uniform was plainly visible and he knew Mitchell was an officer "the second I saw him. . . . No doubt in my mind." As noted above, Hafdahl admits that he saw Mitchell when he entered the backyard through the downed fence. The State argued that Hafdahl would have noticed the police uniform and the Amarillo City Police windbreaker.

Third, Hafdahl shot Mitchell at close range and could not have failed to notice Mitchell's uniform. Although the estimates varied somewhat, two ballistics experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation testified that Hafdahl was no more than six feet from Mitchell when he fired the shots, and one of Hafdahl's companions testified that Hafdahl was approximately three to five feet from Mitchell. Even if one assumed that Hafdahl had not noticed Mitchell's uniform when he entered the yard, the State suggested, Hafdahl surely would have seen the uniform before firing the fatal shots from such close range.

C

To further establish that Hafdahl was close enough to know that Mitchell was an officer, the State called, among others, Ralph Erdmann, a forensic pathologist. The crux of Erdmann's testimony was that (1) Hafdahl shot Mitchell four times with a semiautomatic 9mm pistol; (2) the first two shots were non-fatal wounds to the abdomen and arm; (3) Hafdahl moved closer to Mitchell while firing, although it was not clear how quickly the shots were fired; (4) both the third and fourth shots to the chest were mandatorily fatal; and (5) judging from the gunpowder stippling specks on Mitchell's face, Hafdahl was approximately two and a half feet from Mitchell when the final shot was fired. Erdmann explained to the jury that many of the assumptions underlying his conclusions were drawn from the reports and conclusions of the investigating officers. His testimony often indicated that the autopsy results were "consistent" with the officers' theories.

To support its argument that Hafdahl intentionally killed Mitchell, the State put on evidence that Hafdahl had a motive to avoid apprehension. Two Texas officers (one from Rockwall, the other from Grand Prairie) testified that they had arrested Hafdahl on a warrant for aggravated kidnaping and turned the case over to the FBI. During the guilt phase, neither officer testified about the details of the alleged kidnaping. Neither officer purported to know how the FBI had resolved the case. The implication was that Hafdahl might have believed he was a wanted man and, consequently, that he killed Mitchell in order to evade capture.¹

D

The jury convicted Hafdahl of capital murder on April 4, 1986. During the sentencing phase, the State requested the death penalty and introduced additional evidence as to the three required "special issues": (1) Whether Hafdahl deliberately killed Mitchell; (2) whether Hafdahl's response to Mitchell's provocation, if any, was unreasonable; and (3) whether Hafdahl would probably commit criminal acts of violence in the future. Erdmann was not called to testify further, but the police officers testified in more detail about the kidnaping arrest. The jury then sentenced Hafdahl to death on April 7, 1986.

E

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction in 1990. See Hafdahl v. State, 805 S.W.2d 396 (Tex. Ct. Crim. App. 1990)(en banc), cert. denied, 500 U.S. 948, 111 S.Ct. 2250, 114 L.Ed.2d 491 (1991). Hafdahl instituted state habeas proceedings in 1991, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ultimately denied relief in 1995.

In May 1995, prior to the effective date of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, Hafdahl filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. After limited discovery was had and the petition was amended, the district court thoroughly and carefully considered all eighty-four points of error raised by Hafdahl. The district court concluded that Hafdahl was not entitled to federal habeas relief and denied the petition in December 1999.

This court granted a COA on August 23, 2000, to determine whether Hafdahl's rights were violated -- at either the guilt phase of the trial or at sentencing -- because of (1) Dr. Erdmann's allegedly false testimony or (2) the admission of evidence related to a prior unadjudicated kidnaping offense. We now affirm the judgment of the district court.

II

Hafdahl contends that the State knowingly used false testimony from Dr. Erdmann and thereby denied him due process of law, both at the guilt phase of the trial and at sentencing.

A

The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment forbids the State knowingly to use, or fail to correct, perjured testimony. See Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 153, 92 S.Ct. 763, 766, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972); Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264, 271, 79 S.Ct. 1173, 1178-79, 3 L.Ed.2d 1217 (1959). To prove that the State has denied him due process of law by relying on perjurious testimony, Hafdahl must prove that (1) a witness for the State testified falsely; (2) the State knew the testimony was false; and (3) such testimony was material. Knox v. Johnson, 224 F.3d 470, 477 (5th Cir. 2000). Whether the prosecutor knowingly used false and material testimony is a mixed question of law and fact, and we therefore review the district court's factual findings for clear error and the conclusions drawn from those facts de novo. Creel v. Johnson, 162 F.3d 385, 391 (5th Cir. 1998).

B

Hafdahl focuses on ten fairly...