Lawson v. Dixon
| Decision Date | 26 August 1993 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 92-4003,92-4004,s. 92-4003 |
| Citation | 3 F.3d 743 |
| Parties | David LAWSON, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Gary DIXON, Warden, Central Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, Respondent-Appellee. (Two Cases) |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Marshall Lawrence Dayan, Office of Appellate Defender, North Carolina Resource Center, Raleigh, NC, argued (Harry L. Harkins, Jr., Atlanta, GA, on brief), for petitioner-appellant.
Joan Herre Byers, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., North Carolina Dept. of Justice, Raleigh, NC, argued (Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. of North Carolina, Barry S. McNeill, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen., on brief), for respondent-appellee.
Before ERVIN, Chief Judge, and WIDENER and NIEMEYER, Circuit Judges.
These consolidated appeals arise from the district court's dismissal of David Lawson's petition for the writ of habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254, and concomitant denial of his motion for relief from judgment, Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b). Finding no merit in Lawson's five assignments of error to the judgments below, we affirm.
A detailed recitation of the facts surrounding the crimes of which Lawson was convicted may be found in the opinion of the Supreme Court of North Carolina on direct appeal. See State v. Lawson, 310 N.C. 632, 634-38, 314 S.E.2d 493, 495-96 (1984). The following paragraphs summarize this factual background and the criminal proceedings it spawned.
In December 1980 Buren Shinn and his son Wayne resided in houses approximately 100 yards apart on Old Salisbury Road some three miles from Concord, North Carolina. Buren and Wayne worked together in a family electrical repair business headquartered at Buren's house. After driving to work early on the morning of December 4, 1980, Wayne heard the burglar alarm sound in his own house. Buren and Wayne immediately leapt into Wayne's truck and proceeded to Wayne's house, where they observed a dirty, brown Ford automobile parked in the driveway. Wayne left the truck and ran towards the patio that lay on one side of the house. Buren saw Wayne throw up his hands and walk through a set of sliding glass doors, whereupon Buren heard two or three shots ring out. Buren ran to the truck, got in, and began backing the truck in an effort to escape. A man ran towards him, waving a pistol. His attention diverted, Buren backed the truck into a ditch. The man approached the truck and ordered Buren to get out and move towards Wayne's house. Buren did so, pleading with the man not to hurt him.
Before Buren reached the patio, he heard another gun shot and felt a sharp blow to his head. He fell to the ground, unconscious. When Buren regained consciousness he found himself lying in a large pool of blood. Fearing that his assailant might still be in the vicinity, he kept silent. Some twenty or thirty minutes later, Buren heard someone walk toward him and felt a hand reach into his pocket and remove his wallet. Buren remained motionless for twenty more minutes. Hearing no footsteps and seeing no one, he began to crawl from the patio toward the road, hoping to halt a passing car. When no one stopped, he struggled to his feet and walked home. After telephoning for help, Buren's second son, Jerry, left to check on his brother's condition. Law enforcement officers arrived at Wayne's house and found him lying in a pool of blood in the basement near the patio. Wayne and Buren were taken to a hospital where Wayne was pronounced dead as the result of a bullet wound to the head. Buren's injuries were not severe, for the bullet which struck him did not penetrate the skull. He recovered after a short hospital stay.
The police found Wayne's house ransacked. They discovered a pillowcase containing several pieces of jewelry and a camera, apparently dropped by the intruder. Marks on the kitchen door indicated that the house had been forcibly entered.
David Lawson was charged in the Superior Court of Cabarrus County with three crimes: (1) the first-degree murder of Wayne Shinn; (2) the assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury on Buren Shinn; and (3) the felonious breaking and entering of the home of Wayne Shinn. The State's case-in-chief consisted primarily of the testimony of two witnesses: Buren Shinn and Phyllis Soden. When Buren Shinn took the stand, he identified Lawson as his assailant, and related the facts set forth above. Phyllis Soden, with whom Lawson once had shared a residence, testified that she returned home from work at about 4:00 a.m. on December 4, 1980. Shortly after 9:00 a.m. Lawson arrived at Soden's house and stated that he needed her to "take him someplace immediately." Leaving his brown Ford in her driveway, the two departed in her automobile. Lawson directed Soden to drive on Old Salisbury Road. As they neared Wayne Shinn's residence Lawson told Soden to stop, let him out, drive a short distance farther, turn around, and return to pick him up. Soden followed Lawson's directions. When she returned to Shinn's house, Lawson ran to the car carrying a crowbar. After they returned to Soden's residence, Lawson explained that he had broken into a house and left the crowbar there. Fearing that the crowbar might have his fingerprints on it, he had been anxious to retrieve it. A little later Lawson showed Soden a wallet and removed the money from it. He told Soden that he had broken into a house after hearing that the residents had gold and jewelry.
According to Soden's testimony, Lawson told her that he had found some items in the house and stuffed them into a pillowcase. As he was preparing to leave, a man entered the patio door. Lawson pointed his gun at the man, who promptly put up his hands. Lawson then ordered the man to turn around, whereupon he shot him in the back of the head. After the man fell, Lawson ran out of the house and spied another man approaching the patio. The other man turned, ran, and got into a truck. Lawson ordered the man out of the truck. Although the man begged Lawson not to shoot, Lawson forced him to walk toward the patio and shot him in the back of the head. He was confident that both men were dead because he shot them at close range. Lawson killed them, according to Soden, both in order to eliminate witnesses to the robbery and because he did not want to "go back to prison."
Lawson offered no evidence during the guilt-innocence phase of the trial. After the jury returned guilty verdicts on all three charges, the proceedings turned to a consideration of sentence. In open court but outside the presence of the jury, Lawson was examined under oath by his attorney, James C. Johnson. During this examination Lawson testified that Mr. Johnson had fully advised him regarding the nature of the sentencing phase of the proceeding. Lawson also acknowledged that on June 6, 1981 he signed an affidavit in which he acknowledged that he told Mr. Johnson
on at least five occasions ... that I should be found guilty, then in the second trial dealing with punishment, I wished to have my attorney seek and request the death penalty. I do not wish to spend the rest of my life in jail. I had rather have the death penalty than a life term. I understand my right to a second trial at which the jury will consider both mitigating and aggravating circumstances. I have, nevertheless, for some months before the trial told my attorney I do not want a life sentence, but a death sentence and I want him to take such legal steps as may be necessary to see that the sentence is carried out.
The superior court then advised Lawson that, notwithstanding his desire to be sentenced to death, the jury must decide his punishment and that the court was required by law to submit whatever aggravating and mitigating circumstances were supported by the evidence to the jury for consideration. The court stated: "Even though you may ask the jury to recommend the death sentence in this case, the jury is not bound by it and the jury may ... still see fit to recommend life imprisonment."
The jury was then brought back into the courtroom. Lawson testified before the jury that his criminal record consisted of "two cases of breaking and entering some years ago in Stanly County." He had assisted the State "involving some criminal matters in Stanly County some years ago." The following colloquy then took place between Lawson and his attorney:
A brief cross examination by the state followed, during which Lawson admitted that he owned a .32 calibre pistol in September 1980; that he attempted to purchase a pistol shortly after December 4, 1980; and that on December 4, 1980 he had gone to Salisbury with Phyllis Soden. At the guilt-innocence phase of the trial, a ballistics expert had testified that the bullet which killed Wayne Shinn was a .32 calibre bullet.
The jury found as aggravating circumstances that the murder of Wayne Shinn was "committed for the purpose of avoiding a lawful arrest" and was "part of a course of conduct in which [Lawson] engaged and [which] include[d] the commission by the defendant of other crimes of violence against [another person]." See N.C.Gen.Stat. Sec. 15A-2000(e)(4) & (11) (1988 & Supp.1992). The jury next found that the aggravating circumstances were sufficiently substantial to call for the imposition of the death penalty. Two specific mitigating circumstances were submitted: (1) that Lawson had no "significant prior...
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