Patton v. Mullin
| Decision Date | 21 September 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-6140.,03-6140. |
| Citation | 425 F.3d 788 |
| Parties | Eric Allen PATTON, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Mike MULLIN, Warden, Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Scott W. Braden, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Death Penalty Federal Habeas Corpus Division, Oklahoma City, OK, for Petitioner-Appellant.
Robert L. Whittaker, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division (W.A. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General, and Brant M. Elmore, Assistant Attorney General, with him on the brief), State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK, for Respondent-Appellee.
Before HENRY, BRISCOE, and O'BRIEN, Circuit Judges.
Petitioner Eric Allen Patton was convicted after a jury trial in the District Court for Oklahoma County of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary after former conviction of two or more felonies, in violation of OKLA. STAT. tit. 21 §§ 701.7, 1431, and 1451. As to the murder conviction, the jury found four aggravating circumstances and, upon the jury's recommendation, the trial court imposed the death penalty.
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA) affirmed Mr. Patton's convictions on direct appeal, see Patton v. State, 973 P.2d 270 (Okla.Crim.App.1998), and then denied his motion for post-conviction relief, see Patton v. State, 989 P.2d 983 (Okla.Crim.App.1999). Subsequently, Mr. Patton filed a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, asserting twenty grounds for relief. The district court denied Mr. Patton's petition but, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A), granted a certificate of appealability on nine of his claims.
Mr. Patton now argues that: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his first-degree murder conviction; (2) the trial court's evidentiary rulings violated his due process right to a fair trial; (3) improper comments from a prosecution witness concerning a former conviction also deprived him of his due process right to a fair trial; (4) the trial court erred in instructing the jury on the lesser-included offense of voluntary manslaughter; (5) the trial court's instructions improperly allowed the jury to presume that the prosecution had proven the element of malice aforethought necessary to support his first-degree murder conviction; (6) the trial court's instructions prevented Mr. Patton from presenting a defense of voluntary intoxication; (7) the trial court erred in admitting duplicative evidence regarding two aggravating circumstances; (8) to support the death penalty, the prosecution relied upon evidence not proven beyond a reasonable doubt; and (9) prosecutorial misconduct in both the guilt and sentencing stages deprived Mr. Patton of a fair trial.
Upon thorough review of the record and the applicable law, we conclude that Mr. Patton is not entitled to relief on any of his claims. We therefore affirm the district court's denial of his § 2254 petition.
This case arises out of the killing of Charlene Kauer in Oklahoma City on December 16, 1994. The relevant facts are not in dispute and are set forth in the OCCA's opinion on direct appeal. See Patton, 973 P.2d at 278-79.
At the time of Mrs. Kauer's killing, Mr. Patton was employed as a brick mason. In the morning, he borrowed a co-worker's car and left a job site, stating that he was going to buy electrical boxes at a local hardware store. Mr. Patton was absent from the job site for four hours. When he returned, he was wearing different clothes and did not have the electrical boxes.
During that four-hour period, Mr. Patton went to Mrs. Kauer's home in northeast Oklahoma City and knocked on the front door. When Mrs. Kauer answered, Mr. Patton asked to borrow money, and she gave him ten dollars.
Mr. Patton then forced his way into the home, grabbed Mrs. Kauer by the throat and dragged her through the house looking for money and valuables. He took Mrs. Kauer to the bedroom and stabbed her numerous times. Then, he dragged her down the hallway into the kitchen, stabbing her several more times with a variety of knives and breaking several of them. Finally, he stabbed Mrs. Kauer in the chest with a pair of scissors.
Mr. Patton then left Mrs. Kauer's house, cleaned himself up, removed his bloody clothes, and changed into a pair of coveralls that he found in the co-worker's car. He left the bloody clothes in a field in northwest Oklahoma City and returned to the job site.
Initially, Mr. Patton was not a suspect in Mrs. Kauer's murder. However, because he had previously done some painting for Mrs. Kauer and her husband and had worked with them at a marketing company Oklahoma City Police Department detectives conducted a series of interviews with him. They arrested Mr. Patton after discovering his fingerprints at the murder scene.
During his initial police interview, Mr. Patton denied any involvement in the murder. He then stated that he had seen a suspicious vehicle at Mrs. Kauer's house and added that the person who committed the murder would have had to have control of the Kauers' dogs, thereby suggesting that Mr. Kauer was involved. When asked about a scratch on his lip and cuts on his hands, he explained that he was changing a tire and the jack had slipped and hit him.
During a subsequent interview, Mr. Patton stated that Chris Williams, the co-worker whose car he had borrowed on the day of the murder, was involved in the crime. He added that he had a lot of information to give them but was protecting someone. Mr. Patton explained that he had been at the Kauers' home but that another person had committed the murder.
In another interview, Mr. Patton admitted that Chris Williams was not involved in the murder but then stated that a woman had been involved. Mr. Patton reported that this woman had stabbed Mrs. Kauer while he wrestled with her dog, eventually stabbing it. He explained that the cuts on his hand and the scratch on his lip came from the dog's bites.
In a final interview, Mr. Patton described the killing as though he had had an out-of-body experience. He admitted seeing himself at the murder scene and stabbing Mrs. Kauer, but he said there were demonic forces present and the victim was a demon. He added that he had ingested cocaine before the murder and believed the drug was laced with another drug. He said he was "tripping" from the effects of the drugs.
Mr. Patton was tried before a jury in the District Court for Oklahoma County in November 1996. The prosecution presented forensic evidence indicating that Mr. Patton's fingerprints were present in the Kauer home and that blood at the scene matched Mr. Patton's type. The prosecution also presented video and audiotapes of Mr. Patton's interviews with police detectives in which he admitted stabbing Mrs. Kauer.
In response, Mr. Patton presented expert testimony from a psychiatrist, Dr. John Smith. Dr. Smith testified that, on the day of the killing, Mr. Patton was in a cocaine delirium. As a result, Dr. Smith said, Mr. Patton was not capable of forming the intent to commit a crime "in a cognitive, logical sense like we think of." Tr. Trans. vol. IX, at 143.
After hearing this evidence, the jury convicted Mr. Patton of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary. Then, upon considering additional evidence presented during the sentencing phase, the jury recommended that the court impose the death penalty. The jury found four aggravating circumstances: (1) Mr. Patton was previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence; (2) the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel; (3) the murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest or prosecution; and (4) the murder was committed while Mr. Patton was on parole for California felony convictions. The jury did not find a fifth aggravating circumstance alleged by the prosecution, that it was probable that Mr. Patton would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society.
We begin our analysis by discussing the standard of review under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), Pub.L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (1996). Then, we proceed to the merits.
Because Mr. Patton filed his § 2254 habeas corpus petition after AEDPA's effective date, its provisions apply to this appeal. See Smallwood v. Gibson, 191 F.3d 1257, 1264 (10th Cir.1999). Under AEDPA, a federal court may only grant habeas relief on any claim adjudicated on the merits by the state court if the state court proceedings "resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court," 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1), or "resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding," id. § 2254(d)(2). In addition, AEDPA directs federal courts adjudicating state habeas corpus proceedings to presume that the factual findings of the state court are correct unless the petitioner rebuts this presumption by clear and convincing evidence. See id. § 2254(e)(1); Smith v. Mullin, 379 F.3d 919, 924-25 (10th Cir.2004).
In Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000), the Supreme Court provided guidance as to when a state court decision may be deemed "contrary to" or "an unreasonable application of" established Supreme Court precedent pursuant to § 2254(d)(1). As to the former term, the Court explained that a state court decision is "contrary to" the Court's clearly established precedent in two circumstances: (1) when "the state court applies a rule that contradicts the governing law set forth in [the Court's] cases"; and (2) when "the state court confronts a set of facts that are materially indistinguishable...
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