Callahan v. Campbell
| Decision Date | 05 October 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-12009.,04-12009. |
| Citation | 427 F.3d 897 |
| Parties | James CALLAHAN, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Donal CAMPBELL, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, Attorney General of Alabama, Respondents-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
J. Clayton Crenshaw, Montgomery, AL, for Respondents-Appellants.
Randall S. Susskind (Court-Appointed), Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, Montgomery, AL, for Petitioner-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Before TJOFLAT, BLACK and WILSON, Circuit Judges.
James Callahan was convicted and sentenced to death in Alabama state court for the intentional murder of Rebecca Suzanne Howell. Callahan filed a federal habeas corpus petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, which was granted in part and denied in part. The Government and Callahan both appeal the district court's decision. The district court granted a certificate of appealability on four of Callahan's claims: (1) the trial judge's failure to recuse himself violated his Sixth Amendment rights; (2) he received ineffective assistance of counsel due to his counsel's failure to object to the admission of his statements based on a prior ruling of the Alabama Supreme Court; (3) his statements should not have been admitted because they were involuntary and obtained in violation of the right to counsel;1 and (4) he received ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing due to his counsel's failure to investigate and present mitigating evidence. We affirm the district court's denial of claim (2) and reverse the district court's grant of relief on claims (1) and (4).
This appeal comes to us more than 23 years after the death of Rebecca Suzanne Howell. In the interim, there have been two trials, two sentencing hearings, two direct appeals, a post-conviction relief proceeding in state court, which included a two-day evidentiary hearing, and the current habeas petition. In order to place the issues and our decision in the proper context, it is necessary for us to review the entire history of the case.
On February 3, 1982, around 11:00 p.m., Becky Howell met her fiancé, Murray Knight, at the club where he was performing with his band in Jacksonville, Alabama. Howell, 26, was a student at Jacksonville State University. After visiting Knight for 10 to 15 minutes, Howell went across the street to the Norge Washerteria to do laundry. Howell was supposed to return to the club, but when Knight's band finished playing at 1:30 a.m., she had still not returned. Knight became worried and went to the washerteria to look for Howell. He found her car, her school books, her laundry, and her jacket, but he did not find her. Knight called the police, and Officer Joe Carter and Sergeant Kathy Thienes responded. The officers searched the area and discovered a roll of gray duct tape and a pair of men's blue jeans in the vicinity of Howell's car but found no other evidence of Howell's whereabouts.
On February 17, 1982, two weeks after her disappearance, Howell was found dead of asphyxiation in the Tallasseehatchee Creek in Calhoun County, Alabama—her hands were taped together; her belt was on upside down; and she was not wearing pantyhose, socks, or shoes. A vaginal swab revealed the presence of seminal fluid.
On the night of Howell's disappearance, Jimmy Dunagan was in his car outside of a washerteria six or seven blocks from the Norge Washerteria. Around 11:00 p.m., Dunagan observed a late model green Ford pickup truck being driven by a man, pull into a parking lot across the street from a young woman in a phone booth. After watching the woman for about ten minutes, the man in the truck pulled out of the parking lot and parked within ten feet of the woman in the phone booth. A few minutes later, the woman left the phone booth, and as she passed by the green truck, she began running to her car. When the woman drove away, the green truck followed her for several blocks, stopping when she turned onto Jacksonville State University campus. Dunagan followed the truck and wrote down its tag number. On February 20, Dunagan told Detective Max Kirby what he saw on February 3 and that the tag number of the truck was either "NRF467" or "RNF467."
Kirby searched the database for tag number "NRF467" and nothing came up, but the tag number "RNF467" belonged to an orange Ford truck registered to James Callahan. Further investigation revealed the "RNF467" tag was now on a green 1982 Ford pickup truck. On February 21, police located the green Ford outside of the residence of Harvey Callahan, the defendant's father. Dunagan identified the truck at Harvey Callahan's as the same one he saw on February 3 at the washerteria.
Starting at 9:30 p.m. on February 21, police staked out the green Ford. Around 5:00 a.m. the next morning, Deputy Johnny Alexander and Sergeant Thienes observed James Callahan get into the truck and drive away. The officers pulled Callahan over for driving with a switched tag. Callahan opened the driver's side door, placed something behind the seat of his truck, and exited, leaving the driver's side door open. The officers explained to Callahan that he was going to be ticketed for having the wrong tag on his vehicle. At this point Callahan became very nervous and attempted to get back to his truck. Callahan walked around Alexander and, without getting back into the truck, shut the previously open driver's side door and locked it. The officers then transported Callahan to the jail so they could write him a ticket for driving with a switched tag.2 After receiving his ticket, Callahan was told investigators would like to talk to him and he could wait for them in the lobby. He agreed. At approximately 9:00 a.m., Callahan was placed under arrest for violating his probation by driving a vehicle with an incorrect tag.3 A subsequent search of Callahan's truck revealed, inter alia, a pistol, a pillow, and two pairs of men's blue jeans.
Over the course of February 22 and 23, Callahan gave four statements to the police concerning his whereabouts and actions on the night of February 3.4 Before each statement Callahan was read his Miranda rights and signed a waiver of counsel. Statement # 1 was given orally to Kirby who transcribed it. Statements # 2, # 3, and # 4 were given during questioning by Assistant District Attorney Joseph Hubbard; the latter three statements were audio taped and transcribed by a court reporter.
Callahan stated he went to a washerteria between 7:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. and was driving a green 1982 Ford pickup truck.5 After going to get something to eat, he returned to the washerteria and left again at approximately 10:00 p.m. He then went to the Jacksonville Hospital where he met his father who was visiting the defendant's mother. At 11:00 p.m., Callahan left the hospital and followed his father to his father's house, where Callahan remained for the rest of the night.
Callahan stated he arrived at a washerteria around 10:00 p.m. Howell was not there. Callahan placed his clothes in a washing machine and left to get something to eat. When he returned to the washerteria approximately 30 minutes later, Howell was there by herself. Callahan knew Howell because Billy Griffith's wife introduced them to each other at the Jacksonville Nursing Home a few years ago. Since they were introduced, Callahan and Howell spoke in passing several times. That night, Callahan told her he was thinking of renting out his mobile home and asked if she was interested. He offered to take her there and told her to think about it while he went and visited his mother in the hospital. He left to go to the hospital around 11:00 p.m. and returned around 12:00 a.m. When he returned, Howell told him she would like to see the mobile home that night. It was at this time that Gladys Callahan, the defendant's estranged wife, pulled up outside of the washerteria, but did not enter and soon drove off.
Callahan and Howell left the washerteria at approximately 12:10 a.m. Howell entered Callahan's truck on the driver's side because you could not get in on the passenger side. Five minutes after they arrived at his mobile home, Gladys also arrived and accused Callahan of "running around" on her. After arguing with Gladys for roughly 20 minutes, Callahan told her he and Howell were leaving. That was when Gladys removed a pistol from her pocketbook and pointed it at Callahan. She then directed Callahan and Howell into the kitchen where she forced Callahan to tape Howell's hands together. A few minutes later Callahan escaped out the back door of the mobile home and drove away, leaving Howell alone with Gladys. He did not have sexual relations with Howell.
Callahan stated that about a year and a half prior to February 3, he had dated Howell, and they had sexual relations on one occasion. When Callahan saw Howell at the washerteria, after returning from the restaurant, Howell intimated that she wanted to have sex with Callahan again. In particular, she said, Callahan replied, After Callahan returned from the hospital, Howell said she wanted to look at Callahan's mobile home and commented, "We'll have a good time once we get there." Callahan and Howell arrived at the mobile home, had sex, and were still in bed when Gladys entered the bedroom. Gladys pointed a pistol at them and ordered them to move to the kitchen. Callahan taped Howell's hands together...
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