Michael v. Crosby

• Decision Date: 21 November 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-10137.,04-10137.
• Parties: Linda MICHAEL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. James CROSBY, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1310

430 F.3d 1310

Linda MICHAEL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. James CROSBY, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 04-10137.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

November 21, 2005.

Richard F. Della Fera, Entin, Margules & Della Fera, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Michael.

Myra J. Fried, West Palm Beach, FL, for Cosby.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before HULL, MARCUS and HILL, Circuit Judges.

MARCUS, Circuit Judge:

Linda Michael, a Florida state prisoner serving a life term of imprisonment for second-degree murder with a firearm, appeals the district court's denial of her petition for a writ of habeas corpus, filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254.¹ In her petition, Michael asserted numerous claims of ineffective assistance of counsel including, inter alia, that her trial attorney, Anthony Natale, was ineffective for both not discovering and not properly utilizing evidence that Michael suffered from Battered Spouse Syndrome ("BSS") and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ("PTSD"), which would have supported her self-defense claim at trial and mitigation at sentencing. She supplemented her § 2554 petition to include a claim that the state trial court's imposition of a life sentence was based on unconstitutional judicial factfinding, in violation of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), and its progeny.

We granted a certificate of appealability ("COA") on the following issue: whether the state court's determination that counsel was not ineffective for failing to provide evidence of PTSD at trial or at sentencing was contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law.² Upon thorough review of the record and careful consideration of the parties' briefs and oral argument, we affirm.

I.

The relevant facts are these. In 1992, Michael was indicted for first-degree murder of her ex-husband, having shot him four times and stabbed him four times, all while their two teenaged children were present in the home. The state habeas court, which conducted an evidentiary hearing on Michael's Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.850 motion, summarized the evidence presented at trial in these terms:

The defendant and her husband divorced after approximately 18 years of marriage. The divorce was extraordinarily acrimonious. After several rounds of hearings, the husband received custody of the two children, and Michael was required to pay child support. Over a year before the homicide, she left Martin County and moved to Arkansas where her parents resided. On Mother's Day, May 12, 1991, the defendant talked to her son. After the telephone conversation, she left Arkansas and drove to Martin County, Florida. On Tuesday, May 14, 1991, at approximately 10:00 p.m., Michael shot and stabbed her former husband, Kenneth Johnson, at his residence after he answered her doorbell ring.

The defendant's trial testimony was that after the conversation with her son, she was upset and wanted to see her children. She drove approximately a thousand miles and arrived with the erroneous thought that it was Wednesday night, and her husband would be bowling. She went to the children's neighborhood and looked for them. When she did not find them outside, she went to the victim's home, and learned that her former husband was home since his vehicle was in the garage. For reasons which the defendant did not explain, she sliced two window screens before she rang the doorbell. The former husband answered the door and according to her, stabbed her in the hand. She shot him with the pistol she had taken from the glove compartment of her car. Michael and Johnston went through the house to his bedroom with the defendant shooting at Johnston. Once in the bedroom, she picked up a knife and stabbed Johnston several times. She left the State of Florida and returned to Arkansas. Ultimately, [she] surrendered to law enforcement at the Martin County Jail.

The State presented evidence that prior to moving to Arkansas, Michael had made statements in which she expressed a desire to kill her former husband. The State showed that the stabbing was particularly brutal, and that the former husband had been shot several times. Her two children were present in the home at the time of the murder, and testified at trial. The impact on the children was related by neighbors and law enforcement officers. A State witness, Cynthia Simmons, testified that on May 14, 1991, she was on the telephone with Kenneth Johnston at 10:30 p.m., that during the conversation she heard the doorbell ring and Johnston said, "I wonder who that could be at this hour." Ms. Simmons told Johnston she would wait; she heard the phone being laid down, and five or six seconds later, heard rapid gunfire and Johnston screaming for help. She heard Johnston's voice getting further away from the phone, then heard heeled shoes on a tile floor close by the phone, then heard more gunfire. She did not hear an argument.

Michael did not deny that she killed Johnston, but asserted self-defense. She proffered the testimony of Dr. Caddy, who testified at length as to her past problems with Johnston, which resulted in "learned helplessness." The Court did not admit the testimony.

(emphasis added) (footnote omitted).

As noted by the state habeas court, at trial, counsel sought to present evidence from psychologist Dr. Glenn Caddy, who had examined Michael and concluded that, although there was insufficient evidence of physical abuse to support a BSS-based defense, there was evidence of learned helplessness, as well as evidence symptomatic of PTSD. In addition to Dr. Caddy, two other psychologists, Dr. Mary Ann Dutton and Dr. Sheldon Rifkin, both opined that Michael exhibited symptoms of PTSD. Counsel ultimately sought to introduce Dr. Caddy's diagnosis of learned helplessness, but the state trial court excluded it. The jury convicted Michael of the lesser-included offense of second-degree murder with a firearm.

The sentencing range under the state guidelines was a mandatory minimum sentence of three years' imprisonment to a maximum sentence of twenty-two years' imprisonment. The statutory maximum sentence was life imprisonment. See Fla. Stat. § 782.04(2) (1991) (providing that second-degree murder is "a felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life"); Fla. Stat. § 775.087 (1991) (providing for enhancement from first-degree felony to life felony where felony involved possession or use of a firearm); § 775.082 (1991) (providing that person convicted of "a life felony committed on or after October 1, 1983, [may be punished] by a term of imprisonment for life or by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 40 years").

In imposing sentence, the state trial judge concluded that, as requested by the state prior to sentencing, an upward departure from the guidelines range was warranted because the murder was excessively brutal and occurred in front of the couple's two children, who the judge noted "were clearly devastated emotionally by finding their father in that condition." Among other findings, the state trial court noted that Michael raised the issue of self-defense and had attempted to assert a diminished-capacity defense. The court found that both of these theories "were disproven by the evidence. The evidence is clear that Defendant went to her ex-husband's home in the dark of night to brutally attack him."

In his sentencing order, the trial judge further stated that he had considered the testimony of Dr. Caddy in support of mitigation, but that an upward departure sentence nevertheless was warranted, given the facts of the case including "the Defendant's excessive use of force, the excessively brutal nature of this homicide, the emotional trauma to the children, the fact that the crime was committed in the children's presence (in the sense that they were in the home and walked in upon the conclusion), and the destruction of the family."

In addition to Dr. Caddy's testimony in support of mitigation, Michael also presented a letter, written for mitigation purposes by Dr. Sheldon Rifkin, at the behest of Michael's trial attorney, Anthony Natale. Rifkin described Michael as "a chronically depressed woman" who "has been under a great deal of stress for a long period of time and whose behavior and actions, in relation to the death of her ex-husband, were definitely affected by these impinging psychological circumstances." Dr. Rifkin continued: "Although not a defense, the data is quite clear and consistent in regard to indicating that her capacities were severely diminished and to an extent that her behavior was greatly influenced and impelled by her extreme sense of despair, hopelessness, and depression."

On direct appeal, Michael raised the following three claims: (1) whether the trial court erred by prohibiting Dr. Caddy's testimony; (2) whether the trial court erred by failing to conduct an adequate competency inquiry; and (3) whether the trial court erred by departing from the guidelines range at sentencing. Michael's conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal. See Michael v. State, 654 So.2d 1173 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1995). Thereafter, Michael moved for rehearing and for certification of a question of great public importance to the Florida Supreme Court, both of which were denied. She also petitioned the Florida Supreme Court for review, which also was denied. Michael then filed numerous pro se motions for rehearing, reinstatement, and correction of an illegal sentence, as well as a pro se motion to correct, mitigate, or modify her sentence under Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.800.

Proceeding with court-appointed counsel, Michael then moved for post-conviction relief under Rule 3.850, raising 32 claims, including that Natale provided ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to use exculpatory evidence in support of a BSS...