Thompkins v. Berghuis

Decision Date19 November 2008
Docket NumberNo. 06-2435.,06-2435.
Citation547 F.3d 572
PartiesVan Chester THOMPKINS, Jr., Petitioner-Appellant, v. Mary BERGHUIS, Warden, Respondent-Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

ARGUED: Elizabeth L. Jacobs, Law Office, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellant. Janet A. VanCleve, Office of the Michigan Attorney General, Lansing, Michigan, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Elizabeth L. Jacobs, Law Office, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellant. Brad H. Beaver, Office of the Michigan Attorney General, Lansing, Michigan, for Appellee.

Before: MOORE, CLAY, and ROGERS, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner-Appellant Van Chester Thompkins, Jr. ("Thompkins") appeals the district court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Following a jury trial in 2002 in Michigan state court, Thompkins was convicted of first-degree murder, assault with intent to commit murder, and several firearms-related charges. After exhausting the state appeals process, Thompkins filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which the district court denied. The district court certified three claims for appeal: (1) whether Thompkins's confession was obtained in violation of the Fifth Amendment when the police officers questioned Thompkins for nearly three hours, the officers described the interview as "very, very one-sided," and the officers described Thompkins as "not verbally communicative" and as having "shared very limited verbal responses" while "[l]argely ... remain[ing] silent"; (2) whether Thompkins's right to due process was violated when the prosecution offered evidence of accomplice-witness Eric Purifoy's jury verdict and guilty plea conviction on charges stemming out of the same incident giving rise to Thompkins's charges; and (3) whether Thompkins was denied effective assistance of counsel when his counsel failed to request that the trial court instruct the jury that it could consider the evidence relating to the jury verdict and guilty-plea conviction of accomplice-witness Purifoy only in evaluating Purifoy's credibility and not as substantive evidence of Thompkins's guilt.

For the reasons discussed below, we AFFIRM the district court's denial of Thompkins's petition for a writ of habeas corpus as to his claim of prosecutorial misconduct, but we REVERSE the judgment of the district court denying relief as to his Fifth Amendment and ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims and REMAND the case with instructions that the district court order that Thompkins be released from state custody unless the State of Michigan commences a new trial within 180 days of the final federal-court judgment in this case.

I. BACKGROUND

On January 10, 2000, a shooting occurred around 9:00 p.m. in a strip mall parking lot in Southfield, Michigan. Samuel Morris ("Morris") died from multiple gunshot wounds, while his friend Frederick France ("France") survived despite being shot several times. At Thompkins's trial, France testified that he and Morris were driving through the mall parking lot when a group of several men walked in front of their car and began staring at them. Joint Appendix ("J.A.") at 264-65 (Trial Tr. 5/13/2002 at 197-98). France testified that he and Morris got out of their car and that France and Thompkins exchanged words as Thompkins and the others in his group approached a white and blue van. J.A. at 270-73 (Trial Tr. 5/13/2002 at 204-07). Morris and France reentered their car and began driving away, but the van soon pulled up alongside them so that the passenger-side window of the van was adjacent to the driver-side window of Morris and France's car. J.A. at 273-81 (Trial Tr. 5/13/2002 at 207-215). France testified that he had no doubt that Thompkins was seated in the passenger seat of the van and that Thompkins said "What you say, Big Dog" immediately before drawing a gun and firing several shots into Morris and France's car. J.A. at 280-81 (Trial Tr. 5/13/2002 at 214-15). The next day, while France was in the hospital, two police officers showed him a photograph taken by a security camera inside Lou's Deli, a store at the mall where the shooting occurred, and France identified three individuals as being respectively the shooter, the driver, and another passenger in the van. J.A. at 287-89 (Trial Tr. 5/13/2002 at 230, 232, 237). France identified Thompkins as the shooter. J.A. at 288 (Trial Tr. 5/13/2002 at 232).

The police focused their investigation into the shooting on three men, Thompkins, Eric Purifoy ("Purifoy"), and Myzell Woodward ("Woodward"). Woodward, who contacted the police shortly after the incident, apparently was never charged. Pet'r Br. at 6. Purifoy turned himself in to the police, and he was tried in August 2000 on the same charges as would later be brought against Thompkins. J.A. at 289 (Trial Tr. 5/13/2002 at 237); J.A. at 345-47 (Trial Tr. 5/16/2002 at 85-87). Purifoy was acquitted of the murder and assault charges, convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, and after his trial Purifoy pleaded guilty to three further firearm-related counts. J.A. at 345-47 (Trial Tr. 5/16/2002 at 85-87).

Thompkins was not found until over a year after the shooting when he was arrested along with three other men near Columbus, Ohio, on February 19, 2001. J.A. at 319-20, 331-32 (Trial Tr. 5/16/2002 at 35-36, 55-56). Thompkins attempted to escape while the officers were handcuffing the others and, when recaptured, gave the officers various false pieces of identification and insisted that his name was Detniuan Isiah Reed. J.A. at 324-25, 328-29 (Trial Tr. 5/16/2002 at 42-43, 52-53). When Thompkins was fingerprinted at the Franklin County (Ohio) jail, the results revealed his true identity as Van Chester Thompkins, Jr. J.A. at 331-32 (Trial Tr. 5/16/2002 at 55-56).

On February 22, 2001, Detective Christopher Helgert ("Helgert") from the Southfield (Michigan) Police Department interrogated Thompkins at the jail in Ohio. J.A. at 149 (Op. & Order Denying Mot. to Suppress at 1). At a hearing in October 2001 regarding Thompkins's motion to suppress statements that he made during the February 2001 interrogation, Helgert testified that he and his partner interviewed Thompkins for approximately three hours. J.A. at 213-14 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 78-79). Helgert read Thompkins a form that advised him of his Miranda rights and got Thompkins to confirm orally his understanding of those rights, but Thompkins refused to sign the form acknowledging that the officers had read him his rights. J.A. at 214-15, 220-23 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 79-80, 85-88). Helgert described the interview as "very, very one-sided," J.A. at 217 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 82), and as "nearly a monologue," J.A. at 227 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 92). Helgert described Thompkins as "so uncommunicative," J.A. at 217 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 82), as "not verbally communicative," J.A. at 227 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 92), and remarked that "[l]argely, he remained silent," J.A. at 229 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 94). Helgert also stated that "Mr. Thompkins shared very limited verbal responses with us," J.A. at 217 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 82), and that Thompkins "talk[ed] with us very sporadically," J.A. at 216 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 81). Asked whether Thompkins had "consistently exercised his right to remain substantively silent for at least two hours and forty-five (45) minutes," Helgert replied "Yes, that's right." J.A. at 232 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 97). On re-direct, Helgert stated that occasionally Thompkins gave both verbal and non-verbal responses to the questions and that he understood Thompkins's "eye contact," "a nod of the head," and "look[ing] up" as engaging in limited conversation. J.A. at 236-37 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 101-02). Helgert also testified that "I don't know" was a "quite prevalent" response to his questions, as well that "[s]ometimes [Thompkins's response] would be a word or two. A `yeah,' or a `no,' or `I don't know.'" J.A. at 233, 236 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 98, 101).

After two hours and forty-five minutes of the "very, very one-sided" interview, Helgert "tried to take a different tac[k], I guess what I call a spiritual tac[k]," and he asked Thompkins "whether or not he believed in God." J.A. at 217 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 82). Helgert testified that Thompkins

made eye-contact with me for one of the few times that he did for the interview. I saw his eyes well up with tears. He answered me orally and said, "Yes."

I asked if he had prayed to God? And he said "Yes."

And I asked him if he had asked God to forgive him for—I believe the words were, and I quoted them in my report verbatim "shooting that boy down." And he answered, "Yes."

J.A. at 218 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 83). Helgert testified that Thompkins "refuse[d] to write anything," that Thompkins "wouldn't touch the pen or paper that my partner placed in front of him," and that shortly after this exchange the interview was terminated. J.A. at 218-19 (Supp. Hr'g Tr. at 83-84). On May 10, 2002, the Michigan state court denied Thompkins's motion to suppress his statements, reasoning that Thompkins "never invoked his right to remain silent, and participated in the interview by making eye contact, nodding, and answering questions with, `I don't know.'" J.A. at 152 (Order Denying Mot. to Suppress at 4).

On May 13, 2002, Thompkins's trial began before a jury in the Oakland County Circuit Court, and Thompkins states that "[t]he defense theory was that Eric Purifoy was the shooter and that [Thompkins] was merely present." Pet'r Br. at 7. The prosecution presented the testimony of several witnesses who saw or heard parts of the altercation and shooting in the mall parking lot. See Resp't Br. at 6-8. France testified about the interactions leading up to the shooting; he also testified about identifying Thompkins as the shooter and Purifoy as the driver after seeing photographs of them the day after the shooting when France...

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