Young v. Sirmons

• Decision Date: 16 December 2008
• Docket Number: No. 07-5130.,07-5130.
• Parties: Julius Recardo YOUNG, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Marty SIRMONS, Warden, Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

551 F.3d 942

Julius Recardo YOUNG, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Marty SIRMONS, Warden, Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 07-5130.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

December 16, 2008.

Steven M. Presson of Presson Law Office, Norman, OK, for Petitioner-Appellant.

Seth S. Branham, Assistant Attorney General (W.A. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General, with him on the brief), Oklahoma City, OK, for Respondent-Appellee.

Before HENRY, Chief Judge, BRISCOE, and LUCERO, Circuit Judges.

BRISCOE, Circuit Judge.

In 1995, Julius Recardo Young was convicted in Oklahoma state court of two counts of first degree murder for beating to death a six-year old child and the child's mother. Young was sentenced to death for these murders. He appeals the district court's denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.

I.

Factual background

The relevant underlying facts of this case were outlined in detail by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA) in addressing Young's direct appeal:

Julius Recardo Young was convicted of murdering his girlfriend's daughter and six year old grandson. The murders occurred two days after his girlfriend, Joyslon Edwards, advised him she wanted to cool their relationship, and he would not get a key to her new apartment. She was not giving him a key, because she wanted her daughter and grandson to "feel safe" when they visited her. They did not like Young. Young had a key to the apartment Edwards had been sharing with her daughter, Joyland Morgan, and her grandson Kewan Morgan. The day before the murders Edwards demanded the key from Young, but he did not return it.

Joyland and Kewan Morgan were beaten to death in their Tulsa apartment on October 1, 1993. Their wounds indicated the murder weapon was a blunt instrument similar to a baseball bat, but the murder weapon was never found. Ms. Morgan sustained defensive wounds to her hands and arms, and at least thirteen blows to her face and head. These blows broke her jaw, tore open her scalp, and fractured her skull. She was found slumped against a living room wall. Kewan Morgan died in his bed. He sustained massive head fractures caused by two separate blows.

Every night before she went to bed Joyland Morgan secured her front door with two locks and a security chain. The intruder opened both locks with a key and pushed through the security chain, breaking it. A piece of the broken chain was missing from the apartment.

No eye-witnesses were found. However, a downstairs neighbor was awakened at 3:40 a.m. by a single loud bump from Morgan's apartment. Joyslon Edwards testified she saw a baseball bat in Young's trunk the night before the murders, but the next day it was gone.

Young always drove Edwards to work and the day of the murders he arrived at 4:15 a.m., earlier than usual. Edwards asked him for change so she could use the vending machines at work. When Young pulled out the contents of his pocket, Edwards saw a piece of security chain similar to the one she had installed on her daughter's door. Later that day when Edwards learned of the murders, she reported this evidence to the police.

Young lived with his mother at the time, and the police obtained a warrant to search the mother's home. Edwards told them what Young had worn the previous evening. The police recovered the shoes described by Edwards and these bore a visible spot of blood. Young accompanied the police during the search. He volunteered the drop was fish blood. DNA testing revealed the drop was human blood consistent with that of Joyland and Kewan Morgan. The police also recovered a freshly laundered shirt which tested positive for blood when it was exposed to luminal [sic].

Young v. State, 992 P.2d 332, 336-37 (Okla. Crim.App.1998) (Young I) (internal paragraph numbers omitted).

State court proceedings

On February 22, 1994, Young was charged by information in the District Court of Tulsa County, Oklahoma, with two counts of first degree murder (under alternative theories of malice aforethought and felony murder) and one count of first degree burglary. On May 5, 1994, the State filed a bill of particulars asserting that Young should be punished by death for the murder offenses "due to and as a result of" four aggravating circumstances: (1) "The defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person"; (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 existence of a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society."¹ State Court ROA, Vol. I at 41.

On June 17, 1994, Young's counsel presented to the state trial court, during a motions hearing, a pleading entitled "Application for Psychological Evaluation and Permission to Interview Defendant."² Id. at 70; Tr. of Jun. 17, 1994 Motion Hearing at 14. The pleading sought authorization from the state trial court to allow two licensed professional counselors³ to interview Young and conduct a psychological evaluation. As a basis for the request, the pleading stated that "[i]t [wa]s necessary, due to the very nature of this case, that the Defendant be evaluated prior to the time of trial." State Court ROA, Vol. I at 70. When asked by the state trial court during the hearing what the purpose of the requested evaluation was, Young's counsel stated that it was not for purposes of developing an insanity defense, but rather "to make certain that the defendant is psychologically and mentally stable at this point in time of the proceedings and at some point in time it may be necessary even for mitigation or defense in the fact that he didn't fit the personality to do the same." Tr. of Jun. 17, 1994 Motion Hearing at 15. The state trial court denied the motion "as being premature...." Id.

On September 21, 1994, Young filed a "Notice of Mitigation in the Event of Conviction" that listed nine witnesses who would testify in mitigation in the event Young was convicted of one or both murders. State Court ROA, Vol. I at 83. The notice further stated that, "in the event of a conviction," "[e]vidence w[ould] be introduced as a matter of law to generalities and specifics of the good person that Julius Young ha[d] been." Id. at 84. On September 30, 1994, Young filed a "Supplement to Notice of Mitigation in the Event of Conviction" stating that, of the nine witnesses listed in the original notice, the first seven would "testify substantially as to generally the good things that [Young] ha[d] done and their belief concerning that he [wa]s not a future danger to the community, along with past good deeds." Id. at 85. The Supplement further indicated that the eighth and ninth witnesses listed in the original "Notice," i.e. the two licensed professional counselors that were originally listed in Young's application for psychological evaluation, would testify regarding the results of psychological testing on Young. Id. According to the state court record, however, Young's counsel never renewed their application for psychological evaluation. Thus, the two licensed professional counselors listed as witnesses in the Supplement to Notice of Mitigation never interviewed or evaluated Young.

The case proceeded to trial on September 5, 1995. At the conclusion of the first-stage proceedings, the jury found Young guilty of two counts of first degree malice aforethought murder (Counts I and II of the information) and one count of first degree burglary (Count III). At that time, the prosecution filed a notice of intent to offer evidence in rebuttal of any mitigating evidence that Young might present. State Court ROA, Vol. III at 435.

The second-stage proceedings occurred the following day, September 21, 1995. During the second-stage proceedings, the prosecution incorporated by reference all of the first-stage evidence. In addition, the prosecution presented victim impact testimony from a relative of the two victims. Young elected not to testify in his own behalf or present any mitigation witnesses. In light of Young's decision in this regard, Young's counsel entered into a stipulation with the prosecution, which was read to the jury, that Young was "42 years of age and ... ha[d] been a life-long resident of Tulsa," "ha[d] family, relatives that love[d] him," "ha[d] been a minister in a church for 11 years," and was "a veteran, having served in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged." ROA, Tr. Vol. III at 918-19. At the conclusion of the second-stage proceedings, the jury found the existence of three aggravating circumstances (that Young knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person; the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel⁴; and the existence of a probability that Young would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society) and fixed Young's punishment at death for the two murder convictions. As for the burglary conviction, the jury fixed Young's punishment at fifty years' imprisonment.

The state district court conducted sentencing proceedings on September 28 and October 4, 1995. During the September 28th proceeding, Young's counsel asked the state district court to sentence Young to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. In support of this request, Young's lead counsel, Jim Fransein, asserted that he had planned to introduce witnesses and evidence in mitigation during the second-stage proceedings, but that the mitigation witnesses "had been advised without [his] permission, [his] request or [his] recommendation not to appear," and that Young likewise had determined not to take the stand in his own defense. ROA, Tr., Vol. III at 937. In response to this request, the prosecution noted that it had agreed, after Young's counsel learned that Young would not be testifying...