Deweaver v. Runnels

Decision Date25 February 2009
Docket NumberNo. 06-16865.,06-16865.
Citation556 F.3d 995
PartiesEmile DEWEAVER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. David L. RUNNELS, Warden, High Desert State Prison, Respondent-Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Mary E. Pougiales, Novato, CA, for the petitioner-appellant.

Juliet B. Haley, Deputy Attorney General, San Francisco, CA, for the respondent-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Martin J. Jenkins, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-03-00839-MJJ.

Before: PROCTER HUG, JR., JOHN T. NOONAN and SANDRA S. IKUTA, Circuit Judges.

HUG, Circuit Judge:

Emile DeWeaver petitions for habeas relief arguing that the California Court of Appeal erroneously concluded that he did not invoke his right to remain silent during interrogation, his confession was voluntary, and the state trial court's interactions with the jury did not coerce a verdict. For DeWeaver to succeed, he must overcome the high standard of deference to a state-court decision mandated by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), under which a statecourt decision may not be reversed unless it is contrary to or an unreasonable application of clearly established Supreme Court precedent, or if it was based on an unreasonable factual determination. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). DeWeaver cannot overcome this hurdle, and we therefore affirm the district court's denial of DeWeaver's petition.

I. Standard of review

We review the federal district court's decision to deny DeWeaver's habeas petition de novo. See Lopez v. Thompson, 202 F.3d 1110, 1116 (9th Cir.2000) (en banc). "When reviewing a state court's analysis under AEDPA, this court looks to the last reasoned decision' as the basis for its judgment." Forn v. Hornung, 343 F.3d 990, 995 (9th Cir.2003) (quoting Avila v. Galaza, 297 F.3d 911, 918 (9th Cir. 2002)). In this case, because the California Supreme Court denied DeWeaver's appeal without citation or comment, we look to the California Court of Appeal's decision as the basis for the state's judgment. See Taylor v. Maddox, 366 F.3d 992, 999 n. 5 (9th Cir.2004). Insofar as the state appellate court adopted the reasoning of the state trial court, we also consider the trial-court decision. See id.

An application for writ of habeas corpus shall not be granted unless the state court's judgment "(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or (2) 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." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). A state-court decision contravenes clearly established Supreme Court precedent if it reaches a legal conclusion opposite the Supreme Court's or concludes differently on an indistinguishable set of facts. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 405-06, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000). The state court need not have cited Supreme Court precedent or been aware of it, "so long as neither the reasoning nor the result of the state-court decision contradicts [it]." Early v. Packer, 537 U.S. 3, 8, 123 S.Ct. 362, 154 L.Ed.2d 263 (2002). The state court unreasonably applies clearly established federal law if it "either 1) correctly identifies the governing rule but then applies it to a new set of facts in a way that is objectively unreasonable, or 2) extends or fails to extend a clearly established legal principle to a new context in a way that is objectively unreasonable." Hernandez v. Small, 282 F.3d 1132, 1142 (9th Cir.2002); see also Williams, 529 U.S. at 408-09, 120 S.Ct. 1495. We must defer to the state court's factual findings unless a defect in the process is so apparent that "any appellate court . . . would be unreasonable in holding that the state court's fact-finding process was adequate." Taylor, 366 F.3d at 1000.

II. DeWeaver's confession

DeWeaver argues that the state appellate court decided contrary to federal law when it concluded that he had not invoked his right to remain silent. He contends that by asking to go back to his jail cell, he invoked his privilege against self incrimination. At that point, DeWeaver argues, under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), police were required to cease the interrogation and return him to the jail. He then argues that even if there was no violation of Miranda, his confession was involuntary because of the coercive techniques used by the police interrogators. We first address DeWeaver's argument that the police officers violated the rule in Miranda, and then his argument regarding the voluntariness of his statement.

A. Factual and procedural background

DeWeaver and another man were charged with first-degree murder, and DeWeaver was charged with attempted first-degree murder for two shootings in Oakland, California. Two days after the shootings, police encountered DeWeaver smoking marijuana in a parked car. In the car, officers discovered narcotics and two loaded handguns; they arrested DeWeaver for possession of the drugs and firearms and informed him of his rights under Miranda. DeWeaver told the officers that he did not wish to give a statement and he was not questioned at that time.

Over the course of two or three days, testing revealed that the bullets recovered from the shootings in Oakland had been fired by the guns found with DeWeaver in the car, and witnesses to the shootings identified DeWeaver as a shooter in photographic line-ups. Homicide Sergeant Ersie Joyner transported DeWeaver from the jail to the police department to question him about the shootings. Sergeant Joyner and DeWeaver both testified that on the morning of the interrogation, DeWeaver was picked up by a police officer at North County jail and driven to the police station where he was placed in an interrogation room. Police officers asked DeWeaver if he would like something to eat, brought him some food, and left him alone in the interrogation room for an hour before beginning the interview. At this point, the two accounts diverge.

DeWeaver testified that as soon as the officers entered the interrogation room, he asked them if they were Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agents. When they said no, they were homicide detectives, DeWeaver remembered immediately replying, "I don't want to talk to you." When the detectives asked him why, DeWeaver testified that he told them: "I don't want to talk to you, you're homicide detectives, you investigate homicides." He could not remember what Joyner said in response, but testified that he then asked them to "take [him] back to North County." According to DeWeaver, Joyner "asked me to hear him out, and after I finish hearing him out, if I still want to go back to North County he'd take me."

DeWeaver's account continued with Joyner telling him that the guns with which he had been arrested were linked to the shootings, numerous witnesses had identified him as the shooter, and the person who drove him to the scene of the shooting had confessed. At that point, DeWeaver said he felt confused and scared; he did not know what to do or what to think. But he asked to see the photographic line-ups from which the witnesses had identified him. He testified that he looked at them and then said, "Okay, I heard you out and I want to go back to North County now."

Although he was unclear of the timing, he testified that he repeatedly asked to make a phone call, to go back to jail, and told the interrogators that he did not want to talk to them. Overall, DeWeaver attempted to paint a picture of a coercive interrogation, even going so far as to testify, "by the time I made that statement, I no longer had the decision making skills to refuse to do it because it was like, I guess I feel like my will was overborne." He said that he was overwhelmed with fear for his girlfriend, their unborn child, his father, and his brother because one of the victim's family members might retaliate. DeWeaver alleged that Joyner told him if he made a statement the police could protect his family. DeWeaver also claimed that Joyner told him that if he did not make a statement he would look like a cold-blooded killer, but that if he did the judge might be lenient.

In contrast, Joyner described a non-remarkable police interrogation. Joyner testified that he and his partner came into the interview room, talked to DeWeaver about his name, birth date, and living arrangements. Joyner then admonished DeWeaver of his Miranda rights by reading to him from the standardized form prepared by the Oakland Police Department. DeWeaver waived his rights by initialing the form next to the waiver statements and wrote the time of the waiver next to his initials.

According to Joyner, DeWeaver never said that he did not want to talk to the officers, but he did ask to go back to jail. At the preliminary hearing, Joyner testified that, when they started discussing the shootings in more detail, DeWeaver appeared upset that he would be spending his fifth birthday in a row in jail and asked to be returned to jail. At the Miranda hearing, Joyner was less clear about the timing of the request, but said that DeWeaver appeared reluctant to confront the evidence against him. In response, Joyner conveyed that returning to jail was not going to make the situation go away. He asked DeWeaver to hear him out and told him if he still wanted to return to jail, Joyner would take him.

Like DeWeaver, Joyner testified that he told DeWeaver that the guns with which he been arrested fired the bullets from the shootings, a witness had identified him as the shooter, and the person who had been driving DeWeaver the day of the shooting was at the station being questioned at the same time. But, according to Joyner, he never threatened DeWeaver or discussed possible sentences. He never...

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