Lawrence v. 48TH Dist. Court
| Decision Date | 24 March 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 07-1094.,07-1094. |
| Citation | 560 F.3d 475 |
| Parties | Frank J. LAWRENCE, Jr., Petitioner-Appellant, v. 48TH DISTRICT COURT, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Edward J. Christensen, Law Office, East Lansing, Michigan, for Appellant. Michael L. Updike, Secrest, Wardle, Lynch, Hampton, Truex & Morley, Farmington Hills, Michigan, for Appellee.
ON BRIEF:
Edward J. Christensen, Law Office, East Lansing, Michigan, for Appellant. Mark S. Roberts, William P. Hampton, Secrest, Wardle, Lynch, Hampton, Truex & Morley, Farmington Hills, Michigan, for Appellee.
Before: KENNEDY and BATCHELDER, Circuit Judges; THAPAR, District Judge.*
KENNEDY, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which BATCHELDER, J., joined. THAPAR, D.J. (p. 485), delivered a separate concurring opinion.
Frank J. Lawrence, Jr., filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus1 in federal district court after the 48th District Court in Bloomfield Township, Michigan convicted him of interference with a police officer in the discharge of his duties.2 The district court denied Lawrence's petition. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
The Bloomfield Township Ordinance under which Lawrence was convicted, No. 137, § 16.01(a), titled "Interference with Police Department," provides:
No person shall resist any police officer, any member of the police department or any person duly empowered with police authority while in the discharge or apparent discharge of his duty, or in any way interfere with or hinder him with the discharge of his duty.
Lawrence's conviction was for circumstances that took place on August 19, 2000. Lawrence's brother, Christian Lawrence, called 911 to report that his father, Frank Lawrence, Sr., had struck him with a board. He reported that three people were in the house, Lawrence, Lawrence's father, and himself. The police arrived at the house and looked in the doorway to see that Christian was in the home holding his eye. Christian stepped outside where paramedics tended to him. Police next ordered Lawrence's father to exit the home, at which point he was arrested. Additional officers arrived on the scene and inquired as to whether anyone else was inside of the home. The officers knew that Lawrence remained inside the home, but did not know who else might also be inside. An officer called to Lawrence to tell him to step outside the home pursuant to the department's General Order 95-40B which directed police officer response to domestic violence calls. Lawrence refused to exit, stating, "Fuck you," in addition to citing some case law, and demanding that the officers obtain a warrant before entering. The officer informed Lawrence of the need to check for additional suspects, victims, or evidence, but Lawrence refused to allow entry into the home, and blocked the door by standing in front of it. The officer then pulled Lawrence out onto the porch, entered to conduct a sweep of the home, and with Christian's help retrieved the weapon, a board. Lawrence was then placed under arrest.
Lawrence was arraigned on September 11, 2000 in the 48th District Court. On October 4, 2000, in federal district court, Lawrence brought a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit with pendent state law claims against Bloomfield Township, police officers at the scene of the incident, the police chief, and the township supervisor for the arrest. He then filed a motion in federal district court for a preliminary injunction, seeking to enjoin the enforcement of the ordinance against him in state court. The district court denied the injunction and stayed the proceedings on the remaining claims in the district court pending the resolution of the state prosecution.3 Lawrence then filed a motion to dismiss in the 48th District Court which Judge Edward Avadenka denied with an opinion dated February 28, 2001.
On April 2, 2001, in the Oakland County Circuit Court, Lawrence sought leave to appeal the denial of his motion to dismiss and to enjoin the state court prosecution. Circuit Judge Rae Lee Chabot denied the leave to appeal in part on the merits and in part on ripeness grounds in an opinion dated August 15, 2001. The Michigan Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court both denied Lawrence leave to appeal the decision as well on October 8, 2001, and April 5, 2002, respectively.
Lawrence was found guilty following a jury trial in the 48th District Court on April 8, 2002. On June 26, 2002, Judge Avadenka sentenced Lawrence to 12 months non-reporting probation in addition to 500 hours of community service. In the same proceeding, Judge Avadenka recused himself. Judge Charles Bokos was assigned the case. On January 17, 2003, Judge Bokos denied Lawrence's motion for a new trial on his criminal conviction. Judge Bokos released Lawrence on personal bond pending the resolution of Lawrence's appeal. Lawrence appealed the denial of a motion for a new trial to the Oakland County Circuit Court, where Circuit Judge Colleen O'Brien affirmed the denial of a motion for a new trial on February 25, 2004. The Michigan Court of Appeals and Supreme Court both denied Lawrence leave to appeal Judge O'Brien's decision on July 26, 2004 and June 30, 2005, respectively.
On July 8, 2005, Lawrence filed this petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court. At that time, Lawrence had not yet been sentenced by Judge Bokos which did not occur until December 28, 2005. Judge Bokos gave Lawrence a monetary-only penalty. Lawrence's habeas petition was denied by the district court on December 19, 2006. The denial is the subject of this appeal.
We review the district court's denial of the requested writ of habeas corpus de novo. Mendoza v. Berghuis, 544 F.3d 650, 652 (6th Cir.2008).
We will grant a writ of habeas corpus if and only if "the judgment of [the] State court ... with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits ... (1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to ... 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...." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Lawrence argues that this standard that normally governs habeas petitions should not govern here because Judge O'Brien declined to opine on a constitutional issue and instead relied upon Judge Chabot's determination of that issue. Br. at 19. Judge O'Brien concluded that Judge Chabot's decision denying leave to appeal held that exigent circumstances existed to legitimize warrantless entry into Lawrence's home, and that holding constituted the law of the case. Since Judge Chabot's determination of the constitutional issue of exigency occurred in her denial of Lawrence's leave to appeal, Lawrence's argument goes, Judge O'Brien's decision does not deserve deferential review because "denials of leave to appeal do not constitute rulings on the merits of a case," Br. at 19 (quoting People v. Hines, 88 Mich.App. 148, 152, 276 N.W.2d 550 (1979)), such that the claim had not been adjudicated in a State court on the merits according to 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). In other words, Lawrence argues that no Michigan court adjudicated the issue of exigency on the merits because Judge O'Brien considered the issue to be law of the case and did not to go the merits, and Judge Chabot's determination as part of a leave to appeal is not a ruling on the merits of a case.
Lawrence's argument fails because Judge Chabot denied leave for appeal for lack of merit in Lawrence's claims which included the issue of exigency. Under Michigan law, a court can consider itself bound by a decision rendered in the denial of a leave to appeal as law of the case where the denial of the leave to appeal came on the merits of the case. People v. Collier, No. 253151, 2005 WL 1106501, at * 1 (citing People v. Hayden, 132 Mich.App. 273, 297, 348 N.W.2d 672 (1984)) ("Although denial of an application for leave to appeal where the court expresses no opinion on the merits does not implicate the law of the case doctrine, this Court has consistently held that denial of an application `for lack of merit in the grounds presented' is a decision on the merits of the issues raised, which precludes subsequent review of those issues pursuant to the law of the case doctrine.") (internal citations omitted); cf. People v. Shook, No. 233346, 2002 WL 31379664, at *2 (Mich.Ct.App. Oct.22, 2002) (citing People v. Phillips, 227 Mich.App. 28, 35, 575 N.W.2d 784 (1997)) ("a denial of leave to appeal by the Supreme Court, without explanation, is generally not considered a decision on the merits and is not precedentially binding"). Lawrence cites Hines for the general proposition that "denials of leave to appeal do not constitute rulings on the merits of a case," 88 Mich.App. at 152, 276 N.W.2d 550, which is indeed true, but with the caveat that denials of leaves to appeal based on lack of merit may constitute rulings on the merits of a case.
Judge Chabot, in her denial of Lawrence's leave to appeal, held that the likelihood that a piece of evidence, namely a board Lawrence's father purportedly used to hit Christian, was inside the home provided the exigent circumstances necessary to permit the police officers into the home. The court concluded with: "the Court finds [Lawrence's arguments regarding exigency] without merit." Judge O'Brien considered Judge Chabot's decision a ruling on the merits which became the law of the case; similarly then, we must give Judge Chabot's decision due deference in accordance with the comity that habeas's deferential standard was meant to foster. See, e.g., Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 368, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000). Therefore, the standard of review with respect to all of Lawrence's...
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