Crawley v. Dinwiddie

• Decision Date: 19 October 2009
• Docket Number: No. 05-5087.,05-5087.
• Parties: Leon L. CRAWLEY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Walter DINWIDDIE, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

584 F.3d 916

Leon L. CRAWLEY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Walter DINWIDDIE, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 05-5087.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

October 19, 2009.

Howard A. Pincus, Assistant Federal Public Defender (Raymond P. Moore, Federal Public Defender, with him on the briefs) Denver, CO, for Petitioner-Appellant.

Donald D. Self, Assistant Attorney General (W.A. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General of Oklahoma, with him on the briefs) Oklahoma City, OK, for Respondent-Appellee.

Before O'BRIEN, EBEL and TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judges.

ORDER

The panel has decided, ma sponte. to withdraw the opinion issued on July 22, 2008, and replace it with the attached, revised opinion. While Crawley's petition for panel rehearing was pending, the Supreme Court decided Knowles v. Mirzayance, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 1411, 173 L.Ed.2d 251 (2009), which the revised opinion follows. Crawley's petition for panel rehearing is denied. Crawley's petition for rehearing en banc was transmitted to all of the judges of the court who are in regular active service as required by Rule 35 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. No poll was requested; Crawley's petition for rehearing en banc is denied.

The attached opinion is hereby substituted for the one issued on July 22, 2008.

O'BRIEN, Circuit Judge.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA) rejected Leon L. Crawley's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, concluding his attorney did not perform deficiently at Crawley's competency hearing by abiding Crawley's wishes and arguing he was competent to stand trial despite contrary medical opinion. The district court denied Crawley's habeas petition. Because the OCCA's resolution of Crawley's claim is not "contrary to or ... an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States," 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1), we affirm.

I. Background

Crawley was charged in Oklahoma state court with possession of a stolen vehicle after former conviction of two or more felonies and driving with a suspended license. Though he faced more than twenty years in prison, Crawley rejected the State's offer of six years incarceration in exchange for a guilty plea and insisted on going to trial. Dissatisfied with his first court-appointed counsel, Crawley filed a pro se motion for different counsel. Before the court could consider the motion, appointed counsel left the public defender's office and Crawley's case was reassigned to Assistant Public Defender Greg Graves.

Graves requested Crawley undergo a competency determination, fearing his "obsession with matters not relevant to his defense" was interfering with his ability to communicate with counsel. (R. Doc. 5, Ex A at 5 (quotations omitted)). The court appointed Dr. William Cooper to examine Crawley. Dr. Cooper concluded Crawley was able to appreciate the nature of the charges against him but was incompetent to stand trial because he was unable to consult with his attorney and rationally assist in the preparation of his defense. Crawley was not satisfied with Dr. Cooper's conclusions; he believed he was competent and welcomed a trial. The issue of Crawley's competence was put to a jury, where—in an odd reversal of roles—the government argued Crawley was incompetent and Graves, suppressing his misgivings, argued the opposite.¹

At the competency hearing, the government called Dr. Cooper, who testified Crawley was incompetent. Without making a formal diagnosis, Dr. Cooper stated Crawley was "somewhat guarded and suspicious," was unable to organize his thoughts in "a coherent, cohesive manner," heard voices, believed "God had been speaking to him," and exhibited "paranoid thinking." (R. Doc. 6 at 44-45.) The State also called Crawley, who testified to his understanding of the criminal proceedings and explained to the jury that he was, in fact, competent to stand trial and wanted to do so. Both Cooper and Crawley were subject to cross examination. Graves called no witnesses on Crawley's behalf, but did argue, contrary to the State's position and in spite of Dr. Cooper's opinion, that the evidence supported a finding of competency.² So the evidence came down to Dr. Cooper's opinion, which he explained to the jury,³ and Crawley's testimony, insisting he was competent. Crawley demonstrated a knowledge of the pending charges and the possible punishments. He was able to explain motion practice and his dissatisfaction with his prior attorney, who missed deadlines. He told the jury how charges in a prior case were dismissed because the State was not ready when the case was called. He demonstrated a knowledge of pleas and plea bargains. He knew a guilty plea waived appellate review most of the time. As is its prerogative, the jury agreed with Crawley, finding him competent. He was later convicted by a different jury of possession of a stolen vehicle and sentenced to twenty-five years incarceration.

In an apparent case of buyer's remorse, Crawley appealed to the OCCA, arguing his conviction should be reversed because, among other things, he was forced to testify against his will at the competency hearing; the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's finding of competency; and his counsel was ineffective at the competency hearing. In an unpublished summary opinion, the OCCA rejected his claims.

The OCCA determined it was proper for Crawley to be called to testify at the competency hearing because his counsel requested the hearing and, under Oklahoma law, a defendant may be called to testify against his will if he initiated the competency proceeding. The OCCA likewise rejected Crawley's sufficiency of the evidence argument, concluding that, despite Dr. Cooper's opinion, "the jury was within its province in giving greater weight to [Crawley's] testimony that he was competent." (R. Doc. 5, Ex. C at 3.) Relying on Nelson v. State, 21 P.3d 55, 60 (Okla.Crim. App.2001),⁴ and Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), the OCCA held Crawley "failed to show that trial counsel's conduct was deficient in following his ethical obligation to abide by his client's wishes [to be found competent and proceed to trial)."⁵ (R. Doc. 5, Ex. C at 2.)

Crawley filed a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, which the district court denied in a thorough and cogent opinion. We granted Crawley's application for a Certificate of Appealability (COA) and appointed counsel to represent him on appeal. Crawley challenges only the OCCA's rejection of his ineffective assistance of counsel claim, arguing his lawyer was ineffective by accommodating Crawley's preference to be found competent despite counsel's personal misgivings and the contrary opinions of Dr. Cooper and the prosecutor.

II. Discussion

"In an appeal of the dismissal of a federal habeas corpus petition, we review a district court's findings of fact for clear error and its conclusions of law de novo." Maynard v. Boone, 468 F.3d 665, 669 (10th Cir.2006) (quotations omitted), cert. denied, 549 U.S. 1285, 127 S.Ct. 1819, 167 L.Ed.2d 328 (2007). The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1), establishes the requirements for granting a writ of habeas corpus to a state prisoner. It provides in pertinent part:

An application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court shall not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in the State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim—

(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....

28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1) (emphasis added).

Crawley argues: "The state court's decision that counsel had to defer to Leon Crawley on the issue of his own competence—no matter the medical proof or counsel's own conclusion—is an objectively unreasonable application of Supreme Court precedent." (Appellant's Supp. Opening Br. at 18.) He contends "[this] conclusion ... follows inescapably from the Supreme Court's decision four decades ago in Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375, 86 S.Ct. 836, 15 L.Ed.2d 815 (1966)."⁶ (Id. at 20.)

In Pate, the Court held the trial court "deprived Robinson of his constitutional right to a fair trial" by failing to hold a competency hearing. 383 U.S. at 385, 86 S.Ct. 836. It noted "that counsel throughout the proceedings insisted that Robinson's present sanity [competence to stand trial] was very much in issue" and decided a competency hearing was necessary based on "the uncontradicted testimony of Robinson's history of pronounced irrational behavior." Id. at 384, 385-86, 86 S.Ct. 836. The Court rejected the State's argument that Robinson waived a competency determination by failing to demand a hearing, saying "it is contradictory to argue that a defendant may be incompetent, and yet knowingly or intelligently `waive' his right to have the court determine his capacity to stand trial." Id. at 384, 86 S.Ct. 836. The Court observed: "While Robinson's demeanor at trial might be relevant to the ultimate decision as to his sanity [competence to stand trial], it cannot be relied upon to dispense with a hearing on that very issue." Id. at 386, 86 S.Ct. 836.

The only conclusion "inescapably", flowing from Pate is that, at most, a competency hearing is required where the evidence before the court strongly suggests the defendant's competence is questionable. This case is quite the opposite. Here, a competency hearing was held and a jury found Crawley to be competent.

We follow the analytical method demonstrated in Knowles v. Mirzayance, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 1411, 173 L.Ed.2d 251 (2009), a recent Supreme Court decision reversing the Ninth Circuit. The Court held the Ninth Circuit erred in concluding the state court's decision to deny...