Walker v. Kelly, 06-23.
| Decision Date | 27 January 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 06-23.,06-23. |
| Citation | 593 F.3d 319 |
| Parties | Darick Demorris WALKER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Loretta K. KELLY, Warden, Sussex I State Prison, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
ARGUED: Jody Manier Kris, Wilmerhale, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Steven Andrew Witmer, Office of the Attorney General of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Amy Oberdorfer Nyberg, Susan S. Friedman, Jeremy D. Dresner, Wilmerhale, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Robert F. McDonnell, Attorney General of Virginia, Jerry P. Slonaker, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.
Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and GREGORY and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by published opinion. Judge SHEDD wrote the opinion, in which Chief Judge TRAXLER joined. Judge GREGORY wrote a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.
In Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335 (2002), the Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits the execution of mentally retarded persons. Relying on Atkins, Virginia capital inmate Darick Demorris Walker filed a petition for federal habeas corpus relief seeking to prevent his execution. Finding that Walker failed to prove that he is mentally retarded under Virginia law,1 the district court denied the petition, and he now appeals. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the district court.
In 1998, the Commonwealth of Virginia convicted Walker of capital murder for the killings of two men within a three-year period. Walker was sentenced to death, and his conviction and capital sentence were affirmed. Walker v. Commonwealth, 258 Va. 54, 515 S.E.2d 565 (1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1125, 120 S.Ct. 955, 145 L.Ed.2d 829 (2000). The underlying facts of his crimes, which are not pertinent to this appeal, are set forth in the state supreme court's opinion. See 515 S.E.2d at 568-69.
After unsuccessfully pursuing state post-conviction relief, Walker filed the first of two petitions for habeas corpus relief in the district court. The claims involved in Walker's first habeas petition are not before us in this appeal. See Walker v. Kelly, 589 F.3d 127 (4th Cir.2009) ().
While Walker's first habeas petition was pending in the district court, the Supreme Court decided Atkins. Concluding that a national consensus had developed against the execution of the mentally retarded, the Court held that the Eighth Amendment bars their execution. In doing so, the Court noted:
To the extent there is serious disagreement about the execution of mentally retarded offenders, it is in determining which offenders are in fact retarded. . . . Not all people who claim to be mentally retarded will be so impaired as to fall within the range of mentally retarded offenders about whom there is a national consensus.
Atkins, 536 U.S. at 317, 122 S.Ct. 2242. However, the Court "did not provide definitive procedural or substantive guides for determining when a person who claims mental retardation will be so impaired as to fall" within the class of defendants ineligible for capital punishment. Bobby v. Bies, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 2145, 2150, 173 L.Ed.2d 1173 (2009) (internal punctuation omitted). Instead, the Court expressly left to the states the "`task of developing appropriate ways to enforce the constitutional restriction upon [their] execution of sentences.'" Atkins, 536 U.S. at 317, 122 S.Ct. 2242 (quoting Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399, 405, 106 S.Ct. 2595, 91 L.Ed.2d 335 (1986)). "States . . . have responded to that challenge by adopting their own measures for adjudicating claims of mental retardation." Schriro v. Smith, 546 U.S. 6, 7, 126 S.Ct. 7, 163 L.Ed.2d 6 (2005).
The Virginia General Assembly responded to Atkins by enacting a statutory scheme to determine capital defendants' claims of mental retardation. Pertinent to this case, the General Assembly mandated that a capital defendant has the burden of proving mental retardation by a preponderance of the evidence, Va.Code § 19.2-264.3:1.1(C), and it defined the term "mentally retarded" as:
[A] disability, originating before the age of 18 years, characterized concurrently by (i) significantly subaverage intellectual functioning as demonstrated by performance on a standardized measure of intellectual functioning administered in conformity with accepted professional practice, that is at least two standard deviations below the mean and (ii) significant limitations in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social and practical adaptive skills.
Va.Code § 19.2-264.3:1.1(A). For a capital defendant (such as Walker) who had completed his direct appeal and state habeas proceeding as of the effective date of the legislation, the General Assembly specified that "he shall not be entitled to file any further habeas petitions in the [Virginia] Supreme Court and his sole remedy shall lie in federal court." Va.Code § 8.01-654.2.
Walker initially presented his Atkins claim in his appeal from the denial of his first federal habeas petition. Construing his Atkins claim in that appeal as a motion for authorization to file a successive habeas corpus petition, we granted Walker authorization. See Walker v. True, 67 Fed. Appx. 758, 770-71 (4th Cir.) ("Walker v. True I"), vacated on other grounds, 540 U.S. 1013, 124 S.Ct. 567, 157 L.Ed.2d 426 (2003). Walker then filed his second federal habeas petition (which is now before us), and the Commonwealth moved to dismiss that petition. The district court granted the Commonwealth's motion and entered judgment against Walker.
On appeal, we vacated the judgment, concluding that the district court erred by dismissing the petition without holding an evidentiary hearing; consequently, we remanded the case for an evidentiary hearing to address whether Walker is mentally retarded under Virginia law. See Walker v. True II, 399 F.3d at 327. However, although we ruled in Walker's favor concerning his right to have an evidentiary hearing, we rejected his contention that he was entitled to have a jury decide whether he is mentally retarded. As we explained:
[T]he portion of the Virginia statute that refers to a jury determination does so in the context of the appropriate procedure at sentencing in state court. It does not bear on the appropriate federal procedure governing Walker's Eighth Amendment claim that is based, in part, upon Virginia's definition of mentally retarded.
On remand, the district court held a multi-day evidentiary hearing without a jury, during which the parties introduced a substantial amount of evidence on the issue of Walker's mental retardation. This evidence included Walker's scores on various standardized tests; documentary evidence from school, prison, and medical records; and declarations from his family, acquaintances, and fellow inmates. The court also heard testimony from several witnesses, including designated experts who testified on the issue of Walker's mental retardation. Eventually, the court denied Walker's petition. This appeal followed.
In accordance with Virginia law, Walker presented his Atkins claim only in federal court; therefore, the standard of review mandated by AEDPA does not apply. See Walker v. True II, 399 F.3d at 319. Instead, we review the district court's legal conclusions de novo and its factual findings for clear error. Green v. Johnson, 515 F.3d 290, 301 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 2999, ___ L.Ed.2d ___ (2008). Because the determination of mental retardation involves a question of fact, Atkins v. Commonwealth, 272 Va. 144, 631 S.E.2d 93, 98 (2006), we review the district court's finding that Walker is not mentally retarded for clear error, Holladay v. Allen, 555 F.3d 1346, 1353 (11th Cir.2009). When we review factual findings under this standard,
Our scope of review is narrow; we do not exercise de novo review . . . or substitute our version of the facts for that found by the district court. Instead, "[i]f the district court's account of the evidence is plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety, the court of appeals may not reverse it even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently." Thus, facts found by the district court are conclusive on appeal "unless they are plainly wrong." A factual finding by the district court may be reversed only if, "although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed."
Walton v. Johnson, 440 F.3d 160, 173-74 (4th Cir.2006) (en banc) (citations omitted).
A.
To prevail on his Atkins claim under Virginia law, Walker must meet the comprehensive definition of the statutory term "mentally retarded." Green, 515 F.3d at 298. Thus, he must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he has a disability that originated before the age of 18, and that the disability is characterized by (1) significantly subaverage intellectual functioning as demonstrated by performance on a standardized measure of intellectual functioning administered in conformity with accepted professional practice, that is at least two standard deviations below the mean ("the I.Q. prong") and (2) significant limitations in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills ("the adaptive prong"). Although Walker devotes much of his appeal to the district court's analysis of the I.Q. prong, it is unnecessary for us to address those arguments because we conclude that the court did not clearly err in rejecting his claim on the adaptive prong. See Green, 515 F.3d at 301 (...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- Nicholson v. Branker
- Brown v. Nucor Corp.
- Smith v. Ryan
- Fulks v. Watson