Boyd v. Comm'r, Ala. Dep't of Corr.

• Decision Date: 10 October 2012
• Docket Number: No. 09–15961.,09–15961.
• Parties: Anthony BOYD, Petitioner–Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Attorney General of the State of Alabama, Respondents–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

697 F.3d 1320

Anthony BOYD, Petitioner–Appellant,
v.
COMMISSIONER, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Attorney General of the State of Alabama, Respondents–Appellees.

No. 09–15961.

United States Court of Appeals,
Eleventh Circuit.

Oct. 10, 2012.

[697 F.3d 1324]

Matthew C. Moschella, Peter F. Herzog, John C. LaLiberte, Sherin and Lodgen, LLP, Boston, MA, for Petitioner–Appellant.

Henry Mitchell Johnson, Alabama Atty. Gen.'s Office, Montgomery, AL, for Respondents–Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Before BARKETT, MARCUS and WILSON, Circuit Judges.

MARCUS, Circuit Judge:

In this death case, Anthony Boyd has filed a federal petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging the validity of his 1995 conviction and death sentence imposed in Alabama for the capital murder of Gregory Huguley. The district court denied Boyd's petition in its entirety, concluding, for a variety of reasons, that the claims Boyd had raised in his original state petition for post-conviction relief, as well as the claims raised in his amended petition were procedurally barred from federal review, but that even if reviewed on the merits, they would fail. After thorough review, we affirm.

I. A. The Murder and Boyd's Trial

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals summarized the basic facts of the murder this way:

The victim of this crime was Gregory Huguley. The participants in this capital murder are the defendant, Anthony Boyd, Shawn Ingram, Marcel Ackles and Quintay Cox. All of these participants played an active role in the abduction and the murder of the victim. All were coconspirators and accomplices.

On July 31, 1993, Anthony Boyd, along with Shawn Ingram and Marcel Ackles, were looking for Gregory Huguley, a/k/a “New York,” because Gregory Huguley had gotten cocaine from them several days before and he had failed to pay up. The charge for the cocaine was $200.00. These men were later joined by Quintay Cox, who provided a 9–millimeter Mack 11 automatic pistol. These men continued their search for Gregory Huguley and in the early evening of July 31, 1993, they spotted “New York” on 15th Street in Anniston, Alabama. At this time they were riding in a blue van that Marcel Ackles had rented. The van approached “New York” and then stopped. Shawn Ingram took the Mack 11 automatic pistol and walked over to “New York” and told him to come here. “New York” hesitated and then Shawn grabbed “New York” and pushed him into the van and onto the floor by the first bench seat. After leaving the scene of the abduction, Quintay Cox [was] let out at Cooper Homes and [was] instructed to follow the others. The first stop of the defendant and the participants was at a gasoline station, where Marcel Ackles got out and purchased some gasoline in a plastic container. Then all of the participants, including the defendant and the victim, proceeded to a baseball field

[697 F.3d 1325]

in the Munford community in North Talladega County, Alabama. During this trip Gregory Huguley was made to lie down on the floor board of the van by defendant Boyd and co-defendant, Shawn Ingram. He kept saying to his abductors, “Do not kill me. I will get your money.” When the participants arrived at the baseball field between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., Shawn Ingram made “New York” lie down on a bench. Then Marcel Ackles taped “New York” 's hands and mouth and the defendant, Anthony Boyd, taped his feet, all with duct tape. Then “New York” was taped to the bench. At this time, Shawn Ingram doused gasoline on “New York.” Then he made a two-foot trail of gasoline from the bench where “New York” was lying. Then he lit the trail of gasoline which led to “New York” and caused him to be caught on fire. The defendant and the other participants watched “New York” burn for 10 to 15 minutes until the flame went out. During the burning “New York” rolled over a few feet. Then at this point in time he died as a result of the burning. Then the defendant and Shawn Ingram left in the van and returned to Anniston, and Quintay Cox and Marcel Ackles returned to Anniston in Quintay's car. On the way back to Anniston, Marcel said to Quintay, “We are all in this together. If one goes down, all go down.” They arrived back in Anniston around 7:45 to 8:00 p.m.

The murder of the victim, Gregory Huguley, was of the intentional killing type while the defendant committed murder during kidnapping in the first degree. The defendant possessed all of the requisite intent to sustain a conviction as charged in the indictment. He was an active and full participant in the death of the victim, Gregory Huguley.

Boyd v. State, 715 So.2d 825, 832 (Ala.Crim.App.1997) (alterations in original).

At the guilt phase, the State presented forensic evidence, along with the testimony of eyewitnesses to the events highlighted by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. Several witnesses testified that prior to the murder, they had watched Huguley being forced into a van, and three of them specifically identified Boyd as one of the people in the van. Two witnesses testified to hearing that the victim owed Boyd and his co-defendants money for drugs and that they had to “get” him. A co-defendant, Quintay Cox, revealed that the defendants had actually been looking for another person named “Dexter” before they located Huguley. Cox then provided the details surrounding Huguley's kidnaping and murder, and explained that Boyd had participated fully, riding in the van with the others, taping together Huguley's feet before another co-defendant, Ingram, doused Huguley with gasoline and set him on fire, and then watching Huguley burn to death on a baseball field. Cox further testified that after the murder, Boyd exclaimed, “Well, we all in this together now.” ¹ Still another witness relayed that Boyd later confessed to having participated in Huguley's murder.

Boyd's defense team attempted to establish an alibi for Boyd at the time of the murder. Anniston Police Officer Nigel

[697 F.3d 1326]

Raines was called to testify that he chased Boyd one evening in July of 1993, but he could not determine the exact date of the encounter. Three witnesses said that they had been at a party with Boyd on the night of the murder, but admitted that they did not see him until 10 or 11 p.m. that night. Still another witness, Felecia Parker, could not recall what time she saw him at the party. However, one witness, Felicia Jones, did offer an alibi for the time of the murder, testifying that she had seen Boyd at the party a few minutes after she arrived at 7 p.m. Another witness was called in an effort to impeach the testimony of Sharon Ackles, one of the State's eyewitnesses to the kidnaping; this defense witness claimed that Ackles had never left the area of her house on the day of the murder but only walked up and down the block in front of the house, and thus could not have seen the kidnaping.

The jury found Boyd guilty of capital murder on March 16, 1995. At the penalty phase, the State presented no additional evidence. The defense offered fourteen witnesses who provided positive character testimony, describing how Boyd had worked with the children in his neighborhood and had been a positive influence on them and, indeed on people in the community. These witnesses included his mother, grandmother, stepfather, stepbrother, and two women with whom he had children. Several witnesses asked the jury to spare Boyd's life.

The jury returned a verdict recommending a sentence of death by a vote of ten to two. After a sentencing hearing, and in accordance with the recommendation of the jury, the trial court sentenced Boyd to death by electrocution. In its sentencing memorandum, the trial court found two statutory aggravating circumstances: (1) that the crime was committed while the petitioner was engaged in the commission of a kidnaping, seeAla.Code § 13A–5–49(4); and (2) that the crime was especially heinous, atrocious and cruel compared to other capital offenses, see id. § 13A–5–49(8). The trial court also found as a statutory mitigating factor that the petitioner had no significant prior criminal history, see id. § 13A–5–51(1), but found no other statutory or non-statutory mitigating factors. Thereafter, the trial court denied Boyd's motion for a new trial or reconsideration of his sentence.

B. Direct Appeal

The petitioner appealed his conviction to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, which affirmed the judgment and the sentence. Boyd v. State, 715 So.2d 825, 851 (Ala.Crim.App.1997). Boyd then petitioned for review by the Alabama Supreme Court, offering the same claims he had raised on direct appeal.

The Alabama Supreme Court adopted the opinion of the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, affirming Boyd's conviction and the ensuing death sentence. Ex parte Boyd, 715 So.2d 852 (Ala.1998). That court also reviewed the record for evidence of passion or prejudice in the imposition of the death sentence and found none. Finally, it concluded that the trial court and the Court of Criminal Appeals properly weighed the mitigating and aggravating circumstances and that Boyd's death sentence was proportional to the penalties imposed in similar cases. Id. at 856.

The United States Supreme Court denied Boyd's petition for writ of certiorari. Boyd v. Alabama, 525 U.S. 968, 119 S.Ct. 416, 142 L.Ed.2d 338 (1998).

C. State Post–Conviction Relief

On October 20, 1999, Boyd, now employing new counsel, filed a motion for relief from his conviction and sentence pursuant to Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure. We set out the rest of the

[697 F.3d 1327]

procedural history surrounding Boyd's state collateral attack because it is central to understanding the issues raised in this appeal. The State moved to dismiss several of Boyd's claims; thereafter Boyd filed motions for discovery. In January 2002, the State moved to amend its answer to the petition and filed an amended answer. On March 15, 2002, the trial court set a hearing...