Lee v. Comm'r, Ala. Dep't of Corr.
| Citation | 726 F.3d 1172 |
| Decision Date | 01 August 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. 12–14421.,12–14421. |
| Parties | Jeffery LEE, Petitioner–Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Respondent–Appellee. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit) |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
David Burman, John Thomas Cooke, Nicholas Gellert, Jeffrey Hanson, Charles Sipos, Perkins Coie, LLP, Seattle, WA, Leslie S. Smith, Federal Defender Program, Inc., Montgomery, AL, for Petitioner–Appellant.
Stephanie Reiland, Andrew Lynn Brasher and John Cowles Neiman, Jr., Attorney General's Office, Montgomery, AL, for Respondent–Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. D.C. Docket No. 1:10–cv–00587–WS–M.
Before TJOFLAT, DUBINA and HULL, Circuit Judges.
Alabama death row inmate Jeffery Lee appeals the district court's denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus. As to his death sentence, the Alabama appellate court held that: (1) Lee's trial counsel was not ineffective in the investigation and presentation of mitigation evidence under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); (2) the trial judge's override of the jury's life-sentence recommendation did not violate Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556 (2002); and (3) the State's peremptory challenges did not violate Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). After review and oral argument, we affirm because the state courts' denial of Lee's claims was not contrary to or an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Our opinion is organized as follows:
I. GUILT PHASE
On December 12, 1998, Petitioner Jeffery Lee shot and killed Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson and attempted to kill Helen King during an attempted armed robbery of a pawn shop.
The murder charges against Lee were capital in nature because Lee: (1) committed the murders during a robbery or an attempted robbery, seeAla.Code § 13A–5–40(a)(2); and (2) murdered two or more persons by one act or pursuant to a single scheme or course of conduct, see id. § 13A–5–40(a)(10). Two capital murder counts charged the murders of Ellis and Thompson during a robbery, see id. § 13A–5–40(a)(2); a third capital murder count charged those two murders pursuant to a single course of conduct, see id. § 13A–5–40(a)(10); and a fourth count charged the attempted murder of King, see id. §§ 13A–6–2, 13A–4–2. As recounted below, the trial evidence of Lee's guilt was overwhelming.
Critically, the State's evidence included: (1) the eyewitness testimony of the surviving victim King; (2) surveillance camera footage from the pawn shop which depicted the murders of Ellis and Thompson and the attempted murder of King; and (3) Lee's signed statement confessing to shooting the three victims and attempting to rob the pawn shop.1
On the day of the murders, Lee went into Jimmy's Pawn Shop in Orville, Alabama, under the guise of purchasing a wedding ring. Lee spoke with King, an employee of the pawn shop. Lee told King that he had no money with him and would return to the shop later with money to purchase a ring; Lee provided King with a fake...
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