Clark v. Moran

Citation749 F. Supp. 1186
Decision Date18 October 1990
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 89-0292 P.
PartiesSidney A. CLARK, Petitioner, v. John MORAN, Director, Department of Corrections, Respondent.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of Rhode Island

Matthew F. Medeiros, Flanders & Medeiros, Providence, R.I., for petitioner.

Jeffrey J. Greer, R.I. Atty. Gen.'s Office, Providence, R.I., for respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER

PETTINE, Senior District Judge.

Sidney Clark is incarcerated in the Adult Correctional Institution ("ACI"), serving a life sentence after being convicted of the 1974 murder of Claude Saunders, a fellow inmate at the ACI. Clark challenges several aspects of his trial in his present petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

Claude Saunders was stabbed to death in his cell at the ACI in November 1974. Approximately eight hours after the murder, the Rhode Island State Police, believing Clark was involved in the crime, applied benzidine directly to Clark's skin. Benzidine, a chemical that turns blue when it comes in contact with certain enzymes in blood, can be used to help detect blood on clothing or skin. Benzidine is also a potent carcinogen. Clark's benzidine test was positive. The state introduced the test results at Clark's trial.

Clark, in his habeas petition, claims that the benzidine test conducted on him violated his fourteenth amendment rights, that the introduction of the results of the test at his trial constitutes harmful error sufficient to grant his habeas petition, and that his counsel was ineffective in not raising the issue of the constitutionality of the benzidine test at trial. The state concedes that the benzidine test violated Clark's due process rights but argues that introduction of the test results was harmless error under the standards established in Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 828, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967), and that Clark's counsel was effective under the test first delineated in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2064, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Having read both parties' extensive and well-crafted briefs and having reviewed the transcript of Clark's trial, this Court agrees with the state and denies Clark's petition for habeas relief.

I. CLARK'S TRIAL

Because both the harmless error and ineffectiveness of counsel analysis rest ultimately on the prejudice to Clark caused by the introduction of the results of the benzidine test, this Court must conduct a de novo review of the trial record. This Court will consider the evidence introduced at trial and will separately analyze the evidence of the benzidine test.

A. The Murder of Claude Saunders

The murder of Claude Saunders occurred around 5:00 PM on November 2, 1974 in his cell, cell # 30 on "A" tier in the ACI's Admission and Orientation (A & O) section. The cells in the A & O section had just been opened to let the inmates out for recreation. The A & O section has three tiers stacked on top of each other. "C" tier was on the bottom tier, labeled the "Flats." On November 2, the "C" tier cells were the first to be opened. "B" tier, the middle tier, was opened next. "A" tier, the top tier was opened last. Each tier had 33 cells, numbered from 1-33 from right to left as one faced the cells. By the time the cells on "A" tier were opened, the sixty six inmates from "C" and "B" were out, milling about; other inmates from other sections of the prison joined those in the A & O section. It was very noisy, T. 1064;1 inmates were going up and down the stairs between the three tiers. T. 1062-63. Three inmates did not even use the stairs; they climbed up to "A" tier, using the railing on "B" tier and the catwalk on "A" tier to hoist themselves up.

In that pandemonium, someone stabbed Claude Saunders. About 90 minutes prior to the attack, Charles Saunders had been eating dinner with his brother Claude when Sidney Clark approached them. T. 15-16. Clark demanded payment of an ounce of marijuana that he claimed Claude owed him. Claude denied owing Clark anything. Clark left the prison cafeteria; the Saunders brothers left soon thereafter. Around 4:30, Charles was in his cell when Clark appeared again and repeated that Claude owed him an ounce of marijuana. When Charles denied that his brother owed Clark anything, Clark pulled out a homemade knife with a black taped handle and began "shaking it up and down." T. 19. The following conversation ensued:

Clark: "`Well, I'm just going to scare your brother, because your brother owed me an ounce of marijuana.'"
Charles Saunders: "`Man, you're not going to do nothing to my brother.'"
Clark: "`Well, if you want to do anything, you're going to get the tip of this knife, too.'" T. 20.

Around 5:00 PM, Robert Studman, an inmate who lived on "A" tier with Claude Saunders,2 saw Clark walk past his cell, cell # 26, towards Saunders' cell, cell # 30. Clark was pulling the knife he had waved at Charles Saunders from his pants with his right hand. At about that moment, the cells on "A" tier were opened. Looking out of his cell, Studman saw Clark pressed against the cellblock wall, peeking into Claude Saunders' cell. He was holding the knife behind his back. Clark went into Cell # 30.

Studman walked towards Saunders' cell. When he got there, Tyrone Powell was standing outside; he showed Studman an ice pick and said, "You can't go in there." Jesse Cannon was standing in front of cell # 24, Tyrone Powell's cell.

Studman then testified that he stood in front of Saunder's cell and watched what developed inside. Although a sheet was pulled over the entrance to Saunders' cell, there was an 18" opening and Studman could see Saunders sitting on his bed facing the entrance of his cell with Clark standing in front of him. Behind Clark's back was the knife. Clark and Saunders were arguing. T. 66. Suddenly, Clark unleashed "a roundhouse" at Saunders with the knife. Saunders rocked back to avoid the thrust. Studman could not see if the first swing hit Saunders. As Saunders tried to get up from his bed Clark swung again, hitting him square in the chest with a downward swing. Saunders dropped to his knees, grabbed his T.V. set, and threw it at Clark. Clark took another swipe at Saunders, turned, and left the cell.

One ACI guard, Officer Paquette, was standing near Cell # 1, opening up the cells on "A" tier. He did not see anyone on the tier. He admitted, however, that the lighting was poor in the area of Saunders' cell because two overhead lights were out in the cell block. T. 1019. Consequently, it "would have been real tough" to see someone dressed as Clark was standing against the wall near Cell # 30. T. 1030. He did not remember anyone passing him before he opened the cells, T. 1020, but inmates did go around him after he opened the cells. T. 1036. Once he opened the cells, the inmates began milling around. He saw a group of them standing at the end of the tier, near Saunders' cell. Although he stated he did not see Clark, Cannon, or Powell, he could not positively identify any of the prisoners near Saunders' cell. T. 1035.

Julio Holley, an inmate who lived on "B" tier, was down on the Flats as the cells on "A" tier were opened. He saw Clark walk down "A" tier, take a knife from his pants with his right hand, and peek into Saunders' cell. When the cell doors opened, he saw Clark go in. Clark emerged from the cell a few minutes later and tucked the knife into the front of his pants.

Officer Nerney opened Tyrone Powell's cell on "A" tier at about 4:45 and Powell's cell remained open from that point. T. 494. Shortly thereafter, Nerney saw Sidney Clark. At trial, he said Clark was on "B" tier; in an earlier report, he had stated he saw Clark on both the "A" and "B" tiers. He opened up the cells on "B" tier and about five minutes later heard yelling at the far end of "A" tier. He went down to the Flats to see what was causing the commotion. When he looked up to "A" tier, Claude Saunders was leaning over the rail yelling for help. Nerney ran up to "A" tier. At no time did he see anyone running on "A" Tier, nor did he see anyone behind Saunders.

Officer Harris supervised the opening of the tiers in the A & O section on November 2, 1974. He was standing on the Flats when the cells on "A" tier opened. About five minutes later he heard Saunders yell for help. T. 987. Once he saw Saunders, he turned his back on the tiers to phone for help. T. 987-8. By that time, he said that about 30 inmates were standing on "A" tier. Although he did not see Clark there, he could not identify any of the inmates on the top tier. T. 990-91. Similarly, Officer Levesque was down on the Flats watching the cell opening. He was looking at a large group of inmates on "A" tier when he heard Saunders yell. His attention turned to Officer Paquette standing at the control box at "A" 1. He did not see Clark, and did not see anyone run by Paquette. He admitted, however, that like Officer Paquette, he could not identify the inmates who were up on "A" tier and once he heard Saunders scream, his attention was drawn to Paquette. He would not have noticed anyone walking by him on the Flats. T. 1066.

Saunders was bleeding when he got up off the floor, came out of his cell, fell against the railing on the edge of the catwalk, and ran down towards Cell # 1. At some point, he leaned over the railing and hollered for help. Studman testified that he was right behind Saunders, trying to help him. Officer Paquette, when he first noticed Saunders, saw two other inmates who seemed to be helping Saunders along. By the time Saunders reached the end of the tier, where Paquette was standing, his wounds were bleeding and he was bleeding profusely from the mouth and nose. Paquette and Nerney tried to help Saunders down the stairs leading to the Flats. He slipped out of their hands and rolled down to "B" Tier. The guards eventually lifted Saunders up and carried him to the prison hospital.

Soon after the attack on Saunders, inmates Clark and Cannon walked past inmate...

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4 cases
  • Clark v. Moran
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit
    • June 5, 1991
    ...pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. His habeas petition was denied by the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. 749 F.Supp. 1186. We I. BACKGROUND Claude Saunders, an ACI inmate, was stabbed to death in his cell around 5 p.m. on November 2, 1974. Saunders was housed in ce......
  • Matthews v. Rakiey
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit
    • February 9, 1995
    ...Cir.1991) (quoting Strickland). This court must make "every effort ... to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight." Clark v. Moran, 749 F.Supp. at 1199-1200 (quoting Strickland; emphasis norms when considering all the circumstances. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 688, 104 S.Ct. at 2064; Clar......
  • Bolarinho v. State
    • United States
    • Rhode Island Superior Court
    • June 20, 2012
    ...clear that an attorney's assistance is not rendered ineffective because he failed to anticipate a new rule of law"); Clark v. Moran, 749 F. Supp. 1186, 1201 (D.R.I. 1990) ("counsel not ineffective for failing 'to anticipate changes in the law'") (quoting United States v. Baynes, 687 F.2d 65......
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