Cartwright v. Maynard
| Decision Date | 29 September 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-1231,86-1231 |
| Citation | 802 F.2d 1203 |
| Parties | William Thomas CARTWRIGHT, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Gary D. MAYNARD, Warden, Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester, Oklahoma, and Michael C. Turpen, Attorney General of Oklahoma, Respondents-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Mandy Welch, of Payne and Welch, Hugo, Okl., for petitioner-appellant.
David W. Lee (Michael C. Turpen, Atty. Gen., with him on briefs), Asst. Atty. Gen., Oklahoma City, Okl., for respondents-appellees.
Before BARRETT, McWILLIAMS and TACHA, Circuit Judges.
Petitioner William Thomas Cartwright, presently incarcerated in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary under sentence of death following his conviction for the offense of Murder in the First Degree, appeals from the federal district court's denial of his petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. Appellant-petitioner Cartwright was sentenced to death by lethal drug injection on October 25, 1982, for the offense of Murder in the First Degree of the person of Hugh Riddle. On November 12, 1982, Cartwright was sentenced to seventy-five years imprisonment for the offense of Shooting With Intent to Kill the person of Charma Riddle. Cartwright was convicted of said offenses following trial by jury in the District Court of Muskogee County, Oklahoma. The convictions and sentences were affirmed on appeal, Cartwright v. State, 695 P.2d 548 (Okl.Cr.1985), and the Supreme Court of the United States denied the petition for writ of certiorari. Cartwright v. Oklahoma, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 3538, 87 L.Ed.2d 661 (1985).
On August 22, 1985, Cartwright's application for Post-Conviction relief was denied by the District Court of Muskogee County. That denial was affirmed on appeal. Cartwright v. State, 708 P.2d 592 (Okl.Cr.1985). A petition for writ of certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court of the United States. --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 837, 88 L.Ed.2d 808 (1986).
On February 6, 1986, Cartwright filed a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. On February 11, 1986, that court, following denial of an evidentiary hearing, entered an order denying the petition. This appeal is taken from that order. We affirm the district court's denial of habeas corpus relief.
Cartwright was employed by Hugh Riddle and his wife, Charma Riddle, in their construction-remodeling business in Muskogee, Oklahoma, for about six months from July, 1981, until early January, 1982. The relationship was excellent and Cartwright was promoted to foreman of a crew of about five. The Riddles considered Cartwright a conscientious employee and friend. Cartwright visited at the Riddle home often on business and social occasions.
In December, 1981, while working for the Riddles, Cartwright fell through loose flooring and injured his leg. He was treated at a hospital emergency room. On January 2, 1982, Cartwright contacted the Riddles about payment of the small medical bill 1 and Hugh Riddle laid him off.
In January, 1982, Cartwright moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. Cartwright returned to Muskogee, Oklahoma, on May 1, 1982, after he claimed to have received a phone call from an unidentified attorney advising him that Hugh Riddle had determined to settle on the medical bill. During the evening of May 4, 1982, Hugh Riddle was killed by a shotgun blast at his home. Charma Riddle was also shot twice, her throat was cut and she was stabbed in the abdomen, but was able to notify the police before her attacker, whom she identified at trial as Cartwright, cut the telephone line. Upon arriving at the Riddle residence, the police noticed a lone male running away from the area.
Late at night on May 6, 1982, Cartwright phoned his sister at her home in Muskogee from a pay telephone. His sister, Dovie Marie Field, informed him that the police were looking for him. After driving him to her home, feeding him and giving him aspirin for a bad headache, she phoned Assistant District Attorney Edmondson with whom she had spoken earlier in the day regarding Cartwright's whereabouts. Edmondson came to her home and took her and her brother to the police station just before midnight on the evening of May 6, 1986. (R., Vol. I, pp. 218-220).
At the police station, Cartwright complained of a headache and a pain in his left knee. He was taken to a hospital emergency room where he was examined by Doctor Charles Thomas Morgan. Cartwright said he had headaches "off and on" since childhood because of a "soft spot" on his head. Dr. Morgan diagnosed Cartwright as having a "nonspecific headache" and recommended aspirin. Id. at 561. Dr. Morgan did not administer any drug and he did not prescribe any. Cartwright was then asked whether he wished to go to the police station and get some rest or go to the courthouse for interrogation. He said he did not care. Id. at 502.
Cartwright was taken to the courthouse and was interrogated by Investigator Gary Sturm in the presence of Officer James Allen Stone. Prior to interrogation, Cartwright was orally informed of his "Miranda" rights by Sturm and thereafter he read and acknowledged those rights. Cartwright signed a written waiver. The tape recorded interrogation started at about 2:15 a.m. and lasted about an hour. While Cartwright did complain of a headache, his responses to questions posed by Sturm were clear and direct.
For a substantial initial portion of the questioning by Sturm, resulting in some 28 typed pages from the tape recording, id. at 553, Cartwright related that he had gone to the Riddle home on the evening of May 4, 1982, to speak with Hugh Riddle about the medical expenses he (Cartwright) had incurred and while standing on the front porch of the Riddle home speaking with Hugh Riddle, he was hit on the head and blacked out. He had no recollection of anything more until he woke up in a ditch on the morning of May 6, 1982. Cartwright was fully aware of the charges against him but insisted that he had not entered the Riddle home and had not had any further contact with Hugh or Charma Riddle. Suddenly, during the interrogation, Cartwright recalled: going "back" to the Riddle home on the evening of May 4, 1982; watching the Riddles eat; entering the Riddle home through a side door; obtaining a loaded gun in the bedroom closet; the gun going off when Charma Riddle "grabbed" it, and the gun going off again; shooting Hugh Riddle and then finding Charma Riddle sitting on the bedroom floor as he cut the phone wire; his cutting and stabbing Charma Riddle with a pocket knife; and his placement of the two guns, sleeping bags and other things in the Riddle Blazer truck. He also recalled seeing a spotlight as he placed a note on the Riddle door and ran away.
An Information was executed by the District Attorney for Muskogee County, Oklahoma, charging Cartwright with the subject crimes on May 5, 1982. It was supported by an Affidavit executed by Mr. Edmondson, the Assistant District Attorney, who related that Lt. Tom Spriggs had informed him that Charma Riddle had stated to him that Tom Cartwright had shot her and her husband with a shotgun in their home on the evening of May 4, 1982. The district court judge found probable cause and a Warrant for Cartwright's arrest on the subject charges was issued May 5, 1985. The warrant was served on Cartwright May 7, 1985. On that same date, Cartwright executed a pauper's affidavit and attorney John Garrett was appointed to represent him. Cartwright was ordered to be held without bond. A preliminary hearing was held on June 14, 1982. Cartwright was bound over for district court arraignment and bond was again denied. On July 1, 1982, Cartwright was arraigned. He entered a not guilty plea after waiving reading of the Information. The court granted Cartwright thirty days within which to file motions. After various motions were filed and ruled on, the case came on for trial commencing October 18, 1982. The jury verdict was returned on October 20, 1982, and sentence was handed down on October 25, 1982.
On October 25, 1982, Cartwright made out a handwritten statement. He related that he had never seen a doctor for his head pain but each year the pain grows stronger and harder to control. Contrary to his admissions on May 7, 1982, he wrote that he recalled: going to the Riddle home on the evening of May 4, 1982; the conversation with Hugh Riddle about the medical bills; someone struck him on the head and he fell to the ground; he heard screams and shots as someone placed something in his arm; he tried to move but could not because he was numb all over; one of "them" took off his shirt and put it on him so that Charma Riddle would identify him; "they" blindfolded him, tied his hands and feet, placed him in a van; and he did not recall anything until he woke up while laying in a ditch in the rain on the morning of May 6, 1982.
Cartwright testified at trial in his own defense. He stated that he received a phone call while in Las Vegas from an unidentified attorney advising him that Hugh Riddle wished to settle with him (Cartwright) on the small medical bills involving the injury to his leg during the fall the day he was fired; soon afterwards, he obtained a plane ticket to fly to Tulsa; from Tulsa he travelled to Muskogee, his hometown, where his parents and other relatives reside, arriving on May 1, 1982. He stated that he contacted Hugh Riddle at Riddle's home phone on the morning of May 4, 1982, at which time it was agreed that he (Cartwright) should come to the Riddle home about 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. that day. There is substantial evidence that Hugh Riddle was not at his home on May 4, 1982, until the evening hours of 5:00 p.m. or thereabouts. Hugh and Charma Riddle had spent the night of May 3, 1982, at Charma's father's home in Muskogee. Neither returned to their home until the evening hours of May 4, 1982. A telephone bill was introduced in...
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