Pouncy v. Palmer
| Decision Date | 13 January 2017 |
| Docket Number | No. 16-1137,16-1137 |
| Citation | 846 F.3d 144 |
| Parties | Omar Rashad POUNCY, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Carmen Denise PALMER, Warden, Respondent-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
ARGUED: John S. Pallas, OFFICE OF THE MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL, Lansing, Michigan, for Appellant. David L. Moffitt, LAW OFFICES OF DAVID L. MOFFITT & ASSOCIATES, Bingham Farms, Michigan, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: John S. Pallas, OFFICE OF THE MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL, Lansing, Michigan, for Appellant. David L. Moffitt, LAW OFFICES OF DAVID L. MOFFITT & ASSOCIATES, Bingham Farms, Michigan, for Appellee.
Before: BOGGS, CLAY, and SUTTON, Circuit Judges.
BOGGS, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which SUTTON, J., joined. CLAY, J. (pp. 164–70), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.
It is well established that the Constitution guarantees criminal defendants the right to self-representation. Faretta v. California , 422 U.S. 806, 832, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975). But because an accused who manages his own defense relinquishes many of "the traditional benefits associated with the right to counsel," courts must ensure that a defendant who wishes to represent himself does so "knowingly and intelligently," and the record must "establish that ‘he knows what he is doing and [that] his choice is made with eyes open.’ " Id. at 835, 95 S.Ct. 2525 (quoting Adams v. United States ex rel. McCann , 317 U.S. 269, 279, 63 S.Ct. 236, 87 L.Ed. 268 (1942) ). Facing a jury trial on charges related to two Michigan carjackings, eighteen-year-old Omar Pouncy waived his right to counsel. This habeas appeal concerns whether he did so voluntarily. After a Michigan jury convicted Pouncy on all charges, he unsuccessfully sought relief in the state court system. Pouncy then petitioned the district court to vacate his convictions on the ground that the state trial court forced him to choose between going to trial with an unprepared attorney and representing himself. The district court concluded that Pouncy faced a "Hobson's choice" and that his waiver of counsel was therefore involuntary. The district court granted Pouncy the writ and the Warden appealed. Because the highly deferential standards applicable to federal collateral review of state-court convictions direct a different result, we reverse.
In September 2005, Samuel Anderson agreed to display Ralph Haynes's Chevrolet Monte Carlo for sale on his front lawn. A young man, later identified as Omar Pouncy, visited Anderson and asked to have a look at the car. Pouncy left after asking about the price and returned a few days later to meet with Haynes and his brother Dan. Dan agreed to take Pouncy for a ride in the vehicle, but refused Pouncy's request to take the Monte Carlo to Pouncy's own mechanic. With Dan's permission, Pouncy brought his mechanic to Anderson's house instead. Pouncy then indicated that he would return to purchase the vehicle in a few days. On September 24, Pouncy returned to Anderson's house and asked to take Haynes's car for another test drive. Anderson agreed, but while the two were out in the car, Pouncy pulled a gun on Anderson, forced him to get out of the vehicle, and drove away.
At around that same time, Earl Brady's Chevrolet Camaro was on display at Joseph Davis's "racecar chassis fabrication shop." On September 24 or 25, three men entered Davis's shop and expressed interest in purchasing the Camaro. One of them, also later identified as Pouncy, eventually called Davis and let him know that he was "ready to make a deal." Davis called up Brady, who came to the shop to meet Pouncy, Pouncy's step-brother Wayne Grimes, and another man named Tiakawa Pierce. Pouncy asked if he could take the car to his mechanic's shop to have the vehicle inspected. Brady agreed and drove the Camaro to a house where Pouncy said they would meet the mechanic. While the men waited for the mechanic, Grimes pulled out a gun, demanded the keys to the Camaro, and fired a shot in the air. Brady complied and followed the men's instructions to leave the scene on foot.
A few days later, Thomas Sandstrom advertised his Cadillac for sale in a local paper. A man—again, later identified as Pouncy—called up Sandstrom on October 10 and arranged to inspect the car. The next day, Pouncy and Grimes arrived at Sandstrom's house and asked to take the car to Pouncy's mechanic. Sandstrom agreed and drove the Cadillac to the mechanic's house with Pouncy. Grimes followed in his own car, as did Sandstrom's wife Maria, who was driving her own Chevrolet Corvette. Pouncy directed Sandstrom to a house at the end of a dirt road and, after arriving, asked Sandstrom for the title to the Cadillac. Sandstrom walked over to Maria's car to retrieve the title, but promptly felt Pouncy stick a gun in his side. Pouncy ordered Maria out of her car, demanded Sandstrom's wallet, and instructed the couple to walk away. The Sandstroms eventually managed to flag down a police car, and Maria, who had seen the license plate on Grimes's car, gave the plate number to the police.
Detective James Gagliardi of the Mt. Morris Township Police Department ("MMTPD") took the lead on investigating the theft of Earl Brady's Camaro. After receiving reports of the Sandstrom carjacking, Gagliardi used Maria's tip to track down Grimes. MMTPD officers soon arrested Grimes, who waived his Fifth Amendment rights and agreed to speak with police. Grimes confessed his involvement in the Brady and Sandstrom carjackings, identified Pouncy as the sham purchaser from both thefts, and told police that Tiakawa Pierce had assisted as well. At Gagliardi's request, officers put together photographic lineups with Pouncy and Pierce and showed them to the carjacking victims. Samuel Anderson, Dan Haynes, Earl Brady, Joseph Davis, and Thomas and Maria Sandstrom all identified Pouncy as the sham purchaser from the carjackings. Officers promptly found and arrested Pouncy.
The State of Michigan charged Pouncy with several counts of carjacking, armed robbery, felony firearm possession, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, all in relation to the Brady and Sandstrom carjackings. The court appointed attorney Michael Breczinski to represent Pouncy, and Breczinski first appeared on behalf of Pouncy in early November 2005 for a preliminary examination of several of the State's witnesses. Pouncy elected to have his case tried to a jury, and the court scheduled a trial in the Brady and Sandstrom matters for January 10, 2006.
On January 9, Breczinski again appeared on behalf of Pouncy in a pre-trial conference and informed the court that although trial was set for the next day, Pouncy's "investigator was sick for ten days in bed, and ... has been unable to complete all the investigation in this matter." Breczinski explained that Pouncy's defense was that he had been elsewhere during the carjackings, and so Breczinski had asked the investigator to "loo[k] into all the witnesses." Given that "[t]here's quite a number of them that we [still] have to look at," Breczinski told the judge that he "would be unable to go to trial [tomorrow]." The court rescheduled Pouncy's trial date for January 24.
On January 24, Pouncy appeared in court represented by Breczinski. After the court asked whether the parties wanted to voice anything before voir dire began, Breczinski expressed some concern about his own preparedness for trial:
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