Mazzell v. Evatt

• Decision Date: 01 July 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-6996,95-6996
• Citation: 88 F.3d 263
• Parties: Paul MAZZELL, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Parker EVATT, Commissioner, South Carolina Department of Corrections; Travis Medlock, Attorney General, State of South Carolina, Respondents-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 263

88 F.3d 263

Paul MAZZELL, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Parker EVATT, Commissioner, South Carolina Department of Corrections; Travis Medlock, Attorney General State of South Carolina, Respondents-Appellants.

No. 95-6996.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued May 10, 1996.

Decided July 1, 1996.

ARGUED: Donald John Zelenka, Assistant Deputy Attorney General, Columbia, South Carolina, for Apellants. John Henry Blume, III, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee.

Before WILKINSON, Chief Judge, and HALL and ERVIN, Circuit Judges.

Reversed and remanded by published opinion. Chief Judge WILKINSON wrote the opinion, in which Judge HALL and Judge ERVIN joined.

OPINION

WILKINSON, Chief Judge:

A South Carolina jury convicted Paul Mazzell in 1983 of criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to kidnap, murder, and kidnapping. He was sentenced to life in prison. After his conviction was affirmed on direct appeal and his request for state post-conviction relief was denied, Mazzell petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus. He contended, inter alia, that his trial counsel was ineffective under the Sixth Amendment because he failed to object to allegedly erroneous jury instructions. The district court granted the writ, and the state of South Carolina now appeals. Because we find that Mazzell's attorney was not constitutionally ineffective, we reverse the judgment of the district court.

I.

Paul Mazzell and a co-defendant, Edward Merriman, were convicted in 1983 for crimes arising from the abduction and murder of Ricky Seagraves. Seagraves had been abducted and murdered near Charleston, South Carolina in October of 1978. The police did not recover his body until 1981, however, when one Danny Hogg led them to it. Hogg admitted that he participated in Seagraves' abduction, and he implicated Mazzell and Merriman in the crime as well. In exchange for immunity from prosecution, Hogg agreed to testify against Mazzell and Merriman. Mazzell was thereafter charged with criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to kidnap, murder, and kidnapping.

At trial, the state and defense differed sharply over the events that led to Seagraves' murder. According to the state, the victim (Seagraves) and the perpetrators (Mazzell, Hogg, and Merriman) were all connected to the Charleston drug trade; Hogg and Merriman reportedly worked for Mazzell. The state's theory of the case was that Mazzell wanted Seagraves killed; he instructed Hogg and Merriman to abduct and deliver Seagraves to him, and he then killed Seagraves.

In support of its theory, the state presented a number of witnesses. These witnesses testified that in late 1978 friction mounted between Seagraves and Mazzell. One witness testified to having been seized from his job site by Mazzell, Hogg, and Merriman, then forced into a car and questioned about Seagraves' whereabouts; Mazzell informed this witness that he "would never have to worry about Ricky [Seagraves] anymore." Another witness reported being asked by Mazzell, through Danny Hogg, to kill Seagraves in exchange for drugs.

Hogg testified that Mazzell was so angry with Ricky Seagraves that he put out a contract on Seagraves' life in late 1978. According to Hogg, on the evening of October 30, 1978, Mazzell summoned him and Merriman and instructed them to "Go get Ricky. Bring him to me. I'm going to kill him." Hogg and Merriman located Seagraves at a convenience store, the Majik Market, near Charleston. Witnesses at the market testified that Hogg or Merriman fired shots, chased Seagraves into the store, beat him, dragged him back to the truck, and sped off. Then, according to Hogg, they delivered Seagraves to Mazzell, who killed and buried Seagraves out of their presence. Two other witnesses corroborated Hogg's version of these events. Carl Hines testified that Mazzell declared in late 1978 that he intended to kill Seagraves, and Mazzell later boasted that he had indeed killed him. And Harold Behrens testified that Merriman recounted the abduction and murder to him, giving a description that was consistent with Hogg's testimony.

Mazzell presented a vigorous defense. His lawyer attacked the credibility of most of the state's witnesses. He brought out the past criminal activity of Hines and Behrens and he noted that numerous prosecution witnesses had received special treatment from the state. Mazzell's attorney particularly assailed Danny Hogg's credibility. He presented witnesses who testified that Hogg and Mazzell had a falling out, and that Hogg had said he would get back at Mazzell by killing him, or by putting him in jail for a long time. Two defense witnesses specifically claimed that Hogg admitted to them that he, not Mazzell, shot Seagraves. In his closing argument, Mazzell's attorney argued that Hogg killed Seagraves by shooting him at the Majik Market.

Mazzell did not take the stand, but his wife, Colleen, testified that her husband was home watching television with her the entire evening of the abduction and murder. In fact, she stated that Hogg visited the Mazzells that very evening and announced that he was going to find Seagraves. According to Colleen, Paul Mazzell responded by warning Hogg to stay away from Seagraves. Her husband, she testified, was very close to Seagraves.

At the close of evidence, the judge charged the jury. The judge's instructions included discussion of the four crimes that Mazzell was accused of, the alibi defense that he raised (through his wife's testimony) at trial, and the principles of co-conspirator and accomplice liability. Spanning thirty transcript pages, the instructions were lengthy and elaborate. It is alleged errors in these instructions that form the basis of Mazzell's ineffectiveness claim.

Following deliberations, the jury convicted Mazzell of both conspiracy counts and murder and kidnapping. Although the state sought the death penalty, the jury recommended life in prison. On direct appeal, Mazzell raised numerous assignments of error, but the South Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction. State v. Merriman, 287 S.C. 74, 337 S.E.2d 218 (S.C.App.1985). The South Carolina Supreme Court declined to review Mazzell's conviction.

Mazzell then sought state post-conviction relief. In his application, he raised a number of claims, including the one now before this court. Specifically, he argued that the trial judge's jury instructions were contrary to South Carolina law because they permitted the jury to convict Mazzell as a principal in the crimes of murder and kidnapping even if the jury was not convinced that he was present at the scene of the crime. Mazzell asserted that his attorney's failure to object to the instructions constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. The state post-conviction court, however, rejected this claim.

Mazzell thereafter sought federal habeas relief. He asserted, inter alia, that his counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the disputed jury instructions. A federal magistrate recommended that Mazzell's petition be denied. The district court, however, granted the writ, finding that Mazzell's trial counsel was ineffective. The court reserved judgment on the other issues raised in Mazzell's petition. The state of South Carolina now appeals.

II.

The components of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim are by now well-established. Under the test set forth by the Supreme Court in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), a defendant must show that his counsel's performance "fell below an objective standard of reasonableness" and that "the deficient performance prejudiced the defense." Id. at 687-88, 104 S.Ct. at 2064-65. In addressing Mazzell's claim, we bear in mind that "[t]he benchmark for judging any claim of ineffectiveness must be whether counsel's conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a just result." Id. at 686, 104 S.Ct. at 2063-64.

A.

Mazzell first contends that his attorney failed the performance prong of Strickland because he did not object to jury instructions that allegedly misstated South Carolina law. After reviewing the pertinent state law, the instructions in their entirety, and the trial itself, we conclude that Mazzell's trial counsel did not render deficient performance by failing to object to the trial judge's instructions.

Review of Mazzell's argument requires an examination of South Carolina criminal law. South Carolina continues to recognize the common law distinction between an accessory before the fact and a principal. State v. Collins, 266 S.C. 566, 225 S.E.2d 189, 192 (1976); State v. Brazzell, 223 S.C. 103, 74 S.E.2d 573 (1953); State v. Sheriff, 118 S.C. 327, 110 S.E. 807 (1922). A principal must be actually or constructively present at the scene of the crime, while an accessory before the fact cannot be present at the scene. State v. Prince, 316 S.C. 57, 447 S.E.2d 177, 181 (1993) (accessory before the fact urged another to commit crime but was not present when the offense was committed); State v. Chavis, 277 S.C. 521, 290 S.E.2d 412 (1982) ("[g]uilt as a principal is established by presence at the scene as a result of prearrangement to aid, encourage, or abet in the perpetration of a crime."); State v. Gilbert, 107 S.C. 443, 93 S.E. 125 (1917) (same). A defendant in South Carolina cannot be convicted as a principal if the evidence could support conviction only as an accessory before the fact. Collins, 225 S.E.2d at 192; Sheriff, 118 S.C. 327, 110 S.E. 807; see also State v. Good, 315 S.C. 135, 432 S.E.2d 463, 465-66 (1993). Hence, in a limited class of cases, a defendant indicted and tried as a principal may be entitled to a jury instruction regarding the distinction between an accessory and a principal. Good, 432 S.E.2d at 465-66; Collins, 225 S.E.2d at 192. A jury finding that such a defendant acted only as an accessory "is the equivalent to a finding of not guilty." G...