Grissom v. Carpenter
Decision Date | 31 August 2018 |
Docket Number | No. 16-6271,16-6271 |
Citation | 902 F.3d 1265 |
Parties | Wendell Arden GRISSOM, Petitioner - Appellant, v. Mike CARPENTER, Interim Warden, Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Respondent - Appellee. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Thomas D. Hird, Assistant Federal Public Defender (Patti Palmer Ghezzi, Assistant Federal Public Defender, with him on the briefs), Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, appearing for Appellant.
Jennifer L. Crabb, Assistant Attorney General (Mike Hunter, Attorney General, with her on the brief), Office of the Attorney General for the State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, appearing for Appellees.
Before BRISCOE, BACHARACH, and McHUGH, Circuit Judges.
Petitioner Wendell Grissom, with the assistance of a man he had just met, randomly selected a rural Oklahoma home to burglarize. Upon realizing that the home was occupied by two women and two minor children, Grissom shot his way into the home, then killed one woman and seriously injured the other. After the injured woman was able to escape in Grissom's own vehicle, Grissom and his accomplice fled on a stolen all-terrain vehicle. Grissom and his accomplice were arrested shortly thereafter.
Grissom was tried and convicted in Oklahoma state court of first degree murder, shooting with intent to kill, possession of a firearm after former conviction of a felony, and larceny of a motor vehicle after two or more previous felony convictions. The jury fixed Grissom's punishment at death for the first degree murder conviction, and sentenced him to lengthy prison sentences for the other convictions.
After exhausting his state court remedies through a direct appeal and a single application for state post-conviction relief, Grissom filed a federal petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The district court denied Grissom's petition, but granted him a certificate of appealability (COA) with respect to one issue. We subsequently granted Grissom a COA with respect to two additional issues.
Exercising jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we now affirm the district court's denial of federal habeas relief.
The underlying facts of Grissom's crime
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA) summarized the relevant underlying facts of Grissom's case in addressing his direct appeal:
Amber Matthews. He watched as Appellant fired another shot into Ms. Matthews with the .44. Johns then told Appellant that someone had run from the house. Appellant ran toward the truck, tried to get inside, and fired his .44 pistol again at Ms. Kopf as she pulled away. Not far from her house, Dreu Kopf flagged down a trio of truckers hauling rock and told them that her friend and children were dead and she had been shot. One of the truck drivers, himself a retired police officer, got into the truck with Ms. Kopf. He reported the shooting by phone to the Kingfisher County Sheriff's Office and drove Ms. Kopf to the hospital in nearby Watonga.
Realizing their plans were foiled, Appellant and Johns attempted their escape from the crime scene on a red four-wheeler ATV they found in the Kopf's garage. A postal delivery man saw two men on the red four-wheeler leaving the Kopf residence with a black dog chasing them. The rock haulers, who had encountered Dreu Kopf only a few minutes earlier, saw two men speed past them on a red four-wheeler. The men on the four-wheeler ran out of gas after a short distance, but managed to hitch a ride with a passing farmer, who assumed they were laborers. He gave them a ride to the Hillstop Cafe, just over the Kingfisher County line on Highway 33.
. She died during a medical evacuation flight to an Oklahoma City hospital.
Back at the Hillstop Cafe, a Kingfisher County deputy sheriff approached Jessie Johns, who was now walking down the road, and detained him for investigation. The deputy questioned Johns briefly, searched him for weapons, and drove him back to the Hillstop Cafe. Meanwhile, law enforcement officers continued to gather information about the crimes at the Kopf residence and the suspicious persons reported at the Hillstop. About forty-five minutes after being detained, police arrested Jessie Johns for involvement in the four-wheeler theft and other crimes at the Kopf residence.
Investigators eventually located Appellant hiding in a rock pile near the Hillstop Cafe. They recovered a blood-stained .22 pistol and a pair of brown cotton gloves from his person. They ultimately recovered Appellant's .44 pistol and a second pair of brown cotton gloves discarded near the crime scene.
Grissom v. State, 253 P.3d 969, 973–75 (Okla. Crim. App. 2011) ( Grissom I ) ( ).
Grissom's state trial proceedings
On November 10, 2005, Grissom was charged in Blaine County District Court with four criminal counts: (1) first degree murder, in violation of Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 701.7(A) and (B) ; (2) shooting with intent to kill, in violation of Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 652(A) ; (3) grand larceny, in violation of Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 1705 ; and (4)...
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