Crump v. Warden, Nevada State Prison
| Decision Date | 26 February 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 27937,27937 |
| Citation | 113 Nev. 293,934 P.2d 247 |
| Parties | Thomas Wayne CRUMP, Appellant, v. WARDEN, NEVADA STATE PRISON, Peter Demosthenes, Respondent. |
| Court | Nevada Supreme Court |
On April 25, 1984, pursuant to a jury verdict, appellant Thomas Wayne Crump ("Crump") was convicted of one count for each of murder in the first degree with use of a deadly weapon and robbery with use of a deadly weapon. In the penalty phase, the jury found three aggravating factors and no mitigating circumstances. Crump was sentenced to death.
On direct appeal, we affirmed Crump's conviction and the sentences. Crump v. State, 102 Nev. 158, 716 P.2d 1387 (1986). Crump's petition for a writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court was denied. Crump v. Nevada, 479 U.S. 871, 107 S.Ct. 242, 93 L.Ed.2d 167 (1986).
On October 28, 1986, Crump filed a proper person petition for post-conviction relief in the Eighth Judicial District Court. Pursuant to NRS 177.345(1), he was appointed counsel on November 4, 1986. On April 14, 1987, after an evidentiary hearing, the district court dismissed Crump's petition. Crump's appeal from the denial of his petition was dismissed. Crump v. State, Docket No. 18226, 104 Nev. 854, 809 P.2d 601 (Order Dismissing Appeal, August 31, 1988).
On October 26, 1988, Crump petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court, District of Nevada, against respondent Warden, Nevada State Prison, Peter Demosthenes ("the State"). That petition was voluntarily dismissed on August 14, 1989.
On August 31, 1989, Crump filed the present petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the First Judicial District Court. On November 7, 1995, after Crump was afforded numerous opportunities to amend and supplement his petition, the district court denied it. On December 6, 1995, Crump appealed, arguing that the district court erred by dismissing his petition on procedural grounds.
We conclude that Crump was entitled to effective assistance of counsel for his first petition for post-conviction relief. Therefore, we conclude that Crump should have been permitted to prove whether his post-conviction counsel was ineffective in order to satisfy the "cause" element necessary to defeat procedural default of the claims in the present petition pursuant to NRS 34.810(1)(b)(3). Accordingly, we remand this matter to the district court for an evidentiary hearing on this issue.
On October 4, 1980, the body of Jodie Jameson ("Jameson") was discovered in a motel room bathtub in Las Vegas. Her arms and legs were tightly bound with pantyhose. A loosely fitting ligature made from thin knotted strips of torn pillowcase fabric was found around Jameson's neck. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be ligature strangulation.
In a videotaped confession received into evidence during the guilt phase of the trial, Crump confessed that he killed and robbed Jameson because he believed that she had robbed him. In his videotaped confession, Crump stated:
I snapped.... I didn't have nothin'.... I told her she could take [the money] to hell with her.... No crime of murder, of violence is justifiable, but in my estimation it was.... She deserved what she got, I don't feel no remorse over it.... I could have obtained my money without killing her. I just wanted to kill her.... It's an eye for an eye.... I premeditated. I knew I was going to kill her and I did.
In a second videotaped confession received into evidence during the penalty phase of his trial, Crump spoke at length about the multiple crimes he had committed during his life. Crump confessed he had committed (1) seven murders; (2) seven attempted murders; and (3) innumerable robberies, assaults and kidnappings. Crump additionally confessed he had participated in a prison uprising in which a prison guard had been taken hostage and killed. He had also escaped from a New Mexico jail. In this videotaped confession, Crump stated:
I would escape if you give me the opportunity; time is nothing.... Penitentiary time doesn't affect me at all; If I was to get out of here today, I'd hurt somebody today; and I would like the death penalty because I deserve it.... I don't want to hurt nobody else.
On April 24, 1984, the jury convicted Crump of first degree murder and robbery, both with use of a deadly weapon. At the penalty phase of Crump's murder conviction, the jury found three aggravating circumstances: (1) the murder was committed by a person who had a previous conviction for another murder or felony involving use or threat of violence to another person; (2) the murder was committed while the person was engaged in the commission of or flight after committing a robbery; and (3) the murder involved depravity of mind. The jury found no mitigating circumstances and sentenced Crump to death.
Procedural facts
On May 8, 1984, the district court formally sentenced Crump to death for his first degree murder conviction. For his robbery with use of a deadly weapon conviction, the court sentenced Crump to two consecutive fifteen-year prison terms.
Crump appealed his convictions and sentences to this court. On April 9, 1986, this court affirmed Crump's convictions and sentences. Crump, 102 Nev. 158, 716 P.2d 1387. Remittitur issued on May 7, 1986.
On June 6, 1986, Crump filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. On October 6, 1986, the Court denied the petition. Crump, 479 U.S. 871, 107 S.Ct. 242, 93 L.Ed.2d 167. On October 16, 1986, the State obtained an execution warrant to be carried out on November 14, 1986.
On October 28, 1986, Crump filed a proper person petition for post-conviction relief in the Eighth Judicial District Court. Pursuant to NRS 177.345(1), 2 the district court was required to appoint counsel to represent Crump upon a showing that Crump was indigent. Therefore, on November 4, 1986, the judge appointed Barbara Schubel ("Schubel") to represent Crump. The court ordered Schubel to file a supplement to the post-conviction petition no later than November 10, 1986. The court also denied Schubel's motion to stay Crump's execution.
On November 8, 1986, in response to the district court's denial of the motion to stay execution, Crump filed with this court a petition for a writ of mandamus against Judge Thompson. At the same time, Crump also filed a writ of habeas corpus in the United States Federal District Court for the District of Nevada. Prior to this court's disposition of the mandamus action, the federal district court granted Crump a stay of execution. Consequently, this court concluded that the mandamus action was moot and denied Crump's petition.
On February 6, 1987, the federal district court dismissed Crump's habeas corpus petition. The court stated, "It is ordered that the above-entitled actions are hereby dismissed without prejudice to permit the parties to exhaust state remedies."
On April 14, 1987, after conducting an evidentiary hearing on Crump's petition for post-conviction relief, the Eighth Judicial District Court dismissed Crump's petition. Crump appealed that decision to this court. On August 31, 1988, this court dismissed Crump's appeal.
On October 26, 1988, Crump filed another petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. On October 26, 1988, the federal district court directed Crump to "include all grounds for relief of which Petitioner is aware." The court advised Crump that failure to raise all possible grounds for habeas corpus relief "may result in loss of the omitted grounds under the rules regarding abuse of the writ." The court further stated that "[i]f Petitioner knows of grounds of relief which have not been exhausted in the state system, the present petition should be voluntarily dismissed by Petitioner so that Petitioner may exhaust all possible grounds for relief in the state court before proceeding in federal court." On August 14, 1989, Crump filed a motion to dismiss his federal petition. On August 31, 1989, the federal district court entered an order dismissing the petition.
On August 31, 1989, Crump filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the First Judicial District Court. Crump raised two claims of error:
I. Nevada's Statute "Aggravating Factor" that the offense was committed in an especially "[c]ruel", "heinous", or "depraved" manner is unconstitutionally vague.
II. The Nevada Statute violated [Petitioner's] Sixth Amendment right to a Jury determination of the elements of an offense by requiring the Judge to make factual findings regarding aggravating circumstances.
On September 1, 1989, the district court appointed the State Public Defender's Office to represent Crump. The September 1, 1989 order also stated that "[Crump] shall have forty-five (45) days from the date of this Order to supplement the Petition in accordance with NRS 34.750."
On March 26, 1990, Crump filed a supplement to his petition alleging the following seventeen grounds of error:
A. [Prior to trial,] Crump did not waive his right to an attorney or a stand-by attorney.
B. The trial court's refusal to grant Crump's motion to continue his capital murder trial was error.
C. It was error [for the trial court] to require that Crump state reasons for the necessity of his out of state witnesses.
D. The [trial counsel's] failure to ask the court to remand the proceedings to justice court for a preliminary hearing was error.
E. The [trial counsel's] failure to seek the recusal of Judge Thompson prior to trial was error.
F. The [trial counsel's] failure to demand prior notice of the alleged aggravating factors was error.
G. The [trial counsel's] failure to proffer a jury instruction on the "voluntariness" issue was error.
H. The...
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