Duhamel v. Collins
| Decision Date | 02 March 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 91-2960,91-2960 |
| Citation | 955 F.2d 962 |
| Parties | Emile Pierre DUHAMEL, Petitioner-Appellee, v. James A. COLLINS, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, Respondent-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Andrea L. March, Asst. Atty. Gen., Don Morales, Atty. Gen., Austin, Tex., for respondent-appellant.
Harold W. Hemstreet, III, Staff Atty., Inmate Legal Services, Sugar Land, Tex., W.L. White, TDCJ-ID Inmate Legal Services, Huntsville, Tex., for petitioner-respondent.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Before JOLLY, HIGGINBOTHAM, and DUHE, Circuit Judges.
In this capital murder case, Emile Pierre Duhamel was convicted by the state of Texas of murdering Jonette Edmunds in the course of committing aggravated sexual assault. He was sentenced to death. In these habeas proceedings that have followed, the Texas courts have upheld this sentence. The federal district court, however, granted Duhamel's petition for habeas relief and commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment. The district court found that Duhamel's trial attorney was ineffective in failing to develop and present mitigating evidence. It also found that Duhamel's appellate attorney was ineffective in failing to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury's affirmative answers to the two special issues raised under the Texas death penalty statute.
On appeal, the state argues that Duhamel did not prove that his attorneys' performance was deficient or that he suffered prejudice from their alleged errors. The state also argues that the district court exceeded its authority in commuting Duhamel's death sentence to life imprisonment.
We hold that Duhamel failed to prove any prejudice from the alleged errors of his trial and appellate attorneys. We also hold that the district court exceeded its authority in commuting Duhamel's sentence. Therefore, we reverse the order of the district court, and remand the case to the district court so that it may consider Duhamel's other assignments of error.
On the afternoon of July 1, 1984, Jonette Edmunds, a nine-year-old girl, disappeared from her mother's trailer. The child's semi-nude body was found the next morning in a cornfield near her home. Death was caused by strangulation and there was evidence of sexual assault.
That same afternoon, Emile Pierre Duhamel purchased beer, cigarettes and matches from a country store. According to Duhamel, the girl followed him out of the store because she wanted the puppy that Duhamel had on a leash. Witnesses observed the girl following Duhamel into the cornfield. In an extrajudicial confession, Duhamel stated that he hit the girl several times, choked her until she was dead and then removed her panties. He stated that he did not remember anything after that. The body, surrounded by beer cans and cigarettes, was discovered in the cornfield the morning after her disappearance.
The following testimony was introduced during the punishment phase of the trial. Duhamel served two concurrent six-month sentences for the unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. He escaped from prison while serving a three-month sentence for breaking and entering. He was arrested for the assault and battery of a policeman, for which he served a three-month sentence. He was arrested after a seven-year-old boy reported to his parents that Duhamel led him into the woods, jumped on top of him, and grabbed him.
Like most of these capital murder cases, this one has a long procedural history. Emile Pierre Duhamel was indicted in 1984 for the capital murder of Jonette Edmunds in the course of committing and attempting to commit aggravated sexual assault. A jury found Duhamel competent to stand trial. A different jury found him guilty, and at the sentencing phase answered "yes" to the two special issues submitted, and accordingly sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and the sentence. Duhamel v. State, 717 S.W.2d 80 (Tex.Crim.App.1986). The Supreme Court denied certiorari. Duhamel v. Texas, 480 U.S. 926, 107 S.Ct. 1387, 94 L.Ed.2d 701 (1987).
Next, Duhamel sought leave to file a writ of mandamus in the Court of Criminal Appeals. Leave was denied without written order. Duhamel v. Hester, No. 17,001-01 (Tex.Crim.App.1987). Duhamel then filed his first writ for application of habeas corpus relief in the state trial court. The state court withdrew its warrant of execution, recommended that habeas relief be denied, and transmitted the writ to the Court of Criminal Appeals. The Court of Criminal Appeals ordered an evidentiary hearing on the issue of Duhamel's competency to be executed. Ex parte Duhamel, No. 17,001-02 (Tex.Crim.App.1987). The trial court conducted a hearing on this issue, entered findings of fact and conclusions of law, and recommended that relief be denied. The Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that the trial court's findings were supported by the record and denied the writ. Ex parte Duhamel, No. 17,001-02 (Tex.Crim.App.1988).
After having been found competent, Duhamel then filed a supplemental application for a writ of habeas corpus and a second supplemental application in the state trial court. Both were denied. Ex parte Duhamel, No. 17,001-03 (Tex.Crim.App.1989). Duhamel requested a second stay of execution from the Criminal Court of Appeals. It was denied. Ex parte Duhamel, No. 17,001-04 (Tex.Crim.App.1989).
Duhamel then filed this federal petition for writ of habeas corpus and an application for stay of execution in February 1989. The district court granted the stay and ordered the state to respond. After the state responded, the district court issued a Memorandum and Order commuting Duhamel's death sentence to life imprisonment. Duhamel v. Collins, No. 89-026 (S.D.Tex. Aug. 18, 1991). In his petition for habeas relief, Duhamel listed thirty-four grounds for relief. The district court only addressed two of these grounds. It found that the trial lawyer provided ineffective assistance of counsel because he failed to develop and present any mitigating evidence. The district court also concluded that the appellate attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel because he failed to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury's affirmative answers to the two special questions. 1 The state now appeals the district court's ruling.
The issues on appeal are relatively simple and straightforward. The state contends that Duhamel did not prove that either the trial or appellate attorney's performance was deficient or that he was prejudiced by the alleged deficiency, as required by Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). The state also argues that the district court exceeded its authority in commuting Duhamel's death sentence to life imprisonment.
We hold that the district court erred in concluding that the two attorneys provided ineffective assistance of counsel and in commuting Duhamel's death sentence to life imprisonment. Therefore, we reverse the order of the district court and remand the case to the district court so that it may review Duhamel's other assignments of error.
In order to demonstrate a violation of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, a petitioner must show that his counsel's performance was deficient, and that this deficiency prejudiced the defense. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. To prove that an attorney's performance was deficient, the petitioner must point to specific acts or omissions that are "outside the wide range of professionally competent assistance." Id. at 690, 104 S.Ct. at 2066. To prove that an attorney's deficient performance was prejudicial in a death penalty case, the petitioner must show that there was a reasonable probability that, absent the errors, the sentencer would not have sentenced the petitioner to death. Id. at 695, 104 S.Ct. at 2068. If the petitioner fails to prove either one of the prongs, the court may dispose of the claim and need not address the other prong. Id. at 697, 104 S.Ct. at 2069.
The district court held that the trial attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel because he failed to develop and present mitigating evidence at the punishment phase of the trial. The district court pointed to mitigating evidence that was produced at Duhamel's Ford v. Wainwright 2 hearing to support its conclusion that there was mitigating evidence that the trial attorney could have and should have discovered. This mitigating evidence includes evidence that Duhamel was moderately mentally retarded with an IQ of 56, that he failed every grade but kindergarten, that his father abused his mother, and that he was an alcoholic vagrant. 3 The district court found that "[t]he evidence and existence of mental retardation and an abused background may have been adequate for the jury, upon proper instructions, to have answered 'No' to one of the special issues during the punishment phase of trial."
We disagree with the conclusions reached by the district court. We note at the outset that the district court did not apply the correct prejudice standard under Strickland. It found that a jury may not have sentenced Duhamel to death, not that there was a reasonable probability that the jury would not have sentenced Duhamel to death. We hold that even if the mitigating evidence had been presented to a jury, there is not a reasonable probability that a jury, given a proper instruction, would have answered "No" to one of the special issues. 4 Duhamel sexually assaulted and brutally murdered a nine-year-old girl. Duhamel has been arrested and served time for several other offenses. The mitigating evidence is weak: Duhamel was moderately retarded and his father was abusive towards his mother. There is not a reasonable...
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