Aki-Khuam v. Davis
| Decision Date | 28 July 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 02-1945.,02-1945. |
| Citation | 339 F.3d 521 |
| Parties | Akeem Aki-Khuam, f/k/a Edward Earl Williams, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Cecil Davis, Superintendent, Respondent-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Eric Koselke, Poore, Wurster, Sullivan, Fairman, Sobel & Strunk, Brent Westerfeld (argued), Indianapolis, IN, for petitioner-appellee.
Stephen R. Creason (argued), Office of the Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, for respondent-appellant.
Before BAUER, ROVNER, and DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judges.
After the Supreme Court of Indiana affirmed the murder conviction and death sentence of Petitioner-Appellee, Akeem Aki-Khuam,1 the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana granted his petition for writ of habeas corpus, finding that the state trial court violated his constitutional equal protection and due process rights during jury selection. The district court vacated Petitioner's conviction and sentence and ordered him released unless retried. On behalf of Respondent-Appellant, Superintendent Cecil Davis, the State of Indiana appeals the district court's order granting habeas relief. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the decision of the district court.
We presume the facts underlying Petitioner's conviction are stated correctly in the record of the state court proceedings. The Indiana Supreme Court recited those facts as follows:
In the early morning hours of June 19, 1992, [Petitioner], armed with a handgun, Jemelle Joshua, armed with a shotgun, and three others set out to steal audio and video equipment from the basement of school teacher Michael Richardson. [Petitioner] and Joshua were admitted to Richardson's home and their three accomplices followed them in. Besides Richardson, they encountered a number of children and adults, including Richardson's sister, Debra Rice, and Robert Hollins. While [Petitioner] held his gun to Richardson's head and Joshua held Rice, their accomplices headed for the basement. Hollins intercepted them and began to wrestle with one of them in the kitchen. [Petitioner] responded by shooting Hollins in the back.
The electronic equipment proved too difficult to remove and [Petitioner] ordered the occupants of the house to lie down. Rice attempted to escape and Joshua shot her in the chest. As the invaders left the home, [Petitioner] shot each of Hollins, Rice and Richardson once in the head despite Richardson's plea, "Please don't kill me." A few hours later, [Petitioner] would tell his sister that he shot the victims so there wouldn't be any witnesses.
Williams v. State, 669 N.E.2d 1372, 1375-76 (Ind.1996).
Petitioner, who is African-American, was charged with three counts of murder and felony murder in Lake County, Indiana. IND. CODE §§ 35-42-1-1(1) & (2). The prosecution further alleged two aggravating factors for which it sought the death penalty: (i) intentional killing during the course of a robbery, IND. CODE §§ 35-50-2-9 (b)(1)(F); and (ii) commission of multiple murders, IND. CODE §§ 35-50-2-9(b)(8).
During a pretrial hearing on January 12, 1993, Judge James Letsinger outlined procedures for jury selection, including peremptory challenges, intended to ensure compliance with the due process and equal protection requirements of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), and its progeny. The following exchange took place between Judge Letsinger and trial counsel for Petitioner:
Trial Court: From the first peremptory strike, each side is going to have to have some reason for striking that person. I mean there's almost no, no person on a jury that isn't protected now. I mean they've extended it to everything.
Defense Counsel: So what I'm hearing from the court is the peremptory challenges have now all been converted to challenges for cause?
Trial Court: Almost. Almost. In the words of Splunge,2 you've got to have some plausible reason supported by the record, supported by the record, plausible reason that is nonracial, non-gender, nonreligious, non-body language. They won't even let — they won't even allow body language. Splunge struck a black juror because she said — she didn't understand the burden of proof in a criminal case, when actually her answers were the same as everybody else's answers. It had to be supported by the record.
During voir dire on January 25, 1993, the trial court sua sponte instructed counsel for each party to present its peremptory challenges along with a "neutral reason" for each. The trial court excused two individuals after accepting the prosecution's stated reasons for challenging them, and another two after accepting Petitioner's stated reasons for challenging. However, the trial court rejected Petitioner's stated reasons for five of his seven total challenges, even though the prosecution raised no objection to Petitioner's challenges. With respect to four of those five, Petitioner argued on direct appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court that the trial court improperly rejected his reasons for peremptorily challenging them. In its opinion affirming Petitioner's conviction and death sentence, Indiana Supreme Court synopsized the trial court's rejection of those four challenges as follows:
1. The defense indicated that it sought to strike prospective juror Sosnawski, a white male, because in defense counsel's "discussions with him, [defense counsel] didn't get the impression that he really understood what was going on." Finding "impressions" to be a "terrible" reason and a "euphemism" (presumably for a racially motivated strike), the trial court found the explanation "not race neutral" and refused to excuse Sosnawski.
2. The defense indicated that it sought to strike prospective juror Wilson, a white male, because defense counsel's "general impression" was, "number one, that he was not being honest; two, that his responses ... left [defense counsel] with the impression that this gentleman was maybe not being entirely honest with" [the trial court]. Because counsel was not "able to point to a question and answer in the record that gives [] a good reason for striking [Wilson] from the jury," the trial court refused to excuse Wilson.
3. The defense indicated that it sought to strike prospective juror Bobalik, a white female, because she failed to understand the presumption of innocence. During voir dire, defense counsel had asked all the members of the panel who believed that the defendant was not guilty at that point to raise their hands. Bobalik was apparently the only juror who did not raise his or her hand. The trial court rejected this reason, commenting that counsel has asked "a trick question," the kind "that gets students flunked out of law school." Because counsel did "not have a record showing that Bobalik [could] not give the defendant the presumption of innocence," the trial court refused to excuse Bobalik.
4. The defense indicated that it sought to strike prospective juror Brandys, a white female, because she didn't "understand [] that the defendant has the absolute right not to testify" and that "[s]he clearly indicated ... in two points, one that she wanted the defendant to testify; two, that she thinks defense attorneys are slicksters." The state argued that Brandys did properly understand the presumption of innocence. Concluding that most people want the defendant to testify and don't understand that they have a constitutional right not to unless it is explained to them and that defense counsel had introduced the word "slickster," not Brandys, the trial court refused to excuse Brandys.
Williams, 669 N.E.2d at 1380-81.
At the trial's conclusion, the jury found Petitioner guilty on all counts; but, deadlocked as to his punishment, it was unable to return a sentencing verdict. Instead, the trial court sentenced Petitioner to death on March 2, 1993. On direct appeal of the conviction and sentence before the Indiana Supreme Court, Petitioner challenged, inter alia, the trial court's denial of his peremptory challenges. After the Indiana Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and sentence, Williams, 669 N.E.2d at 1372, it denied Petitioner's request for rehearing, and the United States Supreme Court denied his petition for writ of certiorari. Williams v. Indiana, 520 U.S. 1232, 117 S.Ct. 1828, 137 L.Ed.2d 1034 (1997). Petitioner subsequently filed, and the Lake County Superior Court denied, a petition for post-conviction relief raising various issues not directly relevant to our disposition of this matter. The Indiana Supreme Court affirmed the denial of post-conviction relief in Williams v. State, 724 N.E.2d 1070 (Ind.2000), and declined to rehear the matter, and once more the United States Supreme Court denied Petitioner's petition for writ of certiorari in Williams v. Indiana, 531 U.S. 1128, 121 S.Ct. 886, 148 L.Ed.2d 793 (2001).
In December 2001, Petitioner filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana seeking federal collateral review of his conviction and death sentence. Petitioner claimed violations of his constitutional rights as a result of (i) the trial court's denial of his peremptory challenges and the Indiana Supreme Court's failure to apply Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765, 115 S.Ct. 1769, 131 L.Ed.2d 834 (1995), in reviewing that denial; (ii) the ineffective assistance of his trial counsel; (iii) prosecutorial misconduct at trial; (iv) the trial court's use of a psychological questionnaire at sentencing; and (v) the trial court's limitation of funds available to Petitioner to develop mitigation evidence. In a Memorandum and Order filed on March 25, 2002, the district court granted the petition for writ of habeas corpus with respect to Petitioner's peremptory challenge claim and denied relief with respect to all remaining claims. Aki-Khuam v. Davis, 203...
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