Alleyne v. Evans
| Decision Date | 23 November 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV S-09-1903 MCE DAD P,CIV S-09-1903 MCE DAD P |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California |
| Parties | JUSTICE LAMAR ALLEYNE, Petitioner, v. M.S. EVANS, Respondent. |
Petitioner is a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The petition before the court challenges petitioner's 2006 judgment of conviction entered in the Sacramento County Superior Court on one count of transporting cocaine base for sale between non-contiguous counties in violation of California Health and Safety Code § 11352(b), one count of possession of cocaine base for sale in violation of California Health and Safety Code § 11351.5, and one count of transporting cocaine base in violation of California Health and Safety Code § 11352(a).
Petitioner seeks federal habeas relief on the grounds that: 1) the trial court improperly admitted certain evidence at trial; 2) a juror committed misconduct; 3) there was insufficient evidence introduced at trial to support his conviction; 4) the trial court erred in imposing sentence; and 5) there was cumulative error.
Upon careful consideration of the record and the applicable law, the undersigned will recommend that petitioner's application for habeas corpus relief be denied.
On May 30, 2006, a Sacramento County Superior Court jury found petitioner and his co-defendant guilty of transporting cocaine base, transporting cocaine base for sale between non-contiguous counties, and possessing cocaine base for sale. (Notice of Lodging Documents on November 30, 2009 (Doc. No. 13), Clerk's Transcript on Appeal ("CT") at 385-86.) Following his conviction, petitioner was sentenced on July 21, 2006, to a state prison term of nineteen years. (Id. at 483.)
Petitioner appealed his judgment of conviction to the California Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District. On April 15, 2008, the judgment of conviction was affirmed.1(Resp't's Lod. Doc. No. 3.) Petitioner then filed a petition for review with the California Supreme Court. (Resp't's Lod. Doc. 5.) On July 23, 2008, the California Supreme Court denied that petition. (Resp't's Lod. Doc. 6.)
On July 13, 2009, petitioner filed the federal habeas petition now before this court. (Docket No. 1-"Pet.".) Respondent filed an answer on November 30, 2009. (Docket. No. 12-"Answer.") Petitioner has not filed a traverse.
In its unpublished memorandum and opinion affirming petitioner's judgment of conviction, the California Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District provided the following factual summary:
On October 30, 2005, Sacramento City Police officers surrounded the Greyhound bus from Reno when it arrived that morning. After the passengers disembarked, the officers found a black Echo jacketwith a fur collar on the overhead luggage rack near the rear of the bus. None of the passengers claimed the jacket. In the jacket, in plastic wrap, were lumps of rock cocaine, with a street value of approximately $40,000.
Defendant Thomas was among the first 10 passengers off the bus. He was wearing a sweat suit and had no jacket. He falsely identified himself as Trevoris White. He was detained.
Defendant Alleyne did not get off the bus with the other passengers. After getting up from a seat near the rear of the bus and initially moving toward the front of the bus, he returned and went to the rear restroom. He came out only after officers threatened to set loose a police dog if he did not. He declined to give his name. He was wearing a dark blue ski coat with a fur collar. He had $1,858 in cash in his pants pocket. He had a cell phone charger cord in another pocket. During the booking process with defendant Alleyne, he asked officers how they had known "we" were on the bus.
When the other passengers claimed their checked luggage and left, six pieces remained. Three of the bags were checked to a passenger identified as Chris White. The other three were checked to a passenger identified as Kevin Thomas. Greyhound records showed no mention of either defendant as a passenger, however, a Chris White had purchased passage for himself and a Kevin Thomas from Minnesota to Sacramento. One of the bags contained two distinct sizes of shoes and clothing. The two sizes were consistent with the defendants insofar as one is larger than the other. Also found in the bags, inter alia, were pictures of defendant Alleyne, a credit card in his name, a digital scale for gram weighing, an empty box for a prepaid cell phone, and two boxes of plastic baggies, one of which bore defendant Alleyne's fingerprint.
Rufus Cooks, the Greyhound bus driver, testified as follows. He noticed defendants in Reno when they came out together to the bus before it was cleared for boarding. They were supposed to remain in the terminal so he directed them to go back inside. They were wearing jackets with big furry collars. He had thought one of the jackets was white or light colored, but had principally focused on the fur collars, one dark, one light. None of the other passengers had fur collars as far as he could recall. However, he was not positive that no one else might have had a puffy jacket with a fur collar.
The lighter complexioned of the two men Cooks saw together in Reno wore the lighter colored coat and asked Cooks a question during a brief stop in Colfax (to fix an air pressure problem with the brakes). Defendant Thomas has a darker complexion than defendant Alleyne. At trial, Cooks could only say the defendants looked similar to the pair. However, he was "100 percent positive"that the two men who were detained on arrival in Sacramento were the pair he had first noticed in Reno. He could not be certain that the jackets at trial were those worn by the men, but the two collars were the same colors (one dark, one light) that he had seen in Reno.
Kevin Forson, a Greyhound terminal security guard, was looking into the bus on arrival when it was surrounded by the police. He saw defendant Thomas standing near the rear of the bus. Defendant Thomas took off his jacket and put it down on the seat or floor. When Forson next saw defendant Thomas, he was being handcuffed by police officers.
Both defendants were Chico residents. Each had "MOB" tattooed on his right upper arm.
Defendant Alleyne testified, in pertinent part, as follows. He denied involvement with the cocaine. The money had been earned through lawful employment. He admitted owning three of the bags. He said he had been traveling with another man from Minnesota to Sacramento, not defendant Thomas. The other man bought the tickets and the phone and checked the luggage. He knew nothing about the scale in the other man's luggage. The baggies were to store food purchased along the way for use on the bus. He had waited in the bus restroom on arrival because he was on parole and was aware he was unlawfully traveling outside the permitted distance from his home.
A writ of habeas corpus is available under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 only on the basis of some transgression of federal law binding on the state courts. See Peltier v. Wright, 15 F.3d 860, 861 (9th Cir. 1993); Middleton v. Cupp, 768 F.2d 1083, 1085 (9th Cir. 1985) (citing Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. 107, 119 (1982)). A federal writ is not available for alleged error in the interpretation or application of state law. See Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 67-68 (1991); Park v. California, 202 F.3d 1146, 1149 (9th Cir. 2000); Middleton, 768 F.2d at 1085. Habeas corpus cannot be utilized to try state issues de novo. Milton v. Wainwright, 407 U.S. 371, 377 (1972).
This action is governed by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA"). See Lindh v. Murphy, 521 U.S. 320, 336 (1997); Clark v. Murphy, 331 F.3d 1062, 1067 (9th Cir. 2003). Title 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) sets forth the following standards for granting habeas corpus relief:
An application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court shall not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim-
(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or
(2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.
See also Penry v. Johnson, 532 U.S. 782, 792-93 (2001); Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (2000); Lockhart v. Terhune, 250 F.3d 1223, 1229 (9th Cir. 2001). If the state court's decision does not meet the criteria set forth in § 2254(d), a reviewing court must conduct a de novo review of a habeas petitioner's claims. Delgadillo v. Woodford, 527 F.3d 919, 925 (9th Cir. 2008). See also Frantz v. Hazey, 513 F.3d 1002, 1013 (9th Cir. 2008) (en banc) ().
The court looks to the last reasoned state court decision as the basis for the state court judgment. Robinson v. Ignacio, 360 F.3d 1044, 1055 (9th Cir. 2004). If the last reasoned state court decision adopts or substantially incorporates the reasoning from a previous state court decision, this court may consider both decisions to ascertain the reasoning of the last decision. Edwards v. Lamarque, 475 F.3d 1121, 1126 (9th Cir. 2007) (en banc). Where the state court reaches a decision on the merits but provides no reasoning to support its conclusion, a federal habeas court independently reviews the record to determine whether habeas corpus relief is available under § 2254(d). Himes v....
To continue reading
Request your trial