Bailey v. Snyder, Civ. A. No. 92-209-RRM.
| Decision Date | 21 June 1993 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 92-209-RRM. |
| Citation | 826 F. Supp. 804 |
| Parties | Billie BAILEY, Petitioner, v. Robert SNYDER, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Delaware |
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Edmond D. Lyons, Jr., and David J. Lyons, Aerenson, Ferrara & Lyons, Wilmington, DE, for petitioner.
Paul R. Wallace, State of Delaware Dept. of Justice, Wilmington, DE, for respondent.
This is a habeas corpus case. The petitioner, Billie Bailey, is a state prisoner. In February 1980, Bailey was convicted in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware of robbery in the first degree, possession of a deadly weapon by a person prohibited, two charges of possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, and two charges of murder in the first degree. For each of the murder convictions, Bailey was sentenced to death.
Bailey's convictions were affirmed by the Delaware Supreme Court on direct appeal. Bailey v. State, 490 A.2d 158 (Del.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 867, 104 S.Ct. 205, 78 L.Ed.2d 178 (1983). Bailey's sentences were also affirmed on direct appeal. Bailey v. State, 503 A.2d 1210 (Del.1984).
On August 23, 1991, the Superior Court denied Bailey's motion for postconviction relief. Bailey v. State, No. IK79-05-0085R1 through IK79-05-0088R1, IK79-07-0202R1, and IK79-07-0203R1, 1991 WL 190294 (Del.Super.Ct. August 23, 1991). On March 9, 1992, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed without opinion the Superior Court's decision denying Bailey's motion. Bailey v. State, 609 A.2d 668 (Del.1992).
On April 8, 1992, Bailey filed in this Court a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In his petition, Bailey raises the following grounds for federal habeas relief: (1) the trial court erred in not granting his motion for a change of venue based on alleged prejudicial pretrial publicity in Kent County; (2) his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial and due process rights were violated by the misconduct of the prosecutor at the guilt/innocence phase of the trial; (3) his due process rights were violated by the trial court's reasonable doubt instruction which unfairly undercut the standard of proof; (4) his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial and due process rights were violated by the misconduct of the prosecutor at the capital penalty hearing; (5) his death sentences must be vacated because the jury at his capital penalty hearing was allowed to consider a statutory aggravating circumstance that was subsequently found to be unconstitutionally vague; (6) his due process rights were violated because the trial court instructed the jury at the capital penalty hearing that one statutory aggravating circumstance had already been established by virtue of the jury's earlier verdicts of guilty on two charges of murder; and, (7) his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment will be violated if he is executed as death by hanging or lethal injection as performed in Delaware violates the Eighth Amendment.
On March 2, 1993, the Court heard oral argument on the issues raised in Bailey's petition. This is the Court's decision on the petition.
The following findings are based on the Delaware Supreme Court's findings in its decision on Bailey's direct appeal, Bailey v. State, 490 A.2d 158 (Del.1983), the Superior Court's findings in its decision on his motion for postconviction relief, Bailey v. State, (Del.Super.Ct. August 23, 1991), and this Court's independent review of the transcripts of his trial.
In the fall of 1978, Bailey was arrested and prosecuted for passing a check with a forged endorsement. Thereafter, he was convicted of forgery. While awaiting sentencing, Bailey was housed at the Plummer House, a work release facility in Wilmington, Delaware.
In early May 1979, Bailey was released to live in Cheswold, Delaware, with his foster sister Sue Ann Coker. On May 19, 1979, at the request of the authorities at the Plummer House, Bailey returned to live at the Plummer House.
On Monday, May 21, 1979, Bailey escaped from the Plummer House. At approximately 3:30 p.m., he appeared at the home of Mrs. Coker. He told Mrs. Coker that he was upset and was not going to return to the Plummer House. At the time, Bailey was drinking from a bottle of vodka, though he did not appear to Mrs. Coker to be drunk.
At approximately 3:45 p.m., Bailey and Charles Coker, Mrs. Coker's husband, left in the Coker's truck to pick up Mrs. Coker's son at school. On the way, Bailey asked Mr. Coker to stop at a package store. Bailey entered the store and robbed the clerk at gunpoint. He emerged from the store carrying a bottle in one hand and a .22 caliber pistol in the other.
Bailey returned to the truck and told Mr. Coker that the police would soon be arriving. Bailey then requested that Mr. Coker drop him off at Lambertson's Corner, about a mile and a half away. Mr. Coker complied and then returned to the scene of the robbery to inquire about the welfare of the clerk.
Upon arriving at the package store, Mr. Coker telephoned the Delaware State Police and advised them that the perpetrator of the robbery was Billie Bailey.
In the meantime, Bailey had entered the farmhouse of 80-year-old retired farmer Gilbert Lambertson and his 73-year-old wife, Clara, and killed both of them. He shot Mr. Lambertson twice in the chest with the .22 caliber pistol, and once in the head with Mr. Lambertson's .12 gauge shotgun. He shot Mrs. Lambertson once in the shoulder with the pistol, and once in the abdomen and once in the neck with the shotgun.
After the shootings, Bailey fled. The Delaware State Police helicopter unit spotted him running across the Lambertson's field toward the woods. The co-pilot of the helicopter apprehended Bailey after Bailey had attempted to shoot him with the .22 caliber pistol.
The arresting officers then brought Bailey to a Justice of the Peace for commitment proceedings. The Justice of the Peace formally charged Bailey with the murders of the Lambertsons, advised him of his Miranda rights, and informed him of the nature of the charges against him and the possible penalties. During the commitment proceedings, Bailey said to the Justice of the Peace:
Bailey's trial began on February 12, 1980, and concluded on February 22, 1980. At the trial, Nan Perillo ("Perillo") and Howard Hillis ("Hillis"), two experienced Assistant Public Defenders, represented Bailey. Bailey's defense was that he had acted while under extreme emotional distress. Extreme emotional distress is a mitigating circumstance that reduces the crime of murder in the first degree to the crime of manslaughter. See 11 Del.C. § 641.
In support of his defense, Bailey presented the following evidence: (1) Bailey's mother died when he was less than a year old and his father died when he was six; (2) from age six to fourteen, Bailey lived in various foster homes; (3) after Bailey and his wife had a daughter, Bailey began to drink excessively; (4) when Bailey's daughter was three or four months old she was burned badly in an accidental fire and had to have her hand amputated; (5) because his in-laws blamed Bailey for the fire, he began to think the accident was his fault and his drinking intensified; (6) in August of 1978, Bailey's wife left him and his in-laws refused to allow him to have any contact with his daughter; (7) at about the same time, Bailey began to experience epileptic seizures; (8) in the fall of 1978, Bailey was convicted of forgery; (9) following this conviction, the State decided to seek a life sentence for Bailey as an habitual offender and this contributed substantially to the deterioration of his emotional stability; (10) Dr. Irving Weintraub, a forensic psychologist, testified that Bailey suffered from "emotional instability which has and continues to impair his capacities for independent adjustment in society"; and, (11) Mr. Ferman Franklin, an alcoholism counselor whom Bailey had visited on an outpatient basis, testified that Bailey was impulsive and had some difficulties with emotional stability.
In response to Bailey's defense of extreme emotional distress, the State called as a witness Dr. Mohammed Iqbal, a clinical psychologist at the Delaware State Hospital who had examined Bailey on one occasion. Dr. Iqbal testified that Bailey was not psychotic or mentally ill. He further testified that the determination of the existence of extreme emotional distress is not properly within the expertise or terminology of a clinical psychologist. The State also called as a witness Dr. Robert Buckley, a psychiatrist and the medical director of Delaware State Hospital. Dr. Buckley testified that based on his own examination of Bailey, Bailey did not have a mental disease or defect.
On February 22, 1980, the jury returned with its verdict, finding Bailey guilty of robbery in the first degree, possession of a deadly weapon by a person prohibited, two charges of possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, and two charges of first degree murder.
On February 25, 1980, after a capital penalty hearing, the jury unanimously recommended that Bailey receive a sentence of death for each of the first degree murder convictions.
Bailey appealed his convictions and his sentences. Perillo and Hillis shared responsibilities in presenting Bailey's appeal: Hillis reviewed the record and prepared a statement of facts from which the issues could be identified; Perillo researched and wrote the legal arguments. The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed Bailey's convictions and sentences. Bailey v. State, 490 A.2d 158 (Del. 1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 867, 104 S.Ct. 205, 78 L.Ed.2d 178 (1983) ("Bailey I"); Bailey v. State, 503 A.2d 1210 (Del.1984) ("Bailey II").
On December 5, 1985, Perillo filed on behalf of Bailey a motion for...
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