Baker v. Muncy

• Decision Date: 24 April 1980
• Docket Number: No. 79-6468,79-6468
• Citation: 619 F.2d 327
• Parties: Leroy Huston BAKER, Appellant, v. R. M. MUNCY; Attorney General of Virginia, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 327

619 F.2d 327

Leroy Huston BAKER, Appellant, v. R. M. MUNCY; Attorney General of Virginia, Appellee.

No. 79-6468.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued Jan. 10, 1980.

Decided April 24, 1980.

Michael E. Geltner, Georgetown University Law Center, Appellate Litigation Clinic, Washington, D. C., Thomas R. Lopez, Third Year Law Student, for appellant.

Robert E. Bradenham, II, Asst. Atty. Gen., Richmond, Va. (Marshall Coleman, Atty. Gen. of Va., Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellee.

Before FIELD, Senior Circuit Judge, and HALL and SPROUSE, Circuit Judges.

K. K. HALL, Circuit Judge:

Petitioner Leroy Huston Baker appeals from the district court's denial of habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He challenges his first degree murder conviction on the ground that certain jury instructions unconstitutionally relieved the State of its burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt all elements of the offense charged. We reverse.

Baker shot and killed Aaron Johnson in a dispute over a dice game. He was tried by a jury in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Virginia, and was convicted, despite his defense that Johnson appeared to reach for a gun in his pocket, causing petitioner to shoot out of fear for his own life. ¹

After the verdict, petitioner moved to set aside the conviction on the ground that several jury instructions were impermissible under Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 95 S.Ct. 1881, 44 L.Ed.2d 508 (1975). The trial court addressed and rejected the claim on the merits, despite petitioner's failure to object to all but one of the challenged instructions prior to submission to the jury. The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the conviction, rejecting petitioner's Mullaney argument in light of its then recent holdings in Hodge v. Commonwealth, 217 Va. 338, 228 S.E.2d 692 (1976), Warlitner v. Commonwealth, 217 Va. 348, 228 S.E.2d 698 (1976), and Daugherty v. Commonwealth, 217 Va. 353, 228 S.E.2d 701 (1976). Baker v. Commonwealth, 218 Va. 193, 237 S.E.2d 88 (1977).

Baker filed his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The district court denied petitioner's claim relating to Jury Instructions 4 and 5 under Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 97 S.Ct. 2497, 53 L.Ed.2d 714 (1977), based on his failure to object in accordance with Rule 5:21, Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia. In a second order, the district court, noting the trial court's refusal to penalize Baker for his failure to make a timely objection, denied this claim on the merits because the challenged instructions were similar to those upheld in Frazier v. Weatherholtz, 572 F.2d 994 (4th Cir. 1978).

I. Applicability of Wainwright v. Sykes

As a preliminary matter, we must reject the State's contention that Wainwright v. Sykes, supra, precludes federal habeas corpus review of Instructions 4 and 5, which were not objected to until after the jury had returned its verdict.

The recent decision of the Supreme Court in Ulster County Court v. Allen, 442 U.S. 140, 99 S.Ct. 2213, 60 L.Ed.2d 777 (1979), shows that Wainwright does not automatically preclude consideration in federal habeas corpus of alleged constitutional error not objected to prior to jury deliberation and verdict. Undoubtedly the notions of comity embodied in federal habeas corpus jurisdiction require us to "accord appropriate respect to the sovereignty of the States in our federal system," 442 U.S. at 154, 99 S.Ct. at 2223, by refusing to consider the merits of a federal constitutional claim which was denied in State court on an independent and adequate State procedural ground. Wainwright, supra; Dooley v. Sheffer, 572 F.2d 994, 996-98 (4th Cir. 1978). But where the State trial court has given leave to assert a belated challenge ² and the Virginia Supreme Court has likewise considered the merits of the claim on appeal, giving no indication that the claim was barred in any event by procedural default, ³ we too may consider the claim. ⁴

II. Instructions 4 and 5

The thrust of petitioner's challenge is directed at the following instructions ⁵ to the jury:

(4) The Court instructs the Jury that a mortal wound given with a deadly weapon in previous possession of the slayer, without any provocation or even with slight provocation, is prima facie willful, deliberate and premeditated killing and throws upon the slayer the necessity of showing extenuating circumstances. That Instruction was No. 4, ladies and gentlemen.

(5) The Court instructs the Jury that the presumption referred to in instruction 4 is not a conclusive presumption, but may be overcome by proof of extenuating circumstances sufficient to create a reasonable doubt in favor of the Defendant, either as to the degree of the offense or as to his guilt or innocence. You are the judges of whether the weapon used by the defendant in this case was a deadly weapon when used in the manner and under the circumstances in which it was used, as disclosed by the evidence.

Petitioner contends that these instructions, read together, shifted to the defendant the burden of persuading the jury as to the nonexistence of premeditation, an essential element of first degree murder, upon proof that a deadly weapon in previous possession of the slayer was used to deliver the mortal wound.

Recent decisions of the Supreme Court in Sandstrom v. Montana, 442 U.S. 510, 99 S.Ct. 2450, 61 L.Ed.2d 39 (1979) and Ulster County Court v. Allen, 442 U.S. 140, 99 S.Ct. 2213, 60 L.Ed.2d 777 (1979) guide our inquiry into whether the challenged instructions have the effect of shifting to the defendant the burden of persuasion as to an essential element of the crime in contravention of In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970); Mullaney v. Wilbur, supra, and subsequent cases. The analysis necessarily begins with inquiry into the nature of the presumption created by Instructions 4 and 5. Sandstrom, supra, 442 U.S. at 513, 99 S.Ct. at 2454, Ulster County, supra, 442 U.S. at 155-161, 99 S.Ct. at 2224-27.

We readily conclude that Instructions 4 and 5 create a mandatory presumption rather than a permissive inference. See Sandstrom, supra, 442 U.S. at 513, 99 S.Ct. at 2454. But because the presumption is also, by its terms, not conclusive, the State asserts that it is nevertheless permissible.

The State argues that Instructions 4 and 5 shift to the defendants only a burden of production and the presumption is merely a procedural device which does not affect the State's obligation to prove each element beyond a reasonable doubt. See Mullaney, supra, 421 U.S. at 701-02 n.28, 30, 95 S.Ct. at 1890-91 n.28, 30; Sandstrom, supra, 442 U.S. at 515, 99 S.Ct. at 2455. While this might be a correct statement of the legal weight assigned the presumption under Virginia law, see Hairston v. Commonwealth, 217 Va. 429, 230 S.E.2d 626 (1976), following Hodge v. Commonwealth, 217 Va. 338, 228 S.E.2d 692 (1976), the recent United States Supreme Court decisions compel us to look at the actual language of the instructions to determine whether "a reasonable juror could have given the presumption conclusive or persuasion-shifting effect." 442 U.S. at 519, 99 S.Ct. at 2457.

We think a reasonable juror could have interpreted Instructions 4 and 5 as shifting to the defendant the burden of persuasion on the element of premeditation. Instruction 4 tells the jury that the delivery of a mortal wound with a deadly weapon and without sufficient provocation "throws upon the slayer the necessity of showing extenuating circumstances." Any doubt as to the risk that "showing" might be understood to be more than a production burden is resolved by Instruction 5, which directs that the presumption may be overcome by "proof of extenuating circumstances sufficient to create a reasonable doubt." We think it is possible indeed likely that a reasonable juror might view this burden of raising a reasonable doubt as one of persuasion. ⁶ See United States v. Harrigan, 586 F.2d 860 (1st Cir. 1978). ⁷

The State further contends petitioner's assertion at trial that he shot Aaron Johnson in self defense was sufficient to require him to bear the burden of establishing that affirmative defense. We agree that self defense is an affirmative defense under Virginia law and the State may, under principles set forth in Patterson v. New York, 432 U.S. 197, 97 S.Ct. 2319, 53 L.Ed.2d 281 (1977), cast upon the accused the burden of proving self defense. Frazier v. Weatherholtz, 572 F.2d 994 (4th Cir. 1978); McGhee v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 560, 248 S.E.2d 808 (1978). It does not follow, however, that petitioner's theory of the case at trial relieved the State of its obligation to prove that the killing was deliberate and premeditated in order to establish murder in the first degree.

While the absence of self defense is not an element of murder under Virginia law, McGhee, supra, 248 S.E.2d at 810, deliberation and premeditation undoubtedly are elements of first degree murder which the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Va.Code § 18.2-32. ⁸ We think Patterson's salutary rule upholding affirmative defenses would be stretched too far if the assertion of an affirmative defense negated the State's obligation to prove the long-recognized elements of first degree murder.

Finally, we must dispose of the State's contention that the instructions, taken as a whole, cured any infirmity in the challenged instruction by clearly placing upon the State the burden of proving all elements beyond a reasonable doubt. Our review of the jury charge reveals that although certain instructions indicate the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt every element of the offense, it is possible to interpret Instructions 4 and 5 as telling the jury this burden is satisfied as to deliberation and premeditation when the presumption is raised and not rebutted. The Court in Sandstrom v. Montana, supra, rejecting as...