Black v. Bell, 3:00-0764.
| Decision Date | 11 December 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 3:00-0764.,3:00-0764. |
| Citation | 181 F.Supp.2d 832 |
| Parties | Byron Lewis BLACK, v. Ricky BELL. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee |
Paul Bottei, Nashville, TN, for plaintiff.
Joseph F. Whalen, III, Nashville, TN, for defendant.
Pending before the Court are Respondent's Motion For Summary Judgment (Docket No. 27), and Petitioner's Response (Docket No. 72) to the Motion. For the reasons set forth below, the Motion For Summary Judgment is GRANTED.
In 1989, Petitioner was convicted in Davidson County Criminal Court of three counts of first degree murder and one count of burglary in connection with the killing of his girlfriend, Angela Clay, and her two minor daughters, Lakeisha and Latoya. (See State v. Black, 815 S.W.2d 166 (Tenn.1991); Addendum 12). The Petitioner received a death sentence for the murder of Lakeisha, consecutive life sentences for the other two murder convictions, and a fifteen-year sentence for the burglary conviction. Id. Petitioner's convictions and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal. Id.
In 1992, Petitioner filed a petition for post conviction relief in the Davidson County Criminal Court. (Addendum 14, Vol. I). After holding an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied post conviction relief. . That judgment was affirmed on appeal by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. (Black v. State, 1999 WL 195299 (Tenn. Crim.App. April 8, 1999); Addendum 25). Petitioner's application for permission to appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court was denied on September 13, 1999. (Addendum 28).
Invoking the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 2254, Petitioner subsequently filed a Petition, and later an Amended Petition, seeking federal habeas relief on numerous grounds. (Docket Nos. 1, 8). The Respondent has filed the pending Motion seeking dismissal of Petitioner's claims, and the Petitioner has filed a response to the Motion.
The facts surrounding Petitioner's convictions were described by the Tennessee Supreme Court in its opinion on direct appeal as follows:
The police arrived at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Monday evening, March 28, 1988, and found no signs of forced entry into the apartment; the door was locked. Officer James was able to open a window after prying off a bedroom window screen. All the lights were off. He shined a flashlight into a child's room and saw a pool of blood on the bed and the body of a small child on the floor. He exited the room, and officers secured the scene.
Investigation revealed the bodies of Angela and her nine year old daughter, Latoya, in the master bedroom. Angela, who was lying in the bed, had apparently been shot once in the top of the head as she slept and was rendered unconscious immediately and died within minutes. Dr. Charles Harlan, Chief Medical Examiner for Davidson County, testified that she was probably shot from a distance of six to twelve inches and that her gunshot wound was the type usually caused by a large caliber bullet.
Latoya's body was found partially on the bed and partially off the bed, wedged between the bed and a chest of drawers. She had been shot once through the neck and chest. Blood on her pillow and a bullet hole in the bedding indicated she had been lying on the bed when shot. Dr. Harlan testified that she was shot from a distance of greater than twenty-four inches from the skin surface. The bullet path and type of shot indicated that death was not instantaneous but likely occurred within three to ten minutes after her being shot. Bullet fragments were recovered from her left lung. Both victims were under the bedcovers when they were shot.
The body of Lakeisha, age six, was found in the second bedroom lying facedown on the floor next to her bed. She had been shot twice, once in the chest, once in the pelvic area. Dr. Harlan testified that she had died from bleeding as a result of a gunshot wound to the chest. She was shot from a distance of six to twelve inches and died within five to thirty minutes after being shot.
Abrasions on her arm indicated a bullet had grazed her as she sought to protect herself from the attacker. Bullet holes and blood stains on the bed indicated that she was lying in bed when shot and had moved from the bed to the floor after being shot. There were bloody finger marks down the rail running from the head of the bed to the foot of the bed. The size of the wounds and the absence of bullet casings indicated that a large caliber revolver had been used to kill the victims.
One projectile was collected from the pillow where Latoya was apparently lying at the time she was shot. Fragments of projectiles were collected from the wall above Angela's head; others were collected from the mattress where Lakeisha was found.
The receiver from the kitchen telephone was found in the master bedroom. The telephone from the master bedroom was lying in the hallway between the two bedrooms. The Defendant's fingerprints were the only prints recovered from the telephones. Two of his fingerprints were found on the phone in the hallway, and one was on the kitchen telephone receiver found in the master bedroom.
Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that summary judgment may be rendered if "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law."
In order to prevail, the movant has the burden of proving the absence of a genuine issue of material fact as to an essential element of the opposing party's claim. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). In determining whether the movant has met its burden, the Court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Matsushita Electric Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).
In order to defeat the motion, the nonmoving party is required to show, after an adequate time for discovery, that there is a genuine issue of fact as to every essential element of that party's case upon which he will bear the burden of proof at trial. Celotex Corp., 106 S.Ct. at 2553, 106 S.Ct. 2548. In order to create a genuine factual issue, the nonmoving party must show there is sufficient evidence favoring the nonmoving party for the factfinder to return a verdict for that party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2511, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Although the nonmovant need not show that the disputed issue should be resolved in his favor, he must demonstrate that there are genuine factual issues that "properly can be resolved only by a finder of fact because they may reasonably be resolved in favor of either party." Id.
The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA"), which amended 28 U.S.C. § 2254, applies to all habeas petitions filed after April 24, 1996, the effective date of the Act. Mitchell v. Mason, 257 F.3d 554, 560-61 (6th Cir. 2001). As Black's Petition was filed on August 14, 2000, and after the effective date, this case is governed by the AEDPA.
Respondent argues that the Court should not reach the merits of several of Petitioner's claims because Petitioner failed to raise those claims in state court, and has, therefore, procedurally defaulted those claims.
Subsection (b)(1)(A) of 28 U.S.C. § 2254 requires a habeas corpus petitioner to exhaust the remedies available to him in state court before raising a claim in federal court. If the petitioner has no remedy currently available in state court, however, the exhaustion requirement is satisfied, but the claims are procedurally barred. Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 2554-55, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991); Cone v. Bell, 243 F.3d 961, 967 (6th Cir.2001), cert. granted, ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 663, ___ L.Ed.2d ___ (2001).
A petitioner may avoid this procedural bar by showing cause for the default, and that prejudice resulted from the default, or by showing that failure to consider the claims will result in a fundamental miscarriage of justice. Id.; Edwards v. Carpenter, 529 U.S. 446, 120 S.Ct. 1587, 1591, 146 L.Ed.2d 518 (2000).
Exhaustion requires that petitioners give state courts "a fair opportunity" to act on claims before they are presented to the federal courts. O'Sullivan v. Boerckel, 526 U.S. 838, 119 S.Ct. 1728, 1732, 144 L.Ed.2d 1 (1999). To satisfy the exhaustion requirement, a petitioner must invoke one complete round of the state's established review process, including the filing of a petition for discretionary review with the state's highest court. Id.
In this case, Petitioner may no longer present claims to the state courts because those claims would be barred by the statute of limitations. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-30-202.1 Thus, those claims that have not been exhausted are procedurally defaulted because Petitioner has no remedy currently available in state court. The Court discusses Petitioner's grounds for avoiding the procedural bar in discussing particular claims.
Respondent contends that the state court's reliance on certain state procedural rules in rejecting certain of Petitioner's claims bars federal review of those claims. In order to rely on this procedural default doctrine, Respondent must show that: (1) there is an applicable state procedural rule with which the Petitioner failed to comply; (2) the state rule is one that is firmly established and regularly followed; (3) the rule is an adequate and independent state...
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