Bolin v. Davis

• Decision Date: 15 September 2021
• Docket Number: No. 16-99009,16-99009
• Citation: 13 F.4th 797
• Parties: Paul C. BOLIN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Ronald DAVIS, Warden, San Quentin State Prison, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

13 F.4th 797

Paul C. BOLIN, Petitioner-Appellant,

v.Ronald DAVIS, Warden, San Quentin State Prison, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 16-99009

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted June 2, 2021 Pasadena, California

Filed September 15, 2021

Robert D. Bacon (argued), Oakland, California; Heather E. Williams, Federal Defender; Brian Abbington, Assistant Federal Defender; Office of the Federal Public Defender, Sacramento, California; for Petitioner-Appellant.

Rachelle A. Newcomb (argued) and Sean M. McCoy, Deputy Attorneys General; Michael P. Farrell, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Office of the Attorney General, Sacramento, California; for Respondent-Appellee.

Before: M. Margaret McKeown, Jacqueline H. Nguyen, and Daniel A. Bress, Circuit Judges.

BRESS, Circuit Judge:

A California jury convicted Paul Bolin of two counts of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to death. Bolin now seeks federal habeas relief, arguing that his trial counsel was ineffective in not renewing a motion to change venue and in failing to develop additional mitigating evidence. Applying the deferential standards of review in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), we hold that Bolin is not entitled to relief.

I

A

On Labor Day weekend in 1989, Paul Bolin shot three men, killing two of them. Bolin killed one man as he pleaded for his life in the fetal position. He shot the other man's motionless body with a second firearm and staged the scene to make the murders look like a drug deal gone bad. When his third victim escaped, Bolin disabled the man's truck and left him to die in a secluded area of the Sierra Nevada foothills. Given the testimony of two eyewitnesses, the events were not in significant dispute. We now summarize the facts based on the record before us and the California Supreme Court's decision on Bolin's direct appeal. See People v. Bolin , 18 Cal.4th 297, 75 Cal.Rptr.2d 412, 956 P.2d 374 (1998).

In 1989, Bolin was living in a cabin in a remote, mountainous part of Walker Basin in Kern County, California. Vance Huffstuttler lived on the property in a trailer and assisted Bolin in growing marijuana there. Steve Mincy and Jim Wilson were spending their Labor Day weekend with family and friends at a campsite that Mincy's father owned in the vicinity. On the Saturday, Mincy and Wilson went to a local bar and were drinking there with a group of people that included Huffstuttler and Bolin. Sometime after Bolin returned to his cabin, Wilson agreed to drive Huffstuttler back to his trailer. Mincy went along for the ride. Tragically, that decision would prove fateful.

When the trio arrived at the cabin, they saw Bolin there with his friend Eloy Ramirez. Huffstuttler took Wilson and Mincy across a creek bed by the cabin to show them a patch of marijuana plants he and Bolin were cultivating. Bolin then became agitated. He followed the three men across the creek bed and confronted Huffstuttler about bringing outsiders to see the marijuana grow operation.

According to Wilson, who testified at Bolin's trial, Bolin and Huffstuttler crossed back over to the other side of the creek bed, heading toward the cabin and leaving Wilson's view. Then Wilson heard a gunshot from that direction. A moment later, Bolin "came out from behind the tree line with a gun [a revolver] in his hand." He "started apologizing to" Wilson and Mincy, and said, "I have got nothing against you guys, ... but." When Bolin said "but," Wilson turned and ran. As he turned, Bolin shot him in the shoulder. Wilson ducked behind a tree.

From behind the tree, Wilson heard Bolin shoot Mincy. Wilson could hear Mincy pleading with Bolin, saying, "no, please don't. You don't have to do this. Please don't." Wilson then heard several more gunshots ring out. Staying hidden behind trees, Wilson ran away up and over a hill.

Ramirez confirmed Wilson's testimony and provided additional details for the jury. Ramirez testified that once Wilson had fled, Bolin retrieved a rifle he kept by his bed. Using the rifle, Bolin shot Huffstuttler's inert body several times as he lay collapsed on the ground. Then, Bolin searched for Wilson after he escaped wounded into the forest; when he could not find him, Bolin commented to Ramirez that Wilson "would bleed to death" before he got off the hill.

After shooting Huffstuttler and Mincy, Bolin told Ramirez that he was going to make the scene "look like a bad dope deal." Bolin broke bottles and poured both marijuana and what Ramirez thought was chili on the dead bodies. Bolin placed the revolver in Huffstuttler's dead hand. Bolin also disabled Wilson's truck by removing wires and throwing them in a gully. Bolin and Ramirez then fled for southern California.

Later analysis revealed that Mincy was shot four times, once while he was upright and three more times while he was in the fetal position lying in the creek bed. Huffstuttler was also shot four times. Wilson, who had traveled all night through the remote, mountainous area, managed to survive after finding refuge in a nearby ranch.

Law enforcement found Ramirez at his girlfriend's house in southern California shortly after the killings. But they were unable to find Bolin for several months. Finally, after the television program America's Most Wanted featured a reenactment of Bolin's murders, one of Bolin's family members alerted the police that Bolin was staying in Chicago. That led to Bolin's arrest.

As discussed further below, Bolin had a history of violent crime. In addition to domestic violence incidents during the 1970s, in 1983 a California jury convicted Bolin of attempted voluntary manslaughter for shooting his goddaughter's then-boyfriend, Kenneth Ross, in the chest. Bolin was sent to state prison and paroled in May 1985. In January 1986, Bolin was arrested in Oklahoma for stabbing Jack Baxter. A jury acquitted Bolin based on Bolin's claim of self-defense, but California still revoked his parole. Bolin was released from prison in March 1987.

Then, on September 2, 1989, Bolin murdered Huffstuttler and Mincy. Since shooting Ross in 1981, up until the day he murdered Huffstuttler and Mincy in 1989, Bolin was out of custody for less than forty months.

B

Bolin was charged in Kern County Superior Court with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, and cultivation of marijuana. Bolin was eligible for the death penalty because the state tried him for multiple murders. See Cal. Penal Code § 190.2(a)(3).

The state trial court appointed Charles Soria as Bolin's lead counsel and William Cater as second chair. Soria and Cater were both experienced attorneys. Soria had worked as a criminal defense lawyer in Kern County for almost a decade, and in that time he served as counsel in approximately fifteen murder cases, three of which were capital cases. Cater had served in the local public defender's office and defended "lots of cases" before entering private practice. He had also tried two other capital cases. Cater was familiar with the California Death Penalty Defense Manual, and he had attended the Capital Case Defense Seminar at least twice.

Defense counsel initially filed a motion to change venue due to allegedly prejudicial pretrial publicity. This motion was largely based on the America's Most Wanted reenactment. The trial court reserved judgment on the motion to see how this issue came up in voir dire of potential jurors. Following jury selection, defense counsel did not renew the change of venue motion. This issue is the basis for one of Bolin's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, and we provide more background on it below.

On December 12, 1990, the jury found Bolin guilty on all charges. The following day, after the guilt phase closed, Bolin expressed unhappiness with his lead counsel, Soria. The trial judge granted Bolin's request to remove Soria under People v. Marsden , 2 Cal.3d 118, 84 Cal.Rptr. 156, 465 P.2d 44 (1970), based on a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship. With Bolin's agreement and at his request, the trial judge appointed Cater to handle the penalty phase.

On December 14, 1990, the judge granted a continuance until January 7, 1991 to give Cater more time to prepare Bolin's penalty phase defense. On January 7, 1991, Cater requested and received another two-week extension. The penalty phase began on January 22, 1991. The jury in the penalty phase was the same jury that had convicted Bolin during the guilt phase.

The jury returned a death verdict on January 24, 1991. We discuss at greater length below Cater's investigation into Bolin's mitigating circumstances and his presentation of mitigating evidence, which forms the basis for Bolin's other ineffective assistance of counsel claim.

The California Supreme Court affirmed Bolin's convictions and sentence on direct appeal. Bolin , 75 Cal.Rptr.2d 412, 956 P.2d at 348. The United States Supreme Court then denied certiorari. Bolin v. California , 526 U.S. 1006, 119 S.Ct. 1146, 143 L.Ed.2d 213 (1999) (mem.).

C

Bolin filed state and federal habeas petitions on August 8, 2000. His federal habeas petition was held in abeyance through completion of his state habeas proceedings. In his state habeas petition, Bolin asserted numerous claims, including the two ineffective assistance claims now before us.

In his state habeas proceedings, Bolin did not submit declarations from trial counsel, nor did he submit a declaration on his own behalf. But he did come forward with some additional evidence, including: a declaration from Dr. Zakee Matthews, M.D., a psychiatrist who evaluated Bolin in 1999 and 2000; a declaration from Dr. Natasha Khazanov, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist who evaluated Bolin in 2000; the pretrial report of Dr. Ronald Markman, M.D., a forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Bolin in 1990; reports from Roger Ruby, Bolin's investigator for the penalty phase; declarations from family members and a friend; and a letter Bolin sent to Jerry Halfacre, Bolin's daughter's former...