Boyd v. French
| Decision Date | 19 June 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 97-23,97-23 |
| Parties | Arthur Martin BOYD, Jr., Petitioner-Appellant, v. James B. FRENCH, Warden, Central Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina; Michael F. Easley, Attorney General of North Carolina, Respondents-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
ARGUED: James Richard Glover, Glover & Petersen, P.A., Chapel Hill, North Carolina Before MURNAGHAN, ERVIN, and WILKINS, Circuit Judges.
Thomas Kieran Maher, Rudolph & Maher, P.A., Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for Appellant. Barry Steven McNeill, Special Deputy Attorney General, North Carolina Department of Justice, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Michael F. Easley, Attorney General of North Carolina, North Carolina Department of Justice, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellees.
Affirmed by published opinion. Judge WILKINS wrote the opinion, in which Judge ERVIN joined. Judge MURNAGHAN wrote a concurring opinion.
Appellant Arthur Martin Boyd, Jr. filed this petition for habeas corpus relief 1 from his North Carolina capital conviction and death sentence for the murder of his former girlfriend, 32-year-old Wanda Mae Phillips Hartman. See 28 U.S.C.A. § 2254 (West 1994). 2 The district court denied the petition, holding inter alia that the state trial court committed harmless error in failing to permit Boyd to present mitigating expert testimony at sentencing. Finding no reversible error in any of Boyd's numerous arguments, we affirm.
Boyd met Hartman in November 1978 while the two were employed by the same company. Within days Boyd moved in with Hartman, and the two resided together for approximately three and one-half years. In April 1982, Hartman decided to move into her parents' residence with her daughter. Boyd was not supportive of this decision and persistently attempted to reconcile with Hartman. Ultimately, on Friday, July 30, 1982, eight days before the murder, Boyd attempted to visit with Hartman in the front yard of her parents' residence, but Hartman's father, Lawrence Phillips, instructed Boyd "to get off of [his] property and stay off of it." S.J.A. 102. Boyd then threatened Hartman saying, "I'll see you like a German submarine, when you are not expecting it." S.J.A. 103 (internal quotation marks omitted). And, Boyd also told Phillips, "I'll meet you in heaven or hell one day." Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Following this encounter, Phillips sought a warrant for Boyd's arrest for trespassing, and the warrant was served on Boyd on Monday, August 2.
On the morning of Saturday, August 7, following a night of drinking and drug use, Boyd called Hartman at 8:00 a.m. and talked to her for approximately two hours. During this conversation, Boyd learned that Hartman planned to go to the Mayberry Mall in Mount Airy, North Carolina to shop and attend a church-sponsored car wash. Boyd then went to a bar and began drinking and using drugs again. At approximately 12:00 noon, when the bartender declined to serve him any more alcohol, Boyd hailed a taxi to take him to the mall.
Upon arriving at the mall, Boyd entered a store that sold knives and asked the salesman for a lock-blade knife. The owner of the store testified that S.J.A. 9. Boyd purchased the knife and left the store.
Boyd then saw Hartman and her mother, approached them, and asked Hartman if she would go outside with him. Boyd and Hartman sat together on a curb outside the mall in close proximity to the ongoing car wash, apparently discussing again the possibility of a reconciliation. After some period of time had passed, at approximately 2:00 p.m., Hartman's mother approached them and indicated that it was time to leave. Hartman stood up, but Boyd attempted to prevent her from leaving, asking her repeatedly to stay with him a few more minutes. Hartman responded to Boyd "that she had lived in hell for three months, that if he was going to kill her just go ahead and kill her and get it over with." S.J.A. 36.
Boyd brandished the knife he had just purchased, but offered Hartman assurances that he meant her no harm. Despite these assurances, Boyd began to stab Hartman. As Boyd attacked, Hartman screamed for help and her mother attempted to intervene, trying to pull Boyd away from Hartman. Boyd, however, threw the 76-year-old woman to the ground and resumed his onslaught on Hartman. Forcing Hartman to the ground on her stomach and holding her by her hair, Boyd stabbed her repeatedly. Throughout the attack, numerous witnesses looked on powerless to stop it, including Hartman's shrieking eight-year-old daughter. After stabbing Hartman 37 times, Boyd calmly walked away. He was apprehended quickly as he hid between two parked vehicles; the murder weapon was recovered from where Boyd had thrown it under a nearby automobile.
Emergency medical personnel were summoned and arrived on the scene at approximately 2:20 p.m. These technicians characterized Hartman's condition as requiring advanced life support treatment and explained that they were unable to transport Hartman until they could control her bleeding. They described the extreme difficulty Hartman was having breathing and the severe pain she was experiencing, recounting how Hartman moaned and "rak[ed her hands] back and forth in the dirt" where she was lying. S.J.A. 165. The examining pathologist later identified wounds to Hartman's throat, chest, left thigh, and back. Among these were two wounds that punctured Hartman's right lung, three that pierced her left lung, one that entered her stomach, and one that penetrated her sternum. Additionally, several defensive wounds to Hartman's hands and left arm were present. Loss of blood from these wounds led to hypovolemic shock, and Hartman died of exsanguination while being transported to a hospital.
Boyd was charged with first-degree murder. In light of the numerous witnesses to the murder, Boyd did not dispute that he had inflicted the fatal wounds. However, Boyd presented the testimony of two friends with whom he had been drinking on the morning of the murder and of the bartender who had declined to serve him to support his argument that he was intoxicated at the time of the murder. The jury convicted Boyd of first-degree murder in violation of N.C. Gen.Stat. § 14-17 (1993).
At sentencing, Boyd testified concerning his relationship with Hartman, their break-up, and his attempts at reconciliation. Boyd also professed his love for Hartman, saying, J.A. 583. Boyd related that when Hartman ended their relationship, he began to seek mental health assistance because he was having thoughts of killing people, including himself and Hartman. Boyd recounted his almost daily attempts to reunite with Hartman. Further, Boyd explained the difficulties he was experiencing in sleeping and his heavy use of alcohol and illegal drugs.
Boyd also testified concerning various emotional losses he had experienced as a child. Boyd's father deserted their family when Boyd was very young, and his grandfather, with whom he was very close, died when Boyd was five years old. Boyd's mother corroborated the losses of his father and grandfather.
Boyd then called Dr. Jack Humphrey, a professor of criminology at the University of North Carolina. 3 The State objected, and Dr. Humphrey was examined outside the presence of the jury. Dr. Humphrey testified about a study he had performed over a two-year period in conjunction with the North Carolina Department of Corrections. The study had two elements. First, researchers compared prison records, social histories, and psychiatric histories of North Carolina prisoners convicted of homicide with those convicted of property offenses. He concluded that prisoners convicted of homicide had suffered over the course of their lives more stressful events than nonviolent offenders. The second aspect of the study dealt with whether there was a difference between individuals who had killed strangers and individuals who had killed family members or those close to them. Dr. Humphrey concluded that individuals whose victims were close to them tended to have experienced more loss in their lives than those who had killed strangers:
Now, one thing here is a loss has been found to be associated with or precipitate or lead to suicide over and over and over. The more loss in someone's life, the more likely they are to become self-destructive. And it seems that killing a family member or killing a close friend is an act of self-destruction They are, after all, killing something that is part of them, very close to them, very important to their self. They are destroying them. So in the act of killing another person they are in fact destroying part of [themselves, committing] a self-destructive act.
J.A. 684-85. Dr. Humphrey then described the types of losses to which he was referring--for example the loss of a parent or sibling. Further, Dr. Humphrey testified that he had interviewed Boyd and learned of the losses Boyd had experienced. Dr. Humphrey testified, "And what struck me [was] the consistency of Mr. Boyd's life with what we found to be true of homicide offenders in general." J.A. 687. Dr. Humphrey continued:
It seems that people who are threatened with loss, and mainly these are losses of someone very close to them, wife, girlfriend, some close relationship, at that point that they are threatened with this loss they become depressed, very commonly depressed, and depression is in a sense anger turned toward yourself. Now, at that point people react either toward themselves totally or they will react outwardly and...
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