Brown v. Crosby

• Decision Date: 19 March 2003
• Docket Number: No. 95-CV-7207.,95-CV-7207.
• Citation: 249 F.Supp.2d 1285
• Parties: Timothy BROWN, Petitioner, v. James V. CROSBY, Jr., as Secretary of the Department of Corrections,<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL> Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

249 F.Supp.2d 1285

Timothy BROWN, Petitioner, v. James V. CROSBY, Jr., as Secretary of the Department of Corrections,¹ Respondent.

No. 95-CV-7207.

United States District Court, S.D. Florida. Miami Division.

March 19, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Timothy Brown, [Pro Se], Avon Park, FL, Brenda Greenberg Bryn, Timothy Day, Federal Public Defender's Office, Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Timothy Brown, plaintiff.

Celia Ann Terenzio, Leslie T. Campbell, Office of the Attorney General, West Palm Beach, FL, for Secretary for the Department of Corrections, James V. Crosby, Jr., Attorney General, defendants.

ORDER

GRAHAM, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE comes before the Court upon Petitioner's Amended Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (D.E.70).

THE COURT has considered the Petition, the pertinent portions of the record, and is otherwise duly advised in the premises.

BACKGROUND

This case involves the rare and extraordinary occasion where a petitioner in state custody has prevailed on a claim of "actual innocence," as that legal term is defined in the Supreme Court's decision in Schlup v. Delo, 513 U.S. 298, 316-321, 115 S.Ct. 851, 130 L.Ed.2d 808 (1995). On September 9, 2002, after conducting lengthy evidentiary hearings in the matter, this Court determined that Petitioner Timothy Brown ("Brown") demonstrated that no reasonable jury would have found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the firstdegree murder of Broward Sheriffs Deputy Patrick 0. Behan, had it heard the competent evidence presented during the federal habeas proceedings. See Brown v. Singletary, 229 F.Supp.2d 1345 (S.D.Fla. 2002).

In its September 9, 2002 Order, the Court recognized that its finding of "actual innocence" does not automatically entitle Brown to habeas relief, as the purpose of a federal habeas corpus proceeding is not to review or correct errors of fact, but to ensure that individuals are not imprisoned in violation of the U.S. Constitution. See Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390, 400-01, 113 S.Ct. 853, 122 L.Ed.2d 203 (1993). As the Supreme Court has made clear, "what we have to deal with [on habeas review] is not the petitioners' innocence or guilt but solely the question whether their constitutional rights have been preserved." Moore v. Dempsey, 261 U.S. 86, 87-88, 43 S.Ct. 265, 67 L.Ed. 543 (1923). Thus, the Court's determination of "actual innocence" merely "opened the gateway" for the Court to consider the merits of Brown's constitutional claims, including those claims which were otherwise procedurally barred. Schlup, 513 U.S. at 316, 115 S.Ct. 851; Brown, 229 F.Supp.2d at 1361. It is these constitutional claims to which the Court now turns.

Brown was convicted in Broward County, Florida in 1993 as a principal to firstdegree murder, in large part based on his statement to police that he was with codefendant Keith King, when Keith King allegedly shot Deputy Behan. Brown, who was fourteen years old at the time of Deputy Behan's death and fifteen years old at the time of his arrest, was tried as an adult and sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole on November 19, 1993. See Brown, 229 F.Supp.2d at 1350-51. Keith King, who was seventeen years old at the time of the murder, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment, and has since been released. Id.

The Court notes that the extensive factual and procedural background of this case is more fully set forth in the Court's September 9, 2002 Order, and need not be revisited here. See Brown, 229 F.Supp.2d at 1347-1352. However, one preliminary procedural matter merits clarification. On September 22, 2000, the Court dismissed without prejudice Brown's "unexhausted" claims, and directed Brown to file an amended petition containing only those claims which were exhausted. Brown complied with the Court's directive by filing his Third Amended Petition, which asserted only his "exhausted" claims.

Thereafter, in its September 9, 2002 Order, the Court found that Brown's unexhausted claims were procedurally defaulted, and that the merits of those claims were properly before the Court and could be considered as grounds for relief given Brown's demonstration of "actual innocence." Brown, 229 F.Supp.2d at 1364-1368. The parties have since fully litigated and briefed all of the claims in the Amended Petition, including the "unexhausted" claims which were previously dismissed without prejudice. Accordingly, because the merits of the claims in the Amended Petition are properly before the Court, and there is no prejudice to either party as the issues have been fully briefed, the Court herein conforms the pleadings to the evidence and reinstates the Amended Petition nunc pro tunc.

In the Amended Petition, Brown asserts a number of constitutional claims. Brown maintains that his fifth and fourteenth amendment rights to due process of law were violated because he was incapable of knowingly and intelligently waiving his Miranda rights, and because his confession was coerced and not voluntarily given. Brown also asserts that he was convicted in violation of due process of law due to the insufficiency of the evidence introduced against him at trial. Brown further contends that his right to due process was violated by the trial court's erroneous "misinstruction" to the jury at the beginning of trial as to the sentence he faced if convicted. In addition, Brown argues that his sixth and fourteenth amendment rights were violated by denial of the effective assistance of trial counsel in the investigation of the case, litigation of the motion to suppress, and the conduct of trial. Finally, Brown submits that he received ineffective assistance of appellate counsel.

STANDARD OF REVIEW UNDER 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1995)

Another preliminary matter involves the statutory framework which this Court should apply to Brown's habeas petition, which was initially filed in 1995, before significant revisions to the habeas corpus statute came into effect pursuant to the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA"), Pub.L. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (1996). In many respects, the AEDPA significantly limits habeas corpus review and provides for much greater deference to state court findings than provided by the pre-existing habeas statute. However, because Brown's petition was filed before the effective date of the AEDPA, the Court finds, and the parties agree, that the AEDPA's provisions do not apply here.

The pertinent provision of the "pre-AEDPA" habeas statute, codified at 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1995), requires a federal court to apply a presumption of correctness to certain state court findings of fact. Specifically, the statute provides:

In any proceeding instituted in Federal court by an application for a writ of habeas corpus by a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court, a determination after a hearing on the merits of a factual issue ... shall be presumed to be correct, unless the applicant shall establish or it shall otherwise appear, or the respondent shall admit— [that any one of the eight enumerated exceptions to the presumption of correctness applies].

Id,

As the express terms of the statute make clear, a "presumption of correctness" applies only to state court factual findings made after a hearing on the merits of the factual issue, and then again, only if none of the eight (8) enumerated exceptions apply. The possible statutory exceptions in this case include 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(3) and (8), which provide that the presumption of correctness does not apply if the petitioner proves or if it shall otherwise appear:

(3) that the material facts were not adequately developed at the State court hearing (8) or unless that part of the record of the State court proceeding in which the determination of such factual issue was made, pertinent to a determination of the sufficiency of the evidence to support such factual determination, is produced as provided for hereinafter, and the Federal court on a consideration of such part of the record as a whole concludes that such factual determination is not fairly supported by the record.

28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(3) and (8).

Beyond codifying the presumption of correctness accorded to state court factual findings and the enumerated exceptions, the statute provides that a habeas petitioner may rebut any presumption with "convincing evidence" at an evidentiary hearing. As the final paragraph of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1995) sets forth:

In an evidentiary hearing in the proceeding in the Federal court, when due proof of such factual determination has been made, unless the existence of one or more of the circumstances respectively set forth in paragraphs numbered (1) to (7), inclusive, is shown by the applicant, otherwise appears, or is admitted by the respondent, or unless the court concludes pursuant to the provisions of paragraph numbered (8) that the record in the State court proceeding, considered as a whole, does not support such factual determination, the burden shall rest upon the applicant to establish by convincing evidence that the factual determination by the State court was erroneous.

Id. Thus, to the extent any presumption or correctness does apply, Brown would then have the opportunity to rebut any such presumption by establishing through "convincing evidence that the factual determination made by the state court was erroneous." Id.

The types of findings to which the presumption applies are those of "basic, primary, or historical facts" underlying a constitutional claim. Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 309 n. 6, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770(1963). The presumption also applies to credibility determinations. See Williams v. Johnson, 845 F.2d 906 (11th Cir.1988). The statutory "presumption" does not apply, however, to conclusions of law, or even to mixed questions of law and fact. See Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 341-342, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980).

DISCUSSION

As this Court...