Campbell v. Vaughn

• Decision Date: 10 January 2000
• Citation: 209 F.3d 280
• Parties: (3rd Cir. 2000) DEAN NATHAN CAMPBELL, Appellant v. DONALD T. VAUGHN; THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF THE COUNTY OF DELAWARE; THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA NO. 98-1744 Argued:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 280

209 F.3d 280 (3rd Cir. 2000)

DEAN NATHAN CAMPBELL, Appellant v. DONALD T. VAUGHN; THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF THE COUNTY OF DELAWARE; THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

NO. 98-1744

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

Argued: January 10, 2000

Filed April 12, 2000

On Appeal From the United States District Court For the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civ. No. 97-cv-02677) District Judge: Honorable John P. Fullam

Counsel for Appellant: PETER GOLDBERGER, ESQUIRE (ARGUED) PAMELA A. WILK, ESQUIRE 50 Rittenhouse Place Ardmore, PA 19003-2276

Counsel for Appellees: VRAM NEDURIAN, JR., ESQUIRE (ARGUED) Assistant District Attorney A. SHELDON KOVACH, ESQUIRE Deputy District Attorney Chief, Law & Appeals Unit PATRICK L. MEEHAN, ESQUIRE District Attorney Delaware County Court House 201 West Front Street Media, PA 19063-2683

Before: BECKER, Chief Judge, ALITO and BARRY, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

BECKER, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal by Dean Campbell, a Pennsylvania prison inmate, whose petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. S 2254(d) was denied by the District Court. Campbell contends that, because his trial counsel did not properly inform him of his right to testify at trial, counsel rendered ineffective assistance by interfering with his constitutional right to testify. In the alternative, Campbell seeks a new evidentiary hearing, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. S 2254(e)(2), so that the District Court can complete the factual record on which his substantive claim rests. Campbell contends that the state courts failed to make a finding of historical fact as to whether trial counsel informed him that it was his choice to testify on his own behalf. Without such a finding, he argues, it is impossible to address the merits of his substantive claim.

We reject both of Campbell's claims. Addressing the S 2254(e)(2) claim first, we hold that, while they were not artfully expressed, the state trial court made sufficient findings of fact regarding Campbell's communications with his trial counsel. That court's written opinion made it clear that the court implicitly found that Campbell's trial counsel informed him of his right to testify. This implicit factual finding, which is binding under the federal habeas statute and Supreme Court precedent, undermines Campbell's substantive constitutional claim.

Turning to Campbell's substantive claim, we hold that, on the facts presented, the state appellate court's conclusion that Campbell's trial counsel did not render ineffective assistance or interfere with his right to testify in warning Campbell that testifying on his own behalf might be unwise was not " `contrary to' or an `unreasonable application of ' clearly established federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court," Matteo v. Superintendent, SCI Albion, 171 F.3d 877, 887 (3d Cir. 1999) (en banc) (quoting 28 U.S.C. S 2254(d)(1)), nor was it reached " `based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence,' " id. at 887-88 (quoting 28 U.S.C. S 2254(d)(2)). Accordingly, we will affirm the order of the District Court denying habeas relief.¹

I. Factual Background and Procedural History

The facts before the state trial court may be summarized as follows. One night in January 1983, Campbell and his brother, Michael, waited at an intersection at the end of a freeway off-ramp in Chester, Pennsylvania. John Maletsky and his four-year old daughter, Kimberly, drove down the off-ramp and waited at the stop light. Campbell and Michael approached the car. Campbell pulled Maletsky from the car and shot him twice. Michael jumped into the car and drove away with the child still in the passenger seat.

Maletsky's wife, Deborah, who had been following her husband in another car, arrived on the scene shortly thereafter. She saw her husband struggling with Campbell near a curb, but did not see his car or their daughter. She called to her husband, and he pointed in the direction that Michael had driven. Deborah looked down the street and saw that her husband's car had been immobilized by ice. Campbell approached Deborah's car and grabbed her handbag. Deborah and Campbell began to struggle. After she pulled a hat from his head, Campbell ran down the street with Deborah's handbag. Deborah ran toward her husband's car, where she found Michael inside the car with their child. She convinced Michael to let her take the child. Michael then ran away. Maletsky died later that evening from gunshot wounds to the chest and stomach.

Campbell and Michael fled to Louisiana, but were apprehended there by local authorities. After the authorities gave Campbell the proper warnings, Campbell waived his rights and voluntarily confessed (with a great deal of contrition) that he had shot Maletsky and committed a number of other crimes against Maletsky and his wife. He thereafter waived the right to an extradition hearing and was transferred to Pennsylvania. Upon his arrival, the Commonwealth charged him with murder (18 Pa. Cons. Stat. S 2502), theft (id. S 3902), kidnapping (id. S 2901), reckless endangerment (id. S 2705), possessing the instruments of crime (id. S 907), and criminal conspiracy to commit other offenses (id. S 903).

Campbell's trial counsel was a public defender without a great deal of experience. He and Campbell disagreed on trial strategy. Trial counsel's greatest concern, given the heinous nature of Campbell's crimes, was that his client not be sentenced to death. Campbell did not take the witness stand at trial, but he later asserted that he had wanted to take the stand so that he could explain his confession, assert an intoxication defense, and try to avoid a life sentence. Trial counsel responded that he counseled against such a strategy on the grounds that recanting his grief-ridden confession might alienate the jury and expose Campbell to a death sentence.

After a three-day trial, in May 1984, Campbell was convicted on all counts (the jury returned a second-degree murder conviction). On January 2, 1985, the trial judge sentenced him to serve a term of life imprisonment on the murder count and to consecutive terms aggregating to 13 to 39 years on the five other counts. Post-trial motions filed by Campbell's trial counsel were denied.

Campbell's trial counsel initiated but failed to perfect Campbell's appeal, to which he had a right under Pennsylvania law. Objecting to this failure, Campbell filed a pro se petition under the Post Conviction Hearing Act (PCHA) on May 2, 1986; an amended pro se petition on November 10, 1986; and a third petition, with the assistance of counsel, on January 4, 1987. In these papers, he asserted several grounds to support an ineffective assistance-of-counsel claim, primarily focusing on the fact that trial counsel had failed to file a timely appellate brief, thereby precluding him from pursuing his right to appeal. In attempting to preserve his right to appeal, Campbell asked for an exception to statutory time-bar provisions in the form of permission to file a nunc pro tunc appeal with the Pennsylvania Superior Court--an intermediate appellate court. In addition to his nunc pro tunc request, among other things, he asserted that his trial counsel (1) interfered with his constitutional right to testify on his own behalf; (2) failed to emphasize the level of his intoxication at the time he committed the crime; and (3) failed to remove himself from the case in light of his inexperience.

On March 4, 1987, the PCHA court, which had also been the trial court, held an evidentiary hearing as it was required to do under Pennsylvania law. See Commonwealth v. Stokes, 440 A.2d 591, 595 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1982). At this hearing, the PCHA court undertook its duty to hear evidence regarding all of Campbell's claims that required the development of a factual record. See Commonwealth v. Elliot, 466 A.2d 666, 668 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1983). The PCHA court heard evidence that Campbell's trial counsel had failed to perfect Campbell's appeal; that trial counsel had failed to assert Campbell's intoxication defense; and that trial counsel was so inexperienced--this was his first homicide trial, at least according to Campbell--that in failing to seek his own withdrawal from the case, he rendered ineffective assistance.

Most importantly for our purposes, the court heard evidence regarding Campbell's contention that trial counsel had interfered with his constitutional right to testify on his own behalf. In support of this claim, Campbell testified that his trial counsel did not inform him of his right to testify, that he had wanted to testify, and that the reason he did not do so is that his trial counsel said not to. Trial counsel also testified. He admitted that he had cautioned Campbell against testifying, but insisted that he "[a]bsolutely" told Campbell that it was Campbell's decision to take the stand. The relevant testimony is reproduced in the margin. ² Neither man's testimony was corroborated, and the conflicting testimony created a credibility dispute.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the PCHA court determined that Campbell's trial counsel had negligently failed to file an appellate brief and that Campbell was entitled to a nunc pro tunc appeal. In a written opinion memorializing its decision, the court "refrained from ruling upon the merits of defendant's other grounds," Commonwealth v. Campbell, No. 666-84, at 2 (Pa. Ct. Common Pleas Jan. 6, 1988), as prescribed by Commonwealth v. Miranda, 442 A.2d 1133 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1982).³ In so refraining, the court nonetheless attempted to fulfill its obligation under Miranda, see id. at 1138, to "make the findings of fact" necessary to"see to it that the record" was complete for the appellate court that would subsequently be hearing Campbell's nunc pro tunc appeal, Commonwealth v. Johnson, 444 A.2d 1291, 1293 n.2 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1982); see also Commonwealth v. Presbury, 467 A.2d 898, 898 (Pa....