Carroll v. Secretary, Doc

• Decision Date: 17 July 2009
• Docket Number: No. 08-14317.,08-14317.
• Citation: 574 F.3d 1354
• Parties: Elmer Leon CARROLL, Petitioner-Appellant, v. SECRETARY, DOC, FL Attorney General, Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

574 F.3d 1354

Elmer Leon CARROLL, Petitioner-Appellant, v. SECRETARY, DOC, FL Attorney General, Respondents-Appellees.

No. 08-14317.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

July 17, 2009.

Michael Paul Reiter (Court-Appointed), Venice, FL, for Carroll.

Scott Andrew Browne, Tampa, FL, for Respondents-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Before BLACK, HULL and WILSON, Circuit Judges.

BLACK, Circuit Judge:

Elmer Leon Carroll, a Florida prisoner under a sentence of death, appeals the district court's order denying his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The district court granted a certificate of appealability as to the second claim from Carroll's petition: Whether Carroll was denied his rights of due process and equal protection when the state court failed to grant an evidentiary hearing on his claim of mental retardation and mental illness under Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335 (2002). After review and oral argument, we affirm the district court's order.

I. FACTS

A. The Crime

The facts of the underlying crime are gathered largely from the Florida Supreme Court's decisions affirming Carroll's conviction and sentence, Carroll v. State, 636 So.2d 1316 (Fla.1994) (Carroll I), and the trial court's denial of Carroll's first 3.850 motion for post-conviction relief, Carroll v. State, 815 So.2d 601 (Fla.2002) (Carroll II).

On October 30, 1990, at about 6 a.m., Robert Rank went to awaken his ten-year-old stepdaughter, Christine McGowan, at their home in Apopka, Florida. When Christine did not respond to his calls, Rank went into her bedroom and found her dead. Shortly thereafter, Rank noticed his front door was slightly ajar and his pickup, in which he had left the keys, was missing. When the police arrived, they determined Christine had been raped and strangled. A BOLO was issued for the missing truck, which was a white construction truck bearing the logo ATC on the side.

Shortly thereafter, the truck was seen parked on the side of a highway, and Carroll was observed walking about one mile down the road from the truck. Carroll was subsequently stopped and searched, and the keys to the truck were found on Carroll. Two witnesses had also observed Carroll driving the truck earlier that morning. Blood was found on Carroll's sweatshirt and genitalia, and semen, saliva, and pubic hair recovered from the victim were later determined to be consistent with that of Carroll.

On November 26, 1990, Carroll was indicted on one count of first-degree felony murder and one count of sexual battery on a person less than twelve years of age.

B. The Competency Hearing

In August 1991, Carroll's trial counsel, James E. Taylor, Jr., became "increasingly concerned" that Carroll did not understand the gravity of the charges against him and was incapable of assisting in his defense. Taylor filed a motion for a competency hearing, in which he proffered the opinions of two licensed psychiatrists who believed Carroll was not competent to stand trial. Judge Jeffords D. Miller granted the motion and appointed five experts to evaluate Carroll to determine if he was competent to stand trial. Pursuant to the court's order and Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.211, any expert who determined Carroll was not competent was also required to inform the court as to "[t]he nature and extent of the mental illness or mental retardation suffered by the Defendant" and "[w]hether the Defendant, because of such mental illness or mental retardation, meets the criteria for involuntary hospitalization or placement as set forth by law." In addition to evaluating Carroll for competency, the experts were also asked to examine Carroll as to his sanity at the time of the alleged offense.

On November 15, 1991, Judge Miller heard testimony from Dr. Edward Benson, Dr. Robert G. Kirkland, Dr. Michael E. Gutman, and Dr. Jeffrey A. Danziger, all of whom were psychiatrists, regarding Carroll's competency to stand trial.¹ Of the experts, only Dr. Benson testified he believed Carroll was not competent to stand trial. Dr. Benson had evaluated Carroll twice after his arrest, and at both times Dr. Benson believed Carroll was not competent. Dr. Benson first examined Carroll on December 11, 1990, at which time he observed Carroll "was actively psychotic, schizophrenic, and ... he was very delusional, and . . . very incoherent, very withdrawn." Dr. Benson again examined Carroll on October 11, 1991, and determined Carroll was still "quite psychotic" although "he had been previously much more psychotic last year." Following the October 1991 evaluation, Dr. Benson submitted a written report to the court in which he diagnosed Carroll with schizophrenia and a paranoid-type personality disorder; the report also noted Carroll had a borderline intelligence quotient (IQ), based upon the results of previous psychological testing.

Like Dr. Benson, Dr. Kirkland testified he had evaluated Carroll multiple times. Dr. Kirkland first evaluated Carroll shortly after his arrest and concluded "[t]here was an indication of possible emotional or mental disorder." Following this evaluation, Dr. Kirkland recommended Carroll was not competent to stand trial and committed him to the intensive psychiatric unit at Florida Hospital under Dr. Kirkland's care. There, Carroll underwent psychological testing and "although there were some indicators of possible psychosis, the main thread seemed he was malingering." After spending several days at Florida Hospital, Carroll returned to the Orange County Jail where Dr. Kirkland continued to monitor him. On October 10, 1991, Dr. Kirkland again evaluated Carroll, at which time he concluded that Carroll was legally sane and competent to stand trial and that he suffered from antisocial personality disorder. Citing lack of investigative reports of the crime, however, Dr. Kirkland declined to give an opinion as to Carroll's mental condition at the time of the offense.

In addition to Dr. Kirkland, Dr. Gutman also testified he believed Carroll was competent to stand trial. Dr. Gutman testified he examined Carroll once, on September 26, 1991, and reviewed medical information dating back to 1980, jail clinic files, and investigative reports dealing with the alleged offenses. Based upon his own evaluation and the reports provided to him, Dr. Gutman made a diagnosis "that [Carroll] has a substance abuse problem with alcohol and drugs; that he was malingering at the time I saw him; and that he has a long term character and behavior disorder with antisocial passive/aggressive and borderline personality traits." In his written report to the court, Dr. Gutman added he believed Carroll was "of average to high average intelligence," despite a score of 60 on an IQ test performed at Florida Hospital shortly after the arrest, and noted "[t]his inconsistency would point to conscious efforts to look retarded or mentally ill." Dr. Gutman declined to offer an opinion on Carroll's mental status at the time of the offense, citing lack of information provided by Carroll.²

Dr. Danziger was the last expert witness to testify at the competency hearing. Dr. Danziger evaluated Carroll on October 14, 1991; he also reviewed Carroll's medical records, jail clinic files, and investigative reports to help formulate his opinions. On the basis of his evaluation and the other information supplied to him, Dr. Danziger, like Dr. Kirkland and Dr. Gutman, testified he believed Carroll was competent to stand trial. Dr. Danziger also provided a written report to the court, in which he diagnosed Carroll with "Schizophrenia, Chronic Undifferentiated Type," alcoholism, and multiple drug abuse; he added he believed Carroll was "genuinely psychotic" the night of the offense, but admitted that he offered the opinion "without much certainty or forcefulness" and that "[t]his is probably one of those opinions that is a 51% for and 49% against." His report also noted Carroll's psychological testing results from Florida Hospital; these results included a verbal IQ score of 58, which the doctor who conducted the testing determined "was not reliable and underestimated [Carroll's] intelligence because he was not cooperating." Based upon his own observations, Dr. Danziger described Carroll's intellect as "roughly in the average to below average range" and concluded "[t]here was no evidence to suggest that he had mental retardation."

After considering the testimony from the competency hearing and the reports of the four experts who testified, Judge Miller found Carroll was competent to proceed to trial and to assist his attorney in preparation of his defense and issued an order to that effect on December 27, 1991.

C. The Jury Trial

The case proceeded to trial on March 16, 1992, with Judge Belvin J. Perry, Jr., presiding. In addition to contesting guilt, Carroll also raised a defense of insanity. The State and the defense presented conflicting testimony from five expert witnesses, including the four experts who had testified at the competency hearing, on Carroll's mental status at the time of the offense.

During the State's case in chief, Dr. Gutman again testified regarding his diagnosis of Carroll. He told the jury that Carroll had "a long term character and behavior disorder," which included antisocial personality traits, passive/aggressive personality traits, borderline personality traits, and paranoia. He added, however that he believed Carroll was malingering during his examination and "acting in a fraudulent way to present himself in a sicker fashion than was actually the case." Based upon his examination of Carroll, Dr. Gutman determined Carroll was "in the high average range of intelligence," which would have placed his IQ "somewhere around 105 to 110." Dr. Gutman attributed lower IQ test scores, some of which were in the 60-to-69 range, to malingering. He explained Carroll was ...