Chandler v. Jones
| Decision Date | 13 March 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-5194,86-5194 |
| Citation | 813 F.2d 773 |
| Parties | William CHANDLER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Otie JONES and Attorney General of the State of Tennessee, Respondents-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Kenneth A. Miller (argued) Knoxville, Tenn. (Court-appointed), for petitioner-appellant.
W.J. Michael Cody, Atty. Gen. of Tennessee, Nashville, Tenn., Raymond S. Leathers (argued), for respondents-appellees.
Before ENGEL and BOGGS, Circuit Judges, and CONTIE, Senior Circuit Judge.
Petitioner William Herman Chandler appeals from the judgment of the district court denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254. Chandler challenges on several grounds his convictions under Tennessee law of burglary and of being an habitual criminal. Chandler alleges that: (1) Tennessee's Habitual Criminals Act, Tenn. Code Ann. Secs. 39-1-801 et seq., is unconstitutional on its face because it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; (2) the Habitual Criminals Act was unconstitutionally applied to him because it resulted in a disproportionately harsh sentence in violation of the Eighth Amendment; and (3) he was denied effective assistance of counsel in violation of the Sixth Amendment. For the reasons which follow, we affirm the denial of the writ.
Chandler was charged along with two others in connection with the attempted burglary of a Convenient Food Mart in the early morning hours of December 13, 1979. An eyewitness who lived across the street from the store testified that at approximately 3:00 a.m. he was awakened by a burglar alarm. He looked out his window and saw a man, whom he identified as Chandler, running from the store with a bag in his hand. The man got into a red car which then left for approximately thirty minutes. That car was registered to Chandler. When the car returned, two men got out of it. One walked to the street corner while the other, Chandler, unlocked the front door of the store and went in. The police then arrived, arrested Chandler as he came out of the store, and arrested the man on the corner, Robert Riley. The witness then told the police what he had seen and went up to the red car where he saw the police removing items from its trunk. The witness also saw a blond woman, whom he later identified as Mrs. Riley, sitting in the front seat. The state subsequently brought charges against the Rileys and Chandler.
There was originally to be a joint trial of all three defendants. However, Chandler's attorney, Robert Levine, filed a motion for severance which was granted by the trial court.
Prior to Chandler's trial, the Rileys executed written statements in Levine's presence exculpating Chandler from any wrongdoing. It was Levine's intention to have the Rileys testify at Chandler's trial in a manner consistent with those statements. The Rileys subsequently recanted their written statements, however, during plea negotiations with the Assistant District Attorney General, W.H. Crabtree (hereinafter District Attorney Crabtree). The Rileys confessed to District Attorney Crabtree that both they and Chandler were involved in the attempted burglary. Even though they incriminated Chandler, the Rileys did not want to testify against him at trial. District Attorney Crabtree informed the Rileys that he was not interested in having them testify; nevertheless, the Rileys along with their attorney decided to invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if they were called upon to testify, so that they would incriminate neither Chandler nor themselves. The morning of Chandler's trial District Attorney Crabtree notified Levine of the Rileys' intentions.
Levine represented Chandler at his trial, which took place in July of 1980. At that time, Levine was in charge of the Legal Clinic at the University of Tennessee Law School. A student assistant who was working at the Clinic, Judith Stolfo, assisted Levine at the trial. After Levine learned from Crabtree that the Rileys intended to invoke the Fifth Amendment, he still planned to call them as witnesses and use leading questions to get Chandler's theory of defense on the record. Chandler's defense was that he had loaned his car to the Rileys and was looking for them when he saw his car near the Convenient store. Levine did not prepare Chandler to testify on his own behalf.
At trial, Levine did in fact call Robert Riley as a witness. Once on the stand, Riley invoked the protection of the Fifth Amendment in response to each inquiry by Levine. Riley persisted in pleading the Fifth Amendment, even though the District Attorney offered Riley immunity from using any statements against him and even though the trial court ordered Riley to answer. Furthermore, District Attorney Crabtree successfully objected on numerous occasions to the leading nature of Levine's questions. Thus, Levine was unable to present Chandler's theory of defense as planned. Levine did not question Riley about his prior exculpatory statement, nor did Levine offer the statement for admission as a prior inconsistent statement.
When the planned tactic of using Riley's testimony failed, Levine had a brief meeting with his student assistant, Judith Stolfo, and Chandler. The meeting, which has since been described as hectic, culminated in the decision to have Chandler testify, even though he had not been prepared to do so. 1
Chandler testified that he had loaned his car to Bob and Sandra Riley the day before the attempted burglary but that Bob had failed to pick Chandler up at his night job as they had previously arranged. Chandler then called his brother to pick him up, but his brother could not drive him home either. Consequently, he started walking. He went to the Rileys' home but found no one there so he started walking towards his own house. He then saw his car parked near the Convenient store and also saw Bob Riley coming out of the store. He first spoke with Riley and then went into the store to get a Coca-Cola. The store door was unlocked and the Coca-Cola machine was open. At that time the police, along with a police dog, arrived upon the scene and arrested Chandler.
During Chandler's testimony, District Attorney Crabtree repeatedly and often successfully objected to the leading nature of Levine's questions. At one point, District Attorney Crabtree complained that Levine had not asked one question which was not leading, to which Levine responded that he did not know how to ask a nonleading question. The court stated that it agreed with the District Attorney and that it had sustained, but had "then let [Levine] go." Because of the court's lenience, Chandler's testimony was eventually received in full, as the court permitted Chandler's responses to Levine's leading questions. Part of Chandler's direct testimony also focused on his previous criminal record.
The jury unanimously found Chandler guilty of burglary in the third degree. The jury set Chandler's punishment at a minimum of six and a maximum of ten years incarceration. This conviction triggered the application of Tennessee's Habitual Criminals Act, Tenn. Code Ann. Secs. 39-1-801 et seq. Accordingly, a separate proceeding was held to determine whether Chandler was guilty of being an habitual criminal under Tennessee law. 2
It was during the habitual criminal phase of the proceedings that Levine first brought to the trial court's attention the Rileys' prior written statements. The court initially allowed Levine to offer them into evidence at that late date, but when District Attorney Crabtree stated that he was going to present witnesses to rebut those statements, Levine withdrew them from the record. At the close of the habitual criminal proceeding, Chandler was found guilty of being an habitual criminal and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Chandler's convictions on October 14, 1981. Chandler then applied for permission to appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which denied his application on January 25, 1982. Chandler next filed a petition for post-conviction relief in the Criminal Court for Knox County, claiming that he was denied effective trial counsel and that his life sentence violated the Eighth Amendment.
That court held extensive hearings on Chandler's petition at which Chandler, Stolfo, and District Attorney Crabtree all testified. Also, affidavits by Levine were submitted into the record in which Levine stated his belief that he was "ineffective at trial in dealing with several issues that arose." On April 28, 1983, the court rendered its opinion from the bench, denying Chandler's post-conviction petition. Although it observed that Chandler's ineffectiveness claim presented a close question, the court was convinced that because of the state's strong case Chandler would have been convicted of being involved in the burglary and being an habitual criminal regardless of how his case was tried. The court observed that Chandler was able to present his theory of defense in great detail; the jury simply failed to believe him in light of the evidence against him. The court's denial of Chandler's petition was affirmed on appeal.
On December 28, 1984, Chandler filed the instant habeas petition with the district court, raising four grounds for relief. He alleged that he had not received effective assistance of counsel, that the Tennessee Habitual Criminals Act was unconstitutionally applied to him insofar as it resulted in a life sentence, that he was denied due process because the entry of the Rileys' guilty pleas was delayed, and that he was denied due process because the state improperly commented on Robert Riley's assertion of his Fifth Amendment rights.
On July 2, 1985, the district court denied Chandler's petition except for the claim of ineffective counsel; the court ordered a hearing with regard to that claim....
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