Chin v. Runnels

• Citation: 343 F.Supp.2d 891
• Decision Date: 29 October 2004
• Docket Number: No. C 04-01258 CRB.,C 04-01258 CRB.
• Parties: Mark Shew Fei CHIN, Petitioner, v. David RUNNELS, Warden, High Desert State Prison, California, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California

Page 891

343 F.Supp.2d 891

Mark Shew Fei CHIN, Petitioner, v. David RUNNELS, Warden, High Desert State Prison, California, Respondent.

No. C 04-01258 CRB.

United States District Court, N.D. California.

October 29, 2004.

Linda Buchser, San Francisco, CA, for Plaintiff.

Christina Vom Saal, Deputy Attorney General, San Francisco, CA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

BREYER, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Petitioner, Mark Shew Fei Chin, filed a petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Chin was convicted of second degree murder with an arming allegation and was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. He is currently imprisoned at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, California, and seeks an order vacating his conviction and sentence. Chin argues that Chinese-Americans, Filipino-Americans and Hispanic-Americans were excluded from service as foreperson on the grand jury that indicted him, violating his right to equal protection. For the reasons stated below, the petition is DENIED.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

a. Overview

The facts regarding Chin's conviction are not at issue in this petition, and were amply laid out by the California Court of Appeal:

In the early morning hours of February 8, 1996, See Quen Lee was shot to death as he sat in a van parked in the driveway of his home. $ 1,740 in cash was found under his body.

San Francisco Police Officers Cole and Rand apprehended defendant Chin as he fled from the scene with a gun. Minutes later Daly City police stopped a red Toyota Officer Cole had seen speeding away from the scene. The driver, Chui Chin (Chui) was defendant's older brother. A second handgun was found in the car. Officer Cole identified Chui as the man he had seen driving away from the shooting.

[On October 29, 1996, a] San Francisco grand jury indicted defendant for felony murder, attempted robbery and related firearm allegations. Defendant subsequently joined in a "Motion to Quash the Indictment and Prohibit the Trial of Defendant by a Jury Drawn from Existing Jury Lists." The motion was originally filed by Mendes Brown, who had been indicted by the same grand jury in an unrelated case. (See People v. Brown (1999) 75 Cal.App.4th 916, 920-921, fn. 4, 89 Cal.Rptr.2d 589.) The trial court denied the motion after an extensive evidentiary hearing. Defendant joined in a consolidated petition for writ of mandate and a petition for Supreme Court review. Both were denied. (Brown v. Superior Court, petn. denied April 15, 1997, A077854; Brown v. Superior Court, review denied May 30, 1997, S060870.)

At trial, the prosecution's theory was that defendant shot Lee during a failed robbery attempt. Defendant contended he shot Lee in self-defense while suffering from paranoia and impaired judgment caused by cocaine intoxication and addiction.

Defendant was convicted of second degree murder with an arming allegation.

People v. Chin, A092372, 2002 WL 31402087, *1-2, 2002 Cal.App. Unpub. LEXIS 9870, at *1-*3 (Cal.Ct.App. Oct. 25, 2002) (unpublished).

Chin was subsequently sentenced to 19 years to life in state prison. He then filed a timely notice of appeal with the California Court of Appeal, First District, which affirmed Chin's judgment of conviction and sentence on October 25, 2002. The appeal was based on the same allegations that Chin had raised with defendant Brown in his "Motion to Quash the Indictment and Prohibit the Trial of Defendant by a Jury Drawn from Existing Jury Lists" (hereinafter "Motion to Quash"). The allegations included the claim that the exclusion of Chinese-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Filipino-Americans from service as the grand jury foreperson in San Francisco over a 36-year period violated Chin's right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Chin is Chinese-American. Petition at 1. On January 15, 2003, the California Supreme Court denied Chin's Petition for Review. People v. Chin, S111765 (Cal. Jan. 15, 2003) (unpublished). As no appeals or proceedings remained pending in any other court, Chin filed a petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus with this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 on March 30, 2004.

b. San Francisco's Grand Jury Foreperson Selection Process

San Francisco's process for selecting grand juries and grand jury forepersons, which lies at the heart of Chin's petition, was described by the California Court of Appeals in People v. Brown:

In San Francisco the process of selecting jurors begins with an annually compiled source list of registered voters merged with a list of residents maintained by the Department of Motor Vehicles. From the source list a random selection of 20,000 to 50,000 names is drawn to produce the so-called master list from which 5,000 names are again randomly drawn to be recipients of a juror questionnaire. (§ 904.6, subd. (e)). Those who respond to the questionnaire are placed in the qualified juror pool which supplies both grand jurors and petit jurors. A group of 150 to 200 prospective grand jurors from the qualified juror pool are sent a summons to appear for voir dire. Unlike deferrals which may be granted to petit jurors by the jury commissioner, all deferrals or excuse requests from prospective grand jurors must be made to the presiding judge.

Three indictment grand juries, each composed of 19 jurors, are chosen per calendar year to serve successive 4-month terms. For each indictment grand jury the presiding judge of the superior court conducts voir dire to identify the first 30 to 37 individuals who are qualified and able to serve as grand jurors. The exact procedure employed in voir dire is determined by the judge who conducts it. For example, Judge Figone, who voir dired the 1995-A grand jury which indicted defendant, asked the prospective grand jurors to complete a confidential declaration which asked for their name, address, whether they had resided in San Francisco for one year or more, and which provided an opportunity to explain an inability to serve. Judge Figone did not review the confidential declaration until each juror appeared before him for voir dire.

After voir dire has been held from the group of approximately 30 to 37 prospective jurors a random drawing selects the 19 who will serve. One of the 19 is then selected by the presiding judge to serve as grand jury foreperson. (§ 912) The foreperson selection is not made randomly, and for the years of 1971-1991 was typically made by the presiding judge after he or she had invited the views of the jury commissioner and/or the district attorney serving as grand juror advisor about who on the venire would make a good foreperson.

People v. Brown, 75 Cal.App.4th 916, 921-22, 89 Cal.Rptr.2d 589 (1999). Discussions between the judge, the jury commissioner and/or the district attorney regarding the selection of a foreperson were made off the record. Evidentiary Hearing Reporter's Transcript [hereinafter "RT"], Vol. 4 at 744. Once the judge selected a foreperson, that person was called into the judge's chambers to make sure he or she was willing to accept the position. Id. at 746.

From 1960 to 1991, one grand jury foreperson was chosen each year to serve a term of one year. Notice of Appeal at 477. Thereafter, three forepersons were chosen per year. Id. With the exception of one judge (Judge Stern), no judge had selected more than three forepersons over the 36-year period at issue. Id. Judge Figone,¹ the presiding judge who selected the foreperson for the grand jury that indicted Chin, had selected two other forepersons during that period. Id.

The foreperson selected by Judge Figone in the 1995 "A" grand jury that indicted Chin was a white architectural consultant for the United States Supreme Court who held a Master's Degree. Seventeen of the nineteen grand jurors were identified by race as follows: seven whites, seven Asian-Americans, two Latino-Americans,² and one African-American. Answer at 3.

c. Evidentiary Hearing

After Chin joined Brown in his Motion to Quash, an extensive nine-day evidentiary hearing was conducted. Petition at 2. As part of this hearing, the defense introduced evidence regarding the grand jury foreperson selection process, including statistics reflecting the race of individuals chosen to serve as grand jury foreperson. In addition to this, Deputy District Attorney Jerry Coleman and Assistant Executive Officer of the Superior Court Michael Tamony provided testimony regarding the practices of judges in selecting forepersons. Both men had assisted the judges in conducting the selection process during the relevant period. Judge Figone also submitted a declaration.³ At the close of the hearing, the trial court denied Brown and Chin's motion.

1. Statistical Evidence

Petitioner presents uncontroverted statistical evidence demonstrating that from 1960 to 1996, the grand jury forepersons selected in San Francisco were under-representative with respect to three groups. Based on a review of surnames contained in lists of grand jury forepersons, demographic surveys, expert opinions, and the findings of the court in Quadra v. Superior Court, 378 F.Supp. 605 (N.D.Cal.1974),⁴ petitioner concludes that between 1960 and 1996 there was not a single Hispanic-American, Chinese-American or Filipino-American grand jury foreperson. Petition at 4-5.

During this period, Chin alleges that the grand jury pools from which the forepersons were chosen were made up as follows: 13.4% Chinese-American; 6.9% Hispanic-American; and 4.0% Filipino-American. Petition at 5 n. 5. Chin further points to an expert opinion that the chance of a random selection system not choosing a member of one of these groups during the 1975-1995 period — a period during which 30 forepersons were selected — is .0003%. Petition at 6, Notice of Appeal at 477. The experts also found that during the same period there were Chinese-American and Filipino-American grand jurors who had...