Coleman v. Saffle, 90-7043

• Decision Date: 28 August 1990
• Docket Number: No. 90-7043,90-7043
• Citation: 912 F.2d 1217
• Parties: Charles Troy COLEMAN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. James L. SAFFLE, Warden, Oklahoma State Penitentiary, McAlester, Oklahoma, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 1217

912 F.2d 1217

Charles Troy COLEMAN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. James L. SAFFLE, Warden, Oklahoma State Penitentiary McAlester, Oklahoma, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 90-7043.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

Aug. 28, 1990.

As Amended Sept. 4, 1990.

Certiorari Denied Sept. 9, 1990.

See 111 S.Ct. 22.

Mandy Welch, Deputy Appellate Public Defender, Norman, Okl., for petitioner-appellant.

Robert A. Nance, Asst. Atty. Gen., Oklahoma City, Okl. (Robert H. Henry, Atty. Gen. of Oklahoma, and Sandra D. Howard, Asst. Atty. Gen., Oklahoma City, Okl., were with him on the brief), for respondent-appellee.

Before HOLLOWAY, Chief Judge, and MOORE and TACHA, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

Charles Troy Coleman, petitioner-appellant, was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death by an Oklahoma jury in 1979. He appeals from the district court's denial of his third petition for federal habeas relief and his motions for an evidentiary hearing and stay of execution. Petitioner also seeks a certificate of probable cause from this court, and a stay of his execution scheduled September 10, 1990.

The issues on appeal are (1) whether petitioner was deprived of a constitutionally adequate determination of his competency to stand trial because the state trial court did not sua sponte conduct an evidentiary hearing or make an independent judicial determination of petitioner's competency; (2) whether petitioner was deprived of

his right to a fair and reliable sentencing determination because the state hospital that performed the competency evaluation did not disclose petitioner's medical records to his counsel or to the court, which records might have been used as mitigating evidence at the sentencing stage of his trial; (3) whether petitioner was denied effective assistance of counsel; (4) whether petitioner's failure to raise these issues in his prior habeas petitions constitutes an abuse of the writ; and (5) whether the district court erred in not granting petitioner an evidentiary hearing.

I

The factual and procedural histories of this case are adequately set out in our earlier opinions affirming denial of petitioner's first and second petitions for habeas relief. See Coleman v. Saffle, 869 F.2d 1377 (10th Cir.1989) (Coleman II ), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1835, 108 L.Ed.2d 964 (1990); Coleman v. Brown, 802 F.2d 1227 (10th Cir.1986) (Coleman I ), cert. denied, 482 U.S. 909, 107 S.Ct. 2491, 96 L.Ed.2d 383 (1987). We repeat only those facts necessary to our resolution of this appeal.

Petitioner was tried and convicted in the district court of Cherokee County, Oklahoma, following a change of venue from Muskogee County for the trial. Approximately six months before trial, petitioner's trial attorney filed a motion requesting a court-ordered evaluation of Coleman's sanity. III R. at 187. After a brief hearing on the motion, Associate District Judge Burris entered an order finding that "a doubt has arisen [as] to the present sanity of the defendant," and ordering Coleman's commitment to Eastern State Hospital "for observation and examination for a period not to exceed sixty (60) days." III R. at 187. Petitioner was admitted to Eastern State Hospital on March 12, 1979, and released approximately one month later on April 10, 1979. On April 6, 1979, the Director and Chief Forensic Psychiatrist of Eastern State Hospital, Dr. R.D. Garcia, wrote a single page letter (erroneously dated March 6, 1979) to Judge Burris advising the court that it was the opinion of the hospital staff that petitioner was competent to stand trial. Id. Dr. Garcia's letter states that Coleman "does have sufficient ability to consult with an attorney and he does have a rational as well as actual understanding of the proceedings." Id.

We are referred to no indication in the record that petitioner's competency to stand trial was questioned by his attorney or the trial court at any other time during the trial proceedings. Cf., e.g., VII R. at 40. Petitioner's conviction and death sentence were affirmed by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. Coleman v. State, 668 P.2d 1126 (Okla.Crim.App.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1073, 104 S.Ct. 986, 79 L.Ed.2d 222 (1984). Petitioner then filed an application for post-conviction relief in state district court. That court denied the application in an unpublished order and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed. Coleman v. State, 693 P.2d 4 (Okla.Crim.App.1984).

After this court affirmed the denial of Coleman's first habeas petition, see Coleman I, 802 F.2d 1227, but before this court heard argument on Coleman's second petition for federal habeas relief, petitioner's attorney, on or about August 21, 1987, obtained for the first time Eastern State Hospital's records of its 1979 court-ordered examination of petitioner. On September 23, 1987, petitioner, acting through his present attorney, filed a motion to remand the Coleman II habeas appeal then pending in this court to the federal district court in order to raise new claims based upon the newly discovered medical records. See Motion to Remand to District Court in No. 87-2011 (filed Sept. 23, 1987). Petitioner also requested that this court instruct the federal district court to hold the proceedings in abeyance pending exhaustion in state court of the new claims, and that petitioner be permitted to amend his habeas petition after exhaustion of state remedies.

The pending appeal in Coleman II was argued and submitted to this court on October 2, 1987. We took the motion for remand under advisement. By letter dated The state district court conducted an evidentiary hearing on the new claims based on the medical issues, asserted in petitioner's third application for post-conviction relief, on December 17 and 18, 1987, and January 22, 1988. ¹ The state district court denied relief in an unpublished order which was affirmed by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals in an unpublished decision. ² The Supreme Court denied certiorari. Coleman v. Oklahoma, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 208, 107 L.Ed.2d 162 (1989).

October 25, 1987, petitioner's attorney advised this court that petitioner had initiated state post-conviction proceedings in which he raised the claims predicated on the newly discovered evidence. Having been advised that the state post-conviction proceedings were in progress, this court proceeded to file its opinion on March 6, 1989, affirming the denial of habeas relief; we denied petitioner's motion to remand as moot on April 11, 1989.

A fourth application for post-conviction relief was filed in the district court of Muskogee County, attacking the reliability of Dr. Garcia's determination of Coleman's competency to stand trial on the ground that Dr. Garcia's own alleged mental illness distorted his interpretation of data and impaired his diagnostic judgment. The state district court denied relief without a hearing, and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed that decision without requesting briefing by the parties. ³ The Supreme Court denied Coleman's petition for certiorari on that matter on June 11, 1990. --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 2633, 110 L.Ed.2d 652 (1990).

After having exhausted his state court remedies, Coleman filed his third petition for federal habeas relief in the Eastern District of Oklahoma on June 18, 1990. The court denied relief in an unpublished order on July 11, 1990, and this appeal followed.

II

A primary issue on this appeal is whether the medical evidence in question which was in records of Eastern State Hospital at Vinita, Oklahoma, was "material" under the opinions of the Supreme Court so that its disclosure was required as exculpatory evidence for the defendant. See Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, 480 U.S. 39, 57, 107 S.Ct. 989, 1001-02, 94 L.Ed.2d 40 (1986); United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 682, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 3383-84, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985) (Opinion of Blackmun, J.); United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976); Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 1196-97, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963).

As noted, petitioner's state trial attorney applied for commitment of petitioner for a mental examination, this was ordered by a state associate district judge, and a letter from the state hospital's chief forensic psychiatrist reported that the staff concluded petitioner had sufficient ability to consult with an attorney and that he had a rational and actual understanding of the proceedings against him. However, the detailed medical evaluations and records concerning petitioner were not sent to the judge or counsel. A copy of Dr. Garcia's letter was sent to the District Attorney, who then furnished a copy to petitioner's trial counsel, Mr. Pearson.

The additional medical evidence included admitting notations, recorded by Dr. Garcia on March 13, that diagnosis was "Deferred.... DIAGNOSTIC IMPRESSION: R/O [rule out] Depressive reaction, situational.

                (Retain) Schizophrenia, chronic undifferentiated type in partial remission, if not complete."    III R. at 197.  That early notation also stated "He may be considered competent in a psychiatric and legal point of view at this point but questionable."    On March 14 a psychological evaluation was done by Dr. Quijano, a clinical psychologist, and Dr. McGuffey, a psychologist, both members of the hospital staff.  Their observations, made some two days after petitioner's admission, included a statement that "[Coleman] seemed to have an adequate understanding of courtroom procedures.  When asked if he felt he was mentally competent, Charles stated he thought so and did not feel like he needed to be in a mental hospital;  however, he noted 'People have different ideals [sic] about mental problems.'    Charles is not considered competent to stand trial at this time due to the apparent underlying schizophrenic thinking with a predominance of paranoid projections."    III R. at 199
                

The testimony at the state court 1987...