Collins v. Runnels, Case No. 2:04-cv-01516 JKS GGH P.
| Decision Date | 29 September 2008 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 2:04-cv-01516 JKS GGH P. |
| Citation | 580 F.Supp.2d 1000 |
| Parties | Johnny Paul COLLINS, Petitioner, v. David L. RUNNELS, et al., Respondents. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California |
Fay Arfa, Law Office of Fay Arfa, Los Angeles, CA, for Petitioner.
Brian G. Smiley, Stanley Arthur Cross, Michael Patrick Farrell, California Dept. of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, Sacramento, CA, for Respondents.
Petitioner, a state prisoner represented by counsel, seeks a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He seeks to challenge his 2000 convictions for second degree robbery and first degree murder. He alleges relief is warranted on the grounds that the trial court denied his constitutional right to a fair trial by denying his motion to sever his trial from that of his codefendant where their defenses were mutually exclusive. The matter was referred to the Honorable Gregory G. Hollows, United States Magistrate Judge. Judge Hollows recommends Petitioner's application be denied. This Court concurs in the recommendation as there appears to be no clearly established federal law binding on the states regarding severance where codefendants present mutually exclusive defenses.
On October 22, 1998, Robert Yee and his wife, Sim, were robbed while closing up their market in Rio Linda, California. Mrs. Yee, who suffered from impaired lungs and an enlarged heart, died, likely because she could not breathe effectively having been tied up and placed face down with duct tape across her mouth. See Reporter's Transcript ("RT") at 449-50. Investigators identified Petitioner, Shaun Anderson and James M. as the suspected robbers.1 James M. confessed to the robbery and agreed to testify against the others in exchange for a deal that permitted him to plead guilty to murder as a juvenile. RT at 316.
Petitioner and Anderson were jointly charged with robbery and the first degree murder of Sim Yee. Clerk's Transcript ("CT") at 18-19. It became evident before the trial that Petitioner and Anderson intended to advance mutually antagonistic defenses. See RT at 3-4. Petitioner planned to present an alibi defense with evidence that he was on the phone with his brother during the time of the robbery. Id. Anderson intended to present a defense of duress with evidence that Petitioner coerced him and James M. into participating with Petitioner in the robbery. Id. The trial court recognized the existence of antagonism, but found that the defenses were not so antagonistic as to render a joint trial inherently unfair, especially in light of the policy preferences underlying joint trials. RT at 55-56.
The prosecution called 14 witnesses, including James M., who confessed to participating with Petitioner in the planning and execution of the robbery. At the conclusion of the prosecution's case-in-chief, Anderson testified on his own behalf, essentially corroborating James M.'s testimony regarding Petitioner's involvement. Despite the incriminating testimony of both James M. and Anderson, Petitioner presented his alibi defense.
In an opinion filed on January 13, 2003, 2003 WL 125482, the California Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District summarized the evidence presented at Petitioner's trial. After an independent review of the transcript of trial, the Court adopts the factual summary as its own:
Prosecution case-in-chief
On October 22, 1998, at about 7:00 p.m., Robert Yee and his wife, Sim, were closing Bill's Market in Rio Linda, the business they had owned for 37 years. The Yees lived next door to the market. At around 7:15, as Mr. Yee was boarding the front door, three robbers (defendant, Anderson, and James M.) wearing ski masks pushed him into the store. Defendant carried a .38-caliber pistol. He and Anderson forced Mr. Yee into the back of the store while James M. went to the cash register area where Mrs. Yee was standing behind the counter.
Defendant and Anderson forced Mr. Yee to lie down; taped his hands, mouth, and feet with duct tape; and hit him on the head with a heavy object. Anderson kicked Mr. Yee in the head. Defendant took Mr. Yee's ring and $60 from his wallet. Defendant obtained Mr. Yee's house keys. He and Anderson went to the residence.
Mr. Yee was on the floor for 10 to 15 minutes. He struggled to free himself from the duct tape. At about the time he had worked himself free, he heard his across-the-street neighbor, Steven Parrish, call for him.
Mr. Parrish testified that at about 7:15 p.m., as he and a companion were standing on his front porch, he observed lights at Bill's Market. Mr. Parrish was concerned, because he knew the market normally was closed at that time. As he watched, he saw three or four "tall people" come out of the store, sneak around the side of the building, jump into a little dark sedan, and rush off in the direction of a local elementary school. [Footnote 2] Mr. Parrish ran across the street and found Mrs. Yee laying face down on the floor, behind the counter, bound with duct tape. Mr. Parrish heard movement in the back room and called out for Mr. Yee, who ran into the front of the store after freeing himself from the tape. Mr. Parrish and Mr. Yee then ran back to Mrs. Yee, who was not moving or breathing. Mr. Yee, who was "real distraught," started ripping all the tape off of Mrs. Yee and hollering at her. The robbers had disabled the store's telephones by pulling out their wires. Mr. Parrish's companion
returned to his house and telephoned 911. Mr. Parrish spoke to Mrs. Yee but got no response. He was unable to feel a pulse.
The robbers emptied the cash register of money, money orders, and lottery tickets. Pieces of duct tape were found near Mrs. Yee's body. The Yees' house was ransacked; a mattress had been moved, and dresser drawers had been opened. The telephones were broken.
Dr. Robert Anthony performed an autopsy on Mrs. Yee. She had lost a fair amount of lung tissue, caused by the autoimmune disease scleroderma. The impaired lungs stressed and enlarged her heart. Her lung disease had reached a plateau and stabilized, and she had begun the occasional use of oxygen. Dr. Anthony and Mrs. Yee's attending physician both testified that she would have been at great risk of death by being unable to breathe, if she had been placed face down on the floor, or had her mouth covered with duct tape. Dr. Anthony opined that Mrs. Yee's death may have been caused by positional asphyxia, in which being placed prone prevented her from breathing effectively.
Steven Parrish's next-door neighbors were members of the Bables and Crawley families: Nevada Bables and her children, James M., Jennifer M. and Tiffany M.; Nevada Bables's sister and brother-in-law, Chris Bables Crawley and James Crawley; Chris Crawley's son, Ivan, and her niece, Vanessa H.; James Crawley's cousin, defendant; and the son of some neighbors, Shaun Anderson. Anderson, defendant, and James M. were in a clique together called "Thug Life."
One to two weeks before the robbery of Bill's Market, Anderson, defendant, Marcus McGuire, and Jonathan Prentice were talking about robbing the market. McGuire was to be the getaway driver, but he dropped out before the plan was executed.
Later Anderson, defendant, James M., and Bables discussed a plan to wear disguises and to tie up the Yees with duct tape. They purchased grease paint, gloves, and black ski masks from Target.
The night before the robbery, defendant had separate conversations in his bedroom with Anderson and James M. Defendant had a .38 in his hand, but he did not threaten James M. with it.
On the afternoon of October 22, 1998, Anderson, Bables, and defendant picked up James M. and went home to discuss the plan further. They went to Target to buy duct tape, and then picked up a Mazda 626 that Anderson or defendant had previously stolen as part of the plan.
About a half hour before dark, while James M.'s sister Tiffany and his cousin Vanessa were riding bicycles, Vanessa saw Anderson, Bables, defendant, and James M. leave the house in defendant's car and drive toward the market. Before the foursome left, defendant told the girls to go into the house after 30 minutes, even though Vanessa usually stayed outside until 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. The girls went inside their house 20 to 25 minutes later when it was getting dark.
While Anderson, defendant, and James M. drove off in the stolen car, Bables drove defendant's car to the elementary school. Anderson, defendant, and James M. drove around until it got dark at about 7:00 p.m., waiting for people to clear out of the market. Vanessa observed defendant in the driver's seat and Anderson and James M. elsewhere in the car.
Around 7:00 p.m., defendant parked the stolen car on the side of the market. Anderson testified that, just before entering the market, defendant "said that we could get out of the robbery now, but we'd be accomplices." Anderson felt he had no choice because he was afraid of defendant. Defendant told James M. that he could not back out of the plan because he was already involved as an accessory. Defendant threatened to kill James M. if he told anyone else about the robbery.
Anderson, defendant, and James M. entered the store; James M. locked the door. Mrs. Yee was at the counter; Mr. Yee was in the back of the store. Defendant pointed a .38 at the Yees. He told Mrs. Yee to "get on the ground before he kill her [sic]." After James M. pulled the wires from the store's telephones, the robbers taped up the Yees, putting tape across their mouths, tying their feet together, and taping their hands behind their backs. Mrs. Yee was placed on her chest face down on the floor.
Anderson, defendant, and James M. each grabbed money from cash registers, drawers, boxes, and anywhere...
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