Couch v. Booker
Decision Date | 03 September 2009 |
Docket Number | Civil No. 2:06-15119. |
Citation | 650 F.Supp.2d 683 |
Parties | Daniel Barry COUCH, Petitioner, v. Raymond BOOKER, Respondent. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan |
Carole M. Stanyar, Detroit, MI, for Petitioner.
Brian O. Neill, Michigan Department of Attorney General, Lansing, MI, for Respondent.
Daniel Barry Couch, ("Petitioner"), filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, in which he challenges his conviction for second-degree murder, M.C.L.A. 750.317. Because petitioner was denied the right to retain the counsel of his choice and was also denied the effective assistance of trial counsel by his court-appointed attorney, the petition for writ of habeas corpus is conditionally granted.
Petitioner was convicted following a jury trial in the Oakland County Circuit Court, in which he was jointly tried with his co-defendant, Richard Lee Collar. Petitioner has provided a detailed statement of facts in his petition for writ of habeas corpus. Respondent has not disputed these facts in his answer. The Court will therefore accept the factual allegations contained within the habeas petition insofar as they are consistent with the record. See Dickens v. Jones, 203 F.Supp.2d 354, 360 (E.D.Mich. 2002). Because the facts do not need to be repeated in their entirety, the Court will recite verbatim the relevant facts regarding petitioner's conviction from the Michigan Court of Appeals' opinion affirming his conviction. See Dittrich v. Woods, 602 F.Supp.2d 802, 803 (E.D.Mich.2009):
This case arises from an incident that occurred when a party went awry. After decedent consumed an "extremely large" line of cocaine along with a second one, he began to behave in a bizarre and unpleasant fashion. Ultimately, the decedent was found having what appeared to be forced anal intercourse with a woman. Collar pulled the decedent from the woman. The defendants and some other men then dragged the decedent outside where the defendants took part in an extensive beating of the decedent, who did not defend himself. The decedent died as a result of the beating. People v. Couch, No. 233176, 2003 WL 21465335 *1 (Mich.Ct.App. June 24, 2003).
Following petitioner's conviction, a Ginther hearing was conducted on petitioner's ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims on November 14 and 15, 2001.1 The trial court denied petitioner's motion for a new trial on February 4, 2002.
On May 29, 2002, petitioner retained new appellate counsel to replace his first two appellate attorneys after petitioner expressed dissatisfaction with their level of representation. In June of 2002, the Michigan Court of Appeals struck the appellate brief that had been filed by petitioner's first two appellate attorneys and permitted new counsel to file a replacement appellate brief.
A new appellate brief on petitioner's behalf, which raised six issues, including the ineffective assistance of trial counsel and the ineffective assistance of petitioner's first two appellate attorneys, was filed. Counsel also filed a motion to remand for an additional evidentiary hearing on petitioner's ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims, contending that petitioner's first two appellate counsel inadequately litigated petitioner's ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims at the first Ginther hearing. The Michigan Court of Appeals denied this motion to remand. People v. Couch, No. 233176, * 1 (Mich.Ct.App. April 25, 2003).
Petitioner's conviction was affirmed on appeal. People v. Couch, No. 233176, 2003 WL 21465335 *1 (Mich.Ct.App. June 24 2003); lv. den. 469 Mich. 990, 674 N.W.2d 154 (2003).
Petitioner then filed a post-conviction motion for relief from judgment, in which he again alleged the ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Petitioner further alleged that he was denied the effective assistance of appellate counsel both by his first appellate counsel, as well as by his replacement appellate counsel. Petitioner also requested an evidentiary hearing on his claims. The trial court denied the motion for relief from judgment without an evidentiary hearing. People v. Couch, No. 00-17330-FC (Oakland County Circuit Court, December 19, 2005). The Michigan appellate courts denied petitioner leave to appeal. People v. Couch, No. 267737 (Mich.Ct.App. July 27, 2006); lv. den. 477 Mich. 917, 722 N.W.2d 878 (2006).
Petitioner now seeks the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus on the following grounds:
I. Petitioner was denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel of choice and due process of the law when the trial court abused its discretion in denying Petitioner a continuance to retain counsel of choice.
II. State officials/authorities withheld and failed to disclose exculpatory Brady material in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment due process clause of the U.S. Constitution.
III. Petitioner Couch was denied a fair trial and due process when the trial court abused its discretion in allowing photographs of decedent to be published to the jury where witnesses used were inadequate for a proper foundation with respect to Petitioner Couch.
IV. Under conviction for second-degree murder, either as principal or under an aiding and abetting theory, there is an insufficiency of evidence as to causation where there exists no reasonable and direct causal connection between Petitioner's conduct and decedent's death, and there exists intervening-cause-of-death defenses, in violation of due process.
V. Petitioner Couch was denied his Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel that resulted in the denial of his right to receive adequate representation and a fair trial.
VI. Petitioner Couch was unconstitutionally prejudiced by ineffective assistance of appellate counsel.
VII. Petitioner received ineffective assistance of counsel where his attorney failed to investigate and pursue Petitioner's causation defense issue, failed to adequately defend against the charges, failed to familiarize himself with discovery and lower court file, failed to consult with and provide exculpatory and related material to appointed expert, failed to cross examine state expert with, inter alia, the exculpatory AMR/EMS medical report, to expose false and/or perjurious testimony in the state's case, failed to call three supporting eyewitnesses, in continuity with counsel's testified to trial strategy and Petitioner's claim of actual innocence, in violation of the Sixth Amendment.
VIII. Petitioner's conviction was obtained by the knowing use of false and/or perjurious testimony in violation of federal law under the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution when state officials/agents utilized, allowed, and failed to correct known false and/or perjurious testimony of state expert Dr. Dragovic and trial counsel Correll, at Petitioner's trial and evidentiary hearing, in deliberate, misleading, deceptive, and contriving practices, in reckless disregard for the truth.
IX. There is a constitutionally, evidentiary, and legal insufficiency of evidence to establish causation beyond a reasonable doubt based on false and/or perjurious expert testimony that is incompetent and unreliable, failed to comport with underlying facts of case, and failed to meet qualifications or reliability or MRE/FRE as required under due process of the U.S. Constitution.
X. Petitioner received constitutionally ineffective assistance of appellate counsel on appeal where his attorney failed to investigate and adequately pursue Petitioner's causation defense issue, failed to adequately defend Petitioner against the charges on appeal, failed to adequately familiarize themselves with court records and discovery, failed to call three eyewitnesses at Petitioner's evidentiary hearing whom would have supported Petitioner's claim of innocence, undermined trial counsel's trial strategy he testified he pursued, and failed to identify, raise and argue the false and/or perjurious testimony, and other constitutional issues before the court, in violation of Petitioner's constitutional rights under the V, VI, VIII, XIV Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
XI. Petitioner was denied a fair and impartial trial by the cumulative errors and resulting prejudicial effect of trial counsel's acts and omissions in the aforementioned constitutional issues and related arguments herein, in violation of Petitioner's Sixth Amendment right, and other cited constitutional rights, under due process of law.
On November 21, 2008, the Court granted petitioner an evidentiary hearing on his ineffective assistance of counsel claims. Carole M. Stanyar was appointed to represent petitioner at the hearing, which was conducted on June 4 and 5, 2009. Subsequent to the hearing, both parties filed supplemental briefs.
28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) imposes the following standard of review for habeas cases:
An application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court shall not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim—
(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or
(2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.
A decision of a state court is "contrary to" clearly established federal law if the state court arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by the Supreme Court on a question of law or if the state court decides a case differently than the Supreme Court has on a set of materially indistinguishable...
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