Crockett v. Clarke

• Decision Date: 24 May 2022
• Docket Number: 19-6636
• Citation: 35 F.4th 231
• Parties: Cameron Paul CROCKETT, Petitioner - Appellant, v. Harold W. CLARKE, Respondent - Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

35 F.4th 231

Cameron Paul CROCKETT, Petitioner - Appellant,

v.Harold W. CLARKE, Respondent - Appellee.

No. 19-6636

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: March 8, 2022

Decided: May 24, 2022

ARGUED: Lauren Elizabeth Bateman, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Victoria Lee Johnson, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Erica Hashimoto, Director, Nicolas Sansone, Supervising Attorney, Hassan Ahmad, Student Counsel, Meredith Manuel, Student Counsel, Appellate Litigation Program, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Mark R. Herring, Attorney General, K. Scott Miles, Deputy Attorney General, Donald E. Jeffrey, III, Senior Assistant Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.

Before WILKINSON, NIEMEYER and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Quattlebaum wrote the opinion, in which Judge Wilkinson and Judge Niemeyer joined.

QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judge:

A Virginia jury convicted Cameron Crockett of involuntary manslaughter after his car crashed into a tree killing the front seat passenger. To reach this result, the jury concluded that Crockett was driving under the influence at the time of the crash. Crockett subsequently sought post-conviction relief in Virginia state court, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel. Crockett, who insisted he was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, asserted that his lawyer failed to investigate evidence of the operation and use of the driver's seatbelt. He claimed that a proper investigation would have revealed the driver's seatbelt was used at the time of the accident, meaning he could not have been the driver. The Virginia courts disagreed. Ultimately, the Supreme Court of Virginia, after considering the full record, held that, although the counsel's performance fell below the standard of care, that failure did not prejudice Crockett.

In response, Crockett brought a federal habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 making essentially the same arguments. In doing so, he confronts an extraordinary standard of review. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA") precludes a federal court from granting habeas relief on a claim decided on the merits in a state court unless it determines the state court's decision was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law or was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the record evidence. That standard of review proves fatal to Crockett's habeas claims. While one might reasonably come to a different conclusion than the Supreme Court of Virginia, the court's decision was far from unreasonable. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's denial of Crockett's § 2254 petition.

I.

A. The Accident

Late on the night of December 28, 2008, Crockett's 1998 Honda Accord two-door coupe crashed into a tree after accelerating down Wolfsnare Road in Virginia Beach, Virginia. One person walking on Wolfsnare Road witnessed the crash. Several neighbors heard sounds from the impending accident, notified the police and rushed to the accident scene. Officers arrived within minutes. They found Crockett's best friend, Jack Korte, dead in the front passenger seat area. They found Crockett unconscious, with his upper body in the backseat area, while his legs and feet were in the front of the car over a collapsed front seat. No one remembered Crockett wearing a seatbelt. No one saw anyone else in the car or observed anyone leaving the scene. Crockett was intoxicated.

B. The Trial

The Commonwealth of Virginia charged Crockett with involuntary manslaughter.¹ At trial, Crockett claimed he was not the driver. Instead, he maintained that another friend, Jacob Palmer, was driving when the car crashed. Crockett said he and Korte were together earlier that night drinking. They met up with Palmer at a party at an apartment some two or so miles from the accident site. At the party, all three made plans to smoke marijuana, but they did not have any cigarette rolling papers which are commonly associated with the use of marijuana. So, they decided to go to a store to buy some. Crockett insisted he knew that he was too drunk to drive, so he gave his keys to Palmer. Crockett said he sat in the back seat and let Korte take the front seat because Korte was "[a] bit taller." J.A. 736, 762. He also said he let one of his friends—he could not remember which one—borrow one of his jackets from the car.

Consistent with Crockett's version of the events, one of the party hosts testified that Palmer asked him if he needed anything from the store. After that, the host said he did not see Crockett, Palmer or Korte for about an hour. Another party guest said she recalled that Palmer disappeared for a period of time but remembered him coming back later. The guest said Palmer was breathing heavily and asking if anyone had heard from Crockett and Korte.

Crockett also relied on evidence from the first responders and witnesses. Police officers found and photographed Crockett's jacket on the ground behind the car at the accident scene. The officers also noted in their police report that Crockett was the front seat driver. And, although witnesses and officers testified that they did not see him wearing a seatbelt or recall him to have been wearing a seatbelt, the report indicated he was belted. But the officers and the emergency medical personnel testified that Crockett did not exhibit signs of injuries from either a seatbelt or an airbag. Finally, the officers and witnesses found the driver's side window open—either rolled down or broken—providing, according to Crockett, a way for Palmer to exit the car.

In summary, Crockett attempted to establish reasonable doubt by maintaining that Palmer was driving and wearing a seatbelt, undermining witnesses' testimony who placed Crockett's body closer to the driver's seat in terms of orientation, questioning police efforts to analyze the driver's side of the vehicle for blood and DNA and showing that Crockett was sitting unbelted in the backseat.

In contrast, the Commonwealth focused on the fact that only Crockett and Korte were found at the scene. It also emphasized that, although witnesses and police arrived at the scene within minutes, no one saw anyone around the vehicle or fleeing the area. Finally, the Commonwealth pointed out that after the crash, the car was wrapped around a tree and severely damaged. The airbags deployed and the front seat collapsed. And Crockett was lying unconscious with his feet under the steering wheel and his body across the collapsed front seat. The Commonwealth argued there was not enough time before witnesses and first responders arrived for a mystery driver to collect himself after such a violent crash, disentangle himself from the damaged vehicle and the occupants in it, exit the vehicle and then flee from the scene.

The jury found Crockett guilty of involuntary manslaughter and recommended a five-year sentence. But Crockett, rather than appearing for his sentencing hearing, absconded to Guatemala. As a result, he faced an additional felony charge.

Crockett later obtained new counsel, who moved to test the Honda's seatbelt in preparation for other potential charges related to the incident. The trial court granted that motion. Then, at sentencing for the involuntary manslaughter conviction and abscondment offense, Crockett moved for a new trial based on alleged newly discovered evidence that showed he was not the driver. In support of the motion, Crockett submitted a report of retained expert David Pape, Ph.D., P.E. ("Pape Report") which concluded that one section of the driver's seatbelt webbing had "cupping" consistent with occupant forces during a collision. Cupping generally means a wavy appearance that, in a very general sense, can result from the stresses on a belt from sudden movements of a belted-occupant's body during an accident. According to the Pape Report, the cupping "suggested that the seatbelt was being worn by the driver at the time of the collision." J.A. 1608. In other words: "If the seat belt was not in use during the collision one would not expect this cupping." J.A. 1609. Based on the testimony of witnesses who saw him after the crash, his position in the car and his lack of injuries consistent with wearing a seat belt, Crockett claimed he was not belted. According to Crockett, this proved he was not the driver. In addition, Crockett called a classmate of Palmer's who testified she overheard Palmer say "I just got free.... I thought I killed them both." J.A. 1167.

The Commonwealth responded that the police report's references to the driver and the seat belt had long been available and known. Therefore, it argued the evidence on which Crockett's motion was based was not new and was previously available to pursue.

The trial court denied Crockett's motion for a new trial. It explained that the evidence introduced could have been pursued at trial. In fact, the court recognized that, although he was available, neither party elected to call Palmer during the guilt phase. As a result, neither his testimony nor that of any witnesses who could have been called in response for impeachment purposes was presented to the jury. The court also held that, in light of all the evidence presented, the evidence offered by Crockett in support of his motion would not produce a different result.

The trial court then imposed the jury's verdict of five years for the involuntary manslaughter conviction. And after Crockett pleaded guilty to the felony failure to appear, the court imposed a five-year sentence for that charge, suspending two of those years conditioned on good behavior under supervised probation. Thus, the trial court imposed an active sentence of eight years.

C. Direct Appeal

Crockett appealed his conviction, including the denial...