Davis v. Jones

• Decision Date: 08 November 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-15530.,06-15530.
• Citation: 506 F.3d 1325
• Parties: Timothy DAVIS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Charlie E. JONES, Warden, Troy King, Attorney General of the State of Alabama, Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

506 F.3d 1325

Timothy DAVIS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Charlie E. JONES, Warden, Troy King, Attorney General of the State of Alabama, Respondents-Appellees.

No. 06-15530.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

November 8, 2007.

Terrica L. Redfield, Christopher M. Johnson and Stephen B. Bright (Court-Appointed), Southern Ctr. for Human Rights, Atlanta, GA, for Davis.

J. Clayton Crenshaw, Montgomery, Respondents-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

Before TJOFLAT, HULL and WILSON, Circuit Judges.

HULL, Circuit Judge:

Timothy Charles Davis, an Alabama state prisoner appearing with counsel, appeals the district court's denial of his habeas corpus petition brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. After review and oral argument, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In his § 2254 petition, Davis challenges his 1980 murder conviction in Alabama state court. Davis, who was seventeen years old at the time, first appeared in juvenile court before Judge Robert Teel, Jr. for two detention hearings and one transfer hearing as to the murder charge. Davis was then tried as an adult in Alabama Circuit Court before Judge Kenneth Ingram.

In the juvenile court proceedings, the State of Alabama was represented by three or four attorneys at each hearing. One of the State's lawyers was Frank Teel, the brother of Judge Teel. Davis does not challenge the Alabama state court's findings that there was no actual bias on the part of Judge Teel, as the juvenile court judge. Rather, Davis contends that the relationship between Judge Teel and Frank Teel created an appearance of partiality and violated his federal constitutional due process rights, requiring reversal of his murder conviction. We begin by reviewing the Alabama juvenile and state court proceedings.

A. Juvenile Court Proceedings

On July 25, 1978, Davis, who was seventeen years old at the time,¹ appeared before Judge Teel in Alabama juvenile court for a detention hearing in connection with the murder of sixty-eight-year-old Mrs. Avis Alford at Alford's Grocery on July 20, 1978. Special Prosecutors Mitchell Gavin and Tom Radney and Assistant District Attorney Frank Teel, who was the brother of Judge Teel, appeared as counsel for the State of Alabama. Defense attorneys Allen Edwards, Jr. and Lee Sims represented Davis.

Prosecutors Frank Teel and Gavin each questioned three of the State's six total witnesses. The State presented testimony that Davis's motorcycle was seen at Alford's Grocery near the time of the murder, that Davis was seen on his motorcycle shortly after the murder with blood on his hands and clothing, and that Davis told the police at the crime scene that he had found Alford's body in the store. Frank Teel made the closing argument for the State. Davis's counsel responded that the State had failed to establish probable cause for detaining Davis. Judge Teel rejected the State's request for detention and ordered that Davis be released.

On September 26, 1978, Davis appeared before Judge Teel for a second detention hearing regarding the Alford murder. Gavin, Radney and Frank Teel, along with District Attorney Bob Williams, appeared as counsel for the State. District Attorney Williams read the petition charging Davis with killing Alford. Williams and Radney presented testimony from the State's twelve witnesses, which included much of the same testimony as at the first detention hearing, and forensic evidence from the crime scene and Davis's clothing that connected him to the Alford murder. Frank Teel did not present any witnesses or make the closing argument.

Sims and Edwards again represented Davis. The defense called one witness who testified that Davis's fingerprints were not found on either the knife believed to be the murder weapon or Alford's wallet. Judge Teel ruled that the State established probable cause to believe that the allegation of delinquency was true and ordered that Davis be detained.

On November 17, 1978, Davis appeared before Judge Teel for a juvenile court hearing on the State's motion to transfer him to Circuit Court to be tried as an adult for the Alford murder. At the time of the murder, Davis's age was seventeen years, four months. Gavin, Radney and Frank Teel again appeared as counsel for the State. Sims and Edwards again represented Davis. The State presented testimony from eleven witnesses, and Frank Teel questioned two of them.

The State first presented testimony from Michael Smith, the probation officer whose report recommended that Davis be certified to be tried as an adult. Smith recommended that Davis be tried as an adult primarily because of the nature of the charges, the lack of State juvenile facilities that could provide him adequate confinement and treatment, and the fact that Davis had accepted the responsibility of being an adult by getting married and having full-time employment. The State then presented testimony similar to what was presented at the second detention hearing as to the eyewitnesses and forensic evidence connecting Davis to the murder.

At the conclusion of the hearing, defense counsel argued that Davis was still a young boy and that the juvenile system was best suited to treat him. In closing for the State, Gavin argued that Davis should be tried as an adult because he was a married, full-time employed adult and, further, the juvenile courts were not prepared to handle a criminal case of this magnitude. Judge Teel ruled that the State had met its burden and certified Davis to be tried as an adult.

Davis has never claimed (1) that there was any evidentiary or legal error in the juvenile court's certification or detention rulings, or (2) that the State used the transcripts or any part of the juvenile court proceedings in his murder trial in Circuit Court. Davis also never moved to recuse Judge Teel.²

B. State Trial and Direct Appeal

After the murder charge was transferred in 1978 to Alabama Circuit Court, Judge Kenneth Ingram presided over Davis's case. Frank Teel continued as one of the State's attorneys, along with District Attorney William Hill and Assistant District Attorney Robert Williams, Jr. However, Judge Teel no longer was involved in the case.

Davis's jury trial before Judge Ingram began on April 14, 1980. The jury found Davis guilty of capital murder and fixed his punishment at death by electrocution.

Davis then filed a motion for a new trial based on, inter alia, Judge Teel's having presided in juvenile court when Judge Teel's brother was one of the State's attorneys. This was the first time Davis objected to Judge Teel's presiding. The state trial court denied Davis's motion for a new trial. After holding a separate sentencing hearing, the state trial court sentenced Davis to death by electrocution.

Davis appealed, and the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ultimately affirmed Davis's conviction and sentence.³ See Davis v. State, 554 So.2d 1094 (Ala.Crim. App.1984). In that direct appeal, Davis argued, inter alia, that Judge Teel's sua sponte failure to recuse himself from the juvenile court proceedings when his brother Frank Teel appeared as one of the State's attorneys violated Davis's constitutional rights to due process.⁴ In denying this claim, the state appellate court determined that Judge Teel was not required to disqualify himself under Alabama Code § 12-1-12⁵ because his brother was not a "party" in the proceeding. Id. at 1098-99.

The state appellate court also examined Canon 3C(1)(d) of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics, which provides that a judge should disqualify himself in a proceeding in which "his impartiality might reasonably be questioned," including, but not limited to, instances where:

(d) He or his spouse, or a person within the fourth degree of relationship to either of them, or the spouse of such a person:

(i) Is named a party to the proceeding, or an officer, director, or trustee of a party;

(ii) Is known by the judge to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding . . . .

Ala. Canons Jud. Ethics 3C(1)(d)(i)-(ii). The state appellate court concluded under Canon 3C(1)(d)(ii) that Judge Teel was not required to recuse himself because his brother, acting in his official capacity as an Assistant District Attorney, did not have "an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding[s]." Davis, 554 So.2d at 1098-99 (alteration in original) (quotation marks omitted). The state appellate court reasoned that because Frank Teel's "fee or salary was not dependent upon the result of the litigation . . . he had no interest other than his pride in the successful outcome of the proceedings." Id. at 1099 (quotation marks omitted).

The state appellate court also found that Davis had presented no evidence of actual bias by Judge Teel to rebut the presumption in Alabama law that a judge is qualified and unbiased. Id. The state appellate court noted that Davis did not challenge Judge Teel's presiding over the juvenile court until Davis filed a motion for a new trial nearly two years after the juvenile court proceedings. Id. Furthermore, after independently reviewing the juvenile court proceedings before Judge Teel, the state appellate court found no evidence of bias against Davis and noted that Judge Teel's ruling at the first detention hearing was favorable to Davis. Id. Finally, in evaluating Davis's "appearance" claim, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals determined that Judge Teel's decision to certify Davis to be tried as an adult was well reasoned and showed no signs of an abuse of discretion. Id.

The Supreme Court of Alabama summarily affirmed as to the judicial recusal issue. Ex parte Davis, 554 So.2d 1111 (Ala.1989). The Supreme Court of Alabama thereafter overruled Davis's application for rehearing. Davis v. State, 569 So.2d 738 (Ala.1990). The United States Supreme Court denied Davis's petition for a writ of certiorari. Davis v. Alabama...