Davis v. Jones
| Decision Date | 07 July 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. CIVA 2:99CV416-ID.,CIVA 2:99CV416-ID. |
| Citation | 441 F.Supp.2d 1138 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama |
| Parties | Timothy Charles DAVIS, Petitioner, v. Charlie JONES, et al., Respondents. |
Christopher Mallatratt Johnson, Stephen B. Bright, Atlanta, GA, Petitioner.
James Clayton Crenshaw, James Roy Houts, Jasper Beroujon Roberts, Jr., Office of the Attorney General, Montgomery, AL, for Respondents.
DE MENT, Senior District Judge.
This cause is before the court on Petitioner Timothy Charles Davis' ("Davis") petition for writ of habeas corpus, brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, for a decision on the merits.1 Davis, who was seventeen years old at the time of the offense, was convicted of murder by a jury in an Alabama state court and sentenced to death. The judgment of conviction and sentence of death were affirmed on direct review, and Davis' petition was rejected by state collateral proceedings.
In the present proceeding, timely brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, Davis challenges the constitutional validity of his judgment of conviction and sentence of death. In light of the Supreme Court of the United States' decision in Roper v. Simmons, which held that the execution of individuals who were under the age of eighteen at the time of their capital crimes is prohibited by the Eighth and Fourteenth amendments, Davis is no longer eligible for the death penalty. See 543 U.S. 551, 125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005). Because Davis' sentence of death is unconstitutional under Roper, as discussed herein, Davis is due habeas corpus relief with respect to his sentence of death to the extent that the court must grant Davis' petition, unless the State of Alabama vacates or sets aside Davis' death sentence and sentences Davis to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
In his petition, Davis also raises guiltphase claims challenging the validity of his judgment of conviction. After careful consideration of the arguments of counsel, the relevant law and the record as a whole, the court finds that, as to Davis' guilt-phase claims, Davis' writ is due to be denied pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) because the decisions of the Alabama courts were not contrary to or an unreasonable application of clearly established, controlling Supreme Court precedent, and were not based on an unreasonable determination of the facts.
The following presents a synopsis of the procedural history of this case. Davis was tried before a jury in the Circuit Court of Coosa County, Alabama, on a charge of capital murder, namely, the intentional killing during a robbery of Mrs. Avis F. Alford ("Mrs.Alford"). On June 13, 1980, the jury returned a verdict of guilty against Davis for capital murder, and, pursuant to § 13-11-2(a) of the Alabama Code, the predecessor to § 13A-5-40(a), fixed his punishment at death by electrocution. Pursuant to former Alabama Code §§ 13-11-3 and —4 (repealed and replaced by § 13A-5-45 and —47), after a separate sentencing hearing held on July 14, 1980, the Honorable Kenneth F. Ingram, who presided as the trial and sentencing judge, imposed a sentence of death consistent with the jury's determination. See Davis v. State, 554 So.2d 1094, 1103 (Ala.Crim. App.1984).
Davis' judgment of conviction originally was reversed on appeal and remanded for a new trial on the authority of Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625, 100 S.Ct. 2382, 65 L.Ed.2d 392 (1980). See Davis v. State, 408 So.2d 532 (Ala.Crim.App.1981) (per curiam), cert. denied, 408 So.2d 533 (Ala. 1982). The Supreme Court of the United States, however, granted the State's petition for certiorari, vacated the judgment of the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, above, and remanded the case for further consideration in light of Hopper v. Evans, 456 U.S. 605, 102 S.Ct. 2049, 72 L.Ed.2d 367 (1982). See Alabama v. Ritter, 457 U.S. 1114, 102 S.Ct. 2921, 73 L.Ed.2d 1326 (1982).
Upon remand, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Davis' judgment of conviction and the sentence of death. See Davis v. State, 554 So.2d 1094 (Ala.Crim.App.1984), op. extended and reh'rg denied, 554 So.2d at 1109. The judgment of the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Alabama. Ex parte Davis, 554 So.2d 1111 (Ala.1989). Davis' application for rehearing was overruled on September 28, 1990. Davis v. State, 569 So.2d 738 (Ala.1990). The Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari on February 25, 1991. Davis v. Alabama, 498 U.S. 1127, 111 S.Ct. 1091, 112 L.Ed.2d 1196 (1991).
On February 12, 1992, Davis, through counsel, filed a petition for relief from the judgment of conviction and sentence of death pursuant to Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure. An amended petition was filed on November 18, 1994, and an evidentiary hearing was conducted by the Circuit Court of Coosa County on September 1, 1995. On September 29, 1995, Davis filed a motion to amend the Rule 32 petition, to which the State filed a written objection on October 28, 1995. The Rule 32 trial court did not rule on whether the motion to amend was accepted or rejected. On February 3, 1997, the Rule 32 trial court denied Davis' petition. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the judgment of the Rule 32 trial court, denying Davis' Rule 32 petition, Davis v. State, 720 So.2d 1006 (Ala. Crim.App.1998), and the Supreme Court of Alabama denied certiorari. Thereafter, on February 22, 1999, the Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari. Davis v. Alabama, 525 U.S. 1149, 119 S.Ct. 1049, 143 L.Ed.2d 55 (1999).
Davis' extensive post-trial proceedings culminated in the filing of his timely habeas petition in this court on April 28, 1999, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. During stage I of the proceedings, the court determined which of Davis' claims could be heard on the merits. (See Doc. No. 68.2) During these stage II proceedings, the court now decides the merits of the claims which are not procedurally barred.
The crime of which Davis was convicted involves horrific instances of brutality, sodomy and murder. In Davis v. State, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, in its decision affirming Davis' judgment of conviction on direct appeal, succinctly summarized the facts which were adduced at trial. See 554 So.2d 1094, 1097-98 (Ala.Crim. App.1984). The court quotes from the Davis opinion:
On July 20, 1978, between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., at Alford's Grocery in Coosa County, Alabama, 68-year-old Avis F. Alford was robbed, sodomized, and brutally murdered with a common steak knife. Her nude body was discovered at approximately 5:30 p.m. inside her store next to the cash drawer counter, where she had been assaulted and stabbed in the back 17 times. The cash drawer was found open. The drawer contained no paper currency, but it did contain a few coins. Other coins were "scattered about" on the floor behind the counter. An autopsy revealed that Mrs. Alford had, indeed, died from the combination of knife wounds in her back, wounds which punctured her lungs and lacerated her aorta. She had lost a large volume of type "A positive" blood. Further analysis of samples taken during the autopsy revealed the presence of human sperm in the victim's rectum.
Shortly after the murder, the appellant, accompanied by his wife and his mother, appeared at the murder scene and told the authorities that he had discovered Mrs. Alford's body inside the store. He explained that when he realized she was dead, he "got scared and ran." He later explained that in lifting the body he had "gotten blood all over" himself and that he had changed clothes at home before returning to report what he had seen. He also told the officers that on his way home after discovering the body he had seen two black men walking down the highway away from Alford's store. However, when asked for a description of the two black men, the appellant "hemmed and hawed," and could only state that one was tall and one was short.
Mrs. Alford was last seen alive inside the store at 4:30 p.m. A young white male on a motorcycle was seen riding into the parking lot at Alford's Grocery at 5:05 p.m. The description of the motorcycle rider and the motorcycle generally matched the appearance of the appellant and his motorcycle on the day of the murder.
Curtis Smith identified the appellant in court. He testified that on the day of the murder, at approximately 5:30 p.m., he saw the appellant riding his motorcycle at the Covered Bridge a few miles from Alford's store. He saw the appellant ride past the bridge, and he heard the motorcycle stop and "quiet down" for several minutes before the appellant returned to the bridge. The appellant stopped and told Smith that he, the appellant, had "taken a spill" on his motorcycle. The appellant was wearing a brown T-shirt and blue jeans and had blood on his right hand and arm and on his jogging shoes. He was bleeding from underneath one of his fingernails. He "pulled down to the rocks" beside the creek, washed off the blood, and rode away.
During the investigation immediately following the murder, Mrs. Alford's wallet, which had been taken during the robbery-murder, was found in the woods a short distance past the Covered Bridge where Smith had seen the appellant. The investigating officers testified that, after talking with Smith, they drove slowly down the road and found, at the entrance to an old logging road, a disturbance in the dirt of the type a motorcycle would make "spinning out." They searched the area and found the wallet.
Using metal detectors, the investigating officers also found, in the field across the highway from Alford's Grocery, the murder weapon, a steak knife covered with type "A" human blood. Similar knives were seen in the kitchen of appellant's residence.
The results of physical examinations and chemical...
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