Doughty v. Grayson

• Decision Date: 31 October 2005
• Docket Number: No. 02-10042-BC.,02-10042-BC.
• Citation: 397 F.Supp.2d 867
• Parties: Michael V. DOUGHTY, Petitioner, v. Henry GRAYSON, Respondent,
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

397 F.Supp.2d 867

Michael V. DOUGHTY, Petitioner, v. Henry GRAYSON, Respondent,

No. 02-10042-BC.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Northern Division.

October 31, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Michael Doughty, Parr Highway Correctional, Adrian, MI, pro se.

Brenda E. Turner, Michigan Department of Attorney, Lansing, MI, for Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

LAWSON, District Judge.

The petitioner, Michael V. Doughty, presently incarcerated at the Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan, has filed a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, alleging that he is incarcerated in violation of his constitutional rights. Following a no contest plea in 1994, Doughty was convicted on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.520b, and sentenced to two concurrent custody terms of ten to twenty years. In his pleadings, the petitioner raises claims of denial of substantive and procedural due process based on his competency at the time of his plea and ineffective assistance of both trial and appellate counsel. The respondent has filed an answer in opposition to the petition insisting that the petitioner's claims are either procedurally defaulted or lack merit. The Court now concludes that the petitioner's claims lack merit and will therefore deny the petition.

I.

In the fall of 1994, petitioner Michael V. Doughty was arrested and accused of sexually assaulting his two minor granddaughters, ages six and eight years old. A complaint was filed charging the petitioner with six counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, and the case was eventually bound over to the Macomb County circuit court for trial. An attorney appointed to represent the petitioner filed a notice of insanity defense, which triggered the State's mental examination procedures for a criminal responsibility evaluation. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 768.20a(2).

In October of 1994, the petitioner was evaluated by Dr. George Watson of the state's Center for Forensic Psychiatry for the purpose of determining criminal responsibility and evaluating his diminished capacity and insanity defenses. The examination was completed and Dr. Watson issued his report on October 31, 1994. Dr. Watson concluded that, in his opinion, the petitioner was mentally ill at the time of the offense, but he was not legally insane because he could appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct and had the ability to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. Likewise, Dr. Watson believed a diminished capacity defense was unsupportable because the petitioner was able to form the specific intent to commit the offenses. Dr. Watson was not consulted and did not express an opinion on the petitioner's competence to stand trial at that time.

On November 16, 1994, the petitioner pleaded no contest before a Macomb County, Michigan circuit judge to two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in exchange for dismissal of four additional counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. On December 27, 1994, the petitioner was sentenced to two concurrent prison terms of ten to twenty years. Sentencing Tr. at 10-11. Defense counsel provided the sentencing court with a copy of a psychological report prepared by Dr. Steven Miller recommending a sentence program. Sentencing Tr. at 3. Counsel also referenced other psychological evaluations including that of Dr. Watson of the forensic center. Id. at 4-5.

The petitioner filed a claim of appeal on May 4, 1995. In January of 1996, he apparently filed a motion to set aside the judgment and a motion to withdraw his plea. See Macomb County trial court docket, case number 1993-003128-FC. In his appellate brief, filed on August 29 1996, the petitioner raised the following issues:

I. This Honorable Court should remand this case to the trial court so to allow Defendant to move to withdraw his nolo contendre [sic] plea because Defendant was incompetent to plead due to the fact that he was taking Prozac at the time the plea was rendered.

II. This Honorable Court should vacate Defendant's concurrent 10-20 year sentences imposed in the case at bar and remand for resentencing because the sentences imposed violate the principle of proportionality expressed in People v. Milbourn.

The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the petitioner's convictions and sentences. People v. Doughty, 1997 WL 33353369 (Mich.App. Feb. 28, 1997). The petitioner did not file an application for leave to appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court.

On February 26, 1998, the petitioner filed a motion for relief from judgment in the trial court arguing that the court should have held a hearing to determine whether he was competent to enter a plea, and that his trial and appellate counsel were ineffective for failing to raise these issues. The trial court denied the motion on April 29, 1998. The petitioner then filed an application for leave to appeal in the Michigan Court of Appeals raising the following issues:

I. Whether, where examining psychiatrists' reports included substantial evidence of defendant's long-term, severe mental illness; where trial counsel presented and quoted from these reports at the sentence hearing; where the trial court convicted and sentenced Defendant without holding a competency hearing, its absence violated his federal and state due process rights and state statutory right not to have a court convict him, when aware [sic] of substantial evidence of his incompetence, without a competency hearing and decision.

II. Whether, under the federal and state due process and right to counsel clauses, where trial counsel has the above reports, but presents and quotes from these reports only to mitigate defendant's sentence; where trial counsel fails to move for a competency hearing or to investigate, prepare, and present an insanity defense; where as a result of these failures, defendant pleads no contest to two charges, trial counsel's assistance is ineffective.

III. Whether, under the federal and state due process and right to counsel clauses, where direct review appellate counsel has the trial record of the facts described in questions I and II above; where direct review appellate counsel fails to raise the absence of competency hearing or trial counsel's ineffective assistance as issues, direct review appellate counsel's assistance is ineffective.

The Michigan Court of Appeals denied leave to appeal for the most part, but remanded the case to the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing nunc pro tunc on the petitioner's competency to stand trial as of the date of the no contest plea. The court stated:

The Court orders, pursuant to M.C.R. 7.205(D)(2), that this cause is REMANDED to the Macomb Circuit Court for a determination of defendant's competency to stand trial (and concomitantly to plead nolo contendere) nunc pro tunc; if defendant is found to have been incompetent at the time of his plea, his convictions shall be VACATED and the prosecution shall not further proceed unless the defendant is presently competent or his competence is restored in the future, but if defendant is determined to have been competent to stand trial at the time of his plea, no post-conviction relief is warranted. Although the application is from an order denying defendant's motion for relief from judgment pursuant to M.C.R. 6.508(D), and is therefore a collateral attack on defendant's conviction, a defendant's incompetence to stand trial represents a jurisdictional defect cognizable in collateral proceedings. Given the two psychiatric reports in possession of defendant's trial counsel and brought to the attention of the trial court not later than sentencing, it was ineffective assistance of counsel not to seek a determination of defendant's competency to stand trial, and it was an abuse of discretion for the trial court not to sua sponte require such an evaluation and determination.

People v. Michael Vincent Doughty, Docket No. 211846 (Mich.Ct.App. Oct. 30, 1998) (internal citations omitted).

On March 7, 2000, an evidentiary hearing was held in the Macomb County circuit court. Dr. Elizabeth Jarratt of the Center for Forensic Psychiatry was the first expert to testify regarding the petitioner's competency at the time he entered his pleas. Dr. Jarratt had spoken with the petitioner on November 23, 1999, and had studied previous psychiatric evaluations written about the petitioner, including notes written by Dr. George Watson regarding his evaluation of the petitioner. She testified that she believed the petitioner was not competent to stand trial or enter a plea at the time his plea was taken. Dr. George Watson, the psychologist from the Center for Forensic Psychiatry who examined the petitioner for criminal responsibility and diminished capacity on October 7, 1994, testified that he believed the petitioner was competent to stand trial and enter a plea at the time the plea was taken. After hearing this conflicting evidence, and questioning both witnesses, the trial judge found that the petitioner was competent to stand trial at the time his plea was taken, stating that "Dr. Watson's opinion [was] more persuasive." Evid. Hearing. Tr. at 63 (March 7, 2000).

Dr. Jarratt was given an almost impossible job. And I find that Dr. Watson's opinion is more persuasive. Dr. Watson examined the defendant just a month and a half before the plea. His opinion then although not expressed then was that he was — the defendant was competent to stand trial in October 1994 and that is still his opinion.

Based upon the testimony today and the two reports that have been admitted into evidence I do find that the defendant was able to understand the nature and object of the proceedings against him and to assist in his defense in a rational manner by his ability to perform...