Dretke v. Haley

• Decision Date: 03 May 2004
• Docket Number: No. 02-1824.,02-1824.
• Citation: 541 U.S. 386
• Parties: DRETKE, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS DIVISION v. HALEY.
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

541 U.S. 386

DRETKE, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS DIVISION v. HALEY.

No. 02-1824.

Supreme Court of United States.

Argued March 2, 2004.

Decided May 3, 2004.

Respondent was charged with and convicted of felony theft. Based on two prior convictions, he was also charged as a habitual offender. Under Texas' habitual offender statute, a defendant convicted of a felony is subject to a sentence of 2 to 20 years if (1) he has two prior felony convictions, and (2) the conviction for the first prior offense became final before commission of the second. Texas law requires the State to prove the habitual offender allegations to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt at a separate penalty hearing. The jury here convicted respondent of the habitual offender charge, and the judge sentenced him to 16½ years. As it turned out, the evidence presented at the penalty phase showed that respondent had committed his second offense three days before his first conviction became final, meaning that he was not eligible for the habitual offender enhancement. No one, including defense counsel, noted the discrepancy—either at trial or on direct appeal. Respondent first raised the issue in a request for state postconviction relief, arguing that the evidence at the penalty hearing was insufficient to support the habitual offender conviction. The state court rejected his sufficiency of the evidence claim on procedural grounds, because he had not raised the issue earlier; the state court likewise rejected respondent's claim that counsel had been ineffective for failing to object. Respondent renewed his sufficiency of the evidence and ineffective assistance claims in a subsequent federal habeas application. Conceding that respondent was not, in fact, eligible for the habitual offender enhancement, the State nevertheless argued that respondent had procedurally defaulted his sufficiency of the evidence claim. The District Court excused the procedural default because respondent was actually innocent of the enhanced sentence; it thus did not reach the ineffective assistance claim. The Fifth Circuit affirmed, holding that the actual innocence exception applies to noncapital sentencing procedures involving career offenders and habitual felony offenders.

Held: A federal court faced with allegations of actual innocence, whether of the sentence or of the crime charged, must first address all nondefaulted claims for comparable relief and other grounds for cause to excuse the procedural default. Normally, a federal court will not entertain a procedurally defaulted constitutional claim in a habeas petition absent a showing of cause and prejudice to excuse the default. However, this Court recognizes a narrow exception to the general rule when the applicant can demonstrate actual innocence of the substantive offense, Murray v. Carrier, 477 U. S. 478, 496, or, in the capital sentencing context, of the aggravating circumstances rendering the inmate eligible for the death penalty, Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U. S. 333. The Court declines to answer the question presented here, whether this exception should be extended to noncapital sentencing error, because the District Court failed first to consider alternative grounds for relief urged by respondent. This avoidance principle was implicit in Carrier itself, where the Court expressed confidence that, "for the most part, `victims of a fundamental miscarriage of justice will meet the cause-and-prejudice standard,'" 477 U. S., at 495-496, particularly given the availability of ineffective assistance of counsel claims, id., at 496. Petitioner concedes that respondent has a viable and significant ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Success on the merits would give respondent all of the relief that he seeks, i. e., resentencing, and also would provide cause to excuse the procedural default of his sufficiency of the evidence claim. The many threshold legal questions often accompanying actual innocence claims provide additional reason for restraint. For instance, respondent's claim raises the question whether the holding of In re Winship, 397 U. S. 358—that each element of a criminal offense must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt—should be extended to proof of prior convictions used to support recidivist enhancements. Not all actual innocence claims will involve threshold constitutional questions, but, as this case illustrates, such claims are likely to present equally difficult questions regarding the scope of the actual innocence exception itself. Pp. 392-396.

306 F. 3d 257, vacated and remanded.

O'CONNOR, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which REHNQUIST, C. J., and SCALIA, THOMAS, GINSBURG, and BREYER, JJ., joined. STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which KENNEDY and SOUTER, JJ., joined, post, p. 396. KENNEDY, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 399.

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT.

R. Ted Cruz, Solicitor General of Texas, argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Greg Abbott, Attorney General, Barry R. McBee, First Assistant Attorney General, and Danica L. Milios, Assistant Solicitor General.

Matthew D. Roberts argued the cause for the United States as amicus curiae urging reversal. With him on the brief were Solicitor General Olson, Assistant Attorney General Wray, and Deputy Solicitor General Dreeben.

Eric M. Albritton, by appointment of the Court, 540 U. S. 1044, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief was Jeffrey L. Bleich.^*

JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.

Out of respect for finality, comity, and the orderly administration of justice, a federal court will not entertain a procedurally defaulted constitutional claim in a petition for habeas corpus absent a showing of cause and prejudice to excuse the default. We have recognized a narrow exception to the general rule when the habeas applicant can demonstrate that the alleged constitutional error has resulted in the conviction of one who is actually innocent of the underlying offense or, in the capital sentencing context, of the aggravating circumstances rendering the inmate eligible for the death penalty. Murray v. Carrier, 477 U. S. 478 (1986); Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U. S. 333 (1992). The question before us is whether this exception applies where an applicant asserts "actual innocence" of a noncapital sentence. Because the District Court failed first to consider alternative grounds for relief urged by respondent, grounds that might obviate any need to reach the actual innocence question, we vacate the judgment and remand.

I

In 1997, respondent Michael Wayne Haley was arrested after stealing a calculator from a local Wal-Mart and attempting to exchange it for other merchandise. Respondent was charged with, and found guilty at trial of, theft of property valued at less than $1,500, which, because respondent already had two prior theft convictions, was a "state jail felony" punishable by a maximum of two years in prison. App. 8; Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 31.03(e)(4)(D) (Supp. 2004). The State also charged respondent as a habitual felony offender. The indictment alleged that respondent had two prior felony convictions and that the first—a 1991 conviction for delivery of amphetamine—"became final prior to the commission" of the second—a 1992 robbery. App. 9. The timing of the first conviction and the second offense is significant: Under Texas' habitual offender statute, only a defendant convicted of a felony who "has previously been finally convicted of two felonies, and the second previous felony conviction is for an offense that occurred subsequent to the first previous conviction having become final, . . . shall be punished for a second-degree felony." § 12.42(a)(2) (emphasis added). A second degree felony carries a minimum sentence of 2 and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. § 12.33(a) (2003).

Texas provides for bifurcated trials in habitual offender cases. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann., Art. 37.07, § 3 (Vernon Supp. 2004). If a defendant is found guilty of the substantive offense, the State, at a separate penalty hearing, must prove the habitual offender allegations beyond a reasonable doubt. Ibid. During the penalty phase of respondent's trial, the State introduced records showing that respondent had been convicted of delivery of amphetamine on October 18, 1991, and attempted robbery on September 9, 1992. The record of the second conviction, however, showed that respondent had committed the robbery on October 15, 1991— three days before his first conviction became final. Neither the prosecutor, nor the defense attorney, nor the witness tendered by the State to authenticate the records, nor the trial judge, nor the jury, noticed the 3-day discrepancy. Indeed, the defense attorney chose not to cross-examine the State's witness or to put on any evidence.

The jury returned a verdict of guilty on the habitual offender charge and recommended a sentence of 16½ years; the court followed the recommendation. Respondent appealed. Appellate counsel did not mention the 3-day discrepancy nor challenge the sufficiency of the penalty-phase evidence to support the habitual offender enhancement. The State Court of Appeals affirmed respondent's conviction and sentence; the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused respondent's petition for discretionary review.

Respondent thereafter sought state postconviction relief, arguing for the first time that he was ineligible for the habitual offender enhancement based on the timing of his second conviction. App. 83, 87-88. The state habeas court refused to consider the merits of that claim because respondent had not raised it, as required by state procedural law, either at trial or on direct appeal. Id., at 107, 108. The state habeas court rejected respondent's related ineffective assistance of counsel claim, saying only that "counsel was not ineffective" for...