Duckett v. Mcdonough

• Decision Date: 25 March 2010
• Docket Number: Case No. 507-cv-6-Oc-10GRJ.
• Citation: 701 F.Supp.2d 1245
• Parties: James Aren DUCKETT, Petitioner,v.James R. McDONOUGH, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, and Attorney General, State of Florida, Respondents.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida

701 F.Supp.2d 1245

James Aren DUCKETT, Petitioner,v.James R. McDONOUGH, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, and Attorney General, State of Florida, Respondents.

Case No. 507-cv-6-Oc-10GRJ.

United States District Court,

M.D. Florida,

Ocala Division.

March 25, 2010.

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M. Elizabeth Wells, M.E. Wells, Atlanta, GA, for Petitioner.

Kenneth S. Nunnelley, Office of the Attorney General*, Daytona Beach, FL, for Respondents.

ORDER

WM. TERRELL HODGES, District Judge.

This case is before the Court for consideration of a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Doc. 1) brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 by a Florida inmate, James Aren Duckett, who has been sentenced to death. The Respondent has filed a Response in opposition (Doc. 18).¹

The issues have been fully briefed and the case is ready for decision. No evidentiary hearing is necessary because the record is fully developed and the claims of the Petition raise issues of law, not issues of fact. See Breedlove v. Moore, 279 F.3d 952, 959 (11th Cir.2002).² Upon a review of the entire record and the Parties written submissions, the Court finds that all of Duckett's claims lack merit. The Petition will be denied in its entirety.

Facts and Procedural History

The facts of the case are stated at length in the Florida Supreme Court's opinion denying the Petitioner's direct appeal. See Duckett v. State, 568 So.2d 891 (Fla.1990) (“ Duckett I” ).

Duckett, a police officer for the City of Mascotte, was the only officer on patrol from 7:00 p.m., May 11, 1987, to 7:00 a.m., May 12, 1987. Between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. on May 11, Teresa McAbee, an eleven-year-old girl, walked a short distance from her home to a convenience store to purchase a pencil. Teresa left the store with a sixteen-year-old Mexican boy, who was doing laundry next door. The boy testified that they walked over to the convenience store's dumpster and talked for about twenty minutes before Duckett approached them. A clerk at the convenience store testified that Duckett entered the store and asked her the girl's name and age, at which time she advised him that Teresa was between ten and thirteen years old. After indicating that he was going to check on her, Duckett exited the store and walked toward the dumpster, where he located the two children. Duckett testified that he conversed with the children and subsequently, acting in his capacity as a police officer, instructed Teresa to return home. The sixteen-year-old boy testified that, after speaking with Duckett, he went to the laundromat to wait for his uncle, who arrived soon thereafter; that Duckett and Teresa were standing near the patrol car; and that Duckett asked the uncle the nephew's age. Subsequently, Duckett suggested that the uncle talk to his nephew while he spoke to Teresa. According to the uncle and the boy, Duckett placed Teresa in the passenger's side of his patrol car and shut the door before proceeding to the driver's side. The uncle also testified that he never saw Teresa touch the hood of Duckett's car.

At approximately 11:00 p.m., Teresa's mother walked to the convenience store, searching for her daughter. Upon arrival, she was told by the store's clerk that Duckett may have taken her daughter to the police station. The mother then left the store and spent about an hour with her sister driving around Mascotte in search of Teresa. During this time, the mother did not see a police car. She next went to the Mascotte police station and, finding no one there, she drove a short distance to the Groveland police station. There, she told an officer that she wanted to report her daughter as missing. The officer told her that he would contact a Mascotte officer to meet her at the Mascotte police station. Teresa's mother returned to the Mascotte police station and waited for fifteen to twenty minutes before Duckett arrived. After arriving, Duckett told her that he had spoken with Teresa at the store; that she had been in his police car; and that he had directed her to return home. Before returning home, the mother also filed a missing person report with Duckett. Subsequently, Duckett went to the mother's residence to get a picture of her daughter, called the police chief to inform him of the missing person report, and advised the police chief that he had made a flyer and did not need any help in the matter. Duckett then returned to the convenience store with a flyer but told the clerk not to post it since it was not a good picture. Although he told the clerk that he would return with a better one, he never did. Duckett did bring flyers to two other convenience stores. The clerk at one of these stores testified that, while the police usually drove by every forty-five minutes to an hour, Duckett came by at 9:30 p.m. but failed to return until he brought the flyer later that evening. A tape of Duckett's radio calls indicated none between 10:50 p.m. and 12:10 a.m. At 1:15 a.m., Duckett went to the uncle's house to question his nephew about Teresa, and Duckett returned to the mother's home around 3:00 a.m.

Later that morning, a man saw what he believed to be a body in a lake and went to find the police chief, who determined that it was Teresa's body. The lake is less than one mile from the convenience store where Teresa was last seen.

A medical examiner testified that the perpetrator had sexually assaulted the victim while she was alive, strangled her, and then drowned her, causing her death. Prior to this incident, the victim had not engaged in any sexual activity. Blood was found on her underpants but not in or about Duckett's patrol car. Semen was discovered on her jeans.

A technician for the sheriff's department examined the tire tracks at the murder scene and indicated that they were very unusual. While leaving the crime scene, he observed that the tracks of a Mascotte police car appeared to be similar. He stopped his vehicle, examined the tracks, and determined that they were consistent with the tracks at the crime scene. An expert at trial corroborated this evaluation. The tracks were made by Goodyear Eagle mud and snow tires, which are designed for northern driving. While the local tire center had not sold any of those particular tires during its nine years of existence, it had received two sets by mistake and placed them on the two Mascotte police cars.

Evidence revealed that the vehicle which left the impressions had driven through a mudhole. However, no evidence was presented that Duckett cleaned his vehicle, and no debris from the scene was found in or on his vehicle. Evidence was also presented that Duckett was neat and clean later that night, as if he had just come on duty.

Both Duckett's and Teresa's fingerprints were discovered on the hood of Duckett's patrol car. Duckett's prints were commingled with the victim's, whose prints indicated that she had been sitting backwards on the hood and had scooted up the car.

A pubic hair was found in the victim's underpants. While other experts could not reach a conclusion by comparing that hair with Duckett's pubic hair, Michael Malone, an FBI special agent who had been qualified as an expert in hairs and fibers in forty-two states, examined the hair sample, concluding that there was a high degree of probability that the pubic hair found in her underpants was Duckett's pubic hair. Malone also testified that the pubic hair did not match the hairs of the sixteen-year-old boy, the uncle, or the others who were in contact with the victim that evening.

On June 15, 1987, before his arrest, Duckett gave a statement in which he denied driving his vehicle to the lake that evening. He further stated that the victim had not been on the hood of his patrol car and that he had stopped at the Jiffy store for coffee after the girl went home.

The state presented testimony of three young women who allegedly had sexual encounters with Duckett. Prior to the introduction of this testimony, the trial judge instructed the jury that the testimony was for the limited purpose of showing motive, opportunity, plan, and identification. The first woman, a petite nineteen-year-old, testified that, in either January or February, 1987, she ran into Duckett while she was attempting to find her boyfriend. After indicating that he, too, was searching for her boyfriend, he drove her in his patrol car in search of her boyfriend. While in the car, Duckett placed his hand on her shoulder and attempted to kiss her. After she refused to kiss him, he desisted and she got out of the car. The second woman, a petite eighteen-year-old, stated that, on May 1, 1987, Duckett picked her up while she was walking along the highway. After Duckett drove her to a remote area in an orange grove, he parked the car, placed his hand on her breast, and attempted to kiss her. When she refused to kiss him, he desisted and drove her to where she requested. The third woman, a petite seventeen-year-old, testified that on two occasions, once in February or March, 1987, and again in April or May, 1987, she voluntarily met Duckett at a remote area while he was on patrol and performed oral sex on him.

At trial, Duckett testified that, on the night of the murder, while running stationary radar near the convenience store, he noticed a girl talking to three Mexicans at a laundromat. After he saw the girl and one of the boys walk over to an ice machine, he went into the store to ask the clerk some questions about the girl. He then left the store, asked the children their ages, requested that they walk to his car, and questioned the boy further. At this time, the boy's uncle arrived at the scene with some other men. Subsequently, Duckett placed the girl in his car while he spoke with the uncle about his nephew. After the boy's uncle left with the other men, Duckett obtained more information from Teresa and told her to go home. He did not see her again after she got out of the car and walked in front

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