Eley v. Erickson
| Citation | 712 F.3d 837 |
| Decision Date | 09 April 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. 10–4725.,10–4725. |
| Parties | Karim ELEY, Appellant v. Charles ERICKSON, Superintendent; Attorney General of Pennsylvania; Deputy District Attorney of Dauphin County. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit) |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Peter A. Levin (Argued), Philadelphia, PA, for Appellant.
Jason E. McMurry (Argued), Dauphin County Office of District Attorney, Harrisburg, PA, for Appellees, Charles Erickson and Deputy District Attorney of Dauphin County.
Before: FUENTES, FISHER and COWEN, Circuit Judges.
Karim Eley, a prisoner of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in custody of the State Correctional Institution—Rockview, seeks federal habeas relief under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2254. After a joint trial with Lester Eiland and Edward Mitchell in the Dauphin County Common Pleas Court, a jury convicted Eley of second-degree murder, 18 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 2502(b), robbery, § 3701, and conspiracy to commit robbery, § 903, for his role in the murder and robbery of Angel DeJesus in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in July 2000. Eley now claims that (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment under Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); (2) his non-testifying co-defendants' confessions were admitted against him in violation of the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment under Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968), Richardson v. Marsh, 481 U.S. 200, 107 S.Ct. 1702, 95 L.Ed.2d 176 (1987), and Gray v. Maryland, 523 U.S. 185, 118 S.Ct. 1151, 140 L.Ed.2d 294 (1998); and (3) the trial judge's reasonable doubt jury instruction reduced the Commonwealth's burden of proof in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment under Boyde v. California, 494 U.S. 370, 110 S.Ct. 1190, 108 L.Ed.2d 316 (1990). The District Court rejected Eley's claims and denied his petition. For the reasons stated below, we will reverse.
On July 5, 2000, cab driver Angel DeJesus suffered multiple fatal gunshot wounds during a robbery while his taxi was parked at the intersection of Kittatinny and Hummel Streets in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Before oral argument, we requested that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania submit a letter specifying the evidence reflected in the record from which the jury could have rationally concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Karim Eley was guilty of second-degree murder, robbery, and conspiracy to commit robbery in connection with these crimes.1 The Commonwealth directed our attention to the evidence we now summarize.2
Vivian Martinez testified that she remembered that DeJesus, her fiancée, had purchased a pouch to hold his money a couple of days before July 4, 2000. She also knew that he always kept this money pouch in his taxi while he was working. And she believed that he had about $250.00 in his possession around 2:45 a.m. on July 5, 2000.
Guadalupe Fonseca testified that he was standing outside his home on Kittatinny near the intersection with Hummel around 5:00 a.m. on July 5, 2000. He saw three African–American men standing by a taxi, and he did not see anyone else in the general area. He then observed one of the three men enter the taxi, and he heard two gunshots. At the same time, he noticed that the other two men remained “right beside” the taxi. App. at 85. He next watched the first man exit the taxi and rejoin the other two men by the side of the taxi, and he heard a third gunshot.3 He finally saw all three men depart down Hummel together.
Jennifer McDonald testified that after 4:30 a.m. on July 5, 2000, she was walking down Hummel towards her home on Kittatinny. She passed by three men, who she identified as Eley, Lester Eiland, and Edward Mitchell, hanging out in the area of an abandoned house on Hummel right before the intersection with Kittatinny. Eley recognized her and did a little dance, and she called him stupid. She turned down Kittatinny, and a taxi passed her travelling toward the intersection with Hummel. About a minute and a half later, she heard a slam, and she looked back up Kittatinny toward the intersection with Hummel. She saw the taxi stopped at the intersection, but she did not see Eley, Eiland, or Mitchell around the taxi. About five minutes after she arrived at her home, she heard police sirens. She was aware that Eley, Eiland, and Mitchell “hung out” at the abandoned house. Id. at 111.
Rufus Hudson testified that he was driving around Hummel and Kittatinny from 2:30 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. on July 5, 2000. Around 3:00 a.m., he identified Eley, Eiland, and Mitchell, who were standing at the intersection of Hummel and Kittatinny. Then, around 4:00 a.m., he recognized DeJesus in his taxi, which was parked on 13th Street at the intersection with Kittatinny. Later, he again saw DeJesus in his taxi, which at that time was parked on Hummel at the intersection with Kittatinny, and he again noticed Eley, Eiland, and Mitchell standing at the intersection of Hummel and Kittatinny. Finally, around 5:00 a.m., he watched the defendants run “real fast” away from the taxi, which was still parked at the intersection of Hummel and Kittatinny, towards the abandoned house. Id. at 116. He knew that Eley, Eiland, and Mitchell hung out in the area of Hummel and Kittatinny near the abandoned house “every day.” Id. at 118.
Cindy Baldwin, a Harrisburg Police Bureau forensic investigator, testified that on July 5, 2000, she responded to the intersection of Hummel and Kittatinny where she searched the taxi and collected two shell casings. She also went to the Hershey Medical Center where she gathered DeJesus's clothing, which did not include any cash, wallet, or purse. She then searched the taxi a second time, and again failed to recover any cash, wallet, or purse. On July 7, 2000, she was present at DeJesus's autopsy and determined that he had been shot three times with a twenty-five caliber gun. She next searched the taxi a third time and discovered a third shell casing. She later learned that all three shell casings may have been fired from the same twenty-five caliber gun.
Dr. Wayne Ross, a Dauphin County Coroner's Office forensic pathology expert, testified that on July 7, 2000, he performed DeJesus's autopsy. He observed that DeJesus had suffered three gunshot wounds to the head and neck area. He opined that DeJesus's cause of death was homicide by multiple gunshot wounds to the head.
David Lau, a Harrisburg Police Bureau criminal investigator, testified that on July 7, 2000, he recovered two firearms and three shotguns from the abandoned house. On July 14, 2000, at the Harrisburg Police Bureau, he took a statement from Eley. Eley told him that he had not been in the area of Hummel and Kittatinny for the past three weeks. Eley specifically said that between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. on July 5, 2000, he had been with various acquaintances, friends, and family at several locations other than Hummel and Kittatinny.
Eley, Eiland, and Mitchell were arrested, charged, and jointly tried before three successive juries in the Dauphin County Common Pleas Court. The first two trials ended in mistrials.4 At the third trial, Eley was convicted of second-degree murder, 18 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 2502(b), robbery, § 3701, and conspiracy to commit robbery, § 903. He was acquitted of conspiracy to commit murder. Id. He was sentenced to consecutive terms of imprisonment of life without parole for second-degree murder, seven to twenty years for robbery, and four to twelve years for conspiracy to commit robbery.5
On direct appeal, Eley raised numerous substantive issues, including whether (1) there was sufficient evidence to convict him; (2) he should have been granted a severance; and (3) the trial judge biased the jury by telling it to ignore the possibility that someone other than he and his co-defendants committed the crimes. The Common Pleas Court upheld his convictions on the merits, and a divided panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed his convictions on the merits under Pennsylvania law.6,7Commonwealth v. Eley, 835 A.2d 830 (Pa.Super.Ct.2003) (unpublished opinion). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied his petition for allowance of appeal. Commonwealth v. Eley, 577 Pa. 670, 842 A.2d 405 (2004).
On collateral appeal under Pennsylvania's Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”), 42 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 9541 et seq., Eley re-cast the substantive issues he had raised on direct appeal as ineffective assistance challenges based on his counsel's failure to frame his claims under federal law. The Common Pleas Court dismissed his PCRA petition.8 The Superior Court affirmed, Commonwealth v. Eley, 929 A.2d 237 (Pa.Super.Ct.2007) (unpublished opinion), and also denied his request for re-argument. The Supreme Court again denied his petition for allowance of appeal. Commonwealth v. Eley, 596 Pa. 702, 940 A.2d 362 (2007).
Eley filed a pro se habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, claiming: (1) “[u]nder Jackson v. Virginia, evidence was insufficient to prove guilt;” (2) “[i]mproper redaction of codefendants' statements, misuse of same by prosecutor and improper jury instruction;” and (3) “[i]mproper, unconstitutional reasonable doubt instruction.” 9 Petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for Writ of Habeas Corpus by a Person in State Custody at 5–9, Eley v. Erickson, No. 3–08–cv–00090 (M.D.Pa. Jan. 14, 2008). The District Court, without holding a hearing, ordered the dismissal of the petition on the merits and declined to order the issuance of a certificate of appealability. Eley appealed. Determining that his claims were “adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further,” Miller–El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 327, 123 S.Ct. 1029, 154 L.Ed.2d 931 (2003) (citation omitted), we granted Eley's application for a certificate of appealability.
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