Ex Parte Tuley

• Decision Date: 18 December 2002
• Docket Number: No. 74364.,74364.
• Citation: 109 S.W.3d 388
• Parties: Ex Parte Wesley Ronald TULEY, Applicant.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 388

109 S.W.3d 388

Ex Parte Wesley Ronald TULEY, Applicant.

No. 74364.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

December 18, 2002.

Opinion on Denial of Rehearing July 2, 2003.

Michael Levine, James Lee Bright, Dallas, Keith Hampton, Austin, for Appellant.

Laura Anne Coats, Asst. DA, Dallas, Matthew Paul, State's Atty., Austin, for State.

OPINION

PRICE, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which MEYERS, JOHNSON, HOLCOMB and COCHRAN, JJ., joined.

After the applicant's jury was deadlocked on the question of guilt in his trial for aggravated sexual assault, the applicant pleaded guilty to the charge. Years later, the complainant in the case recanted her allegation fully explaining how and why she fabricated the charges against the applicant. The applicant pursued post-conviction relief under article 11.07. After doing an analysis under Ex parte Elizondo, 947 S.W.2d 202 (Tex.Crim. App.1996), the convicting court recommended granting relief. We filed and set the case to determine whether the applicant's guilty plea precludes his actual innocence claim under Elizondo. We conclude that it does not.

I. Analysis

There are two types of actual innocence claims that may be raised in a collateral attack on a conviction. A bare innocence claim, or Herrera-type¹ claim "involves a substantive claim in which applicant asserts his bare claim of innocence based solely on newly discovered evidence." Ex parte Franklin, 72 S.W.3d 671, 675 (Tex.Crim.App.2002) (citing Schlup v. Delo, 513 U.S. 298, 314, 115 S.Ct. 851, 130 L.Ed.2d 808 (1995); Elizondo, 947 S.W.2d at 208). The other actual innocence claim, a Schlup-type claim, we explained "is a procedural claim in which applicant's claim of innocence does not provide a basis for relief, but is tied to a showing of constitutional error at trial." Ibid. (citing Schlup, 513 U.S. at 314, 115 S.Ct. 851).

In Elizondo, we held that a bare innocence claim is cognizable in an application for writ of habeas corpus. Elizondo, 947 S.W.2d at 205. Incarceration of an innocent person offends federal due process, therefore a bare innocence claim raises a constitutional challenge to the conviction. Ibid. But we also said that a conviction should not be overturned lightly and that the burden on the applicant who has had error-free proceedings is exceedingly heavy to take into account society's and the State's interest in finality. Elizondo, 947 S.W.2d at 208. To be granted relief on a bare innocence claim, the applicant must show that the new evidence unquestionably establishes his innocence. Id. at 208-09. We interpreted this to mean that the applicant must prove by clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable juror would have convicted the applicant in light of the new evidence. Id. at 209. To determine whether a habeas applicant has reached this level of proof, the convicting court weighs the evidence of the applicant's guilt against the new evidence of innocence. Id. at 207.

We have never discussed what effect, if any, a guilty plea would have on this analysis. This is the question we turn to today.

There is nothing explicit in Elizondo or the cases on which it relies that prohibits or limits the analysis to jury or bench trials. Elizondo instructs the convicting court to "weigh the evidence in favor of the prisoner against the evidence of his guilt." Ibid.

In Elizondo, we said that our job was to "decide whether the newly discovered evidence would have convinced the jury of applicant's innocence." Ibid. That was in the context of that case, in which a jury had decided Elizondo's guilt. But we said a bare innocence claim is not an attack on the jury's verdict. Id. at 209. "What [the applicant] wants is a new trial based on newly discovered evidence which he claims proves his innocence." Ibid. The policy supporting our holding in Elizondo, that the punishment of an innocent person violates federal due process, is the same for an applicant regardless of whether his case was heard by a judge or jury or whether he pleaded guilty or not guilty. See ibid.

Convicting courts reviewing bare innocence claims should give great respect to the jury's verdict of guilt. Convicting courts should also give great respect to knowing, voluntary, and intelligent pleas of guilty. But we should not foreclose relief because a defendant pleaded guilty when the policy behind granting relief on a bare innocence claim is the same.

The legislature has enacted two statutes that contemplate a defendant's being able to seek relief on a claim of actual innocence after a guilty plea: Code of Criminal Procedure article 64.03(b), and Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code section 103.001.

Newly-enacted Chapter 64 of the Code of Criminal Procedure sets out procedures for convicted defendants to obtain forensic DNA testing. Article 64.03(b) states that:

A convicted person who pleaded guilty or nolo contendere in the case may submit a motion under this chapter, and the convicting court is prohibited from finding that identity was not an issue in the case solely on the basis of that plea.

Tex.Code Crim. Proc. art. 64.03(b). Defendants who pleaded guilty or nolo contendere may obtain forensic DNA testing if they meet the requirements of Chapter 64.

Chapter 64 provides for forensic DNA testing but does not provide a vehicle for obtaining relief if testing reveals affirmative evidence of innocence. The vehicle for relief after obtaining test results that constitute affirmative evidence of innocence is article 11.07 for noncapital felonies and article 11.071 for capital murder. The legislature has not limited actual innocence claims based on forensic DNA testing to defendants who pleaded not guilty and went to trial. Neither should we.

Chapter 103 of the Civil Practices and Remedies Code sets out procedures to compensate persons wrongfully imprisoned. Section 103.001 names claimants who are eligible for compensation. Before 2001, the statute provided compensation only for claimants who had pleaded not guilty to the criminal charge that led to imprisonment. The legislature amended the statute, and it now states:

(a) A person is entitled to compensation if:

(1) the person has served in whole or in part a sentence in prison under the laws of this state;

(2) the person:

(A) has received a full pardon on the basis of innocence for the crime for which the person was sentenced; or

(B) has been granted relief on the basis of actual innocence of the crime for which the person was sentenced.

Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code § 103.001(a). Compensation is available under this provision for claimants who have been granted relief on the basis of an actual innocence claim, regardless of how the claimant pleaded to the charges.

The State makes three main arguments against our conclusion: (1) the applicant's plea is not subject to collateral review; (2) public policy is served by finality; and (3) granting relief to the applicant would encourage and reward perjury.

The State argues the applicant's plea is not subject to collateral review. Habeas corpus, it argues, is traditionally governed by equitable principles, and the applicant's conduct in this case may preclude his being entitled to relief. Here the State claims the guilty plea and judicial confession prevent collateral review. But we do not make the distinction between those who have pleaded guilty and those who have pleaded not guilty for other claims of relief raised in habeas applications.

We address cognizable claims in habeas proceedings regardless of the plea in the case. We are unpersuaded that equitable principles should prevent an innocent person from obtaining the relief simply because he pleaded guilty. There is nothing equitable about permitting an innocent person to remain in prison when he produces new evidence that unquestionably shows that he did not commit the offense for which he is incarcerated.

The purpose of criminal proceedings is to separate the guilty from the innocent. Herrera, 506 U.S. at 398, 113 S.Ct. 853 (citing United States v. Nobles, 422 U.S. 225, 230, 95 S.Ct. 2160, 45 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975)). From time to time something goes awry in the process by which a defendant is convicted, for example, when a complainant makes false charges. The error occurs within the judicial system though it happened through no fault of the convicting court or the parties. It is appropriate for the judicial system to correct the error through habeas corpus.

The State says that a guilty plea waives any contention regarding the sufficiency of the evidence. This is true, but the State's assertion that a claim of actual innocence is nothing more than a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence is not true.

An applicant claiming actual innocence is not claiming that the evidence at trial was insufficient to support the conviction. On the contrary, the successful applicant shows by clear and convincing evidence that, despite the evidence of guilt that supports the conviction, no reasonable juror could have found the applicant guilty in light of the new evidence. The burden is on the applicant because we presume that the conviction is valid. See Elizondo, 947 S.W.2d at 207.

Moreover, if an actual innocence claim were nothing more than a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, then no claim of actual innocence — whether the conviction was based on a jury trial, bench trial, or guilty plea — would be cognizable on a writ of habeas corpus. Ex parte Easter, 615 S.W.2d 719, 721 (Tex.Crim.App.1981) (attack on sufficiency of the evidence at trial may not be raised in habeas proceedings).

The State finds it significant that the applicant's trial resulted in a hung jury that never made a finding on the applicant's guilt. According to the State, the crux of the analysis in Elizondo and its progeny is if the new evidence is such that it undermines confidence in the jury's finding of guilt, then the jury's verdict was infirm. Were we to follow the State's argument...