Fitzpatrick v. Robinson

• Decision Date: 21 August 2013
• Docket Number: No. 09–4515.,09–4515.
• Citation: 723 F.3d 624
• Parties: Stanley FITZPATRICK, Petitioner–Appellant, v. Norm ROBINSON, Warden, Respondent–Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

723 F.3d 624

Stanley FITZPATRICK, Petitioner–Appellant,

v.Norm ROBINSON, Warden, Respondent–Appellee.

No. 09–4515.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: May 1, 2013.

Decided and Filed: July 19, 2013.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 21, 2013.

ARGUED:Mark A. Vander Laan, Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellant. David M. Henry, Office of the Ohio Attorney General, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellee. ON BRIEF:Mark A. Vander Laan, Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, Cincinnati, Ohio, James Schuster, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellant. Stephen E. Maher, Office of the Ohio Attorney General, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellee.

Before: CLAY, McKEAGUE, and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

CLAY, Circuit Judge.

In June 2001, Petitioner Stanley Fitzpatrick murdered three people, including his girlfriend and his girlfriend's twelve-year old daughter. During the opening stages of his capital trial in Hamilton County, Ohio, Petitioner demanded that he be allowed to plead guilty to the charges. After inquiries into his mental state were made, a state court accepted his plea, and shortly thereafter, a three-judge panel sentenced him to death. Ohio courts affirmed Petitioner's convictions and sentence, and denied him state postconviction relief. Petitioner now appeals the district court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM the district court's denial of Petitioner's petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

BACKGROUND

Petitioner Stanley Fitzpatrick pleaded guilty to the 2001 murders of his girlfriend, his girlfriend's twelve-year old daughter, and a neighbor. The facts underlying his crimes are undisputed and, having been adequately laid out by the Ohio Supreme Court in Petitioner's direct appeal, State v. Fitzpatrick, 102 Ohio St.3d 321, 810 N.E.2d 927, 930–32 (2004), need not be repeated here since they do not bear on the issues we are asked to consider. More relevant for our review are the circumstances surrounding Petitioner's guilty plea and the sentencing phase of his state trial.

State Trial Proceedings

From very early on in this case, there were questions about Petitioner's mental health. At a pretrial hearing on July 16, 2011 (about one month after Petitioner was indicted), the trial court took up the issue of Petitioner's competence. It did so because of Petitioner's confession to his cousin during which Petitioner stated that the devil had made him commit the crimes. However, based on the representation of the lead investigator that neither he nor other officers had any concerns about Petitioner's competence, the trial court took no action at that time. Similarly concerned with Petitioner's mental state, Petitioner's trial counsel (Steven Wenke and Thomas Cutcher), on September 5, 2011, moved the trial court for the appointment of a psychiatrist, Dr. Emmett Cooper, which the trial court granted.¹ Additionally, two weeks prior to trial, Petitioner's trial counsel obtained the mental health records from the jail where Petitioner had been held for the eight months preceding the trial.

Petitioner's trial began on February 5, 2002. After the jury was empaneled, the prosecutor gave his opening statement, followed by Wenke's opening statement on behalf of Petitioner. At the conclusion of opening statements, however, something unexpected occurred. Cutcher requested a sidebar to inform the trial court about statements Petitioner had made to Cutcher during Wenke's opening. During the sidebar, Cutcher told the court that Petitioner had indicated his desire to plead guilty and that while Cutcher recommended against such action, Petitioner “told [Cutcher] that if [Cutcher] didn't stop this proceeding, that [Petitioner] would.” (Pet'r App. at p. 441.) The trial court explained that it was disinclined to “entertain” a guilty plea “at that time” but advised that if Petitioner wanted to “give it some more consideration,” Petitioner should talk further with counsel, then after the lunch break or the next day, the trial court would “certainly listen to what [Petitioner] ha[d] to say.” ( Id.)

The trial court then adjourned the sidebar and advised Petitioner in open court, but without the jury present, of its disinclination to accept a guilty plea at that time. Petitioner, however, insisted that he wanted to plead guilty right then and did not want “to wait till no lunch or the next day or nothing.” ( Id. at 445.) He told the trial court to “just make it over with, man” and not “put his family through this.” ( Id. at 446.) The trial court responded, “I understand what you're saying, okay. I do disagree with you at this point. I'm telling you right now, that we're going to proceed, at least at this juncture.” ( Id.) At this point, Petitioner interrupted the trial court and demanded to be taken out of the courtroom and reiterated that he wanted to stop the trial. Wenke then suggested a recess, which the trial court agreed to take.

Following the recess, Wenke relayed to the trial court Petitioner's continued desire to withdraw his not guilty plea and enter a guilty plea. Because Wenke “d[id] not see any issues with regard to [Petitioner's] competency,” he asked that the trial court proceed to take Petitioner's guilty plea. ( Id. at 453.) Wenke then made mention of a potential court-ordered competency examination under State v. Ashworth, 85 Ohio St.3d 56, 706 N.E.2d 1231 (1999), and the trial court sought to clarify whether Wenke was requesting such an examination. In response, Wenke stated that he did not see any issue with Petitioner's competency, and because of that and Petitioner's clear desire to plead guilty, Wenke felt “bound” to honor Petitioner's wish to plead guilty. ( Id. at 454.) Wenke again suggested the possibility of an Ashworth examination despite his personal feeling that Petitioner was competent. Finally, when asked directly by the trial court whether he was asking the trial court to conduct a competency hearing, Wenke answered that he was not. No competency examination was ordered at that time.

Before the jury was brought back in, Wenke again presented Petitioner's request not to be present in the courtroom. The trial court asked Petitioner a series of questions through which Petitioner agreed that he wanted to be taken out of the courtroom, despite acknowledging that the trial court and Petitioner's counsel recommended against such a course, stating that he would be “disruptive” and might “jeopardize the safety of the participants in the trial as well as the deputies.” ( Id. at 463–64.) Based on Petitioner's responses, the trial court excused Petitioner. The trial court then broke for lunch.

After lunch, the trial court again took up the issue of Petitioner's mental state, without Petitioner present. Wenke suggested that because of his client's desire to plead guilty, “the next step would be to put a jury waiver on and then proceed from there.” ( Id. at 474.) Wenke again asserted that he did not think that Petitioner was incompetent, stating that his belief was “based on conversations I have had with Dr. Emmett Cooper, as of approximately 9:30 last night. Also conversations I have had with Dr. [James] Hawkins, and also reviewing medical records from Dr. [Neal] Dunsieth and Dr. [Michael] Newton, who are all psychiatrists. In addition, I have had discussions with Dr. Bob Tureen, who is a psychologist.” ( Id. at 474–75.) The prosecutor also represented to the trial court that, based on, among other things, his “conversations with the sheriff's department, ... there's no indication [that Petitioner is] incompetent.” ( Id. at 477.) The trial court then concluded that Petitioner should be returned to the courtroom so that the trial court could confirm that Petitioner indeed wished to waive his right to a jury and plead guilty and that those decisions were “made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily.” ( Id. at 478.)

Petitioner was brought back into court, and his desire to waive his right to a jury was probed. Petitioner acknowledged that he had reviewed the jury waiver form and had signed it with the desire to waive his right to a jury and to have the case tried by a three-judge panel, as required by Ohio law. Additionally, the trial court questioned Petitioner about the medications he was taking. Petitioner told the court that his medication did not prevent him from understanding the proceedings, nor did it interfere with his thinking. The trial court then accepted Petitioner's jury waiver.

Pursuant to the trial court's acceptance of Petitioner's jury waiver and Ohio Rev.Code § 2945.06, a three-judge panel was convened on February 8, 2002. The panel was presented with the guilty plea form, drafted by Petitioner's trial counsel wherein Petitioner acknowledged waiving his right to a jury, that a three-judge panel would still hear the state's evidence on the capital charges, and that it was his wish to plead guilty. Also contained in the plea form was a statement signed by Petitioner's counsel and the state prosecutors which states that they informed Petitioner of the rights he was waiving and that in their opinion, Petitioner “is competent to enter this plea and now does so knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily.” (Resp't App. at p. 1354.) During the plea hearing, the three-judge panel walked through the plea and its consequences with Petitioner, including that the state would still put on evidence of his guilt, that the three-judge panel would conduct the sentencing, and that a jury would no longer be involved in his case.

The three judges then turned once again to the issue of Petitioner's mental health. The panel questioned Petitioner about the medications he was taking. Petitioner stated, in response to the court's questions, that the medications were helping, not hurting him, and that they “stopped [him] from hearings voice [sic] and seeing things.” (Pet'r App. at p. 549) When the judges asked whether the medication affected his...