Ford v. Schofield
| Decision Date | 11 May 2007 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action File No. 1:01-CV-2595-TWT. |
| Citation | 488 F.Supp.2d 1258 |
| Parties | Melbert Ray FORD, Petitioner, v. Derrick SCHOFIELD, Warden, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia |
Thurbert E. Baker, Susan Virginia Boleyn, Kathleen Mary Pacious, Paula K. Smith, Office of State Attorney General, Atlanta, GA, for Respondent.
Brian Mendelsohn, Federal Defender Program, Mary Frances Radford, Atlanta, GA, for Petitioner.
This is a habeas corpus action in a state death penalty case. It is before the Court on the Amended Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus by a Person in State Custody [Doc. 10]. For the reasons set forth below, the Amended Petition is DENIED.
On March 11, 1986, Melbert Ray Ford was indicted by the Newton County, Georgia, grand jury for malice murder and felony murder of Lisa Chapman, malice murder and felony murder of Martha Chapman Matich, armed robbery, possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, and burglary. (Resp. Ex. 2 at 10-14.) The Supreme Court of Georgia, on direct appeal of his conviction and death sentence, set forth the facts of the case as follows:
After his relationship with Martha Matich broke, up, Ford began harassing her by telephone. Two weeks prior to her death, Ford told a friend of his that he "was going to blow her ... brains out." The day before her death, Ford unsuccessfully tried to convince a friend to drive him to the convenience store where Matich worked. Ford told the friend that he planned to rob the store and work revenge upon Matich by killing her.
On March 6, 1986, Ford talked to several people about robbing the store. He told one that he intended to kidnap Ms. Matich, take her into the woods, make her beg, and then shoot her in the forehead. Ford tried to talk another into helping him with his robbery (Ford had no car). When this effort failed, Ford responded that "there wasn't anybody crazy around here anymore."
Finally, Ford met 19-year-old Roger Turner, who was out of a job and nearly out of money. By plying him with alcohol, and promising him that they could easily acquire eight thousand dollars, Ford persuaded Turner to help him.
They drove in Turner's car to Chapman's Grocery, arriving just after closing time. Ford shot away the lower half of the, locked and barred glass door and entered the store. Turner, waiting in the car, heard screams and gunshots. Then Ford ran from the store to the car, carrying a bag of money.
At 10:20 p.m., the store's burglar alarm sounded. A Newton County sheriffs deputy arrived at 10:27 p.m. Ms. Matich was lying dead behind the counter, shot three times. Lisa Chapman was discovered in the bathroom, shot in the head but still alive, sitting on a bucket, bleeding from the head, and having convulsions. She could answer no questions. She died later.
Ford and Turner were arrested the next day. Turner confessed first and was brought into Ford's interrogation room to state to Ford that he had told the truth. Ford told him not to worry, that Turner was not involved in the murders. Afterwards, Ford told his interrogators that the shooting began after Martha Matich pushed the alarm button. He stated that, had he worn a mask, it would not have happened.
Ford claimed at trial that he was too drunk to know what was happening, and that it was Turner who entered the store and killed the victims.
Ford v. State, 257 Ga. 461, 462, 360 S.E.2d 258 (1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 943, 108 S.Ct. 1124, 99 L.Ed.2d 285, reh'g denied, 485 U.S. 1030, 108 S.Ct. 1588, 99 L.Ed.2d 903 (1988).
The state sought the death penalty. At his trial in October, 1986, the Petitioner was found guilty of all counts. (Resp't Ex. 2 at 119-20.) At the sentencing phase of the bifurcated trial, the jury found statutory aggravating circumstances as to each murder. The jury found that the malice murder of Lisa Chapman was committed while the Petitioner was engaged in the commission of another capital felony — armed robbery — and during the commission of a burglary. The jury found that the malice murder of Martha Matich was committed while the Petitioner was engaged in the commission of the capital felonies of armed robbery and murder and during the commission of a burglary. (Id. at 129-32.) The jury recommended that the Petitioner be sentenced to death for the two malice murders. (Id. at 129-32.) In accordance with the jury's recommendation, the trial court sentenced the Petitioner to death on both malice murder counts, to run consecutively to each other; merged, the two felony murder counts into the malice murder counts; and imposed a consecutive 20-year sentence for armed robbery, a consecutive five-year sentence for the firearm possession, and a consecutive 20-year sentence for burglary. (Id. at 136-42.) The Petitioner's convictions and sentences were affirmed on direct appeal. Ford v. State, 257 Ga. 461, 360 S.E.2d 258 (1987). On March 7, 1988, the United States Supreme Court denied the Petitioner's petition for writ of certiorari. Ford v. Georgia, 485 U.S. 943, 108 S.Ct. 1124, 99 L.Ed.2d 285, reh'g denied, 485 U.S. 1030, 108 S.Ct. 1588, 99 L.Ed.2d 903 (1988).
The Petitioner filed his first state habeas corpus petition in the Superior Court of Butts County on June 13, 1988, Ford v. Turpin, No. 88-V-1597 (Butts Super. Ct.) ("Ford I"). He subsequently amended the petition prior to the evidentiary hearing held on September 14, 1992. (Resp't Exs. 15, 17.) Over the course of four years, the case was assigned to three different visiting judges. The first visiting judge presided at the September 14, 1992 evidentiary hearing. The third visiting judge entered a pretrial order in February 1996, directing the parties to present additional evidence in lieu of live testimony, to identify issues remaining for consideration, and set a deadline for filing post-hearing briefs. Ten years after the trial, in an order dated December 5, 1996, the state habeas corpus court denied relief. (Resp't Ex. 16.) The court acknowledged Georgia's procedural default rule of O.C.G.A. § 9-14-48(d) for original state petitions and further noted that this statutory provision contained a miscarriage of justice exception. (Id. at 1-2.) "Given the severity and finality of the punishment to be administered in this case, the Court has considered the validity of many issues that are procedurally barred to insure that a miscarriage of justice has not occurred." (Id. at 2.)
The Petitioner filed a timely application for certificate of probable cause to appeal in the Supreme Court of Georgia on February 10, 1997. (Resp't Ex. 18.) On September 29, 2000, the Georgia Supreme Court denied the Petitioner's application for certificate of probable cause to appeal. (Resp't Ex. 19.) The Petitioner's motion for reconsideration was denied on October 20, 2000. The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on June 4, 2001. Ford v. Head, 532 U.S. 1068, 121 S.Ct. 2221, 150 L.Ed.2d 214 (2001).
On September 27, 2001, the Petitioner filed his second state habeas corpus petition, styled Ford v. Head, No.2001-V-681 (Butts Super. Ct.) ("Ford II"). The Petitioner raised two grounds in the second state petition and, in a footnote, raised an ineffective assistance counsel claim that related to ground two. The Respondent asserted that the two substantive grounds were successive under O.C.G.A. § 9-14-51 and that the ineffective assistance claim was barred by res judicata. (Resp't Ex. 21.) On October 23, 2001, the state habeas corpus court dismissed the second petition as successive, finding grounds one and two could reasonably have been raised in Ford I and that the ineffective assistance claim had been raised in Ford I and was barred from relitigation. (Resp't Ex. 22.) The Georgia Supreme Court denied the Petitioner's application for certificate of probable cause to appeal on March 12, 2002, Ford v. Head, No. S02E0560 (Ga. Mar. 12, 2002). (Resp't Exs. 26, 27.) The 10-day period in which the Petitioner could move for rehearing expired, and the 90-day period in which he could file a petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court expired on or about June 10, 2002.
On September 28, 2001, the day after he filed his second state petition, the Petitioner filed this federal habeas corpus action. He subsequently amended the petition. After a hearing, the Court granted in part the Petitioner's motion for leave to conduct discovery, allowing the Petitioner to subpoena any written or recorded statements of Roger Turner or notes of interviews with Turner by law enforcement personnel. The Court further allowed the Petitioner to depose John Ott, the district attorney responsible for prosecuting the Petitioner. In a March 31, 2003 Order, the Court dismissed the following claims as procedurally defaulted: the Apprendi claim set forth in Claim P of the Amended Petition; the Giglio claim in Paragraph 119 of Claim K; Footnote 4 of Claim K; and Paragraphs 236 and 246 of the ineffective assistance of counsel claim set forth in Claim S. On April 13, 2004, the Court had an evidentiary hearing on the Petitioner's remaining Giglio claim. Briefing on the merits of the Petition was completed on November 29, 2005. Twenty years after Petitioner's conviction, the case is now before the Court for a ruling on the...
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