Gattis v. Snyder

Decision Date25 March 1999
Docket NumberNo. Civ.A. 97-619-RRM.,Civ.A. 97-619-RRM.
Citation46 F.Supp.2d 344
PartiesRobert Allen GATTIS, Petitioner, v. Robert SNYDER, Warden, Delaware Correctional Center, Respondent.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of Delaware

Kevin J. O'Connell, Wilmington, Delaware, for petitioner.

Loren C. Meyers, State of Delaware Department of Justice, Wilmington, Delaware, for respondent.

OPINION

McKELVIE, District Judge.

This is a habeas corpus case. Petitioner, Robert Allen Gattis, is a state prisoner incarcerated at the Delaware Correctional Center ("DCC") in Smyrna, Delaware. Respondent, Robert Snyder, is the warden of the DCC. Gattis is contesting the constitutionality of his murder conviction and his death sentence.

On September 22, 1992, a jury in the New Castle County Superior Court of the State of Delaware convicted Gattis of first degree murder, first degree burglary, possession of a deadly weapon by a person prohibited, and two counts of possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony for the murder of Shirley Y. Slay. During the penalty phase of his trial, the jury found by a ten to two vote that the aggravating circumstances of his crime outweighed the mitigating circumstances. On October 29, 1992, Judge Norman A. Barron of the Superior Court sentenced Gattis to death by lethal injection. State v. Gattis, 1992 WL 358030, Del.Super. Cr.A. No. IN90-05-1017 through 1019, and 1106 through 1107, Barron, J. (Oct. 29, 1992).

The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed Gattis's convictions and sentence on direct appeal. See Gattis v. State, 637 A.2d 808, 823 (Del.1994). Gattis subsequently filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, which it denied. Gattis v. Delaware, 513 U.S. 843, 115 S.Ct. 132, 130 L.Ed.2d 75 (1994).

On October 21, 1994, Judge Barron set an execution date of December 2, 1994. On November 21, 1994, Gattis filed a pro se motion for post-conviction relief. On the same day, Judge Barron entered an order staying the scheduled execution and setting a schedule for filing an amended motion for post-conviction relief.

On February 8, 1995, Gattis filed an amended motion for post-conviction relief. On August 24, 1995, Judge Barron denied Gattis's post-conviction relief motions and rescheduled his execution. See State v. Gattis, 1995 WL 562254, Del.Super. Cr.A. No. IN90-05-1017 through 1018; 1106; 1019-R2; and 1107-R2, Barron, J. (Aug. 24, 1995).

Gattis filed a motion to reargue, which Judge Barron granted in part and denied in part. On October 20, 1995, Judge Barron conducted a hearing on whether Gattis received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial, and then denied Gattis's motion for post-conviction relief. State v. Gattis, 1995 WL 790961, Del.Super., Cr.A. No. IN90-05-1017 to 1019-R2; IN90-05-1106; 1107-R2, Barron, J. (Dec. 28, 1995). Judge Barron rescheduled Gattis's execution for March 29, 1996.

Gattis filed an appeal with the Delaware Supreme Court. The Court heard oral argument and remanded the matter to Judge Barron to make factual findings and conclusions of law on two issues: (1) whether the state's theory of the homicide was impossible; and (2) whether the state improperly excluded a potential juror for gender-related reasons. Gattis v. State, Del.Supr. No. 37, 1996, Holland, J. (October 15, 1996). On December 11, 1996, Judge Barron denied Gattis's motion for post-conviction relief on the second issue. See State v. Gattis, 1996 WL 769328, Del.Super. No. 90004576DI, Barron J. (Dec. 11, 1996). On December 17, 1996, Judge Barron held an evidentiary hearing on the first issue, and denied Gattis's motion for post-conviction relief. See State v. Gattis, 1997 WL 127007, Del.Super. No. 90004576DI, Barron, J. (Feb. 13, 1997). Gattis appealed this decision to the Delaware Supreme Court, which affirmed Judge Barron's decisions to deny post-conviction relief. Gattis v. State, 697 A.2d 1174 (Del.1997), as revised on denial of rehearing (Sept. 8, 1997) cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 118 S.Ct. 1070, 140 L.Ed.2d 130 (1998). On September 19, 1997, Judge Barron rescheduled Gattis's execution for January 9, 1998.

On November 25, 1997, Gattis filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in this court, alleging constitutional infirmities in his trial and post-conviction appeals. Gattis alleges he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial because his counsel failed to adequately prepare for trial and investigate his version of events; delays leading up to trial denied him the right to a speedy trial; the prosecution failed to divulge relevant evidence before and during trial; the prosecution improperly used a peremptory challenge to remove a potential juror based on gender; the court did not use random means to select a jury; the court improperly failed to permit expansion of the record on post-conviction claims; and the court improperly affirmed his conviction and death sentence on post-conviction review based upon a theory of the crime not originally presented at trial. The following is the court's decision on Gattis's petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The court draws the following facts from the following sources: the Superior Court's penalty hearing findings, State v. Gattis, 1992 WL 358030, Del.Super. No. Cr.A. No. IN90-05-1017 through 1019; 1106 through 1107, Barron, J. (Oct. 29, 1992); [hereinafter Gattis I]; the Delaware Supreme Court's findings in its decision on Gattis's direct appeal in 1994, Gattis v. State, 637 A.2d 808 (Del.1994) [hereinafter Gattis II]; the Superior Court's findings in its decisions denying Gattis's motions for post-conviction relief, State v. Gattis, 1995 WL 790961, Del.Super., Cr.A. No. IN90-05-1017 to 1019-R2; IN90-05-1106; 1107-R2, Barron, J. (Dec. 28, 1995) [hereinafter Gattis III]; the Delaware Supreme Court's decision affirming the Superior Court's denial of Gattis's motions for post-conviction relief, Gattis v. State, 697 A.2d 1174 (Del.1997) [hereinafter Gattis IV]; and this court's independent review of the state court proceedings' record.

A. Gattis's shooting of Slay

Robert Allen Gattis and Shirley Y. Slay began a relationship in 1984. Gattis physically and emotionally abused Slay during the course of their relationship. Gattis repeatedly accused Slay of infidelity, punched and slapped her, and threatened her with a gun and a knife.

Gattis and Slay lived together from time to time, both in apartments rented by Slay, and at Slay's parent's house. In the months before her death, Slay lived in an apartment in Wilmington, to which Gattis had a key. In April of 1990, Slay moved into a second floor apartment in the DuPont Parkway Apartments in New Castle. She did not give Gattis a key to her new apartment. Slay planned to have her eleven-year old daughter, Tykisha Slay, who lived with Slay's parents, move in with her before school started that fall. Slay told her friend and neighbor, Lisa Watson, and her work supervisor, Ruth Ann Noel McCory, that she wanted to end her relationship with Gattis before Tykisha moved in with her. Around this time, Gattis began spending several nights a week at the home of another girlfriend, Wanda Scrivens.

On the night of May 8, 1990, Gattis telephoned Slay at her apartment, but there was no answer. On May 9, 1990, Slay told her supervisor, McCory that she intended to end her relationship with Gattis that day. After work on the same day, Slay went to a softball game in Wilmington with Watson. Slay left the game with Gattis, who arrived separately looking for Slay. Gattis accused Slay of having another man in her apartment. They drove to Slay's apartment. There, they argued over Gattis's inability to reach Slay by telephone the previous day. Slay told Gattis her telephone was broken. Gattis then arranged for a friend, Roosevelt Wright, to call Slay's apartment. When the telephone rang, Gattis became enraged and beat Slay, accusing her of seeing another man. Gattis then left.

Slay called 911 at around 10:45 p.m. to report the assault. Watson arrived at Slay's apartment at this time. Patrolman John Gahan arrived at 11:10 p.m. in response to Slay's 911 report. Slay told Gahan that Gattis had accused her of having a man in her apartment the night before, and punched her in the head four times. Gattis called Slay's apartment several times while Gahan took Slay's report of the incident. Gahan spoke with Gattis on the telephone and told him to have no contact with Slay.

Gattis borrowed Wright's car, and then drove back to Slay's apartment building with a loaded .38 caliber gun. Around midnight on May 10, 1990, Slay telephoned Watson, who lived downstairs from Slay, and asked her to check outside to see if Gattis had returned, because she heard some noise outside her apartment. Watson stepped out of her apartment, and saw Gattis standing outside the entryway to the building. Watson urged Gattis to stop fighting with Slay. Gattis asked if Slay was in, and then headed up the flight of stairs to Slay's apartment.

Watson walked back to her apartment, locked the door, and returned to the phone to warn Slay that Gattis was on his way up to her apartment. Watson hung up the phone, called Slay's parents, and then called Slay back. While on the phone with Slay, Watson heard Slay telling Gattis to go away and that she was not going to open the door. Watson then heard Gattis kicking in Slay's door. Watson and her boyfriend, Frank Gillette, ran out of her apartment and up the stairs to Slay's apartment. Watson's and Slay's apartments were separated by two flights of stairs. While running up the first set of stairs, which faced the entrance to the apartment building, Watson heard a gunshot and saw a flash reflected in the glass around the door. Watson then saw. Gattis leap over the second floor landing and run out of the building.

Gattis had kicked in Slay's door and then shot Slay directly between the eyes. Slay died of the...

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