Geralds v. Inch
Decision Date | 13 May 2019 |
Docket Number | Case No.: 5:13-cv-167-MW Capital Case |
Parties | MARK ALLEN GERALDS, Petitioner, v. MARK S. INCH, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et. al., Respondents. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Florida |
Before this Court is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by Mark Allen Geralds, a Florida death row inmate, pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, Section 2254. ECF No. 1. Geralds has asserted eight claims for relief. Respondents have filed an answer, ECF No. 14, and Geralds has filed a reply, ECF No. 19. After careful consideration of the issues raised in the pleadings and for the reasons stated below, the petition is denied.
The relevant facts are set out as follows in the Florida Supreme Court's opinion affirming Geralds' convictions and sentence on direct appeal:
Geralds v. State, 601 So. 2d 1157, 1158-59 (Fla. 1992) (hereinafter Geralds I). The jury found Geralds guilty of first-degree murder, armed robbery, burglary of a dwelling, and theft of an automobile. After a penalty phase proceeding, the jury recommended death for the homicide by a vote of eight to four. The trial court concurred, finding no statutory or nonstatutory mitigating factors and four aggravating circumstances: (1) the homicide occurred during a burglary; (2) the homicide was committed to avoid arrest; (3) the homicide was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel ("HAC"); and (4) the homicide was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification ("CCP"). The trial court sentenced Geralds to death for the murder and as a habitual felony offender for the noncapital felonies.
On direct appeal, Geralds raised five claims, including that the prosecutor engaged in an impermissible colloquy regarding his prior nonviolent felonies to impeach a defense mitigation witness. See Geralds I, 601 So. 2d at 1159-64. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed Geralds' convictions but found Geralds' claim regarding the prior nonviolent felonies reversible error and remanded for a new penalty phase proceeding. On remand, the jury recommended the death penalty by a vote of twelve to zero. At resentencing, the trial court found the following aggravating factors: (1) the murder was committed during the commission of a robbery and/or burglary; (2) the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel; and (3) the murder was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification. The court found the statutory mitigator of age but afforded it little weight.2 As for nonstatutory mitigation, the trial court found the following but gave them "very little weight": (1) Geralds' love and concern for his daughter and former wife; (2) Geralds came from a divorced family and was unloved by his mother; and (3) Geralds' antisocial behavior and bipolar manic personality. Geralds v. State, 674 So. 2d 96, 98 (Fla. 1996) (per curiam) (hereinafter Geralds II). The trial court determined that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors and sentenced Geralds to death. Geralds appealed his sentence, raising ten claims. See id. at 99. On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court found the application of the CCP aggravating factor was error but concluded that the error was harmless and affirmed Geralds' sentence of death. The United States Supreme Court subsequently denied Geralds' petition for writ of certiorari. See Geralds v. Florida, 519 U.S. 891 (1996).
Thereafter, Geralds filed initial and amended motions for postconviction relief pursuant to Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851, raising twenty-six claims. After an evidentiary hearing, the postconviction court denied relief. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed. Geralds v. State, 111 So. 3d 778 (Fla. 2010) (hereinafter Geralds III). On April 29, 2013, Geralds filed the instant petition for a writ of habeas corpus. On April 21, 2016, Geralds filed a motion to hold this proceeding in abeyance pending state court exhaustion of a claim under Hurst v. Florida, 136 S. Ct. 616 (2016), which this Court granted. ECF Nos. 22, 24. In October of 2018, Geralds filed a status report informing this Court that the state court denied his Hurst-related motion and his appeals of the denial were not successful. See ECF No. 34. Thereafter, he filed a motion to amend his federal habeas petition to include Hurst-related claims. ECF No. 35. This Court denied the motion to amend finding that any amendment would be untimely and futile. ECF No. 38. The petition is now ripe for adjudication.
Geralds requests a plenary evidentiary hearing on the claims presented in his petition. ECF No. 1, pp. 32-35. However, 28 U.S.C. § 2254 provides for an evidentiary hearing in federal habeas claims only under very limited circumstances as follows:
28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(2)(2002). Under this provision, a hearing is not warranted "if such a hearing would not assist in the resolution of [the] claim." See Breedlove v. Moore, 279 F.3d 952, 960 (11th Cir. 2002) (citation omitted). In Schriro v. Landrigan, 550 U.S. 465, 474-75 (2007), the Court explained:
(footnote omitted). Geralds has not presented or proffered...
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