Goins v. Clarke
| Decision Date | 10 March 2021 |
| Docket Number | CASE NO.: 7:19CV00548 |
| Parties | CHAD EVERETT GOINS, Petitioner, v. HAROLD W. CLARKE, DIRECTOR, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia |
Chad Everett Goins ("Goins" or "Petitioner"), a Virginia inmate, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, by counsel, under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, challenging his 2012 felony convictions in Louisa County Circuit Court for abduction, aggravated malicious wounding, malicious wounding by mob, and conspiracy to commit malicious wounding, for which he is serving a sentence of life plus 40 years. As explained below, all of Goins's habeas claims must be dismissed—some because they were not adequately raised before the state courts and others because the state courts' prior decisions resolving those claims were not contrary to clearly established federal law or the product of unreasonable factfinding.
On November 14, 2011, a grand jury issued a six-count indictment against Goins for abduction and conspiracy to commit abduction, in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-47; malicious wounding by mob and conspiracy to commit malicious wounding by mob, in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-41; and aggravated malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit malicious wounding, in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-51.2. Subsequently, the Commonwealth filed a motion to join Goins's case for trial with two codefendants, Sedrick Goins (Goins's nephew, referred to as "Sedrick" from this point forward) and Jason McDonald ("McDonald"). The Commonwealth's cause for seeking joinder was that the defendants were alleged to have acted in concert in committing the crimes, and the same witnesses would be inconvenienced by having to testify in three different trials. Goins's attorney objected to the joinder, arguing that the statute permitting joinder was in derogation of common law and should be narrowly construed. Further, counsel expressed concern that Goins would be prejudiced by a joint trial because one of the co-defendants planned to call an alibi witness that counsel considered less than credible, which could adversely impact all defendants in a joint trial. Finally, because codefendant Sedrick was a minor and could only be sentenced by the court, counsel expressed concern that the jurors might be inclined to impose more punishment on the adults, to make sure that someone "paid the price" for the crime. Nevertheless, the trial court granted the motion for joinder. Tr.1, Vol. I, at 32-67.
Prior to trial on January 18, 2012, the Commonwealth nolle prossed the charges for conspiracy to commit abduction and conspiracy to commit malicious wounding by mob. CCR2 at 144. The trial lasted from January 18, 2012, through January 20, 2012. The jury convicted Goins of all four remaining charges, based on evidence that, in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth as the prevailing party, established that Goins lured thevictim, Minor, to another location, where Goins, Sedrick, McDonald, and others beat, kicked and stomped on Minor, causing him serious and permanent injuries.
The Commonwealth's primary witness, Squirrel Watson, testified that he had been playing horseshoes at Shelton's home on the afternoon of June 19, 2011, where he drank approximately six beers. After he got home, Goins and Minor came by Watson's home, where he lived with his parents, and invited Watson to go to the store with them to pick up some beer. As they travelled to the store, Watson noticed that Goins turned the car in the opposite direction from the store, and Watson asked Goins what was going on. Goins said he was avoiding the police because he had no driver's license, and he sped to Kinneytown Road and turned into a driveway. Watson saw two people inside another parked car and one person standing outside.
When Watson and Minor got out of the car, Watson testified that a group of people came towards them to confront Minor. Minor grabbed Watson's arm, but when Minor started running, McDonald released Watson's arm and joined the group of people who were chasing Minor. When the group caught up with Minor, they threw Minor on the ground, beating, kicking, and stomping him. When he heard a loud noise that he thought was a gunshot, Watson ran towards the home of Josephine Brooks, fearing that the group might come after him next. Watson then called 911 and reported that five men were beating Minor. COA at 144-45.
Deputy Jay Hensley of the Louisa County Sheriff's Office responded to the 911 call around 11:00 p.m. and found Minor incoherent in a ditch. Hensley spoke with Watson at the scene, but the assailants had already left in the car Goins was driving. Later that evening,Minor had emergency surgery at the University of Virginia Medical Center because of traumatic brain injury. Dr. Shaffrey testified that the effects of the brain injury, including post-traumatic seizures which began a few months after the surgery and that a horseshoe shaped scar on his head from the surgery, were permanent. Id. at 144.
Other testimony established that Goins' sister, Terry, who was Minor's girlfriend, had been sent to the hospital earlier in the evening. McDonald had called for paramedics around 9:00 p.m., using a false name, reporting that Terry had been injured by her boyfriend in a fight. Sedrick and McDonald were both upset about this. Shelton, a trained martial arts professional fighter, testified that Sedrick was upset about Minor hurting his mother and asked Shelton to fight Minor. Shelton refused.
Dunivan testified that he heard McDonald arguing with someone on the phone, threatening to "beat [someone's] a**." Dunivan did not know who McDonald was talking about, though.
Telephone records, authenticated by the custodian from Verizon, verified a telephone call from Sedrick to Shelton that night, McDonald's phone call to 911 about Kelly's need for medical assistance, and a text message from Sedrick's phone saying "Yo, oh, I'm about to kill Steve [Minor]" around 10:45 p.m. on June 19, 2011. Id. at 145. On June 20, a text message was sent from Goins's phone, stating Id.
Following the sentencing portion of the trial, the jury recommended the following sentences for Goins: 10 years for abduction, 10 years for aggravated malicious wounding, 20 years for conspiracy to commit malicious wounding, and life in prison for malicious woundingby mob. The trial court ordered a presentence report and scheduled the matter for a later sentencing hearing.
On April 2, 2012, Goins personally mailed a motion to set aside his verdict and grant a new trial based on several issues. The trial court received and docketed the motion on April 5. CCR at 207-215. At the July 11, 2012, hearing on the post-trial motion, Goins argued that the Commonwealth had withheld potentially exculpatory evidence and that the court should have given a limiting instruction that Sedrick's text message ("I'm about to kill Steve") could only be considered against Sedrick. On the first issue, Goins alleged he had recently discovered that police officers had seized his girlfriend's car, the car Watson had testified Goins was driving on the night of the crime, and taken a cutting of carpet from the floor. That information had never been provided by the Commonwealth,3 nor had any resulting lab reports from analysis of the evidence. The trial court found that Goins knew or should have known that the car was seized, yet never requested a list of items taken from the car. Further, the trial court did not find the new evidence exculpatory or likely to change the outcome of the trial, as all defendants had already argued the lack of evidence to the jury, and one would not necessarily expect evidence in the car when the violence occurred outside.
Regarding the limiting instruction, the court noted that the defense never requested the limiting instruction during the trial and it was too late to request it afterwards. Additionally,the text was a co-conspirator statement, admissible against all defendants. Pro. Tr. at 91-127. After ruling against Goins on both issues, the trial court denied the motion for a new trial.
On October 29, 2012, after considering the presentence report and the testimony of defense witnesses, the trial court imposed the sentence recommended by the jury. The court entered the final judgment order on December 3, 2012.
Goins appealed his conviction and sentence to the Court of Appeals of Virginia, raising five arguments, including that joinder was improperly granted and that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. Notably, he did not appeal the trial court's decisions on the alleged after-discovered evidence or on the lack of limiting instructions. By per curiam opinion, the court denied the appeal on September 16, 2013. COA at 142-48. Upon consideration by a three-judge panel, Goins's appeal was again denied on November 27, 2013. COA at 165. The Supreme Court of Virginia refused the appeal on July 1, 2014, and denied the petition for rehearing on October 3, 2014. COA at 217, 219.
Goins filed his state habeas petition in the Louisa County Circuit Court on October 5, 2015, raising fifteen issues, some with numerous sub-issues. The following state issues are relevant to the current § 2254 petition:
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