Goodwin v. Balkcom
| Decision Date | 03 September 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-7132,81-7132 |
| Citation | 684 F.2d 794 |
| Parties | Terry Lee GOODWIN, Petitioner, v. Charles BALKCOM, Warden, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Bowen, Derrickson, Goldberg & West, Frank L. Derrickson, Thomas McKee West (court appointed), Atlanta, Ga., for petitioner.
Harrison Kohler, William B. Hill, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, Ga., for respondent.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.
Before INGRAHAM *, HATCHETT and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
Terry Lee Goodwin appeals the district court's denial of his habeas corpus petition challenging his state convictions for murder and armed robbery. The petition alleges, in addition to other things, that Goodwin was denied effective assistance of counsel at his state trial in violation of the sixth amendment, and that the state trial court's capital sentencing instructions were constitutionally inadequate. Agreeing with Goodwin on these allegations, we reverse and remand.
On Wednesday evening, April 9, 1975, eighteen-year-old Terry Lee Goodwin and seventeen-year-old Brad Studdard played pool at the Snack and Rack Recreation Parlor in Monroe, Georgia. After leaving the poolroom in Studdard's car about 10:30 p. m., the youths drove to a convenience store to purchase beer. As they drove into the country, they talked, drank beer, and smoked marijuana. Finishing the beer Goodwin drove the car back to town and abandoned it near his residence. Sheriff's deputies discovered the car on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, Goodwin phoned the Studdard residence to inquire about Brad's disappearance. Although he did not identify himself, Goodwin claimed to be a friend of Brad's and asked if a reward was being offered. The victim's sister told Goodwin that money could be raised for information concerning her brother's whereabouts. Goodwin phoned again later and, claiming to be "John Smith," told Brad's sister he had heard something about Good Hope Road (a road near the dirt road where the killing occurred). A local radio station received several calls that same day from Goodwin, again identifying himself as John Smith, asking about a reward, and advising the search party to look near Good Hope Road. At approximately 12:30 a. m. on Saturday, sheriff's deputies, acting on a tip from an unidentified woman who purportedly overheard Goodwin admit to the killing, went to Goodwin's house. Goodwin's mother came to the door and the deputies told her they wanted to talk to Terry. After she let them in, one deputy went into Goodwin's bedroom and, awakening him, told him "to get up and get your clothes on," and to accompany them to the station for questioning. He complied.
Studdard parked the car along a dirt road to urinate. Goodwin exited the vehicle, pulled a butcher knife from his pocket, and demanded that Studdard give him the car. When Studdard refused, Goodwin marched Studdard into the woods nearby and repeated his demand. Studdard again refused and attempted to flee but tripped and fell to the ground. Goodwin pursued Studdard and stabbed him approximately eighteen times. Goodwin left Studdard in the woods where he died from loss of blood.
Upon being advised of his constitutional rights, Goodwin told the deputies that a friend had told him to look for Studdard's body near the same dirt road where Goodwin and Studdard had stopped on Wednesday evening. On Saturday afternoon, Goodwin accompanied deputies to this location, and the deputies discovered the body. That same afternoon, deputies secured a search warrant for Goodwin's house and upon executing it, found a bloodstained coat containing items belonging to Studdard. The deputies found the keys to the victim's car under a rug. When confronted with this physical evidence on Saturday evening, Goodwin confessed to the killing. The next morning (Sunday), deputies returned to the scene of the crime and found the butcher knife across the road from where Studdard's body had been located.
The Walton County, Georgia, grand jury indicted Goodwin on charges of murder and armed robbery. Because he was indigent, the court appointed him counsel. At trial in the Walton County Superior Court, the defense presented evidence to show that Goodwin's reduced mental capacity made it impossible for him to knowingly waive his fifth amendment rights prior to confessing to the crimes. 1 The trial court rejected this approach, and Goodwin was convicted of the offenses and sentenced to death. On appeal and mandatory death sentence review, the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed his conviction and sentence. 2 Goodwin v. State, 236 Ga. 339, 223 S.E.2d 703 (1976), cert. denied, 432 U.S. 911, 97 S.Ct. 2961, 53 L.Ed.2d 1085 (1977).
Represented by different counsel, Goodwin filed an extraordinary motion for new trial in Walton County Superior Court.
The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the denial of this motion. Goodwin v. State, 240 Ga. 605, 242 S.E.2d 119 (1978). Goodwin then petitioned the Superior Court of Tattnall County for a writ of habeas corpus alleging that errors of constitutional magnitude rendered his trial fundamentally unfair. The court denied the petition after an evidentiary hearing, and the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the denial. Goodwin v. Hopper, 243 Ga. 193, 253 S.E.2d 156 (1979).
Having exhausted all available state remedies, Goodwin sought habeas corpus relief in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2254 (1976). The district court 501 F.Supp. 317 ordered Goodwin's execution stayed pending resolution of the habeas corpus action. The court referred the petition to a magistrate who, without holding an evidentiary hearing, submitted proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law to the district court. Believing the jury instructions regarding the imposition of the death penalty were constitutionally infirm, the magistrate recommended that Goodwin's death sentence be vacated, but in all other respects, Goodwin's conviction should stand. 3 Both parties filed objections to the magistrate's recommendations. The district court adopted the majority of the magistrate's recommendations, but reached a different conclusion on the jury instructions issue and denied habeas corpus relief. This appeal followed.
On appeal, Goodwin urges us to consider a number of issues which, either standing alone or in conjunction with his predominate claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, require the vacating of his conviction and death sentence. Goodwin contends (1) that he was illegally arrested; (2) that his confession was not the product of a knowing and intelligent waiver of his fifth amendment rights; (3) that four veniremen were improperly excluded in violation of Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968); (4) that he was denied effective assistance of counsel at his state trial; (5) that the state trial court's jury instructions shifted the burden of proof to Goodwin and failed to define "capital felony" thus depriving him of a jury adequately guided in its deliberation; (6) that the state trial court's capital sentencing instructions were unconstitutional because they failed to instruct on the consideration of mitigating circumstances and the option to recommend against death; (7) that his federal habeas corpus petition was improperly denied without the benefit of an evidentiary hearing because the state habeas corpus proceeding did not adequately develop the factual issues in a full and fair hearing; and (8) that the death penalty violates the eighth amendment because it is administered in an irregular and capricious fashion. Addressing only those contentions we deem dispositive of the case, we must decide whether the trial court's capital sentencing instructions were constitutionally insufficient and whether Goodwin was denied effective assistance of counsel in violation of the sixth amendment. Our resolution of these two issues makes discussion of the other issues unnecessary.
In the sentencing phase of Goodwin's trial subsequent to the jury's verdict of guilty on the murder and armed robbery charges, the trial court allowed presentation of evidence of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. The state presented documentary evidence of Goodwin's 1974 forgery convictions. Goodwin presented no evidence at this phase of the case. Following jury arguments by counsel for both sides, the trial court instructed the jury:
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, you having found the defendant guilty of the offense of murder and armed robbery, it is now your duty to determine within the limits prescribed by law, the penalty that shall be imposed as punishment for that offense.
In reaching this determination, you are authorized to consider all of the evidence received by you in open court in both phases of this trial. You are authorized to consider all of the facts and circumstances of the case.
Under the laws of this state, every person guilty of the offense of murder or armed robbery shall be punished by life in the penitentiary or death by electrocution. And under the laws of this state, every person guilty of the offense of armed robbery shall be punished by life in the penitentiary or death by electrocution or by from one to twenty years in prison.
In the event that your verdict is life in prison, the punishment the defendant would receive would be imprisonment in the penitentiary for and during the remainder of his natural life. If that be your verdict, you would add to the verdict already found by you, an additional verdict as follows: "And we fix his punishment as life imprisonment."
If you decide-excuse me, let me begin again. If you should decide to sentence the defendant for the offense of armed robbery, then the form of your verdict would be, "We, the Jury, sentence the defendant to 'blank' years,"...
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