Green v. Lumpkin, 19-70019
| Decision Date | 02 July 2021 |
| Docket Number | No. 19-70019,19-70019 |
| Parties | GARY GREEN, Petitioner—Appellant, v. BOBBY LUMPKIN, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS DIVISION, Respondent—Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Before DENNIS, ELROD, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.
*
Gary Green was convicted of capital murder in Texas state court. Following Green's unsuccessful direct appeal and state postconviction proceedings, Green filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court. The district court denied Green's petition and denied him thecertificate of appealability ("COA") that would allow him to appeal the denial. See Green v. Davis, 414 F. Supp. 3d 892, 895 (N.D. Tex. 2019). He now moves this court for a COA. Because reasonable jurists would not debate the correctness of the district court's determinations, we DENY Green's motion.
Gary Green asserts that he has had a life-long history of psychiatric disorders. Several members of his family suffered from severe mental illness, and Green's father allegedly violently abused Green and his mother when he was a child. Throughout his life, Green purportedly exhibited signs of paranoia and mental illness, including speaking of and attempting suicide, believing others were out to "get him," hearing demons, and believing vampires were following him.
In 2010, Green was indicted on a single count of Capital Murder for the September 21, 2009 deaths of his wife, Lovetta Armstead, and her six-year-old daughter, Jazzmen Montgomery. About a month prior to the killings, Green had checked himself into a mental hospital, where he was diagnosed with major depressive disorder with psychotic features and prescribed a schizophrenia medication. The hospital determined that Green did not need to be committed and discharged him. Two days later, a different doctor diagnosed Greene with bipolar disorder in an outpatient setting.1
Then, about a week before the date of the offenses, Green learned that Armstead was seeking to have their marriage annulled. On the day of the crime, Armstead wrote two notes to Green stating that, although she lovedGreen, she had to do what was best for her, and that meant their parting ways and Green moving out of their home immediately. When Green read the notes, he wrote a note in response that expressed his rage and belief that Armstead and her children were involved in a plot against him. The note stated that Green planned to take five lives, including his own. Green then fatally stabbed Armstead and drowned Montgomery in a bathtub.
After Green killed Armstead and Montgomery, he also attempted to kill Armstead's sons, Jerome and Jerrett. The boys convinced Green to spare their lives, and they later recounted that Green told them he had killed Armstead because he loved her "to death" and did not want a divorce. Green told the boys that he intended to kill himself and then attempted suicide by consuming a large amount of Tylenol and Benadryl.
The attempt was unsuccessful, and several hours later, Green turned himself into police and proceeded to confess to the killings. During the confession, Green told police that he had heard voices in his head telling him to kill Armstead and her children, that he believed the family was plotting against him, and that he thought by killing the family he would ensure that they would all be reunited in heaven.
At trial, the State presented various testimony and other evidence of the events just recounted, including the note Green had written and a video of Green's confession. Green's trial counsel presented no evidence during the guilt/innocence phase of the trial, and one of his attorneys stated to the jury in closing that the State had established its case, the proof was undeniable, and counsel expected the jury to find Green guilty. The jury convicted Green as charged.
During the punishment phase of the trial, the State presented evidence of Green's previous violent conduct. The State first introduced testimony by Green's high school girlfriend Jennifer Wheeler that after she broke up with Green, she gave Green a ride home one morning when she saw him at a bus stop near her house. During this encounter, Green forced Wheeler into the passenger seat, drove her to a park, strangled her with his shoelaces, and stabbed her in the chest. He then drove Wheeler to the hospital, where he lied and told her family that she had been robbed. Green pled guilty to aggravated assault based on the incident.
The State also presented testimony from Shulonda Ransom, another of Green's ex-girlfriends and the mother of his child. Ransom testified that Green physically abused her by hitting and choking her while she was pregnant with their son—once, to the point that Ransom lost consciousness. Last, the State introduced evidence that Green had been involved in an armed robbery of a grocery store to which he later confessed.
Green's trial counsel presented evidence of the extensive history of mental illness and abuse in Green's family. This included the testimony of Dr. Gilbert Martinez, who had performed a clinical psychological and neurological examination of Green following Green's killing of Armstead and Montgomery. Dr. Martinez opined that Green suffered from schizoaffective disorder of the bipolar type, severe chronic depression, and manic episodes or bipolarity. Martinez further stated that Green exhibited features of paranoid personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and avoidant personality disorder.
The defense also introduced evidence that Green performed poorly in school, consistently scoring in the lowest 10% of his cohort, but had nonetheless never received any special education. Dr. Martinez testified thatGreen is not intellectually disabled but has a full-range IQ of only 78 or 79, which places him at the higher end of the "borderline" range.
After the close of evidence, the jury found by special verdict that there was "a probability that the Defendant, Gary Green, would commit future criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society" and that "taking into consideration all of the evidence, including the circumstances of the offense, the Defendant's character and background, and the personal moral culpability of the Defendant, Gary Green, [there was not] a sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances to warrant that a sentence of life imprisonment rather than a death sentence be imposed." The trial court sentenced Green to death as required by Texas law. Green appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ("TCCA"), which affirmed his conviction, and the United States Supreme Court denied Green's petition for a writ of certiorari. Green v. State, 133 S. Ct. 2766 (2013).
Green then filed a state habeas petition. In his petition, Green asserted twenty claims for relief. These included, as relevant here, that under Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), the Eighth Amendment prohibited executing him because he is intellectually disabled; that, under Atkins, the Eighth Amendment prohibited executing Green because he is mentally ill; and that Green was denied due process as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment because jurors saw him in shackles without the trial court finding that the restraints were necessary. Green also raised a range of claims that collectively alleged his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to investigate or present various evidence relating to Green's Atkins claims and his claim of diminished capacity due to mental illness at the time he committed the offense.
Following an extensive evidentiary hearing, the state court issued its findings of fact and conclusions of law, recommending that the petition be denied. On June 24, 2015, the TCCA issued an order adopting the state habeas court's findings and conclusions. Ex parte Green, No. WR-81,575-01, 2015 WL 3899220, at *1 (Tex. Crim. App. June 24, 2015). The TCCA also stated without further explanation that, alternatively, Green's mental-illness-based Atkins claim and his claims related to his shackling during trial were procedurally barred.2 Id. at *1. The TCCA thus denied Green habeas relief.
On June 13, 2016, Green filed a timely federal habeas petition with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas that asserted largely similar claims to those that he had raised in his state habeas proceeding. With respect to his claims related to his trial counsel's purported ineffectiveness for failing to investigate and litigate Green's diminished capacity at the time of the killings, Green this time focused on his experiencing "abandonment rage" as a result of Armstead's attempts to end their relationship, which he argued would negate the mens rea required for a capital murder conviction. Green contended that this was a different claim than the one he had raised in his state habeas proceedings, and he argued that his state habeas counsel's ineffective assistance was reason to permit him to raise the new claim for the first time in his federal habeas petition (as well as to excuse the procedural defaults identified by the TCCA).See Trevino v. Thaler, 569 U.S. 413, 422-427 (2013) (); Martinez v. Ryan, 566 U.S. 1, 12-14 (2012) (same).
Green also filed two motions seeking funding under 18 U.S.C. § 3599(f) for his federal habeas counsel to retain experts to evaluate Green for adaptive deficits in relation to his Atkins intellectual-disability claim, as well as to assess whether the mental health evaluation...
To continue reading
Request your trial