Griffin v. Sec'y

Decision Date18 July 2018
Docket NumberCase No. 3:16-cv-1042-J-39PDB
PartiesJAMES H. GRIFFIN, Petitioner, v. SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, et al., Respondents.
CourtU.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida
ORDER
I. INTRODUCTION

Petitioner James H. Griffin, in his Petition Under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for Writ of Habeas Corpus by a Person in State Custody (Petition) (Doc. 1), challenges a 2011 Duval County conviction for three counts of sale or delivery of cocaine.1 He raises thirteen grounds for habeas relief. As directed by this Court's Order, Respondents filed an Answer to Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Response) (Doc. 20).2 Petitioner submitted his "Amended Reply" (Reply) (Doc. 23). See Order (Doc. 7).

II. CLAIMS OF PETITION

Strangely, Petitioner does not raise his thirteen grounds in numerical order. The Court will, however, refer to the claims in numerical order, as do the Respondents.3 The thirteen grounds are: (1) the ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to object to prosecutor's violation of the Williams4 Rule (acquitted charges), in violation of Petitioner's due process rights; (2) the ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to raise sentencing manipulation as a defense, in violation of Petitioner's due process and equal protection rights; (3) the ineffective assistance of counsel for coercing and inducing Petitioner to reject the state's plea offer; (4) the ineffective assistance of counsel for advising Petitioner to reject the state's initial plea offer; (5) the ineffective assistance of counsel for misadvising Petitioner to reject the state's offer with promises of a lesser sentence at the bottom of the guidelines; (6) the ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to inform Petitioner of "involvement of an open plea"and advise Petitioner of the sentencing procedure; (7) the ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to raise the unconstitutionality of the Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, Fla. Stat. § 893.13, in violation of Petitioner's due process rights; (8) the ineffective assistance of counsel based on the cumulative errors of counsel, in violation of Petitioner's due process and equal protection rights; (9) the ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to adequately inform Petitioner of the state's final offer of ten years, preventing Petitioner from making an informed, conscious decision; (10) the ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to object to the state's comments about various charges for which Petitioner had been acquitted, in violation of Petitioner's due process rights; (11) the trial court erred at sentencing by improperly taking into consideration offenses for which Petitioner was acquitted, in violation of Petitioner's due process rights; (12) a double jeopardy violation at sentencing based on the trial court's consideration of offenses for which Petitioner had already been sentenced or acquitted; and (13) the ineffective assistance of counsel during the plea bargain process for failure to advise Petitioner of the availability of entering an Alford plea.5

III. EVIDENTIARY HEARING

It is a petitioner's burden to establish the need for a federal evidentiary hearing; Petitioner has not met this burden. Chavez v. Sec'y, Fla. Dep't of Corr., 647 F.3d 1057, 1060 (11th Cir. 2011), cert. denied, 565 U.S. 1120 (2012). Indeed, a district court is not required to hold an evidentiary hearing if the record refutes the asserted factual allegations or otherwise precludes habeas relief. Schriro v. Landrigan, 550 U.S. 465, 474 (2007).

In this case, the Court is able to "adequately assess [Petitioner's] claim[s] without further factual development," Turner v. Crosby, 339 F.3d 1247, 1275 (11th Cir. 2003), cert. denied, 541 U.S. 1034 (2004), as the pertinent facts are fully developed in this record or the record otherwise precludes habeas relief. Thus, no evidentiary proceeding will be conducted by this Court; however, the Court will carefully review the thirteen grounds raised in the Petition, see Long v. United States, 626 F.3d 1167, 1169 (11th Cir. 2010) (per curiam) ("The district court must resolve all claims for relief raised on collateral review, regardless of whether relief is granted or denied.") (citing Clisby v. Jones, 960 F.2d 925, 936 (11th Cir. 1992) and Rhode v. United States, 583 F.3d 1289, 1291 (11th Cir. 2009)).

IV. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) governs a state prisoner's federal petition for habeas corpus. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254; Ledford v. Warden, Ga. Diagnostic & Classification Prison, 818 F.3d 600, 642 (11th Cir. 2016), cert. denied, 137 S.Ct. 1432 (2017). "AEDPA limits the scope of federal habeas review of state court judgments[.]" Pittman v. Sec'y, Fla. Dep't of Corr., 871 F.3d 1231, 1243 (11th Cir. 2017), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. May 18, 2018) (No. 17-9015). This narrow scope of review under AEDPA provides for habeas relief only if there are extreme malfunctions, certainly not to be used as a means to correct state court errors. Ledford, 818 F.3d at 642 (quoting Greene v. Fisher, 565 U.S. 34, 38 (2011)).

Federal courts may grant habeas relief if:

the state court's decision "was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States," or "was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d).
A state court's decision rises to the level of an unreasonable application of federal law only where the ruling is "objectively unreasonable, not merely wrong; even clear error will not suffice." Virginia v. LeBlanc, 582 U.S. ----, ----, 137 S.Ct. 1726, 1728, 198 L.Ed.2d 186 (2017) (per curiam) (quoting Woods v. Donald, 575 U.S. ----, ----, 135 S.Ct. 1372, 1376, 191 L.Ed.2d 464 (2015) (per curiam)). This standard is "meant to be" a difficult one to meet. Harrington v. Richter, 562 U.S. 86, 102, 131 S.Ct. 770, 786, 178 L.Ed.2d 624 (2011).

Rimmer v. Sec'y, Fla. Dep't of Corr., 876 F.3d 1039, 1053 (11th Cir. 2017), cert. denied, No. 17-8046, 2018 WL 1278461 (U.S. June 11, 2018).

"We also must presume that 'a determination of a factual issue made by a State court [is[ correct,' and the petitioner 'ha[s] the burden of rebutting the presumption of correctness by clear and convincing evidence.' 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1)." Morrow v. Warden, 886 F.3d 1138, 1147 (11th Cir. 2018). Additionally, "[t]his presumption of correctness applies equally to factual determinations made by the state trial and appellate courts." Pope v. Sec'y for Dep't of Corr., 680 F.3d 1271, 1284 (11th Cir. 2012) (quoting Bui v. Haley, 321 F.3d 1304, 1312 (11th Cir. 2003)), cert. denied, 568 U.S. 1233 (2013).

Recently, in Wilson v. Sellers, 138 S.Ct. 1188, 1194 (2018), the Supreme Court concluded there is a "look through" presumption in federal habeas law, as silence implies consent. See Kernan v. Hinojosa, 136 S.Ct. 1603, 1605-606 (2016) (per curiam) (adopting the presumption silence implies consent, but refusing to impose an irrebutable presumption). This presumption is employed when a higher state court provides no reason for its decision; however, it is just a presumption, not an absolute rule. Wilson, 138 S.Ct. at 1196. "Where there are convincing grounds to believe the silent court had a different basis for its decision than the analysisfollowed by the previous court, the federal habeas court is free, as we have said, to find to the contrary." Id. at 1197.

Being mindful of this holding, this Court will undertake its review. If the last state court to decide a prisoner's federal claim provides an explanation for its merits-based decision in a reasoned opinion, "a federal habeas court simply reviews the specific reasons given by the state court and defers to those reasons if they are reasonable." Id. at 1192. But, if the relevant state-court decision on the merits is not accompanied by a reasoned opinion, for example the decision simply states affirmed or denied, a federal court "should 'look through' the unexplained decision to the last related state-court decision that does provide a relevant rationale." Id. At this stage, the federal court presumes the unexplained decision adopted the same reasoning as the lower court; however, the presumption is not irrebutable. Id. See Hinojosa, 136 S.Ct. at 1606 (strong evidence may refute the presumption). Indeed, the state may rebut the presumption by showing the higher state court relied or most likely relied on different grounds than the lower state court, "such as alternative grounds for affirmance that were briefed or argued to the state supreme court or obvious in the record it reviewed." Wilson, 138 S.Ct. at 1192.

Although the § 2254(d) standard is difficult to meet, the standard is meant to be difficult. Rimmer, 876 F.3d at 1053 (opining that to reach the level of an unreasonable application offederal law, the ruling must be objectively unreasonable, not merely wrong or even clear error). When applying the stringent AEDPA standard, state court decisions must be given the benefit of the doubt. Trepal v. Sec'y, Fla. Dep't of Corr., 684 F.3d 1088, 1107 (11th Cir. 2012) (quotation and citations omitted), cert. denied, 568 U.S. 1237 (2013).

V. INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

Petitioner claims he received the ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In order to prevail on this Sixth Amendment claim, he must satisfy the two-pronged test set forth in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 688 (1984), requiring that he show both deficient performance (counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness) and prejudice (there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different).

With respect to an ineffective assistance challenge to the voluntariness of a...

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