Hackett v. Price

• Decision Date: 06 August 2001
• Docket Number: No. CIV. A. 99-5434.,CIV. A. 99-5434.
• Citation: 212 F.Supp.2d 382
• Parties: Richard HACKETT, Petitioner, v. James PRICE, Superintendent SCI Green, et al. Respondents.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

212 F.Supp.2d 382

Richard HACKETT, Petitioner, v. James PRICE, Superintendent SCI Green, et al. Respondents.

No. CIV. A. 99-5434.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

August 6, 2001.

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Norris E. Gelman, Philadelphia, PA, for Petitioner.

David Curtis Glebe, Office of the District Attorney, Philadelphia, PA, for Respondents.

MEMORANDUM

PADOVA, District Judge.

Petitioner Richard Hackett has filed a counseled Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Petitioner challenges the guilt-determining and the penalty phases of his trial on six grounds. For the reasons that follow, the Court denies claims I, II, III, V, and VI of the Petition, but concludes that Petitioner is entitled to relief with respect to Claim IV alleging Mills error in the penalty phase. Accordingly, the Court grants the Petition with respect to the penalty phase of the trial and vacates Petitioner's sentence without prejudice to the right of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to sentence Petitioner to life imprisonment, or to conduct such further proceedings as may be appropriate under state law (including a new sentencing hearing) if initiated within 180 days.

I. BACKGROUND

The following recitation of the underlying factual allegations was set forth by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. See Hackett, 534 Pa. 210, 627 A.2d 719. Petitioner's convictions arose from a conspiracy with the primary purpose of killing Gregory Ogrod ("Ogrod"). On July 31, 1986, at 3:30 a.m., three men armed with knives and a crowbar entered the basement of the home where they knew Ogrod and Ogrod's girlfriend, Maureen Dunne, would be sleeping. The men stabbed and clubbed the two victims. Maureen Dunne was stabbed to death, but Ogrod managed to escape. He recognized one of the perpetrators as Marvin Spence ("Spence"). Id. at 721-22. The other perpetrators were later identified as James Gray ("Gray") and Keith Barrett ("Barrett"). Id. at 722. Testimony also established the presence of Petitioner at the scene of the attack. Id.

The assault was the culmination of a conspiracy headed by Petitioner and Spence to murder Ogrod. Petitioner had moved into Ogrod's house in the spring of 1986 at the invitation of Ogrod's brother, who worked for Petitioner in his landscaping business. Petitioner did not get along with Ogrod. In July 1986, Ogrod told Petitioner to move out of the house. Petitioner refused, and a few days later removed all of Ogrod's effects to the basement. Spence also had a falling out with Ogrod over a dispute related to their business of selling drugs. Petitioner and Spence, who knew each other, both determined that they wanted Ogrod dead, and Petitioner began to inquire into hiring someone to kill Ogrod and Dunne. Id.

Petitioner was charged with murder in the first degree, criminal conspiracy, possession of instruments of crime, and aggravated assault. Thomas Bergstrom was appointed trial counsel for Petitioner. In the summer of 1988, Petitioner, Spence, Gray, and Barrett were tried jointly in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County before the Honorable George J. Ivins. Petitioner is Caucasian, while his co-defendants are African-American. At trial, the evidence demonstrated the plan to be a conspiracy murder for hire. The jury convicted Petitioner on July 14, 1998, of the charged offenses. On July 16, 1988, following a sentencing hearing, the jury returned a sentence of death, finding sufficient evidence for two aggravating factors and no mitigating factors. Id. at 723.

Petitioner filed a direct appeal, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence. Commonwealth v. Hackett, 534 Pa. 210, 627 A.2d 719 (1993). On January 14, 1997, Petitioner filed a petition for relief under the Pennsylvania Post-Conviction Relief Act ("PCRA"), 42 Pa. Cons.Stat. §§ 9541-9551. The Court of Common Pleas denied all relief on November 13, 1997. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed that ruling on August 9, 1999. Commonwealth v. Hackett, 558 Pa. 78, 735 A.2d 688 (1999). The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on February 22, 2000. Hackett v. Pennsylvania, 528 U.S. 1163, 120 S.Ct. 1178, 145 L.Ed.2d 1086 (2000).

II. LEGAL STANDARD

In 1996, Congress passed the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty ("AEDPA"), which amended the federal habeas statute. The pertinent section of the statute provides:

(d) An application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court shall not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim —

(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States....

28 U.S.C.A. § 2254(d)(1) (West Supp.2001). To obtain federal habeas relief, a petitioner must demonstrate that his case satisfies the condition set by § 2254(d)(1). Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 403, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000); Hameen v. Delaware, 212 F.3d 226, 235 (3d Cir.2000). AEDPA increases the deference that federal courts must give to the factual findings and legal determinations of the state courts. Werts v. Vaughn, 228 F.3d 178, 196 (3d Cir.2000), cert. denied, 532 U.S. 980, 121 S.Ct. 1621, 149 L.Ed.2d 483 (2001).

State court's determinations may only be tested against "clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States." 28 U.S.C.A. § 2254(d)(1) (West Supp.2001). This phrase refers to the "holdings, as opposed to the dicta" of the Supreme Court's decisions "as of the time of the relevant state-court decision." Williams, 529 U.S. at 412, 120 S.Ct. 1495. Rules of law that would qualify as old rules under the Supreme Court's jurisprudence of Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288, 109 S.Ct. 1060, 103 L.Ed.2d 334 (1989) will constitute clearly established Federal law for the purposes of § 2254(d)(1), except that the source of that clearly established law is restricted to the United States Supreme Court. Williams, 529 U.S. at 412, 120 S.Ct. 1495.

The structure for determining claims under AEDPA applies is as follows. To apply AEDPA standards to pure questions of law or mixed questions of law and fact, federal habeas courts must first determine whether the state court decision regarding each claim was "contrary to" Supreme Court precedent. Werts, 228 F.3d at 197. If relevant United States Supreme Court precedent requires an outcome contrary to that reached by the state court, then the habeas court may grant habeas relief at this juncture. Matteo v. Superintendent, 171 F.3d 877, 890 (3d Cir. 1999). Otherwise, the court must evaluate whether the state court decision was based on an "unreasonable application of" Supreme Court precedent. Id. at 890.

The "contrary to" and "unreasonable application" clauses are properly accorded independent meaning. Williams, 529 U.S. at 405, 120 S.Ct. 1495; Hameen, 212 F.3d at 235. A state court decision may be `contrary to' clearly established federal law as determined by the United States Supreme Court in two ways. See id. at 405, 120 S.Ct. 1495. First, a state court decision is contrary to United States Supreme Court precedent where the court applies a rule that contradicts the governing law set forth in United States Supreme Court cases. Id. Alternatively, a state court decision is contrary where the court confronts facts that are materially indistinguishable from a relevant United States Supreme Court precedent and arrives at an opposite result. Id. at 406, 120 S.Ct. 1495; Hameen, 212 F.3d at 235. It is not sufficient for the petitioner to show merely that his interpretation of Supreme Court precedent is more plausible than the state court's interpretation; rather, Petitioner must demonstrate that Supreme Court precedent requires the contrary outcome. Werts, 228 F.3d at 197; Matteo, 171 F.3d at 888.

On the other hand, a state court decision that applies the correct legal rule from the United States Supreme Court precedent to the facts of a prisoner's case does not fit comfortably within the "contrary to" clause, and is more appropriately considered under the "unreasonable application" clause. Williams, 529 U.S. at 406, 120 S.Ct. 1495; Hameen, 212 F.3d at 235. A state court decision can involve an "unreasonable application" of the Supreme Court's precedent if the state court identifies the correct governing legal rule but unreasonably applies it to the facts of the particular state prisoner's case, or if a state court decision extends a legal principle from Supreme Court precedent to a new context where it should not apply, or unreasonably refuses to extend the principle to a new context where it should apply. Williams, 529 U.S. at 407, 120 S.Ct. 1495; Hameen, 212 F.3d at 235. A federal habeas court making the "unreasonable application" inquiry should ask whether the state court's application of clearly established federal law was objectively unreasonable. Williams, 529 U.S. at 409, 120 S.Ct. 1495; Hameen, 212 F.3d at 235. Mere disagreement with the state court's conclusions is not enough to warrant habeas relief under the "unreasonable application" clause. Matteo, 171 F.3d at 890. In determining whether the state court's application of the Supreme Court precedent is reasonable, habeas courts may consider the decisions of inferior federal courts. Id. at 890.

III. DISCUSSION

Petitioner brings six claims in this Petition.

I. Ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to preserve in post-trial motions and on direct appeal trial objections to the trial court's limits on questioning as to race in voir dire, and to the trial court's refusal to allow individual voir dire, in violation of Turner v. Murray, 476 U.S. 28, 106 S.Ct. 1683, 90 L.Ed.2d 27 (1986) (guilt phase).

II. Ineffective assistance of counsel for failure...