Hall v. Mcdonald
| Decision Date | 15 December 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV S-09-2552-WBS-TJB,CIV S-09-2552-WBS-TJB |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California |
| Parties | EUGENE VIRGIL HALL, Petitioner, v. m. d. Mcdonald, Respondent. |
Petitioner Eugene Virgil Hall is a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. For the following reasons, it is recommended that the habeas petition be denied.
On July 20, 2005, Petitioner was convicted of "assaulting Kimberly Smith with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury, battering Smith causing serious bodily injury, battering Steven Britt, and attempting to dissuade Smith from coming to court, " by a jury in Yuba County Superior Court. Lodged Doc. 7, at 1; see Lodged Doc. 1, Clerk's Tr. 260. "[T]he trial court found true allegations [that Petitioner] had five prior convictions within the meaning of the three strikes law and for purposes of the five-year enhancement statute." Lodged Doc. 7, at 1.
Petitioner was sentenced to seventy-eight years to life in prison. Id. at 2.
Petitioner directly appealed to the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District. See Lodged Doc. 4. On July 22, 2008, the California Court of Appeal issued a reasoned decision reversing and remanding for resentencing or retrial on one of the prior convictions, modifying custody credits, and otherwise affirming judgment. See Lodged Doc. 7, at 26-27.
Petitioner filed a petition for review in the California Supreme Court. See Lodged Doc. 8. On October 22, 2008, the California Supreme Court denied the petition without comment or citation. See Lodged Doc. 9.
On September 11, 2009, Petitioner filed the original federal habeas petition. See Pet'r's Pet., ECF No. 1. On November 25, 2009, Respondent filed a motion to dismiss, arguing Petitioner failed to exhaust sub-issues in grounds one and three, and grounds six and seven in their entirety. Resp't's Mot. To Dismiss 2-3, Nov. 25, 2009, ECF No. 11. In response, on December 10, 2009, Petitioner filed a motion to amend his petition to delete the unexhausted claims. Pet'r's Mot. To Amend 2, Dec. 10, 2009, ECF No. 14. On February 3, 2010, the Honorable Dale A. Drozd, the assigned United States Magistrate Judge at the time, ordered Respondent to either file an opposition or statement of non-opposition to Petitioner's motion to amend. See Order, Feb. 3, 2010, ECF No. 15. On February 4, 2010, Respondent filed a statement of non-opposition to Petitioner's motion to amend. See Resp't's Non Opp'n To Pet'r's Mot. To Amend, Feb. 4, 2010, ECF No. 16. On February 10, 2010, the assigned Magistrate Judge granted Petitioner's motion to amend, denied the motion to dismiss as moot, ordered Petitioner to file an amended petition, and ordered Respondent to file and serve an answer. See Order 2, Feb. 10, 2010, ECF No. 17.
On March 11, 2010, Petitioner filed an amended federal habeas petition. See Pet'r's Am. Pet., ECF No. 18. On June 7, 2010, Respondent filed an answer. See Resp't's Answer, ECF No. 21. The record does not show that Petitioner filed a traverse.
On the evening of July 13, 2003, Smith, Britt, [Petitioner], and several others gathered on a driveway Smith shared with her neighbor on Almond Avenue in Yuba County. People were drinking, including Smith. At approximately 10:30 p.m., Smith was hit in the face with a baseball bat or stick and suffered a crushed eye socket, broken jaw, and cracked nose. She later identified [Petitioner] as her assailant.2
Marcus Crans was among those who had gathered on the driveway that night and was "extremely intoxicated." He saw Smith get hit and identified [Petitioner] as her assailant.
Steven Britt also was present on the night in question and was hit in the face. Two days later, he identified [Petitioner] as his assailant. At trial, however, he testified he did not see who hit him.
Laura Ann Murphy was with [Petitioner] on the night in question. She did not see Smith get hit, but she did see [Petitioner] strike Britt in the face. After Smith was hit, [Petitioner] asked Murphy to "agree with him" about "[w]hat had happened" and to say he had not been out of her sight all evening, even though that was not the case.
Elvin Favors, who lived near Smith, heard people partying on the night in question and went to take a look. Through his fence, he saw three or four men "going on and on about something." He then saw a woman approach the men and begin using foul language. An argument ensued, and two or three of the men removed "long stick kind of things" from the back of a pickup, and "and one guy just hit her and she fell." The men then got on top of her and began kicking and punching her.
T. A., a 12-year-old boy who also lived nearby, "heard all the commotion outside" and went to investigate. He heard someone say, T. A. was interviewed later that night and identified [Petitioner] from a photographic lineup as the person who made the statement. At trial, however, T. A. repeatedly testified he did not see [Petitioner] make the statement and did not know who made it. Rather, he had seen [Petitioner] "partying around there" that evening.
On July 3, 2004, Deputy Christopher Heath was monitoring inmates at the Yuba County Jail when he saw an inmate in the B pod pick up a note next to the door between the A and B pods; he did not see anyone pass the note. Heath ordered the inmate to bring him the note. The name "Chuck Allison" appeared on the outside of the note, and the note read: The note was signed "Genester, " and there was a swastika under the signature. On the day the note was recovered, [Petitioner] was housed in the A pod, and Charles Allison, Sean Couch, and Daryn Carter were housed in the B pod. "Genester" is [Petitioner's] nickname. He has the word "Genester" tattooed on his back, and the word "Yuba" with a picture of two lightning bolts tattooed on his stomach.
[Petitioner] testified in his own defense. He admitted having six "felony strikes, " including convictions for assault. He denied assaulting Smith or Britt. He said Marcus Crans, Anthony Edwards, and Kenny Micardo assaulted Smith, and Anthony Edwards and Steven Shoemaker assaulted Britt. He acknowledged that on the night of the incident, he said "Kenny and Anthony" assaulted Smith and that he did not mention Crans until trial.
[Petitioner] admitted writing the note intercepted by Deputy Heath at the jail. He claimed he wrote it because he wanted his friends to persuade Smith to tell the truth. He explained that the phrase "St[o]mp of the boot and right arm salute" is a "[w]hite saying when you sign of [sic] our letters to another white man" and agreed "lightning bolts" is "part of that phraseology" and the swastika commonly means "World War II Nazi Germany."
An application for writ of habeas corpus by a person in custody under judgment of a state court can be granted only for violations of the Constitution or laws of the United States. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a); see also Peltier v. Wright, 15 F.3d 860, 861 (9th Cir. 1993); Middleton v. Cupp, 768 F.2d 1083, 1085 (9th Cir. 1985) (citing Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. 107, 119 (1982)). This petition for writ of habeas corpus was filed after the effective date of, and thus is subject to, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA"). Lindh v. Murphy, 521 U.S. 320, 326 (1997); see also Weaver v. Thompson, 197 F.3d 359, 362 (9th Cir. 1999). Under AEDPA, federal habeas corpus relief also is not available for any claim decided on the merits in state court proceedings unless the state court's 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; or
(2) resulted in a decision that 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); see also Penry v. Johnson, 532 U.S. 782, 792-93 (2001); Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 402-03 (2000); Lockhart v. Terhune, 250 F.3d 1223, 1229 (9th Cir. 2001).
In applying AEDPA's standards, the federal court must "identify the state court decision that is appropriate for our review." Barker v. Fleming, 423 F.3d 1085, 1091 (9th Cir. 2005). "The relevant state court determination for purposes of AEDPA review is the last reasoned state court decision." Delgadillo v. Woodford, 527 F.3d 919, 925 (9th Cir. 2008) (citations omitted). "Where there has been one reasoned state judgment rejecting a federal claim, later unexplained orders upholding that judgment or rejecting the same claim rest upon the same ground." Ylst v. Nunnemaker, 501 U.S. 797, 803 (1991). To the extent no such reasoned opinion exists, courts must conduct an independent review of the record to determine whether the state court clearly erred in its application of controlling federal law, and whether the state court's decision was objectively unreasonable. Delgado v. Lewis, 223 F.3d 976, 981-82 (9th Cir. 2000). "The question under AEDPA is not whether a federal court believes the state court's determination was incorrect but whether that determination was unreasonable--a substantially higher threshold." Schriro v....
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