Hannon v. Secretary, Department of Corrections

• Decision Date: 23 October 2007
• Docket Number: Case No. 8:06-cv-2200-T-24TBM.
• Citation: 622 F.Supp.2d 1169
• Parties: Patrick Charles HANNON, Petitioner, v. SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida

622 F.Supp.2d 1169

Patrick Charles HANNON, Petitioner, v. SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Respondent.

Case No. 8:06-cv-2200-T-24TBM.

United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Tampa Division.

October 23, 2007.

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William McKinley Hennis, III, Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, Ft Lauderdale, FL, for Petitioner.

Katherine Vickers Blanco, Office of the Attorney General, Tampa, FL, for Respondent.

ORDER

SUSAN C. BUCKLEW, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on Petitioner Patrick Hannon's amended petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (Doc. No. 13) (hereinafter "petition"). Hannon is a Florida prisoner under sentence of death.

Hannon filed a memorandum in support of the petition. (Doc. No. 10) (hereinafter "memo"). Respondent filed a response to the petition (Doc. No. 19), and Hannon filed a reply to the response. (Doc. No. 24). The petition was timely-filed and venue in this Court is proper because Hannon was tried and sentenced in Hillsborough County, Florida, within this Division of the Middle District of Florida.

Upon due consideration of each of Hannon's claims, the Court has determined that none have merit and that the petition should be DENIED.

BACKGROUND

On March 27, 1991, Patrick Hannon and Ronald Richardson were charged by superseding indictment with the premeditated murders of Brandon Snider (Count One) and Robert Carter (Count Two). (App. A14/1683-1685). Due to their differing speedy trial expiration dates and Richardson's request for a continuance, their cases were ultimately severed for trial. Hannon's jury trial began July 15, 1991 and concluded July 24, 1991. (App. A13/1634; A14/1657-1658; 1783-1784; 1792).

On direct appeal, the Florida Supreme Court set out the pertinent facts:

Brandon Snider, a resident of Tampa, went to Indiana to visit relatives. While there, he went to the home of Toni Acker, a former girlfriend, and vandalized her bedroom. On January 9, 1991, Snider returned to Tampa. On January 10, 1991, Hannon, Ron Richardson, and Jim Acker went to the apartment where Snider and Robert Carter lived. Snider opened the door and was immediately attacked by Acker, who is Toni Acker's brother. Acker stabbed Snider multiple times.¹ When Acker was finished, Hannon cut Snider's throat. During the attack, Snider's screams drew the attention of his neighbors. They also drew the attention of Carter, who was upstairs. Hearing the screams, Carter came downstairs and saw what was happening. He then went back upstairs and hid under his bed. Hannon and Acker followed Carter upstairs. Then Hannon shot Carter six times, killing him.

In July 1991, Hannon was brought to trial for the murders of Snider and Carter. During the trial, Richardson reached an agreement with the State. He pled guilty to being an accessory after the fact and testified against Hannon. Hannon was found guilty of both murders. After a penalty proceeding,² the jury unanimously recommended death. The trial court found the following aggravating circumstances applicable to both murders: (1) previous conviction of a violent felony (the contemporaneous killings); (2) the murders were committed during the commission of a burglary; and (3) the murders were heinous, atrocious, or cruel. Sec. 921.141(5)(a), (d), and (h), Fla. Stat. (1991). As to Carter, the court found the additional aggravating factor that the murder was committed to avoid or prevent a lawful arrest. Sec. 921.141(5)(e), Fla. Stat. (1991). In mitigation, the court considered testimony from Hannon's mother and father that Hannon was not a violent person. Also, the court considered the fact that Hannon's original co-defendant, Richardson, was no longer facing the death penalty. The trial court found that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors and followed the jury's recommendation, imposing separate death sentences on Hannon for the murders of Snider and Carter.

Hannon v. State, 638 So.2d 39, 41 (Fla. 1994) (footnotes omitted).

On direct appeal, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed Hannon's convictions and death sentences. See Hannon v. State, 638 So.2d 39 (Fla.1994), decided June 2, 1994, as revised on denial of rehearing, September 8, 1994. Hannon then filed a petition for writ of certiorari in United States Supreme Court. Review was denied on February 21, 1995. Hannon v. Florida, 513 U.S. 1158, 115 S.Ct. 1118, 130 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1995). (App. B1-B3).

Next, Hannon filed an interlocutory appeal related to DNA testing. See FSC Case No. SC01-2774. (App. C2). On April 17, 2002, the Florida Supreme Court dismissed this appeal. Hannon v. State, 817 So.2d 847 (Fla.2002) (citing Trepal v. State, 754 So.2d 702 (Fla.2000)).

On March 17, 1997, Hannon filed a motion for postconviction relief in the trial court, raising 34 grounds for relief. Hannon filed an amended motion on April 10, 2000, raising 21 grounds for relief. (App. D3/385-526).

The state trial court held a Huff hearing on November 16, 2001. See Huff v. State, 622 So.2d 982 (Fla.1993). On that same day, the state trial court issued an order reflecting its determination that an evidentiary hearing was required to address claims IV (in part), V (in part), IX, X (in part), XVI (in part), XIX (in part), and XXI of Hannon's motion for postconviction relief. The evidentiary hearing was conducted by the state trial court on February 18, 2002, and June 21, 2002.

The state trial court entered two comprehensive written orders addressing the postconviction claims. The first order, which summarily denied postconviction relief, in part, was 102 pages in length, and included excerpts from the trial record. (App. D6/1073-1174). Following the evidentiary hearing, on February 3, 2003, the state trial court issued its final written order denying postconviction relief. (App. D10/1998-2043).

Hannon appealed the denial of postconviction relief in FSC Case Number SC03-893. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the state trial court's denial of postconviction relief in Hannon v. State, 941 So.2d 1109 (Fla.2006), decided August 31, 2006, rehearing denied by Hannon v. State, 2006 Fla. LEXIS 2627 (Fla., Oct. 27, 2006).

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Because Hannon filed his petition after April 24, 1996, this case is governed by 28 U.S.C. § 2254, as amended by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). Penry v. Johnson, 532 U.S. 782, 792, 121 S.Ct. 1910, 150 L.Ed.2d 9 (2001); Henderson v. Campbell, 353 F.3d 880, 889-90 (11th Cir.2003); Maharaj v. Sec'y for Dept. of Corrections, 304 F.3d 1345, 1346 (11th Cir.2002). The ultimate issue with respect to each claim is whether the Florida Supreme Court's resolution of the claim 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. § 2254(d). Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000); Robinson v. Moore, 300 F.3d 1320 (11th Cir.2002); Van Poyck v. Florida Department of Corrections, 290 F.3d 1318 (11th Cir.2002). The standard Hannon must meet could not be higher; it is not enough that the state court "got it wrong." Hannon must show that the result of the state court's decision was objectively unreasonable. Bell v. Cone, 535 U.S. 685, 694, 122 S.Ct. 1843, 152 L.Ed.2d 914 (2002) (citing Williams v. Taylor, supra).

In the event constitutional error is found in a habeas proceeding, the relevant harmless error standard is set forth in Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 113 S.Ct. 1710, 123 L.Ed.2d 353 (1993). The test is "less onerous" then the harmless error standard enunciated in Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967). "The test is whether the error had substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict. Under this standard, habeas petitioners may obtain plenary review of their constitutional claims, but they are not entitled to habeas relief based on trial error unless they can establish that it resulted in `actual prejudice.'" Brecht, 507 U.S. at 637, 113 S.Ct. 1710. Although no constitutional error has occurred in Hannon's case, any possible error would be harmless beyond any reasonable doubt based on the facts and the record herein.

No evidentiary hearing is required because none of Hannon's claims turn on any unresolved issue of fact; all involve issues of law argued on the basis of the existing record.³

DISCUSSION

Ground One

Mr. Hannon was denied the effective assistance of counsel due to trial counsel's failure to investigate and present mitigation and due to his failure to obtain adequate mental health assistance at the penalty phase of his capital trial in violation of the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Hannon contends that trial counsel was ineffective in allegedly failing to investigate and present additional mitigation, including mental health experts, at the penalty phase. See, Amended Petition at 5 (Doc. 13: Memo at 12-30) (Doc. 10).

Hannon's ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC) penalty phase claims were the subject of an evidentiary hearing in the state trial court and were rejected on both the prejudice and deficiency prongs under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 686, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984).

Because the state court adjudicated Hannon's IAC/penalty phase claims on the merits, this Court may grant relief only if the state court's adjudication: (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 pr...