Henderson v. DeTella

• Decision Date: 05 December 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-1834,95-1834
• Citation: 97 F.3d 942
• Parties: Ladell HENDERSON, Petitioner-Appellant, v. George E. DeTELLA, * Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 942

97 F.3d 942

Ladell HENDERSON, Petitioner-Appellant, v. George E. DeTELLA, ^* Respondent-Appellee.

No. 95-1834.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Jan. 4, 1996.

Decided Oct. 3, 1996.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 5, 1996.

Kathryn T. Ditmars (argued), McDermott, Will & Emery, Chicago, IL, for Petitioner-Appellant.

Michael M. Glick (argued), Office of Attorney General, Chicago, IL, for Respondent-Appellee.

Before ROVNER, DIANE P. WOOD, and EVANS, Circuit Judges.

ILANA DIAMOND ROVNER, Circuit Judge.

An Illinois jury convicted Ladell Henderson of murder and attempted murder, for which he was sentenced to respective prison terms of life and thirty years. His petition for a writ of habeas corpus contends that his post-arrest confession of involvement in these crimes was made without a voluntary, knowing, and intelligent waiver of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), and that the trial court erred in barring him from presenting evidence that the complaining witness used narcotics. The district court denied Henderson's petition. We affirm. ¹

I.

In the early morning hours of February 28, 1984, Mona Chavez was at home in Chicago watching television with her uncle, Dennis Leonard. After nodding off to sleep, Chavez was awakened by a pounding on the front door. Leonard answered and was confronted by Henderson and two other men. Leonard was thrown to the floor. Henderson told both Chavez and Leonard that they were going to die. He pulled out a gun and fired two shots into the back of Leonard's head killing him. Chavez, who was sixteen years old, knew Henderson (age eighteen), from the neighborhood. He had asked her on several occasions to be "his lady." (She testified that she had declined his offer, although defense witnesses said that the two were involved romantically.) Days before the shooting he had broken into her apartment and stolen several items of clothing. Now, as Chavez pleaded with Henderson to spare her life, he told her that if he could not have her, no one would. He grabbed her hair, put a gun to her ear, and shot her three times.

Miraculously, Chavez survived. She regained consciousness hours after the shooting, crawled from the second floor apartment, stumbled down the stairs, and sought help from a downstairs neighbor, who telephoned the police. Chavez told the officer who arrived on the scene that Henderson had shot her.

Henderson was located at a tavern and taken into custody. (The record does not disclose the fate of his two accomplices.) Officer Clifton Underwood testified that he apprised Henderson of his Miranda rights both at the scene of his arrest and later at the police station; he also testified that Henderson acknowledged these rights as he was informed of them. Henderson did not appear confused to the officers who observed him. Although cooperative, he declined to make a statement initially, other than to profess ignorance as to the reason for his arrest and to deny having killed anyone. However, according to Underwood, Henderson later had a change of heart and said that he wanted to tell Underwood "what really happened." Underwood testified that he again told Henderson what his rights were, and that Henderson acknowledged them. The two then spoke for twenty to thirty minutes. Subsequently, Assistant State's Attorney Kim Kardas took a statement from Henderson. Kardas knew Henderson from a previous prosecution in juvenile court and later testified that he reminded Henderson of this as he introduced himself. Detective Peter Valesares was present while Kardas interviewed Henderson and confirmed that Kardas and Henderson appeared to know one another. Valesares also testified that he told Henderson before this interview that he was being charged with shooting Chavez and killing Leonard and that a state's attorney would be coming to speak with him.

After speaking with Henderson, Kardas prepared a written statement for him to sign. In substance, the statement indicated that Henderson had taken two men ("Billy Ray" and "Speedy") to Chavez's home for the purpose of executing a contract on her life (she purportedly had "set up" an El Rukn gang member), but did not participate in the shootings. When Henderson began to review the statement, he noted a reference to Kardas being an assistant state's attorney. He purported to be confused by that and said that he had understood Kardas to be his own attorney, not the state's. He then refused to sign the statement. Henderson later testified at a suppression hearing that he had spoken to Kardas thinking that Kardas was a defense attorney, not a prosecutor.

The state subsequently charged Henderson with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and home invasion. Chavez testified at trial and identified Henderson as the assailant. On cross-examination, the defense inquired into her relationship with one Quintin Jones and asked Chavez whether she had used "speed" in the presence of Henderson and Jones. Chavez acknowledged knowing Jones but denied that she had been involved with him romantically and denied having ever used speed. When the defense later attempted to have Jones testify that he had seen Chavez use drugs on numerous occasions, the trial court sustained the state's objection, noting that "the only reason [you're] doing it is to dirty up the witness." In addition to Chavez's testimony, the state was permitted to offer into evidence the written statement that Kardas prepared based on what Henderson had told him. That statement, of course, placed Henderson at the scene of the shooting. Henderson had moved unsuccessfully in advance of trial to suppress the statement. Having failed in that effort, Henderson's theory of defense was that although he had participated in the home invasion, he had done nothing more. The jury rejected that theory and convicted Henderson on all charges. The trial judge ordered Henderson to serve a term of natural life in prison for Leonard's murder, thirty years for the attempted murder of Chavez, and seven years for the conspiracy to commit murder. No sentence was imposed for the home invasion.

On appeal, the Illinois appellate court vacated Henderson's conviction on the conspiracy charge, but affirmed his conviction and sentence on the other charges. People v. Henderson, 175 Ill.App.3d 483, 124 Ill.Dec. 934, 529 N.E.2d 1051 (1988), leave to appeal denied, 125 Ill.2d 570, 130 Ill.Dec. 485, 537 N.E.2d 814 (1989). Among other issues, the court disposed of two that Henderson has pursued in his habeas petition: the admission of his postarrest statement to the authorities and the refusal to permit him to present extrinsic evidence of Chavez's past drug use. Henderson had moved to suppress his statement arguing that for two reasons his decision to waive his Miranda rights was not voluntary, knowing, and intelligent. He contended that he had been misled into thinking that Kardas was his own attorney and that, in any event, his limited mental capacity and below-average I.Q. (sixty-four) rendered him unable to make a reasoned decision in this regard. The appellate court did not specifically address the purported confusion as to Kardas' affiliation, although in its recitation of the trial testimony the court noted that Kardas claimed to have expressly identified himself as the state's attorney, not Henderson's. The court did address the question of Henderson's mental capacity to waive his Miranda rights:

In reviewing the totality of circumstances surrounding defendant's statement, we find that a preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that the defendant understood and knowingly waived his constitutional rights. Where as here the record supports a finding that defendant's subpar mentality did not interfere with his ability to comprehend the meaning of a voluntarily made statement or a right to counsel, his statement will not be suppressed.

124 Ill.Dec. at 937, 529 N.E.2d at 1054. The court also found no error in the trial court's decision to exclude Jones from testifying as to Chavez's purported drug use.

Defendant made no reference or qualification as to when the victim allegedly used drugs or the extent of impairment from the use of any drugs. Thus, we are inclined to agree with the trial court that such evidence would not shed light on the victim's ability to adequately perceive the events as they occurred on the night of the offense. To the contrary, this evidence would simply "dirty up" the witness in the eyes of the jury. Accordingly, we find that the trial court properly excluded any evidence of the victim's alleged drug addiction.

Id.

Henderson renewed these arguments in his habeas petition. His first amended petition (which, like the original, was prepared pro se) also asserted a third claim that the jury had been erroneously instructed on attempted murder. After the district court appointed counsel for Henderson, however, that petition was withdrawn and a second amended petition was filed which omitted this claim. The district court rejected the other two claims on their merits. It noted that "[s]tate-court determinations of the validity of Miranda waivers are presumed correct under § 2254(d)," and that in this case the finding of a knowing waiver was supported by the testimony of Assistant State's Attorney Kardas. United States ex rel. Henderson v. Welborn, No. 91 C 7288, Mem. Op. at 3, 1994 WL 517239 (N.D.Ill. Sept. 13, 1994). The court observed further that Henderson's claim that he was not mentally equipped to waive his rights was "belied by the fact that he attempted to refute the validity of this Miranda waiver after reading his statement." Id. (emphasis in original). Under the totality of the circumstances, then, the court found that Henderson had waived his rights and had voluntarily made the post-arrest statement admitted at trial. Id. The court also rejected Henderson's claim that the exclusion of testimony...