Higgs v. U.S.A

• Decision Date: 06 April 2010
• Docket Number: Civil No. PJM 05-3180.,Criminal No. PJM 98-0520.
• Citation: 711 F.Supp.2d 479
• Parties: Dustin John HIGGS, Petitioner,v.UNITED STATES of America, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

711 F.Supp.2d 479

Dustin John HIGGS, Petitioner,v.UNITED STATES of America, Respondent.

Civil No. PJM 05-3180.

Criminal No. PJM 98-0520.

United States District Court D. Maryland.

April 6, 2010.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Michael Wiseman, Federal Defender of Philadelphia, Capital Habeas Corpus Unit, Federal Court Division, Philadelphia, PA, Stephen H. Sachs, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Baltimore, MD, for Petitioner.

Deborah A. Johnston, Office of the US Attorney, Greenbelt, MD, Sandra Wilkinson, Office of the US Attorney, Baltimore, MD, Jeffrey B. Kahan, Department of Justice, Capital Case Unit, Washington, DC, for Respondent.

OPINION

PETER J. MESSITTE, District Judge.

After finding Dustin Higgs guilty of the kidnapping and murder of Tamika Black, Mishann Chinn, and Tanji Jackson, a jury determined that he should receive the death penalty. The Court thereafter entered judgment on the verdict and Higgs appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which affirmed the conviction and sentence. See United States v. Higgs, 353 F.3d 281 (4th Cir.2003) (“ Higgs I ”). The Supreme Court denied Higgs' petition for writ of certiorari. Higgs v. United States, 543 U.S. 999, 125 S.Ct. 627, 160 L.Ed.2d 456 (2004).

During the pendency of his appeal, Higgs filed a Motion for a New Trial, which this Court denied, a decision which the Fourth Circuit also affirmed. See United States v. Higgs, 95 Fed.Appx. 37 (4th Cir.2004) cert. denied, Higgs v. United States, 543 U.S. 1004, 125 S.Ct. 608, 160 L.Ed.2d 465 (2004) (“ Higgs II ”). Higgs has now filed a Motion for Relief Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 or in the Alternative Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, asserting twenty-five claims of error. This filing is accompanied by a motion seeking additional discovery as to certain issues. The Court considers the pending motions.

I.Background

The relevant facts, as set forth by the Fourth Circuit in Higgs I, are as follows:

A. The Murders

On Friday evening, January 26, 1996, Higgs, Willis Mark Haynes and Victor Gloria drove from Higgs's apartment at 13801 Briarwood Drive in Laurel, Maryland, to Washington D.C. to pick up Tanji Jackson, Tamika Black, and Mishann Chinn. Higgs knew Jackson and they had arranged dates for Haynes and Gloria with Black and Chinn. They were traveling in Higgs's blue Mazda MPV van. After stopping at a liquor store, the three couples returned to Higgs's apartment to drink alcohol and listen to music. While there, the men also smoked marijuana.¹

At some point during the early morning hours of January 27, Higgs and Jackson began to argue. Jackson retrieved a knife from the kitchen and Haynes, who had been in the bedroom with Black, heard the commotion and came out to break up the fight. Haynes talked to Jackson and got the knife away from her. However, Jackson was still angry and the three women left the apartment. According to Gloria, as Jackson was walking out, “she stopped at the door and said something like I am going to get you all f---ed up or robbed” or made “some kind of threat.” J.A. 473. In response, Higgs commented to the other two men that Jackson “do know a lot of n-s.” J.A. 474. As Higgs was watching the women leave, he saw Jackson stop and appear to write down the license plate number of his van. This angered Higgs, who commented to Haynes and Gloria that Jackson was “writing down [his] sh-.” J.A. 474. Gloria interpreted Higgs's comments as concern that Jackson intended to retaliate against Higgs.

At that point, “Higgs said f that, and grabbed his coat and said come on.” J.A. 474. He also retrieved a silver .38 caliber firearm from the end table drawer and put it in his pocket. The three

men got into Higgs's van, with Higgs driving, Haynes in the front passenger seat, and Gloria sitting behind Higgs. Higgs drove the van to where the three women were walking on the side of the road and told Haynes to get them in the vehicle. After Haynes spoke to them, the three women got into the back seat of the vehicle and Higgs started driving towards Washington, D.C. Neighbors in the area heard and saw the three girls laughing and talking around 3: 30 that morning.

According to Gloria, while en route to Washington, D. C., Higgs and Haynes leaned towards each other and engaged in a quiet conversation that Gloria could not hear. The women were whispering in the back of the van and apparently believed they were being taken home. Higgs, however, drove past the Baltimore-Washington Parkway exit, which would have taken them directly into Washington, D. C., and instead drove the van into the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge, a federal property within the jurisdiction of the United States Park Police. Eventually, Higgs pulled over at a secluded location. One of the girls asked if they were trying to “make [them] walk from there,” and Higgs responded, “something like that.” J.A. 482. After the women got out of the van, Higgs pulled out the pistol and handed it to Haynes, who put it behind his back and also exited the van. Within moments, Gloria heard a gunshot and wiped the mist off the back window in time to see Haynes shoot one of the women in the chest. Gloria turned to ask Higgs what he was doing, but saw Higgs holding the steering wheel and watching the shootings from the rearview mirror. Gloria put his head down, heard more shots, and heard a woman screaming.

After firing a few more shots, Haynes got into the van and closed the door. According to Gloria, either Higgs or Haynes then commented that they had to “get rid of the gun,” J.A. 485, and Higgs drove to the Anacostia River where, according to Gloria, either Higgs or Haynes got out and threw the gun into the water. Higgs then drove back to his apartment where the three men began to clean up. Among other things, they wiped down the patio doors and “everything else, the bathroom, the doorknobs, the stereo,” and threw away any items the women might have touched, such as liquor bottles, CDs, and rented videotapes. J.A. 487. The men then left the apartment and dropped the trash by a dumpster. Higgs and Haynes dropped Gloria off at a fast food restaurant, where he was told by Higgs to “keep [his] mouth shut.” J.A. 489.

At about 4: 30 a.m., a motorist found the bodies of the three women strewn about the roadway and contacted the Park Police. Jackson's day planner was found at the scene with Higgs's nickname-“Bones”-and telephone number recorded in it. On another page was written “13801 ‘MAZDA’ 769GRY”-Higgs's address number on Briarwood Drive and the tag number for his Mazda van. A .38 caliber wadcutter bullet was also found there. According to the medical examiner, Jackson and Black had each been shot once in the chest and once in the back. Chinn had been shot once in the back of the head.

B. The Investigation

Although Higgs was almost immediately a suspect, the investigation into the murders continued for nearly three years before an arrest was made. On March 21, 1996, Park Police officers first interviewed Higgs at his apartment. At that time, Higgs acknowledged that he knew Jackson and that he may have talked to her the night before she died, but he denied that she had ever been in his apartment. Higgs told the officers that he first heard about the murders while watching the ten o'clock news on Saturday, January 27, while attending a party at the home of Phyllis Smith, who was his girlfriend at the time. Higgs also told the officers that he had immediately commented to a party guest that he thought he knew “that Tanji girl.” J.A. 672. According to the chief investigator, however, the names and photographs of the three victims were not released to the media until January 28.

After the interview of Higgs was concluded, the officers executed an arrest and search warrant arising from Higgs's suspected involvement in unrelated bank fraud violations. In addition to a variety of documents and cash bundles, the officers seized crack cocaine, a .380 semiautomatic firearm, and boxes of ammunition for .380, .45 and .38 caliber weapons. Higgs was arrested on federal drug charges and, on May 12, 1997, pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. He was ultimately sentenced to seventeen years imprisonment for the charge. Higgs has remained in the custody of either state or federal law enforcement officials since that arrest.

After Higgs was interviewed and arrested, the Park Police turned their attention to Phyllis Smith. Smith initially provided a false alibi for Higgs on the night of the murders. She claimed that Higgs had been with her and her family members the entire night of January 26, helping her clean her home in preparation for the party that was to be held the following night. She also instructed her family members to confirm the alibi. In April 1996, however, Smith testified before the grand jury that Higgs was only with her at 5 a.m. on January 27.

Ultimately, Smith recanted both accounts. She testified that Higgs called her when he was arrested in March 1996 and asked her to tell officials that he had been with her the entire night of January 26. She did as she was instructed, but believed at the time that she was being interviewed in connection with the drug charges that had been filed against Higgs. When Smith later learned that the questions pertained to the triple murder investigation, Higgs told her that he did not know the murdered women, but that Haynes had known them. When Smith was called before the grand jury in late 1998, she admitted her earlier lies about Higgs's whereabouts that night. Although she and several of her family members had been cleaning her home on the evening of January 26, Higgs was not with them. Nor was Higgs at her house in the early morning hours of January 27. At trial, Smith again testified that Higgs had not helped her prepare for the party

...