Hillman v. Hinkle
| Decision Date | 25 September 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. Civ.A. 99-219-AM.,Civ.A. 99-219-AM. |
| Citation | 114 F.Supp.2d 497 |
| Parties | Michael D. HILLMAN, Petitioner, v. George M. HINKLE, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia |
Michael D. Hillman, Haynesville, VA, pro se.
Kathleen B. Martin, Assistant Attorney General, Richmond, VA, Bethesda, MD, for respondent.
Now before the Court is respondent's Motion to Dismiss this petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Petitioner, a Virginia inmate proceeding pro se, has been informed of the potentially dispositive nature of this motion pursuant to Roseboro v. Garrison, 528 F.2d 309 (4th Cir.1975) and has filed responsive materials. The Court finds the facts and legal arguments sufficiently clear that an evidentiary hearing and appointment of counsel are unnecessary. This matter now is ready for disposition. For the following reasons, respondent's motion must be granted and this petition must be dismissed.
Petitioner Michael D. Hillman ("Hillman") is attacking the validity of a final judgment of a jury trial at the Circuit Court of Prince William County on October 27, 1993 for felony murder and distribution of heroin. The evidence presented at trial was summarized by the Court of Appeals of Virginia as follows:
On January 31, 1993, [Hillman] bought ten bags of high grade heroin in Washington, D.C. for his own use and for sale to others. At 7:30 p.m., Willie Ordonez (Ordonez) called Suzann Szabolsoky (Szabolsoky) and requested to buy heroin. Szabolsoky contacted [Hillman], and [Hillman] sold her a bag of heroin at 9:00 p.m. at her house. [Hillman], who stayed only a few minutes, left before Ordonez arrived. Yvonne Johnson (Johnson) heard Szabolsoky tell [Hillman] that the heroin was for Ordonez, and [Hillman] warned her to tell Ordonez "to take it easy because [the heroin was] some powerful stuff." Thirty to forty-five minutes later, Szabolsoky sold the heroin to Ordonez; gave him some cotton, which is used for injecting heroin; and left him in the kitchen with a syringe. After fifteen minutes, Ordonez went into the living room, drank a beer, fell asleep on her sofa, and died. The cause of death was morphine poisoning.1
Hillman v. Commonwealth, No. 2194-93-4, 1995 WL 293064, *1 (unpublished opinion). Hillman's counsel argued on appeal that the trial court erred in failing to strike a juror for cause, that the evidence was insufficient for the felony murder conviction, and that he was entitled to a new trial based on after-discovered evidence. The Court of Appeals of Virginia affirmed the conviction, and the Supreme Court of Appeals denied Hillman's subsequent petition for appeal. Hillman v. Commonwealth, No. 951092 (Va. Oct. 24, 1995).2
Hillman filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Circuit Court of Prince William County while his direct appeal was pending, and the trial court stayed the petition until the appellate process was completed. The stay was lifted on September 29, 1997, and Hillman was granted leave to file an amended petition. On April 20, 1998, respondent's motion to dismiss was granted. Hillman v. Charles Thompson, Warden, No. 33388 (Va.Ct. App. April 30, 1998). Hillman's petition for appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia was likewise denied. Hillman v. Charles Thompson, Warden, No. 981547 (Va. Oct. 30, 1998).
On February 6, 1999, Hillman filed the instant petition pro se, alleging that:
1. The evidence was insufficient to support a conviction for felony murder;
2. His conviction was based on coerced testimony from a witness who later recanted;
3. The prosecution failed to divulge the exculpatory evidence that a witness had an affair with a police officer and that the police had made deals with three witnesses; and
4. His attorney was ineffective because he failed to interview witnesses before trial, failed to expose witness bias, failed to object to evidence regarding Hillman and drugs, and failed to do proper legal research.
Hillman has raised all claims before the Supreme Court of Virginia, either on direct appeal or through his habeas petition, and the court summarily dismissed the claims. Therefore all four claims must be reviewed on the merits.
When a state court has addressed the merits of a claim raised in a federal habeas petition, the federal court cannot grant the petition based on the claim unless the state court's adjudications are contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law, or are based on an unreasonable determination of the facts. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d).3 The evaluation of whether a state decision is "contrary to" or "an unreasonable application of" federal law is based on an independent review each standard. See Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 1523, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (April 18, 2000) ("T.Williams").
A state court determination meets the "contrary to" standard "if the state court `arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by Court on a question of law or if the state court decides a case differently than Court has on a set of materially indistinguishable facts.'" Evans v. Smith, 220 F.3d 306, 312 (4th Cir.2000) (quoting T. Williams, 120 S.Ct. at 1523) (alteration in original). Under the "unreasonable application" clause, the writ should be granted if the federal court finds that the "state court `identifies the correct governing legal principle from Court's decisions but unreasonably applies that principle to the facts of the prisoner's case.'" See Evans, 220 F.3d at 312-13 (quoting T. Williams, 120 S.Ct. at 1523) (alteration in original). Moreover, this standard of reasonableness is an objective one. See T. Williams, 120 S.Ct. at 1524.
Whether a state court's application of federal law to a set of facts is an objectively reasonable application of clearly established federal law thus will depend upon the specific facts of the case as they were developed in the state court proceedings. In the instant case, the state court's decision clearly was not contrary to this clearly established law. The remaining question is whether the state court's interpretation was unreasonable in the light of Supreme Court jurisprudence.
Hillman argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for felony murder. The standard of review for an insufficient evidence claim is rigorous. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); see also McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 2411, 91 L.Ed.2d 67 (1986). The question before the Court is, "whether, after reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could find the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781; Inge v. Procunier, 758 F.2d 1010 (4th Cir.1985) cert. denied, 474 U.S. 833, 106 S.Ct. 104, 88 L.Ed.2d 85 (1985); Goldsmith v. Witkowski, 981 F.2d 697, 701 (4th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 509 U.S. 913, 113 S.Ct. 3020, 125 L.Ed.2d 709, (1993). And, importantly, the Court may not question the fact finder's determinations of witness credibility. See Sumner v. Mata, 455 U.S. 591, 591-93, 102 S.Ct. 1303, 71 L.Ed.2d 480 (1982) (per curiam) (); Marshall v. Lonberger, 459 U.S. 422, 434, 103 S.Ct. 843, 74 L.Ed.2d 646 (1983) (); United States v. Saunders, 886 F.2d 56 (4th Cir.1989); Pigford v. United States, 518 F.2d 831 (4th Cir.1975).
Hillman alleges that because the witness Lauth's testimony was not credible, no rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements for felony murder. He argues that the evidence establishes that he had no knowledge of Szabolsoky's intent to sell the heroin until his conduct was completed. However, as stated above, under the standard for evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence, the trier of fact's determination of credibility cannot be redetermined by the federal court. Lauth's testimony provides sufficient evidence for a rational trier of fact to find Hillman guilty of felony murder. The Supreme Court of Virginia's dismissal of claim (1) therefore was not an unreasonable application of federal law.
Hillman relies upon Lauth's after the fact recantation of her testimony to argue that her testimony was coerced and perjured. It is a well-settled principle that "a conviction obtained by the knowing use of perjured testimony is fundamentally unfair, and must be set aside if there is any reasonable likelihood that the false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury." United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976) (footnote omitted); United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 678-79, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985). In order to prevail, however, a petitioner bears the burden of demonstrating that the witness gave false testimony, and must show that both the witness and the prosecutor "knew the testimony in question was false." Stockton v. Virginia, 852 F.2d 740, 749 (4th Cir.1988) (quoting Thompson v. Garrison, 516 F.2d 986, 988 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 933, 96 S.Ct. 287, 46 L.Ed.2d 263 (1975)); Payne v. Thompson, 853 F.Supp. 932, 936 (E.D.Va.1994). Recantation of a witness's testimony after the fact is not sufficient. Id. Moreover, a prosecutor's mere suspicion about testimony is not enough. See, e.g., Bank of Nova Scotia v. United States, 487 U.S. 250, 261, 108 S.Ct. 2369, 101 L.Ed.2d 228 (1988) (...
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