Holder v. Jackson, Case No. 1:17-cv-408
| Decision Date | 28 July 2017 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 1:17-cv-408 |
| Parties | JAMES HOLDER, Petitioner, v. SHANE JACKSON, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan |
Honorable Paul L. Maloney
This is a habeas corpus action brought by a state prisoner under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Promptly after the filing of a petition for habeas corpus, the Court must undertake a preliminary review of the petition to determine whether "it plainly appears from the face of the petition and any exhibits annexed to it that the petitioner is not entitled to relief in the district court." Rule 4, RULES GOVERNING § 2254 CASES; see 28 U.S.C. § 2243. If so, the petition must be summarily dismissed. Rule 4; see Allen v. Perini, 424 F.2d 134, 141 (6th Cir. 1970) (). A dismissal under Rule 4 includes those petitions which raise legally frivolous claims, as well as those containing factual allegations that are palpably incredible or false. Carson v. Burke, 178 F.3d 434, 436-37 (6th Cir. 1999). After undertaking the review required by Rule 4, the Court concludes that the petition must be dismissed because it fails to raise a meritorious federal claim.
Petitioner James Holder is presently incarcerated with the Michigan Department of Corrections at the Carson City Correctional Facility. Petitioner is serving a sentence of 3 years to 5 years following his May 6, 2015, plea of guilty to a charge of domestic violence, third-offense, MICH. COMP. L. § 750.81(5), in the Kent County Circuit Court. The court sentenced Petitioner on June 15, 2015.
At Petitioner's sentencing hearing, Judge George J. Quist reviewed the facts relating to Petitioner's offense to determine an Offense Variable score under the Michigan Sentencing Guidelines. Some of the relevant facts had been admitted by Petitioner when he entered his plea. Judge Quist made factual findings with respect to the other relevant facts. Petitioner contends that, based on the facts that he admitted, his Guidelines minimum sentence range would have been 10 to 23 months. With the additional facts found by Judge Quist, the guidelines minimum sentence range increased to 19 to 38 months.
Six weeks after Petitioner was sentenced, the Michigan Supreme Court issued its decision in People v. Lockridge, 870 N.W.2d 502 (Mich. 2015). In Lockridge, in a 5-2 decision, the Michigan Supreme Court held that, because the "guidelines require judicial fact-finding beyond facts admitted by the defendant or found by the jury to score offense variables (OVs) that mandatorily increase the floor of the guidelines minimum sentence range," they increase the "mandatory minimum" sentence and are unconstitutional under Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. ___, 133 S. Ct. 2151 (2013). Lockridge, 870 N.W.2d at 506. As a consequence, the Lockridge court held that the mandatory application of Michigan's sentencing guidelines was unconstitutional, and the remedy was to make them advisory only. Id. at 520-521.
Petitioner raised the Lockridge issue on appeal. The Michigan Court of Appeals denied leave to appeal on January 22, 2016. Petitioner sought leave to appeal in the Michigan Supreme Court. On June 28, 2016, the supreme court remanded the case to the Kent County Circuit Court to permit Judge Quist to determine whether he would impose a different sentence in light of Lockridge's elimination of the sentencing guidelines mandate. On September 21, 2016, Judge Quist entered an opinion and order reaffirming the initial sentence. Petitioner has not sought leave to appeal that decision. Instead, Petitioner has timely filed his habeas petition raising the same issue he raised in the state appellate courts: Petitioner's sentence violates the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment because it was enhanced by judicially-found facts that were not admitted by Petitioner. (Am. Pet., ECF No. 8, PageID.24.)
This action is governed by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (AEDPA). See Penry v. Johnson, 532 U.S. 782, 792 (2001). The AEDPA "prevents federal habeas 'retrials'" and ensures that state court convictions are given effect to the extent possible under the law. Bell v. Cone, 535 U.S. 685, 693-94 (2002). The AEDPA has "drastically changed" the nature of habeas review. Bailey v. Mitchell, 271 F.3d 652, 655 (6th Cir. 2001). An application for writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person who is incarcerated pursuant to a state conviction cannot be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in state court unless the 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 upon an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the state courtproceeding." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). This standard is "intentionally difficult to meet." Woods v. Donald, 575 U.S. ___, 135 S. Ct. 1372, 1376 (2015) (internal quotation marks omitted).
The AEDPA limits the source of law to cases decided by the United States Supreme Court. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). This Court may consider only the "clearly established" holdings, and not the dicta, of the Supreme Court. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 412 (2000); Bailey, 271 F.3d at 655. In determining whether federal law is clearly established, the Court may not consider the decisions of lower federal courts. Lopez v. Smith, 135 S. Ct. 1, 3 (2014); Bailey, 271 F.3d at 655. Moreover, "clearly established Federal law" does not include decisions of the Supreme Court announced after the last adjudication of the merits in state court. Greene v. Fisher, 132 S. Ct. 38 (2011). Thus, the inquiry is limited to an examination of the legal landscape as it would have appeared to the Michigan state courts in light of Supreme Court precedent at the time of the state-court adjudication on the merits. Miller v. Stovall, 742 F.3d 642, 644 (6th Cir. 2014) (citing Greene, 132 S. Ct. at 44).
A federal habeas court may issue the writ under the "contrary to" clause if the state court applies a rule different from the governing law set forth in the Supreme Court's cases, or if it decides a case differently than the Supreme Court has done on a set of materially indistinguishable facts. Bell, 535 U.S. at 694 (citing Williams, 529 U.S. at 405-06). "To satisfy this high bar, a habeas petitioner is required to 'show that the state court's ruling on the claim being presented in federal court was so lacking in justification that there was an error well understood and comprehended in existing law beyond any possibility for fairminded disagreement.'" Woods, 2015 WL 1400852, at *3 (quoting Harrington v. Richter, 562 U.S. 86, 103 (2011)). In other words, "[w]here the precise contours of the right remain unclear, state courts enjoy broad discretion intheir adjudication of a prisoner's claims." White v. Woodall, 572 U.S. ___, 134 S. Ct. 1697, 1705 (2014) (quotations marks omitted).
The AEDPA requires heightened respect for state factual findings. Herbert v. Billy, 160 F.3d 1131, 1134 (6th Cir. 1998). A determination of a factual issue made by a state court is presumed to be correct, and the petitioner has the burden of rebutting the presumption by clear and convincing evidence. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1); Lancaster v. Adams, 324 F.3d 423, 429 (6th Cir. 2003); Bailey, 271 F.3d at 656. This presumption of correctness is accorded to findings of state appellate courts, as well as the trial court. See Sumner v. Mata, 449 U.S. 539, 546 (1981); Smith v. Jago, 888 F.2d 399, 407 n.4 (6th Cir. 1989).
Petitioner contends that the sentence is unconstitutional because it is based on facts found by the judge when the Sixth Amendment requires that it be based only on facts found by the jury or admitted by Petitioner. Petitioner misconstrues the constitutional requirement.
Petitioner bases his argument on a line of cases beginning with Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), continuing with Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296 (2004), and United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), then ending with Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. ___, 133 S. Ct. 2151 (2013). In Apprendi, the Supreme Court held that "[o]ther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt." 530 U.S. at 490. Apprendi enunciated a new rule of Sixth Amendment jurisprudence. In the subsequent case of Blakely, the Court applied the rule of Apprendi to a state sentencing guideline scheme, under which the maximum penalty could be increased by judicial fact-finding. The Blakely Court held that the state guideline scheme violated Sixth Amendment rights, and reiterated the rule that any fact thatincreased the maximum sentence must be "admitted by the defendant or proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt." See Booker, 543 U.S. at 232 (citing Blakely, 542 U.S. at 303).
Unlike the State of Washington's determinate sentencing system at issue in Blakely, the State of Michigan has an indeterminate sentencing system in which the defendant is given a sentence with a minimum and a maximum term. The maximum sentence is not determined by the trial judge, but is set by law. See People v. Drohan, 715 N.W.2d 778, 789-91 (Mich. 2006) (citing MICH. COMP. LAWS § 769.8). Only the minimum sentence is based on the applicable sentencing guideline range. Id.; and see People v. Babcock, 666 N.W.2d 231, 236 n.7 (Mich. 2003) (citing MICH. COMP. LAWS § 769.34(2)). The Sixth Circuit authoritatively has held that the Michigan indeterminate sentencing system does not run afoul of Blakely....
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