Holladay v. Haley, 98-6937

• Decision Date: 19 April 2000
• Docket Number: No. 98-6937,98-6937
• Parties: (11th Cir. 2000) Glenn William HOLLADAY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Michael W. HALEY, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, Attorney General of the State of Alabama, Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1243

209 F.3d 1243 (11th Cir. 2000)

Glenn William HOLLADAY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Michael W. HALEY, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, Attorney General of the State of Alabama, Respondents-Appellees.

No. 98-6937.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

April 19, 2000.

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. (No. CV-95-PT-2929-M), Robert B. Propst, Judge.

Before ANDERSON, Chief Judge, and TJOFLAT and MARCUS, Circuit Judges.

ANDERSON, Chief Judge:

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In August 1986, Rebecca Ledbetter Holladay was living in a mobile home in Gadsden, Alabama. On the night of the 24th, her son Shea Ledbetter, her sister Katrina Ledbetter, her boyfriend David Robinson, and her son's friend Larry Thomas, Jr., were all at the mobile home. Thomas left to get something to eat at his own home. As he walked outside, he was shot and his body was later discovered outside of the trailer. Immediately after Thomas was shot, Glenn Holladay burst into the trailer, shoving aside Katrina Ledbetter as she yelled a warning to her sister, who was back in the bedroom. Holladay proceeded down the hallway, stopping at Shea's bedroom and attempting to turn on the light. After Holladay left Shea's bedroom, Shea and Katrina left the trailer and ran to Thomas's parents' home. Holladay found his ex-wife and her boyfriend in the back bedroom; he shot Robinson in the arm and chest and shot Rebecca in the back of the head. All three shooting victims died of their injuries.

Glenn Holladay had told an acquaintance in Nashville that his ex-wife had a new boyfriend and that if she did not stop seeing him, he would kill her. After the shootings, Holladay called a neighbor of his father and told her that he had done a bad thing. He told her that he had not intended to kill Larry Thomas; he thought that Thomas was his ex-wife's boyfriend. After being shot by the police on October 9, 1986, Holladay was apprehended in Gainesville, Florida.

At trial Holladay testified that he was in Nashville at the time of the killings and denied killing any of the victims. He was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death on July 27, 1987. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals and the Alabama Supreme Court affirmed both his conviction and death sentence on direct appeal. Holladay v. State, 549 So.2d 122 (Ala.Crim.App.1988) aff'd, Ex parte Holladay, 549 So.2d 135 (Ala.1989). The United States Supreme Court denied Holladay's petition for writ of certiorari, Holladay v Alabama, 493 U.S. 1012, 110 S.Ct. 575, 107 L.Ed.2d 569 (1989), and his petition for rehearing, Holladay v. Alabama, 493 U.S. 1095, 110 S.Ct. 1173, 107 L.Ed.2d 1075 (1990).

Next, Holladay filed for post-conviction relief under Temporary Rule 20¹ of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure on September 10, 1990, and amended his petition on April 24, 1991. An evidentiary hearing was held on April 25-27, 1991 and on December 5, 1991, the Rule 20 court denied the petition, finding some of the claims procedurally barred and determining that the others were meritless. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the denial and the Alabama Supreme Court denied his petition for writ of certiorari. Holladay v. State, 629 So.2d 673 (Ala.Crim.App.1992), cert. denied, 629 So.2d 673 (Ala.Crim.App.1992). The United States Supreme Court denied his petition for writ of certiorari. Holladay v. Alabama, 510 U.S. 1171, 114 S.Ct. 1208, 127 L.Ed.2d 555 (1994).

In November 1995, Holladay filed the present petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The magistrate judge recommended that the writ be denied on May 29, 1998, and Holladay filed a motion for withdrawal of the recommendation in June 1998. The magistrate judge amended his recommendation but retained the substance of the recommendation. The District Court adopted the recommendation and denied the habeas petition in July 1998. Holladay filed to alter or amend the judgment, which the district court denied in October 1998. On November 18, 1998, Holladay filed a notice of appeal.

Holladay argues on appeal that his attorneys provided ineffective assistance of counsel with respect to his sentence. In this regard, he charges his former counsel with (a) failing to present in a meaningful way records in their possession at trial, (b) failing to provide those records to the State's evaluating psychiatrists and psychologists, (c) failing to procure independent mental health examinations, and (d) failing to discover prior mental health difficulties. Next, he claims ineffective assistance of counsel with respect to guilt and sentence because (e) his former attorneys elicited prejudicial information on direct examination. Finally, Holladay asserts a substantive claim that his trial was rendered fundamentally unfair by the excessive security in the courtroom and the fact that he appeared in shackles; and he also asserts that his trial and appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel with respect to this claim.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

In assessing each of Holladay's claims, we review the district court's findings of fact for clear error, while we review all questions of law de novo. See Byrd v. Hasty, 142 F.3d 1395, 1396 (11th Cir.1998). Because the issue of whether petitioner's counsel were ineffective is a mixed question of law and fact, it is subject to de novo review. See Mills v. Singletary, 161 F.3d 1273, 1285 (11th Cir.1998).² Factual determinations made by the state court are presumed to be correct with exceptions not relevant here. See 28 U.S.C. 2254(d) (1995) (amended 1996).

III. DISCUSSION

A. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

In order to succeed with a challenge based on ineffective assistance of counsel, a petitioner has to satisfy a two part test. First, the petitioner must show that counsel's performance was deficient. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2064, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). This means that the petitioner must show that the representation provided by counsel was outside the "wide range of competent assistance" and he must also overcome the presumption of competence. Id. at 690, 104 S.Ct. at 2066. In analyzing counsel's competence, the court must apply a "heavy measure of deference to counsel's judgments." Id. at 691, 104 S.Ct. at 2066. Second, the petitioner must show that the performance prejudiced the defense, so that the result of the trial is not reliable. See id. To satisfy this test, the defendant "must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different." Id. at 694, 104 S.Ct. at 2068. Furthermore, "[a] reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome." Id. Because both parts of the test must be satisfied in order to show a violation of the Sixth Amendment, the court need not address the performance prong if the defendant cannot meet the prejudice prong, see id., or vice versa.

1. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel at Sentencing for Failure to Present Records in a Meaningful Way

Holladay claims that his trial counsel, Kathleen and Howard Warren, did not use the records that they uncovered in a meaningful way at the penalty phase. The Warrens obtained records from the Department of Pensions and Securities from 1957 to 1981 that detailed the Holladay family history. However, Holladay asserts that his counsel did nothing more than present those records to the jury and even advised the jury not to read through all of the records. Furthermore, he maintains that they were entered into evidence outside of the jury's presence. Finally, Holladay states that the Warrens did not draw attention to his mental retardation.

Citing Stephens v. Kemp, 846 F.2d 642 (11th Cir.1988), and Turpin v. Lipham, 270 Ga. 208, 510 S.E.2d 32 (1998), Holladay maintains that the Warrens were as deficient in their representation as counsel were in those cases. In Stephens, this Court found that an attorney who made no use in the penalty phase of the trial of records of the defendant's mental illness, did not procure an independent expert analysis of the defendant, and did not comment in closing argument upon the records or the defendant's mother's testimony regarding the manifestations of the defendant's mental illness, was not within "the wide range of professionally competent assistance." Stephens, 846 F.2d at 653. In Turpin, the Georgia Supreme Court found counsel to be ineffective in the penalty phase because they introduced 2,500 pages of records from the defendant's stays at various psychiatric institutions and children's homes, without any testimony commenting on the contents, and merely urged the jury to use the records in their deliberations.

The conduct of the counsel in this case was markedly different. Unlike the counsel in Stephens, Mrs. Warren in her closing argument reminded the jury of Holladay's manifold problems, including his family circumstances, his abuse and neglect as a child, and his mental problems. She argued that those problems "contributed to the place that he is in right now." She called two mitigation witnesses who talked about Holladay's childhood, abuse, neglect, illiteracy, and learning difficulties. Holladay's father testified to his neglect, abuse at the hands of foster parents, and enrollment in special education classes.³ The performance of counsel here was far superior to that in either Stephens or Turpin.

Holladay's attack on the efficacy of Mrs. Warren's use of the records is misplaced. Mrs. Warren discussed the contents of the records that she exhorted the jury to read and stated that the reason for giving them the 142 pages of records was that they provided a chronological record of the traumatic events in Holladay's childhood. Although Holladay is correct that Mrs. Warren stated that she did not...