Holland v. Anderson

• Decision Date: 18 September 2009
• Docket Number: No. 06-70034.,06-70034.
• Citation: 583 F.3d 267
• Parties: Gerald James HOLLAND, Petitioner-Appellant, v. James V. ANDERSON, Superintendent, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

583 F.3d 267

Gerald James HOLLAND, Petitioner-Appellant, v. James V. ANDERSON, Superintendent, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 06-70034.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

September 18, 2009.

Stephen Eberhardt, Tinley Park, IL, Steven Daniel Orlansky (argued), Watkins & Eager, P.L.L.C., Jackson, MS, for Petitioner-Appellant.

Marvin L. White, Jr. (argued), Jackson, MS, for Respondent-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Before WIENER, STEWART, and PRADO, Circuit Judges.

PRADO, Circuit Judge:

Petitioner Gerald James Holland ("Holland") appeals the district court's order denying him habeas corpus relief from his Mississippi conviction for capital murder and sentence of death. Holland raised five issues in his motion for a Certificate of Appealability ("COA"), and we granted a COA on "the single issue of whether Holland's rights were violated at his resentencing when he was not permitted to rebut the State's evidence that he killed [Krystal] King while engaged in the commission of the crime of rape," as the jury found during the guilt phase of his trial. Holland v. Anderson, 230 Fed.Appx. 374, 386 (5th Cir.2007) (per curiam). For the following reasons, we AFFIRM the district court's denial of habeas corpus relief.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In its opinion denying Holland's Amended Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, the district court provided a detailed account of the factual background and procedural history of this case. See Holland v. Anderson, 439 F.Supp.2d 644, 649-53 (S.D.Miss.2006). Below, we focus upon only those facts most relevant to the instant appeal.

On November 17, 1986, a grand jury in Harrison County, Mississippi, indicted forty-nine-year-old Holland for murdering fifteen-year-old Krystal D. King ("King") "while engaged in the commission of the crime and felony of Rape." After a transfer of venue, the State tried Holland before a jury in November and December 1987. Following a twelve-day trial, the jury found Holland guilty of capital murder, thus making Holland eligible for the death penalty. See MISS.CODE ANN. § 97-3-19(2)(e) (defining capital murder to include murder while "engaged in the commission of the crime of rape"); § 97-3-21 (authorizing the death penalty for those convicted of capital murder). Immediately after the jury returned its guilty verdict, the judge sent the jury out of the room so he could discuss with the attorneys how the penalty phase would proceed. Approximately twenty-two minutes later, the jury sent out a note stating, "We, the jury, sentence Gerald James Holland to death." The judge then admonished the jury to refrain from deliberations, and the penalty phase proceeded with the same jury. At the conclusion of the sentencing phase, the jury recommended—and the court imposed—a sentence of death.

On Holland's first direct appeal, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Holland's conviction but reversed his death sentence on the ground that the jury's premature sentencing deliberations violated his Sixth Amendment right to a fair and impartial jury. Holland v. State (Holland I), 587 So.2d 848, 872-75 (Miss.1991). The court remanded the case for resentencing by a new jury (the "resentencing jury"). Id. at 875.

On remand, the trial court concluded that, because the original jury—by virtue of finding Holland guilty of murder during the commission of a rape—found that Holland raped King (and this conviction had been affirmed on appeal), Holland could not deny the rape during his resentencing proceeding. See Holland v. State (Holland II), 705 So.2d 307, 327 (Miss.1997), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 829, 119 S.Ct. 80, 142 L.Ed.2d 63 (1998). The court ruled that Holland could introduce mitigating evidence and describe the circumstances of the rape and murder, but he could not argue that he did not rape King. See id.

The court also submitted to the jury three aggravating factors to consider: "(1) that the capital offense was committed while the defendant was engaged in the act of commission of the crime of rape, (2) that the capital offense was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest, and (3) that the capital offense was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel." Id. at 319. He further "submitted to the jury the determination of whether Holland actually killed Krystal D. King, or attempted to kill her, or intended that the killing take place, or contemplated that lethal force would be employed." Id.; see MISS.CODE ANN. § 99-19-101(7)(a-d); Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782, 797, 102 S.Ct. 3368, 73 L.Ed.2d 1140 (1982).

Pursuant to Mississippi procedure, the state recalled five witnesses who testified during the guilt phase of Holland's trial. See Jackson v. State, 337 So.2d 1242, 1256 (Miss.1976) ("At this hearing, the State may elect to stand on the case made at the first hearing, if before the same jury, or may reintroduce any part of the evidence adduced at the first hearing which it considers to be relevant to the particular question of whether the defendant shall suffer death or be sentenced to life imprisonment."), superseded by statute on unrelated grounds as recognized by Gray v. State, 351 So.2d 1342, 1349 (Miss.1977). Among these witnesses was Dr. McGarry, the State's pathologist, who testified that King had been raped and explained the heinous manner in which she had been murdered. Holland proffered the testimony of his own pathologist, Dr. Riddick, to rebut Dr. McGarry's testimony. The record indicates that the court would have permitted Dr. Riddick to dispute Dr. McGarry's testimony about the "especially heinous, atrocious or cruel" aggravating circumstance; the court only would have prohibited him from contesting the original jury's finding that Holland in fact raped King. Holland, however, elected not to call Dr. Riddick.¹ Although Holland called multiple witnesses to testify on his behalf, including his mother, brother, a psychiatrist, and one of the state's witnesses, he chose not to testify himself, allegedly because he could not deny the occurrence of the rape, even though he could have testified to the facts and circumstances thereof in mitigation. At the conclusion of the resentencing proceeding, the jury found the existence of all three aggravating factors and "that Holland actually killed Krystal King, intended to kill and contemplated that lethal force would be employed." Holland II, 705 So.2d at 319. It sentenced Holland to death. Id.

On Holland's second direct appeal, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed his sentence. Id. at 357.² Prior to seeking post-conviction relief in Mississippi state court, in December 1998, Holland filed a pro se application for a stay of execution and a motion for appointment of counsel in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. The district court granted both motions, but it stayed further action in Holland's case pending the exhaustion of his state court remedies. Holland then filed a petition for post-conviction relief with the Mississippi Supreme Court, which the court denied. Holland v. State (Holland III), 878 So.2d 1, 10 (Miss. 2004), cert. denied, 544 U.S. 906, 125 S.Ct. 1590, 161 L.Ed.2d 280 (2005).

After the Mississippi Supreme Court decided Holland III, the district court lifted the stay and Holland filed an amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus³ in which he raised twelve claims for habeas relief. In a thorough opinion, the district court denied the amended petition and subsequently denied Holland's request for a COA. See Holland, 439 F.Supp.2d 644. Holland then sought a COA from this court on five issues. Holland, 230 Fed. Appx. at 375. We granted a COA on the single issue currently before us and denied a COA on each of Holland's other claims. Id. at 386.

II. JURISDICTION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

We have jurisdiction over this appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(a) and (c)(1)(A) because the district court issued a final order denying Holland habeas relief and we granted him a COA. See Richardson v. Quarterman, 537 F.3d 466, 472 (5th Cir.2008).

"On habeas review, we review the district court's findings of fact for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo." Mallard v. Cain, 515 F.3d 379, 381 (5th Cir.2008). Our review of Holland's amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus is governed by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA"), Pub.L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214, which mandates that federal courts give great deference, subject to limited exceptions, to the state courts' resolution of a petitioner's claims. See Foster v. Quarterman, 466 F.3d 359, 365 (5th Cir.2006). This "deference is mandated both for questions of law and for mixed questions of law and fact." Id. Under AEDPA, a federal court cannot grant habeas relief unless the state court adjudication of a claim either

(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 on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.

28 U.S.C. § 2254(d); see also Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510, 520, 123 S.Ct. 2527, 156 L.Ed.2d 471 (2003). "Under § 2254(d)(1), a decision is contrary to clearly established federal law if `the state court arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by [the Supreme Court] on a question of law' or `confronts facts that are materially indistinguishable from a relevant Supreme Court precedent and arrives at a result opposite to [that precedent].'" Oliver v. Quarterman, 541 F.3d 329, 334 (5th Cir.2008) (quoting (Terry) Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 405, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000)) (alterations in original), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 1985, 173 L.Ed.2d 1084 (2009). "A decision involves...