Holman v. Kemna

• Decision Date: 14 December 1999
• Docket Number: No. 99-1552,99-1552
• Citation: 212 F.3d 413
• Parties: (8th Cir. 2000) MICHAEL HOLMAN, APPELLANT, v. MIKE KEMNA, SUPERINTENDENT, APPELLEE. Submitted:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 413

212 F.3d 413 (8th Cir. 2000)

MICHAEL HOLMAN, APPELLANT, v. MIKE KEMNA, SUPERINTENDENT, APPELLEE.

No. 99-1552

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

Submitted: December 14, 1999

Filed: May 5, 2000

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before Beam and Heaney, Circuit Judges, and Kyle, ¹ District Judge.

Beam, Circuit Judge.

Michael Holman, appeals from the district court's ² denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Holman was charged in Missouri state court with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with the shooting death of William Stufflebean, Jr. Prior to trial, he moved to suppress a confession made to Daviess County, Missouri, Deputy Bill Wright, on the grounds that the confession was obtained in violation of his Fifth Amendment right to counsel as a component of the privilege against self-incrimination, and his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Following an evidentiary hearing on the matter, the trial court denied the motion to suppress. Holman was subsequently found guilty by a jury. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without eligibility for parole on the murder charge and life imprisonment on the armed criminal action charge, the sentences to be served consecutively. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed Holman's conviction as well as the trial court's denial of post-conviction relief. See State v. Holman, 965 S.W.2d 464 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998) (Holman). Following the denial of his application for transfer to the Supreme Court of Missouri, Holman commenced this section 2254 petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court. The district court denied the writ, but granted a certificate of appealability on the sole issue of whether Holman "effectively waived his federal constitutional rights" at the time of his confession.

The confession at issue was obtained during a meeting between Holman and Wright on the morning of October 24, 1993, at the Livingston County Jail where Holman was being held until trial. Wright's visit to the prison took place after Holman had telephoned his stepfather, Bernie Gayle Cabra, twice-the night before and again that morning-asking him to summon Wright to the prison to take Holman's confession. Upon arriving at the prison, Wright met with Holman in an interview room. According to testimony given at trial by a jailer present during much of the encounter, Wright gave Holman his Miranda rights and then obtained a written waiver of those rights. Wright then proceeded to tape record an interview in which Holman confessed how he, Melissa Stufflebean (Holman's girlfriend and the victim's wife), and Randy Asher (Melissa Stufflebean's brother), had planned to kill William Stufflebean. Following the interview, Holman was left alone in the room with blank statement forms on which he provided a written account detailing the events leading to William Stufflebean's murder. Both the recorded interview and the written confession were admitted at trial.

Holman concedes that he asked Cabra to tell Wright to come to the prison on the morning of October 24. However, he asserts that the contacting of Wright and his subsequent waiver of rights were precipitated by the fact that on the prior day, Wright had visited Holman, without contacting Holman's attorney, and informed him that Melissa Stufflebean had confessed and implicated Holman in William Stufflebean's murder. Thus, Holman asserts, admission of his confession violates his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights to counsel.

The Missouri Court of Appeals, rejected Holman's argument, finding that there was no evidence that Wright had initiated conversation with Holman on October 23. It noted that the trial court had heard evidence that Holman had requested jail officials to send any law enforcement officers who might appear at the jail to see him. See Holman, 965 S.W.2d at 468. The court concluded that "[t]he evidence supports an inference that Holman wanted to talk to Wright or any other officer . . . and initiated the conversation with Wright on October 23." Id. In denying Holman's section 2254 petition, the district court did not focus on the issue of who initiated the contact on October 23, but rather found that Holman's decision to contact Wright the next day was voluntary and sufficient to waive his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. See Holman v. Kemna, No. 98-0650-CV-W-6-P, slip op. at 6-7 (W.D. Mo. Dec. 22, 1998). Holman appeals.

II. DISCUSSION

In determining whether to grant habeas corpus relief, we review whether the state conviction "was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law . . . or 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). State court findings of fact are generally presumed to be correct unless the petitioner rebuts the presumption by clear and convincing evidence. See 28 U.S.C. 2254(e)(1). We review the district court's findings of fact for clear error and its conclusions of law de novo. See Richardson v. Bowersox, 188 F.3d 973, 977 (8th Cir. 1999),cert. Denied, U.S., 120 S.Ct. 1971, L.Ed.2d (2000).

In Edwards v. Arizona, a Fifth Amendment case, the Supreme Court held that once a defendant expresses a desire to deal with the police only through counsel, the police may not further interrogate the defendant until "counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversation with the police." 451 U.S. 477, 484-85 (1981). The Court also held that once the defendant has invoked the right to counsel, "a valid waiver of that right cannot be established by showing only that he responded to further police-initiated custodial interrogation even if he has been advised of his rights." Id. at 484. The purpose behind the prophylactic rule announced in Edwards is to prevent police from badgering a defendant into waiving his previously asserted Miranda rights. See Michigan v. Harvey, 494 U.S. 344, 350 (1990). In Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U.S. 625 (1986), the Court extended the Edwards rule to the Sixth Amendment context.

Neither side disputes that at the point when Wright visited Holman in his cell on October 23, Holman had invoked his right to counsel for purposes of both his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. Therefore the next question is whether the meeting that day constituted "police-initiated custodial interrogation" in contravention of Edwards and Jackson, so as to render invalid Holman's subsequent contact of Wright and waiver of rights.

As noted earlier, the Missouri Court of Appeals found that Holman, himself, had initiated conversation with Wright on October 23 because the record indicated that Holman had previously requested jail officials to send any law enforcement officers from Daviess County who might appear at the jail to see him. Holman asserts that the record does not support such an inference.

Initiation by a defendant occurs when the defendant evinces "a willingness and a desire for a generalized discussion about the investigation." Oregon v. Bradshaw, 462 U.S. 1039, 1045-46 (1983). Although this Circuit has not settled on the proper standard of review to be applied to a state court determination of initiation, we now hold that, although we apply the section 2254 presumption of correctness to the facts that the state court found, whether those facts constitute an "initiation" under Edwards is a legal question requiring de novo review. See Bannister v. Delo, 100 F.3d 610, 620 n.9 (8th Cir. 1996); United States v. Whaley 13 F.3d 963, 968 (6th Cir. 1994). We do not believe the facts found by the state court support its legal conclusion that Holman initiated conversation with Wright on October 23. The testimony by Livingston County jailers at the motion to suppress hearing indicates that although Holman made sporadic requests to see Daviess County enforcement officers and even briefly met with Wright once, there is no indication as to when these events took place nor their subject matter. We also note that both in its brief to the Missouri Court of Appeals and to this court, the government expressly states that Wright made the initial contact with Holman. See Postscript Enter. v. City of Bridgeton, 905 F.2d 223, 227-28 (8th Cir. 1990) (treating statements by parties made in briefs as judicial admission); Purgess v. Sharrock, 33 F.3d 134, 144 (2d Cir. 1994) (noting that a court can appropriately treat statements in briefs as binding judicial admissions of fact). In short, we find that the state court's determination that Holman initiated contact with Wright on October 23 involved an "unreasonable application" of clearly established federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States. See 28 U.S.C. 2254(d)(1); Williams v. Taylor, 120 S. Ct. 1495, 1520-23 (2000).

Although we disagree with the state court's determination of this issue, we nevertheless find that the record supports its ultimate conclusion that Holman effectively waived his constitutional rights because the sequence of events following Wright's initiation of contact with Holman on October 23, establishes that there was no Edwards violation and that Holman's subsequent waiver was knowing and voluntary. See Cooksey v. Delo, 94 F.3d 1214, 1218 (8th Cir. 1996) (court of appeals conducting habeas review may affirm a judgment on any basis supported by the record).

As noted earlier, under Edwards, once a defendant has invoked the right to counsel, "a valid waiver of that right cannot be established by showing only that he responded to further police-initiated custodial interrogation even if he has been advised of his rights." Edwards, 451 U.S. at 484. Because the district court erroneously concluded that Holman...