Jamerson v. Secretary for Dept. of Corrections
| Decision Date | 27 May 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-15902.,03-15902. |
| Citation | 410 F.3d 682 |
| Parties | Terry M. JAMERSON, Petitioner-Appellant, v. SECRETARY FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Janice Bergmann, Fed. Pub. Def., Fort Lauderdale, FL, Kathleen M. Williams, Fed. Pub. Def., Miami, FL, for Petitioner-Appellant.
Sue-Ellen Kenny, Karen Finkle, West Palm Beach, FL, for Respondent-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Before ANDERSON, PRYOR and HILL, Circuit Judges.
The sole issue in this appeal is whether Terry M. Jamerson is entitled to federal habeas relief because a Florida trial court allegedly instructed the jury that it could find Jamerson guilty as an accomplice to second-degree murder if the jury found Jamerson guilty of any lesser-included offense. Because the jury instructions, in the context of the entire charge, fairly and correctly stated the law of Florida, we conclude, under the highly deferential standard of habeas review, that Jamerson was not denied due process. We affirm the denial of habeas relief.
Jamerson's conviction arises from the 1992 murder of Luyen Nguyen, a 19-year-old student of Vietnamese descent, who was beaten to death by a group of drunken young men. According to testimony at Jamerson's trial, Nguyen and two friends, Jeff Sintay and Ryan Guerra, attended a party in Coral Springs, Florida, on August 15, 1992. The three left the party after 45 minutes. Sintay testified that, as they were leaving the apartment where the party was held, Sintay overheard several derogatory remarks directed at Nguyen. Those remarks included the racial slurs "chink" and "Vietcong."
Sintay told Nguyen about the epithets. Nguyen said that he wanted to return to the party to "talk" about the insults. Concerned about "the type of element" at the party, Sintay convinced Nguyen not to return to the party.
On the sidewalk outside the apartment building, Sintay, Guerra, and Nguyen encountered Bradley Mills, who had also attended the party. Nguyen asked Mills about the comments made at the party. Mills then called several partygoers gathered on a balcony overlooking the sidewalk and said "this kid's got a problem." Mills also called for "Chris" and "Jammer" to come down to the sidewalk.
Sintay testified that several persons, including Jamerson, surrounded Nguyen. An argument ensued, and Jamerson pushed Nguyen after another person slapped Nguyen in the face. After Jamerson pushed Nguyen, members of the group surrounding Nguyen struck him numerous times. Sintay testified that, after the attack, Jamerson ran past Sintay and stated, "We got him good, but someone got me good too." Nguyen died from a blow to the head that broke his neck and severed an artery.
Other witnesses corroborated Sintay's testimony. David Michaelson testified that he saw a group of persons "kicking and punching and jumping on" Nguyen, and Jamerson was part of that group. John Russ testified that he heard a "lot of yelling," including the phrase "I hate Vietnamese." Russ also testified that he saw Jamerson and another person walking away from where Nguyen lay on the ground after the beating. Mathew Metzger, who knew Jamerson and was a resident of the apartment complex, testified that Jamerson came to his apartment that night, used Metzger's telephone, and asked Metzger about the best way to leave the apartment complex without being seen.
Jamerson and two others were charged with second-degree murder and tried as principals in the first degree. At the close of evidence, the state trial court instructed the jury on the elements of second-degree murder, along with the lesser-included offenses of manslaughter, aggravated battery, and battery. The trial court also instructed the jury regarding the Florida law of principals, which holds accountable, as a principal in the first degree, any person who aids in the commission of any criminal offense, regardless of whether that person was present at the commission of the offense. Fla. Stat. § 777.011.
The trial court gave the Florida Standard Jury Instruction then in effect regarding principal liability:
If two or more persons help each other commit a crime and the Defendant is one of them, the Defendant is a principal and must be treated as if he had done all of the things the other person or persons did if the Defendant:
Number one, knew what was going to happen.
And, number two, intended to participate actively or by sharing in an expected benefit.
And, number three, actually did something by which he intended to help commit the crime.
Help means to aid, plan or assist.
To be a principal, the Defendant does not have to be present when the crime is committed.
During deliberations, the jury asked the trial court the following question: "Regarding the principals clause in number one, `knew what was going to happen,' do we interpret this to mean death/serious bodily injury or fight?" After extensive argument, and over the objections of defense co-counsel, the trial court answered that the liability of a principal applied to each criminal charge:
Members of the jury, the law of principals applies to the main accusation, second degree murder. It also applies to the lesser included offenses of manslaughter, aggravated battery and battery.
In answer to your specific question, quote, knew what was going to happen, unquote, that pertains to a criminal act. Knew what was going to happen pertains to a criminal act.
The jury returned to its deliberations, but later asked a second question about principal liability, which was accompanied by a diagram:
[I]f we have established that a specific crime was committed between C and D, and there is a chart here for [the court], under the law of principals, could anyone who committed a lesser related crime between A and C be charged as a principal with the crime committed between C and D?
Over the objections of defense co-counsel, the trial court told the jury to read the earlier instructions again:
With respect to this question, I would ask all of you to deliberate further. Reread my instructions on the law. And since you have already focused in on the law of principals, I would ask you to reread the law of principals.
Hopefully, whatever facts you have established will be able to answer this question under the law as I have already given it to you ....
You are free to revisit this specific question or a related question. If you can answer this question from what I have just said, and if it triggers some other type of related question, in short, take another hard look at the instructions on the law.
If your question is a factual one, I can't answer that. I have no right to. If you feel that your question is purely a legal question in which you are asking me to expand or amplify on either the law of principals or some other legal concept, ask the question again.
The jury asked no additional questions and, after further deliberations, found Jamerson guilty of second-degree murder. The trial court sentenced Jamerson to 22 years in prison. Jamerson appealed.
On direct appeal, Jamerson argued that the trial court misstated the law in its answers to the jury's questions regarding the phrase "knew what was going to happen." Jamerson contended that the trial court instructed the jury that so long as the jury found Jamerson guilty of any crime, it could convict him of second-degree murder under the law of principals. The appellate court rejected this argument, with one judge dissenting, and affirmed Jamerson's conviction without a written opinion. Jamerson v. State, 677 So.2d 1299 (Fla. 4th Dist.Ct.App.1996) (per curiam). The dissenting judge contended that the answers given by the trial judge "beg[ged] the question asked by the jury" and "could have potentially misled the jury to believe that if a defendant knew any criminal act was going to happen, then that defendant could be convicted of second-degree murder." Id. at 1300 (Pariente, J., dissenting).
In October 1996, Jamerson filed in the Southern District of Florida a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. A magistrate judge issued a report and recommendation that the petition be denied, and the district court adopted that recommendation in December 1998. Jamerson appealed to this Court, where we concluded that the district court did not apply the correct standard to determine whether the alleged error deprived Jamerson of due process. Jamerson v. Sec'y for the Dep't of Corrs., No. 00-15605, slip op. at 3, 264 F.3d 1146, (11th Cir. June 26, 2001) (unpublished opinion)(per curiam). We stated that the proper standard was whether the error had "substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict." Id. at 2 (quoting California v. Roy, 519 U.S. 2, 5, 117 S.Ct. 337, 338, 136 L.Ed.2d 266 (1996)). We remanded the case for review under the correct standard and possible review for harmless error:
[T]he district court is free to determine in the first instance whether the jury instruction and supplemental explanation in question constituted federal constitutional error under the proper standard and, if the court decides it did, then decide whether the error was harmless under the proper standard. Or the court may initially determine if the alleged error was harmless.
Id. at 4 (footnote omitted).
The magistrate judge issued a report and recommendation that the petition be denied. The magistrate judge stated that the jury instructions and later answers to the jury's questions, viewed as a whole, fairly and accurately stated the law. The magistrate judge further recommended that, even if the instructions were erroneous, the error was harmless. The magistrate judge noted that "the mere possibility of jury confusion does not establish the substantial and injurious effect on the jury's verdict" that is required for...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Mincey v. Sec'y, Fla. Dep't of Corr.
...F. App'x 524, 528 (11th Cir. 2007) (citing Jones v. Dugger,888 F.2d 1340, 1343 (11th Cir. 1989)); see also Jamerson v. Sec'y for Dep't of Corr., 410 F. 3d 682, 688 (11th Cir. 2005) ("Unlike state appellate courts, federal courts on habeas review are constrained to determine only whether the......
-
Kaiser v. Sec'y, Fla. Dep't of Corr.
...conviction violate[d] due process.'" Id. at 72 (quoting Cupp v. Naughten, 414 U.S. 141, 147 (1973)).Jamerson v. Sec'y for Dep't of Corr., 410 F.3d 682, 688 (11th Cir. 2005) (quoting Estelle, 502 U.S. at 72). Further, to the extent Ground One can be liberally construed as a federal constitut......
-
Everett v. Sec'y
...and the trial record, 'so infected the entire trial that the resulting conviction violate[d] due process.'" Jamerson v. Sec'y for Dep't of Corr., 410 F.3d 682, 688 (11th Cir. 2005) (quoting Estelle, 502 U.S. at 72). "If there is no basis in the record for the instruction given, such error m......
-
Hardy v. Comm'r, Ala. Dep't of Corr., s. 11–10240
...We rule on the same cold record, meaning that we afford the District Court's judgment no deference. See Jamerson v. Sec'y for the Dep't of Corr., 410 F.3d 682, 687 (11th Cir.2005) (stating that we review a district court's denial of a habeas petition de novo). Our task, as the District Cour......