Jamison v. Collins
| Decision Date | 21 December 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. C-1-94-175.,C-1-94-175. |
| Parties | Derrick JAMISON, Petitioner, v. Terry J. COLLINS, Warden, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio |
James Edward Davidson, John Patrick Gilligan, Schottenstein Zox & Dunn, Columbus, OH, J. Joseph Bodine, Jr., Pamela J. Prude-Smithers, Ohio Public Defender Commission, Columbus, OH, William Sheldon Lazarow, Assistant State Public Defender, Columbus, OH, for Derrick Jamison, Petitioner.
Jonathan R. Fulkerson, Assistant Attorney General, Columbus, OH, Stuart Alan Cole, Ohio Attorney General, Columbus, OH, for Betty Mitchell, Warden, Respondent.
This matter is before the Court on Petitioner's Amended Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus (doc. 94), Respondent's Supplemental Return of Writ (doc. 95), and Petitioner's Amended Traverse (doc. 96.)
This is a capital case. Petitioner, Derrick Jamison, has been sentenced to death by the State of Ohio.
Petitioner was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to death by the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas for the murder of Gary Mitchell at the Central Bar in Cincinnati, Ohio on August 1, 1984. Petitioner was represented by attorneys Calvin Prem and William Flax at trial. (Return of Writ, Ex. C.) Petitioner pursued direct appeal in the Ohio Court of Appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court; both courts affirmed his conviction and sentence. (Id., Exs. E & H.) Petitioner was represented by attorneys Albert Rodenberg and William Flax in the Court of Appeals. (Id., Ex. D.) He was represented by attorneys Peter Pandilidis and William Flax in the Ohio Supreme Court. (Id., Ex. F.) The Ohio Supreme Court affirmed Petitioner's convictions and death sentence on March 7, 1990. State v. Jamison, 49 Ohio St.3d 182, 552 N.E.2d 180 (1990); (Id., Ex. H.) The Ohio Supreme Court denied Petitioner's Motion for Reconsideration on April 11, 1990. (Id., Ex. I.) The United States Supreme Court denied Petitioner's Petition for Writ of Certiorari on October 9, 1990. (Id., Ex. K.)
Petitioner pursued postconviction relief in the Ohio courts. He filed his postconviction petition on June 25, 1991. (Return of Writ, Ex. L.) Postconviction relief was denied at all stages. (Id., Exs. N, Q, T & U.)
On August 28, 1992, Petitioner filed his Application for Delayed Reconsideration of his Direct Appeal with the Hamilton County Court of Appeals pursuant to App.R. 14(B), App.R. 26 and State v. Murnahan, 63 Ohio St.3d 60, 584 N.E.2d 1204 (1992), alleging ineffective assistance of appellate counsel before the Hamilton County Court of Appeals. (Return of Writ, Ex. V.) The Hamilton County Court of Appeals denied Petitioner's Application for Delayed Reconsideration as untimely. (Id., Ex. X.) Thereafter, Petitioner filed a Notice of Appeal from the decision denying his Application for Delayed Reconsideration. (State Court Appendix, Vol. X, Tab A.) The Ohio Supreme Court entered a decision on this appeal on April 14, 1993, dismissing the appeal sua sponte for the reason that no substantial constitutional question existed therein. (Id. at Tab F.) Petitioner also filed a Motion for Delayed Reinstatement of Direct Appeal as of Right in the Ohio Supreme Court. (State Court Appendix, Vol. XI, Tab A.) On October 27, 1993, the Ohio Supreme Court denied Petitioner's motion without an opinion. (State Court Appendix, Vol. IX, Tab G.) On November 8, 1993, Petitioner filed a Motion for Rehearing. (State Court Appendix, Vol. XI, Tab E.) On December 15, 1993, the Ohio Supreme Court denied Petitioner's motion without an opinion. (State Court Appendix, Vol. IX, Tab F.)
On March 10, 1994, Petitioner filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. (doc. 3.) Respondent filed his Return of Writ on April 2, 1994. (doc. 9.) On January 30, 1996, the Court granted Petitioner leave to conduct discovery to be completed within ninety days. (doc. 66.) Thereafter, on January 31, 1997, Petitioner filed an Amended Petition, which is the Petition currently before the Court. (doc. 94.) Respondent filed a Supplemental Return of Writ on March 3, 1997, arguing that the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA") applies to Petitioner's claims, that Petitioner's claims are not entitled to a merits review because of various procedural defaults, that Petitioner's claims lack merit, and that the Court is bound by the state courts' findings of fact. (doc. 95.) Petitioner filed his Amended Traverse on May 2, 1997 in which he disputes all of Respondent's arguments. (doc. 96.)
The Court held oral argument on the procedural default questions and the merits of the Amended Petition on December 22 and 23, 1997. Transcripts of that hearing were filed on March 23, 1998. (docs. 121 & 122.) Thereafter, the Parties submitted pre-hearing and post-hearing proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law and numerous notices of additional authority.
The charges against Petitioner arose from the events that occurred on August 1, 1984. The following factual background comes directly from the Ohio Supreme Court's opinion in this case, in which the court affirmed the conviction and sentence of Petitioner.
On August 1, 1984, Gary Mitchell was alone, tending bar at the Central Bar. The Central Bar, located near downtown Cincinnati, had been owned by Mitchell's family for forty years. When two patrons came into the bar, around 2:00 p.m., they found the bar empty and Mitchell unconscious, lying face down behind the bar. The cash register was open and empty. One patron called the police and an ambulance.
Soon thereafter the police and an ambulance arrived. When the ambulance crew carried Mitchell out, he had a large bruise on the side of his head. Upon arrival at the hospital, Mitchell was found nearly brain dead by treating physicians. Eight days later, Mitchell died from multiple brain bruises and bleeding caused by a traumatic blunt injury.
Cincinnati police found few clues to solve this crime. They did find a gym shoe print on the top of the bar. After photographing the print, they lifted an impression of it, discovering it was made by a Pony gym shoe. One bystander described two males that he saw running from the area of the bar at approximately the time of the crime as being in their mid-twenties, one, 6'2" to 6'4", weighing approximately two hundred pounds, and the other, shorter, 5'3" to 5'9".
Police investigated other robberies similar in pattern to the Central Bar homicide. Two earlier robbery victims had suffered severe head injuries, requiring extensive hospitalization. After the Central Bar homicide, other similar robberies continued to occur.
On October 12, 1984, the police, after being alerted by an automatic alarm, arrested appellant, Derrick Jamison, shortly after he had robbed a Gold Star Chili restaurant. A hidden automatic camera photographed appellant when he robbed Gold Star Chili. Appellant was arrested and taken into custody. Police found on his person marked money from Gold Star Chili, jewelry from another robbery, and a gun taken from a third robbery. In addition, appellant was wearing Pony gym shoes, the soles of which were similar to the shoe print found at the Central Bar two and onehalf months earlier. Appellant, 6'3" tall, twenty-three years old, and weighing one hundred seventy pounds, fit the earlier general description of one of the suspects running from the Central Bar on August 1, 1984. Appellant, while being a suspect, was not charged with the Central Bar incident at that time since he could not be positively identified. Police continued their investigation.
In January 1985, police apprehended Charles Howell, appellant's accomplice in the Central Bar homicide. Police discovered Howell through a Crime Stopper tip. Howell told police he and appellant were playing basketball at about noon on August 1st and on the spur of the moment, they decided to rob the Central Bar. Howell acted as the lookout. It was appellant who attacked the bartender. Appellant took the cash from the register, later giving Howell $80. Howell agreed to testify against appellant and pled guilty to aggravated robbery. Howell testified before a grand jury, which indicted appellant for aggravated robbery and the felony murder of Gary Mitchell.
Jamison, 49 Ohio St.3d at 182-183, 552 N.E.2d 180.
The specific claims raised in the state court proceedings can be found in the Appendix to this Order.
Petitioner has sought relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Section 2254, Title 28 of the United States Code, provides that "a district court shall entertain an application of a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court only on the ground that he is in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a) (1994).
The Parties dispute what effect, if any, the recent amendments to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 set forth in section 104 of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA" or the "Act"), Pub.L. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (), have on this case. President Clinton signed the AEDPA into law on April 24, 1996. Because the law does not contain an effective date, it became effective on the date of enactment. Zuern v. Tate, 938 F.Supp. 468, 470 (S.D.Ohio 1996).1
The Act amends certain provisions of the preexisting habeas corpus statute that are codified in Chapter 153 of the Judicial Code and the Act creates a new Chapter 154 of the Judicial Code containing a set of "Special Habeas Corpus Procedures in Capital Cases." The Act also adds a new § 2254(d), but this section...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Dickerson v. Mitchell, No. 1:00 CV 2356.
...This Court need not address the defaulted status of a claim where the State has failed to do so. See, e.g., Jamison v. Collins, 100 F.Supp.2d 521, 597 (S.D.Ohio 1998)(addressing merits of claim when respondent failed to raise procedural default defense in return of writ or supplemental retu......
-
Cowans v. Bagley, No. C-1-00-618.
...will grant additional factual development through discovery or a hearing. Ohio's procedure is not unreasonable, Jamison v. Collins, 100 F.Supp.2d 521, 567-68 (S.D.Ohio 1998), and the Court notes that petitioner managed to submit evidentiary documents in support of other claims he raised in ......
-
Brinkley v. Houk
...can be procedurally defaulted. Edwards v. Carpenter, 529 U.S. 446, 453, 120 S.Ct. 1587, 146 L.Ed.2d 518 (2000); Jamison v. Collins, 100 F.Supp.2d 521, 551 (S.D.Ohio, 1998) (a petitioner may not bring an ineffective assistance of counsel claim as cause for a default when that ineffective ass......
-
Curtis v. Boyd
... ... habeas review outside of the capital-case context ... Herrera v. Collins , 506 U.S. 390, 404 (1993); ... Cress v. Palmer , 848 F.3d 844, 854-55 (6th Cir ... 2007). This is not a capital case. This claim is ... 104 S.Ct. 205216, may satisfy the standard for ... ‘cause' under Coleman , 501 U.S. at 750, ... 111 S.Ct. 2546.” Jamison v. Collins , 100 ... F.Supp.2d 521, 551 (S.D. Ohio 1998). However, ... Petitioner's attempt to show cause for his procedural ... ...