Jenkins v. Byrd
| Decision Date | 21 June 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. CV 498-167.,CV 498-167. |
| Parties | Clevon Jamel JENKINS, Petitioner, v. Thomas E. BYRD, Warden, Telfair State Prison, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Georgia |
Robert M. Kelly, White & Case, LLP, New York City, for Clevon Jamel Jenkins, plaintiff.
Paula K. Smith, Atlanta, GA, for Thomas E. Byrd, Warden, defendant.
Before the Court is the pro se petition of Clevon Jamel Jenkins1 for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 asking the Court to vacate; set aside or correct sentence. For the reasons set forth below, petitioner's petition is denied.
On December 13, 1993, petitioner Clevon Jamel Jenkins was jointly indicted with Shawn Brown, Cedric Brown, and Maurice Fleming by the Liberty County Grand Jury for the murder and armed robbery of Robert Franklin Hodges. Br.Supp. Answer-Resp. at 1 (Doc. 13). The state gave notice of its intent to seek the death penalty against petitioner. Id. Pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 17-10-35.1, several pretrial rulings, including the admissibility of petitioner's statements to police, were affirmed on interim appeal. Id.; Jenkins v. State, 265 Ga. 539, 458 S.E.2d 477 (1995) ("Jenkins I"). Following a week-long jury trial beginning August 28, 1995, petitioner was found guilty of malice murder and armed robbery. Br.Supp. Answer-Resp. at 1; Resp't's Ex. 16 at 2018-19. At the sentencing phase on September 2, 1995, the jury found the existence of one statutory aggravating circumstance, that petitioner committed the murder while engaged in the commission of armed robbery, and imposed a sentence of life without parole. Resp't's Ex. 16 at 2130-32. The trial court imposed a second life sentence for the crime of armed robbery to be served consecutively to the life sentence for murder. Id. at 2132-33.
Petitioner filed a motion for new trial on September 6, 1995. Resp't's Ex. 8, Clerk's Index, at 2. This motion for new trial was amended to include claims for ineffective assistance of counsel on March 6, 1997. Resp't's Ex. 8, Clerk's Record, at 349. On March 14, 1997, an evidentiary hearing was held on the motion for new trial. Id. at 413. The trial court denied the motion for new trial on May 6, 1997. Id. at 426. Petitioner filed a notice of appeal on June 2, 1997. Id. at 2. Petitioner's conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Georgia Supreme Court on October 6, 1997. Jenkins v. State, 268 Ga. 468, 491 S.E.2d 54 (1997) ("Jenkins II"). The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari on March 23, 1998. Jenkins v. Georgia, 523 U.S. 1029, 118 S.Ct. 1318, 140 L.Ed.2d 481 (1998). Petitioner filed this petition on July 16, 1998, challenging his Liberty County conviction on constitutional grounds.
At petitioner's jury trial, witnesses testified that Terry Roberts drove petitioner, Cedric and Shawn Brown, and Maurice Fleming to Hodges Grocery Store in Riceboro, Georgia on October 8, 1993. Roberts remained in the car and Shawn Brown kept lookout while petitioner, Cedric Brown, and Maurice Fleming robbed the store. Roberts testified that Cedric Brown and petitioner were armed with .25 caliber pistols. During the course of the robbery, grocer Bobby Hodges was shot five times in his face, neck and shoulder. One shot, fired by Cedric Brown, inflicted a potentially fatal wound to Hodges's sinus cavity. The fatal shot passed through soft tissue nicking Hodges's jaw bone before severing his carotid artery, causing him to quickly bleed to death. A damaged bullet fired from the weapon carried by petitioner was found at the scene. This bullet's damage was consistent with the damage the fatal bullet would have sustained.
Petitioner, Cedric Brown, and Maurice Fleming then left the store with money, food stamps, and perfume stolen from the store. All five men hurriedly left the scene in Terry Roberts's car. While in the car, petitioner and Cedric Brown allegedly stated that they shot Hodges and joked about the items stolen from the store. Minutes after the crime, Hodges was discovered by customers to the store; help was summoned, but Hodges died shortly thereafter. After the robbery proceeds were divided, petitioner, Cedric Brown, and Maurice Fleming filed to Florida on a Greyhound bus.
Miami authorities arrested the men at a local motel and discovered a food stamp in their hotel room which was traced back to a Riceboro citizen who shopped at Hodges Grocery. While being transported to a Miami jail, petitioner allegedly told a Florida police officer, James Smith, that he only shot Hodges once. Petitioner allegedly later told Kenneth McCall, a Georgia cellmate, that he shot the victim twice and was the first to shoot him.
Petitioner alleges that his conviction should be set aside for nineteen reasons: (1) that the trial court erred by allowing improper comments by the prosecutor regarding petitioner's failure to testify; (2) that the trial court erred by admitting hearsay testimony from "silent witnesses"; (3) that the trial court erred by delivering improper instructions to the jury; (4) that the trial court erred by failing to submit the sufficiency of corroboration evidence to the jury; (5) that there was insufficient evidence to convict petitioner of malice murder beyond a reasonable doubt; (6) that the trial court erred by excluding evidence of petitioner's co-defendants' guilty pleas during the guilt phase of the trial; (7) that the prosecutor allowed testimony known to be false and misleading to stand uncorrected in the record; (8) that the prosecutor failed to disclose exculpatory Brady material; (9) that the trial court erred by admitting hearsay evidence during the testimony of Investigator Gray; (10) that the trial court erred by admitting hearsay statements made by petitioner's co-conspirators; (11) that the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury that the testimony of a co-conspirator regarding the existence of a conspiracy must be corroborated; (12) that the trial court erred by admitting a coerced confession; (13) that petitioner's trial counsel were ineffective; (14) that the trial court erred in denying petitioner's motion for change of venue due to pretrial publicity; (15) that the trial court erred by refusing to answer the jury's question concerning when petitioner would be eligible for parole; (16) that the trial court erred by excluding evidence of petitioner's co-defendants' guilty pleas at the penalty phase of the trial; (17) that the Georgia life without possibility of parole statute, O.C.G.A. § 17-10-31.1, is unconstitutional; (18) that the Georgia courts erred in refusing to consider the cumulative effect of multiple errors committed at trial; and (19) that the amended 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) is unconstitutional insofar as it limits the federal courts' ability to apply federal law.
The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, ("AEDPA"), Pub.L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214, created a standard of review for federal courts to use when reviewing the decisions of state courts under the habeas corpus statute. The Act became effective on the date it was signed into law, April 24, 1996. See Felker v. Turpin, 518 U.S. 651, 116 S.Ct. 2333, 135 L.Ed.2d 827 (1996); Hunter v. United States, 101 F.3d 1565, 1568 (11th Cir.1996) (en banc). The recently amended § 2254(d) provides in relevant part:
(d) An application for a writ of habeas corpus ... shall not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim
(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.
(e)(1) In a proceeding instituted by an application for a writ of habeas corpus by a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court, a determination of a factual issue made by a State court shall be presumed to be correct. The applicant shall have the burden of rebutting the presumption of correctness by clear and convincing evidence.
28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1994 & West Supp.1997). The Supreme Court has recently determined how it will apply this new standard of review in Williams v. Taylor, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 1523, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000).2
In Williams, the Supreme Court held that "§ 2254(d)(1) places a new constraint on the power of a federal habeas court to grant a state prisoner's application for a writ of habeas corpus with respect to claims adjudicated on the merits in state court." Id. First, the federal court evaluating a habeas petition under § 2254(d)(1) must determine the applicable "clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1). This law can be found in "the holdings, as opposed to the dicta, of Court's decisions as of the time of the relevant state-court decision." Williams, 120 S.Ct. at 1523. Further, any precedent or legal rule that would qualify as an old rule under the analysis of Teague v. Lane3 also constitutes clearly established federal law under § 2254(d)(1). Williams, 120 S.Ct. at 1523. However, the source of clearly established law is restricted to the jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court. Id.
Next, the court must determine whether one of the two conditions set forth in § 2254(d) applies.4 A state court decision is "contrary to" clearly established federal law if the state court arrived at a conclusion opposite to that reached by the United States Supreme Court on a question of law or if the state...
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