Johnson v. Zenon

• Decision Date: 11 July 1996
• Docket Number: No. 94-36052,94-36052
• Citation: 88 F.3d 828
• Parties: 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5169, 96 Daily Journal D.A.R. 8332 Dwayne Randall JOHNSON, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Carl ZENON, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 828

88 F.3d 828

96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5169, 96 Daily Journal

D.A.R. 8332

Dwayne Randall JOHNSON, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Carl ZENON, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 94-36052.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Oct. 20, 1995.

Decided July 11, 1996.

Dennis N. Balske, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Portland, Oregon, for petitioner-appellant.

Robert K. Lau, Assistant Attorney General, Salem, Oregon, for respondent-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, John P. Cooney, Magistrate Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-93-06350-JPC.

Before: WALLACE, D.W. NELSON, and BRUNETTI, Circuit Judges.

BRUNETTI, Circuit Judge:

Petitioner, Dwayne Randall Johnson, appeals the district court's denial on the merits of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253, review the district court's denial of habeas corpus relief de novo, Sanders v. Ratelle, 21 F.3d 1446, 1451 (9th Cir.1994), and hold that Johnson has failed to demonstrate exhaustion of state court remedies.

I.

Johnson was charged in Oregon state court with criminal trespass in the first degree and three counts of burglary: burglary with intent to commit menacing; burglary with intent to commit criminal mischief; and burglary with intent to commit rape. During Johnson's jury trial the state, over Johnson's objection, introduced evidence regarding Johnson's prior rape conviction in order to prove his alleged intent to commit rape at the time he entered the victim's home. The jury convicted Johnson of all the crimes charged except for burglary with intent to commit rape, for which it was unable to reach a verdict.

On appeal to Oregon's intermediate appellate court, Johnson argued, inter alia, that the admission of his prior rape conviction violated Oregon Evidence Code 404(3), which, like Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b), prohibits the admission of "other crimes, wrongs, or acts" to "prove the character of a person in order to show that the person acted in conformity therewith," but allows such evidence "for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident." ORS 40.170(3).

Johnson, tailoring his argument to the analytical framework established by State v. Johns, 301 Or. 535, 725 P.2d 312 (1986), ¹ argued that the prior act evidence should have been inadmissible because the prior act and the physical elements associated with it were significantly different from the act for which he was charged. Johnson further argued that even if the two acts were similar in some respects, the probative value of the evidence was substantially outweighed by its danger of unfair prejudice. Lastly, anticipating the argument that any error caused by the prior act's admission was harmless because the jury did not convict him of burglary with intent to rape, Johnson argued:

[A] hung jury on the intent-to-rape count makes no difference in terms of harmful error. The California rape permeates and corrupts the entire trial. It has "blackened" defendant's character and infringed on his right to present a defense and receive a fair trial. The prejudicial (undue) impact from proof of the California rape is simply impossible to assess.

Brief for Appellant at 19-20, State v. Johnson, 117 Or.App. 531, 842 P.2d 819, modified, 119 Or.App. 494, 849 P.2d 1160 (1993). Without discussing Johnson's argument, the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction. State v. Johnson, 117 Or.App. 531, 842 P.2d 819, modified, 119 Or.App. 494, 849 P.2d 1160 (1993). Johnson's petition for review, which raised the same arguments as were presented to the Court of Appeals, was denied by the Oregon Supreme Court. State v. Johnson, 317 Or. 163, 856 P.2d 318 (1993).

Johnson then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court, arguing that the admission of the prior act evidence deprived him of his fourteenth amendment due process rights. The magistrate judge, after finding that Johnson had exhausted his state court remedies, recommended denying the petition on the merits. The district court reviewed the magistrate judge's findings de novo and adopted them in their entirety. Johnson appeals.

II.

The exhaustion of available state judicial remedies is ordinarily a prerequisite to obtaining federal habeas corpus relief. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b); Picard v. Connor, 404 U.S. 270, 275, 92 S.Ct. 509, 512, 30 L.Ed.2d 438 (1971). A petitioner has satisfied the exhaustion requirement if: (1) he has "fairly presented" his federal claim to the highest state court with jurisdiction to consider it, Anderson v. Harless, 459 U.S. 4, 6, 103 S.Ct. 276, 277, 74 L.Ed.2d 3 (1982); Picard, 404 U.S. at 275, 92 S.Ct. at 512; or (2) he demonstrates that no state remedy remains available. Harmon v. Ryan, 959 F.2d 1457, 1460 (9th Cir.1992); Kellotat v. Cupp, 719 F.2d 1027, 1029 (9th Cir.1983); see 28 U.S.C. § 2254(c) (stating that a petitioner has not exhausted state remedies "if he has the right under the law of the State to raise, by any available procedure, the question presented").

As noted above, Johnson asserted in his state appellate briefs that the admission of the prior act evidence "infringed on his right to present a defense and receive a fair trial." The magistrate judge, relying on Tamapua v. Shimoda, 796 F.2d 261 (9th Cir.1986), held that this assertion fairly presented Johnson's federal due process claim to the state courts, despite the fact that Johnson's argument on appeal was based exclusively on state evidentiary law.

In Tamapua, the petitioner had argued in state court that the indictment and evidence presented against him were insufficient, and that the act for which he had been convicted was not a crime. Id. at 262. In his habeas petition, he argued that his federal due process rights were violated because he was convicted of an act that was not a crime. Id. We noted that his argument on habeas was "essentially the same" as the argument presented to the state court and held that he had satisfied the fair presentation requirement because he had provided the state supreme court with a full and fair opportunity to address the substance of his claims. Id. at 262-63. In so holding, we relied on two factors: First, the petitioner's primary contention in state court was that he had been convicted with insufficient evidence, and sufficiency of the evidence used to convict is a fundamental concern of the due process clause. Id. at 263. Second, the petitioner's reply brief to the state supreme court cited a state case "for the proposition that '[i]t is well established, as a precept of constitutional as well as statutory law, that an accused in a criminal case can only be convicted upon proof by the prosecution of every element of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt.' (Emphasis added.)" Id.

As the dissent in Henry v. Estelle, 33 F.3d 1037 (9th Cir.1993), rev'd sub nom. Duncan v. Henry, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 887, 130 L.Ed.2d 865 (1995), explained, "[t]he crux of Tamapua was this judgment that the Hawaii Supreme Court had had a full and fair opportunity to address the substance of Tamapua's federal claim." Id. at 1044 (Brunetti, J., dissenting). Nevertheless, subsequent opinions, most notably the majority opinion in Henry, have seized upon Tamapua and its "essentially the same" language as setting a new standard for determining whether a federal claim has been exhausted in state court. Henry, 33 F.3d at 1041-41; see also Chacon v. Wood, 36 F.3d 1459, 1467-68 (9th Cir.1994) (relying on Tamapua and holding that exhaustion is satisfied so long as a petitioner has presented the state courts "with all the operative facts giving rise to the asserted constitutional principle") (quoting Daugharty v. Gladden, 257 F.2d 750, 758 (9th Cir.1958)).

In Henry, the petitioner had argued in state court that the admission of prior act testimony had violated California evidentiary law and required reversal because it had resulted in a "miscarriage of justice" under the California Constitution. Henry, 33 F.3d at 1040. In his habeas petition, the petitioner claimed that the admission of the prior act testimony violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Id. This Court, relying on Tamapua, held that the petitioner's federal due process claim had been exhausted because it presented "essentially the same" operative facts and legal theory as presented in state court. Id. at 1040-42.

The Supreme Court reversed, impliedly disapproving the ...