Jones v. Smith
| Decision Date | 23 January 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-CV-73253-DT.,01-CV-73253-DT. |
| Citation | 244 F.Supp.2d 801 |
| Parties | Franklin JONES, Petitioner, v. Dave SMITH, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan |
Franklin Jones, Detroit, MI, pro se.
Brenda E. Turner, Mich. Dept. of Atty. Gen., Habeas Corpus Div., Lansing, MI, for Dave Smith.
Petitioner Franklin Jones ("Petitioner"), a state prisoner currently confined at the Ryan Correctional Facility in Detroit, Michigan, has filed a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 alleging that he is incarcerated in violation of his constitutional rights. Petitioner was convicted of assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder and arson of a dwelling following a jury trial in the Criminal Division of the Wayne County Circuit Court in 1997. 1 He was sentenced to concurrent terms of eleven to twenty years imprisonment for arson and six to ten years for the assault conviction.
In his pleadings, Petitioner asserts claims regarding the admission at trial of statements given to the police without Miranda warnings, exclusion of testimony concerning the reputation and character of the prosecution's investigators and witnesses, and jury instructions. For the reasons stated below, the petition for a writ of habeas corpus will be denied.
Petitioner's conviction arises from the burning of an occupied two family flat at 16260 Hartwell in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 1997. Amaka Jacqueline Onumono, a twenty-two year old African-American woman who lived in the house, suffered severe burns to seventy-five (75) percent of her body as a result of the fire. She was found naked on the floor of the kitchen by Detroit firefighters who responded to the blaze. Blood and mucous were gurgling from her nose and mouth and her breathing was shallow when she was rescued.
According to Dr. Chenicheri Balakrishnan, M.D., a staff surgeon at Detroit Receiving Hospital, Ms. Onumono suffered first degree burns to her face, and second and third degree burns to her lower back and legs. She had suffered a head injury and fractured cheekbone, consistent with being hit or falling. Expert testimony indicated that Ms. Onumono's burns were the result of fire being directly in contact with her body for at least ninety (90) seconds. It was opined that Ms. Onumonu must have been unconscious at the time she was burned, or she would have rolled over and attempted to extinguish the fire. Burns were found on her buttocks, thighs, legs, feet, toes, and right arm. Ms. Onumono also suffered a broken right arm, a fractured neck, and non-displaced fractures of her left cheek bone and C-3 vertebra. Dr. Balakrishnan concluded that Ms. Onumono suffered burns from direct contact of a burning liquid to her skin. To suffer third degree burns as Ms. Onumono did, the burning liquid would have had to have been in contact with her skin for at least ninety seconds with her remaining still so as to not put the fire out.
Petitioner claimed in his last statement to the police and at trial that he and Ms. Onumono had an argument in the kitchen and hot grease from a frying pan spilled causing the fire. Petitioner stated that he tried to put the fire out with a blanket which caught fire. In a prior statement to the police, Petitioner claimed to have been away from the home visiting fast food restaurants when the fire started. In another statement not made to the police, Petitioner stated that the fire may have started when Ms. Onumono tried to manipulate the home's furnace.
No burned blanket was found by fire investigators. Fire Investigator Lt. Albert Hood testified that the fire could not have started the way Petitioner said it did. Lt. Hood further testified that he agreed with other fire department personnel that the fire was caused by a flammable liquid. The fire was caused by the ignition of an accelerant placed at several locations in the house. This contradicted Petitioner's claim that the fire started in one location — the kitchen stove area. Lt. Hood concluded that the fire was incendiary in nature and that it originated in the kitchen by the ignition of vapors of a flammable liquid accelerant which was distributed and ignited in the kitchen, dining room, and living room.
Ms. Onumono testified that on the day of the fire Petitioner was angry with her about a new relationship in which she was involved and threatened to kill her. Petitioner and Ms. Onumono had been lovers and had a child together, but had broken up at Ms. Onumono's initiative. At the time of the fire, they no longer had an intimate personal relationship. They remained in contact, however, because they had a daughter together. Nevertheless, Petitioner was wildly jealous of another man Ms. Onumonu was seeing, grilled her about her relationships with other men, and told her, "`I'll kill you bitch.'" Trial Transcript ("Tr.") of September 15, 1997 at 189-91. Petitioner and Ms. Onumonu argued in the bedroom. She was dressed at that time. Ms. Onumono remembered losing consciousness and waking up in the hospital severely burned. She did not remember anything else after the argument. Id. at 188-92.
The Michigan Court of Appeals summarized the material facts and evidence follows:
There is no dispute that a dwelling home was damaged by fire. The evidence showed that defendant, Onumono, and her young daughter were the only people in the home. Defendant took the child out to the car, at which time there was no fire and Onumono was lying unconscious on her bed. He went back in, then came out and drove away. When he returned, the house was on fire. The fire investigators testified that the burn pattern left by the fire evinced the use of an accelerant, and the fire could not have started from grease splattered on the stove as defendant had claimed. Onumono's physician testified that she had apparently been burned by some sort of flammable substance in direct contact with her skin. Defendant gave false exculpatory explanations for the fire, which were evidence of guilt. . . . 2
The evidence showed that defendant and Onumono had an argument in her bedroom and that defendant threatened to kill her. Their daughter then saw Onumono, who was fully clothed, passed out on the bed. Onumono had a fractured cheek bone, which was consistent with a punch to the face. Onumono was found completely naked on the kitchen floor with severe burns to her body. Her doctor testified that, given the length of time her body was on fire, she must have been unconscious at the time. There was evidence that the fire stalled with the use of accelerant, some of which was apparently poured directly on Onumono's body. As noted above, there was circumstantial evidence that defendant set the fire while he was alone in the house with Onumono. Such evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt the defendant intended to kill Onumono.
People v. Franklin Jones, Jr., No. 208819, 1999 WL 33429982 at 2 (Mich.Ct.App. Nov.23, 1999).
The jury convicted Petitioner of assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder and arson. The trial court subsequently sentenced him to concurrent prison terms of eleven to twenty years for the arson conviction and a six and a half to ten years for the assault conviction.
Following sentencing, Petitioner filed an appeal as of right with the Michigan Court of Appeals, which affirmed his convictions and sentences in a per curiam decision. People v. Franklin Jones, Jr., No. 208819C, 1999 WL 33429982 (Mich.Ct.App. Nov.23, 1999)(unpublished). Petitioner then filed an application for leave to appeal with the Michigan Supreme Court, which was denied in a standard order. People v. Franklin Jones, 462 Mich. 870, 616 N.W.2d 688 (May 31, 2000).
Petitioner filed the instant petition for a writ of habeas corpus on or about August 30, 2001, raising the following claims as grounds for relief:
I. The trial court erred by allowing the admission of Mr. Jones's un-Mirandized inculpatory statements.
II. Mr. Jones was denied a fair trial when the trial court excluded testimony to show the reputation and character of the prosecution's investigators/witnesses.
III. The lack of sufficient jury instructions both curative and on specific intent compromised the jury verdict and denied Mr. Jones a fair trial.
Respondent filed an answer to the petition on or about January 30, 2002, contending that it should be denied because the claims are unexhausted as federal constitutional claims and/or lack merit, or are not cognizable on habeas review.
The provisions of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA"), codified at 28 U.S.C. § 2241 et seq., govern this case because Petitioner filed this habeas petition after the AEDPA's effective date. See Lindh v. Murphy, 521 U.S. 320, 336, 117 S.Ct. 2059, 138 L.Ed.2d 481 (1997). The AEDPA provides:
An application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court 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.
28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1996).
In Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000), the United States Supreme Court undertook a detailed analysis of the correct standard of review under the AEDPA. According to the Supreme Court:
Under § 2254(...
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