Knight v. Fla. Dep't of Corr.

• Decision Date: 01 May 2020
• Docket Number: No. 18-12488,18-12488
• Citation: 958 F.3d 1035
• Parties: Ronald KNIGHT, Petitioner - Appellant, v. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Attorney General, State of Florida, Respondents - Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

958 F.3d 1035

Ronald KNIGHT, Petitioner - Appellant,

v.FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Attorney General, State of Florida, Respondents - Appellees.

No. 18-12488

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

May 1, 2020

Linda McDermott, Federal Public Defender's Office, Tallahassee, FL, for Petitioner - Appellant.

Ronald Knight, Pro Se.

Leslie Teresa Campbell, Lisa-Marie Lerner, Attorney General's Office, West Palm Beach, FL, for Respondents - Appellees.

Before MARTIN, JORDAN, and NEWSOM, Circuit Judges.

NEWSOM, Circuit Judge:

Death-sentenced Florida inmate Ronald Knight asks this Court to reverse the district court’s denial of his habeas corpus petition, which he filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He alleges that his counsel, Jose Sosa, rendered ineffective assistance under Strickland v. Washington , 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), by failing to adequately investigate and present mitigating evidence during the sentencing phase of his capital-murder trial. On state postconviction review, the Florida Supreme Court rejected Knight’s claim, concluding that Sosa’s performance was not constitutionally deficient. See Knight v. State , 211 So. 3d 1, 9–10 (Fla. 2016). Knight thereafter filed a federal habeas petition under § 2254, arguing—among other things—that the Florida Supreme Court’s rejection of his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim was contrary to clearly established federal law, constituted an unreasonable application of that law, and was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts. The district court denied his petition, and we granted a certificate of appealability on the ineffective-assistance claim.

After careful consideration, we affirm the district court’s denial of Knight’s petition. Even assuming that Sosa performed deficiently in failing to investigate and present the mitigation evidence that Knight now raises—thus satisfying the first prong of the two-part Strickland standard that governs ineffective-assistance claims—we hold that Knight has failed to carry his burden of demonstrating resulting prejudice.

Because the Florida Supreme Court didn’t reach Strickland ’s prejudice prong, we consider it here de novo. In doing so, we must reweigh the aggravating evidence found by the judge who sentenced Knight against the totality of the mitigating evidence—including both the evidence originally presented at sentencing and the evidence that Knight now claims his counsel failed to present. While Knight’s new evidence may strengthen some of the mitigating circumstances presented at trial, it does not reveal any fundamentally new information or support any new mitigating factors. Against this, the aggravating factors found by the sentencing court remain unchallenged and unaltered. We therefore cannot conclude that there is "a reasonable probability that ... the sentencing judge ... would have struck a different balance"—in favor of life, rather than death—had it been able to consider the new evidence. Porter v. McCollum , 558 U.S. 30, 42, 130 S.Ct. 447, 175 L.Ed.2d 398 (2009) (quotation omitted). Accordingly, we find ourselves constrained to affirm the district court’s denial of Knight’s § 2254 petition.

I

The grisly facts of Ronald Knight’s execution-style murder of Richard Kunkel are not in dispute. On direct appeal, the Florida Supreme Court summarized them as follows:

Knight and two accomplices, Timothy [Pearson] and Dain [Brennalt] agreed that they would go to a gay bar, lure a man away from the bar, and beat and rob him. The three found Richard [Kunkel] and invited him to go to a party.... After stopping to eat, the three convinced Kunkel to leave his car parked there and ride to the party with them. Knight then drove to a secluded area where they stopped twice and got out of the car to urinate.

Before they got back into the car after their second stop, Knight pointed a gun at Kunkel and told him to turn around and take off his jeans. As Kunkel was complying, Knight fired one shot striking Kunkel in the back. Kunkel fell to the ground and began crying for help.... Knight and [Pearson] then dragged Kunkel’s body out of the road. They left Kunkel to die beside a canal where his body was later discovered. Knight threatened to kill [Pearson] and [Brennalt] if they told anyone about the murder.

Later that night, the three men went back to ... Kunkel’s car. Knight then stole Kunkel’s car and took it for a joy ride to see how fast it would go. Some time later that evening, the three men broke into Kunkel’s house and stole various items.

Knight v. State , 770 So. 2d 663, 664 (Fla. 2000). Four years passed before Knight was indicted for Kunkel’s murder. In the meantime, Knight killed Brendan Meehan under similar circumstances—a crime for which he received a life sentence. Knight , 211 So. 3d at 6.

Knight was eventually charged with the first-degree murder of Kunkel, as well as armed robbery, burglary of a dwelling, and grand theft. He waived his right to a jury trial and discharged both attorneys appointed to represent him at the guilt phase, Ann Perry and Jose Sosa, choosing instead to represent himself with Sosa acting as standby counsel. Knight was found guilty on all charges. Knight , 770 So. 2d at 664.

At some point during the guilt phase of the trial, Knight agreed that Sosa would represent him during any penalty-phase proceeding. Accordingly, after finding Knight guilty, the court reappointed Sosa as counsel for sentencing, with respect to which Knight once again waived his right to a jury. The trial court ultimately sentenced Knight to death. Id . Sosa’s conduct during the penalty phase is the issue now before this Court—in particular, whether he was ineffective for failing to adequately investigate and present additional mitigating evidence. See Porter , 558 U.S. at 39, 130 S.Ct. 447 ("[C]ounsel had an obligation to conduct a thorough investigation of the defendant’s background." (quotation omitted)).

Ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims are governed by the familiar two-part Strickland standard:

[Petitioner] must show that his counsel’s deficient performance prejudiced him. To establish deficiency, [petitioner] must show his "counsel’s representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness." To establish prejudice, he "must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceedings would have been different."

Id. at 38–39, 130 S.Ct. 447 (quoting Strickland , 466 U.S. at 688, 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052 ). In support of his claim, Knight asserts that the mitigating evidence that Sosa offered at sentencing—which included testimony from, among others, Knight’s mother, his sister, and two expert witnesses who testified about Knight’s mental health—paled in comparison to the evidence that Knight, represented by new counsel, eventually adduced at a state-postconviction evidentiary hearing in 2012. There, in addition to Knight’s sister and one of his mental-health experts, Knight’s lawyer presented testimony from Knight’s coconspirators Dain Brennalt and Timothy Pearson, two new expert witnesses, and a counselor from a reform school that Knight attended as a teenager, and also proffered an unverified affidavit from another student who had attended the same school.

II

As in every death-penalty matter, we must undertake a careful review of the procedural history of Knight’s case—complete with summaries of the various hearings and the evidence presented there. Here in particular, where Knight contends that his trial counsel failed to adequately investigate and present sufficient mitigating evidence, our consideration necessarily involves a comparison of the evidence introduced during the sentencing phase of Knight’s trial with the proof later adduced on postconviction review. Accordingly, we will first canvass the evidence presented at sentencing and the trial court’s sentencing order. Then, following a brief review of Knight’s direct appeal, we will examine the state postconviction proceedings—including, most importantly, the evidentiary hearing principally at issue here, as well as the Florida Supreme Court’s decision affirming the rejection of Knight’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim.

A

At the penalty phase of his trial, Sosa called Knight’s mother and sister, as well as two expert witnesses who had also worked on the earlier Meehan trial—mental-health counselor Susan Lafehr-Hession and psychiatrist Dr. Abbey Strauss.

Knight’s mother, Karen Gerheiser, and his sister, Theresa Scott Fowler, testified about Knight’s family background and upbringing, detailing his troubled childhood and early drug use, as well as academic and disciplinary struggles. Gerheiser testified about her divorce from Knight’s father—in particular, how he took Knight’s older brother Michael, but left Knight with her, and how Knight struggled with this rejection and separation from his father and brother. Gerheiser explained how many of Knight’s early problems seemed to begin at that time—falling grades and increasing truancy, minor delinquency, and drug use.

According to Gerheiser, Knight’s home life further deteriorated following the divorce. Knight, she said, faced a revolving door of stepfathers and boyfriends and often left his mother’s home in favor of other accommodations—living with girlfriends, camping in the woods, and eventually staying with his older brother. She explained that in his mid-teens, Knight enrolled in a drug-treatment program and later a school for troubled boys, the Eckerd Youth Center. Gerheiser testified that Knight was injured while at Eckerd, resulting in hospitalization and surgery to amputate a testicle.

Gerheiser and Fowler also said, though, that Knight always had adequate clothing and shelter, including an apartment that Gerheiser gave him at age 18. They explained that Gerheiser did the best she could as a single mother, that they supported Knight and encouraged him to go to school, and that Fowler did...