Lakin v. Stine

• Decision Date: 25 January 2005
• Docket Number: No. 96-75828.,96-75828.
• Citation: 358 F.Supp.2d 605
• Parties: David Patrick LAKIN, Petitioner, v. Wayne W. STINE, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

358 F.Supp.2d 605

David Patrick LAKIN, Petitioner, v. Wayne W. STINE, Respondent.

No. 96-75828.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

January 25, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

David Lakin, Munising, MI, pro se.

Margaret S. Raben, Gurewitz & Raben, Detroit, MI, for Petitioner.

Federal Defender, Federal Defender Office, Detroit, MI, Diane L. Galbraith, K. Davison Hunter, William C. Campbell, Michigan Department of Attorney General Habeas Corpus Division, Lansing, MI, Jerrold E. Schrotenboer, Jackson County Prosecutor's Office, Jackson, MI, for Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS¹

TARNOW, District Judge.

I. Introduction

This case is before the Court on remand from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals reversed the previous judgment of this Court granting habeas corpus relief to Petitioner David Patrick Lakin. The Court of Appeals remanded the case "for further proceedings on the remaining claims advanced in the petition." Lakin v. Stine, 80 Fed.Appx. 368, 378-79 (6th Cir.2003). Petitioner has filed a supplemental brief. The Court finds that the state court's finding that Mr. Lakin's right to a fair trial was not violated when he was compelled to stand trial in leg irons was an unreasonable application of clearly established Supreme Court precedent. However, the Court finds that this constitutional trial error was harmless. The Court further finds that the remaining claims advanced in the petition do not warrant habeas corpus relief. The Court shall therefore deny habeas relief.

II. Background

On June 26, 1990, following a jury trial in Jackson County Circuit Court, Mr. Lakin, and four other inmates, were convicted of kidnapping, prison escape, assault of a prison employee and unlawfully driving away an automobile. On August 29, 1990, the court sentenced Mr. Lakin to twenty-five to fifty years imprisonment for kidnapping, three and one-third to five years imprisonment for prison escape, three to four years for assaulting a prison employee, and three and one-third to five years for unlawfully driving away an automobile, all to be served consecutively to the sentences pursuant to which he was incarcerated at the time of the escape.

Mr. Lakin appealed his conviction to the Michigan Court of Appeals. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed Mr. Lakin's convictions. People v. Lakin, No. 132531 (Mich.Ct.Ap.1993).

Mr. Lakin filed an application for leave to appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court. The Court denied leave to appeal. People v. Lakin, 444 Mich. 896, 511 N.W.2d 690 (1993).

On May 16, 1996, Mr. Lakin filed the pending petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He presented the following claims in his petition:

A. The petitioner was denied his constitutional rights to (1) the effective assistance of counsel, and (2) the representation of counsel, in violation of U.S. Const. Am. VI and XIV.

B. The petitioner was denied his constitutional rights to a fair and impartial trial, in violation of the Sixth and Fourteenth [Due Process] Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, when the trial court prevented him from raising and presenting his `co[m]pulsion-duress-necessity' defenses at his trial.

C. The petitioner was deprived of his constitutional right to a fair and impartial trial under the Sixth and Fourteenth [Due Process and Equal Protection] Amendments to the United States Constitution, when the statute entitled him to 20 peremptory jury challenges, but where the new court rules limited his peremptory challenges to 7, and where he was not satisfied with the jury.

D. The petitioner was denied his constitutional rights to a fair and impartial trial pursuant to the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, when the trial court refused to instruct the jury on requested lesser included offenses to kidnapping and assault on a prison employee.

E. The Petitioner Was Denied A Fair And Impartial Trial In Violation Of United States Constitution Amendments Vi And Xiv [Due Process], Where The Jurors Saw Him In Full Shackles And Where He Was Forced To Undergo Trial In Leg Irons.

This Court granted conditional habeas relief, holding that Mr. Lakin's waiver of counsel did not comply with the requirements of Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975). Prior to trial, Mr. Lakin requested new counsel several times because counsel would not meet with him privately. The court refused to appoint new counsel. Mr. Lakin proceeded at trial in propria persona.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision of this Court and remanded the matter to the District Court for further proceedings. Lakin v. Stine, 2000 WL 1256900, *5 (6th Cir. July 13, 2000).²

On remand, this Court granted habeas corpus relief, finding that the trial court erred in failing to allow Mr. Lakin to present a full defense by refusing to instruct the jury on the defense of duress, and that the error was not harmless.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision of this Court and remanded the matter to this Court for further proceedings on the remaining three claims advanced in the petition. Lakin, 80 Fed.Appx. at 378-79.

Petitioner has filed a supplemental memorandum in support of his habeas petition.

III. Standard of Review

28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) imposes the following standard of review for habeas cases:

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 proceedings.

28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Additionally, this Court must presume the correctness of state court factual determinations. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1).

A decision of a state court is "contrary to" clearly established federal law if the state court arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by the Supreme Court on a question of law or if the state court decides a case differently than the Supreme Court has on a set of materially indistinguishable facts. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 405-06, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000). An "unreasonable application occurs" when "a state-court decision unreasonably applies the law of [the Supreme Court] to the facts of a prisoner's case." Id. at 409, 120 S.Ct. 1495. A federal habeas court may not "issue the writ simply because that court concludes in its independent judgment that the relevant state-court decision applied clearly established federal law erroneously or incorrectly. Rather, that application must also be unreasonable." Id. at 410-11, 120 S.Ct. 1495.

IV. Analysis

A. Shackles and Leg Irons

Mr. Lakin claims that the trial court violated his right to a fair trial and due process when the jury repeatedly saw Mr. Lakin in full shackles, and he was forced to wear leg irons during the trial.

Mr. Lakin properly presented the claim that he was unfairly shackled and placed in leg irons during trial to the Michigan Court of Appeals on direct appeal. The Michigan Court of Appeals denied this claim. The following excerpt represents the entirety of the Michigan Court of Appeals' treatment of this claim:

We have carefully considered the remaining issues raised by defendants. However, we conclude that they require neither reversal nor discussion.

People v. Lakin, slip op. at 3.

Where a state court, although deciding a claim, does not offer some explanation of its decision, a federal court must conduct an independent review of the state court's decision. This independent review requires the federal court to "review the record and applicable law to determine whether the state court decision is contrary to federal law, unreasonably applies clearly established federal law, or is based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented." Harris v. Stovall, 212 F.3d 940, 943 (6th Cir.2000). "Yet, any independent review that is conducted must remain deferential to the state court's decision and cannot amount to a `full de novo review of the claims.'" Joshua v. DeWitt, 341 F.3d 430, 447-48 (6th Cir.2003), quoting Harris, 212 F.3d at 943. Because the state court failed to offer any explanation for its ruling denying Petitioner's shackling claim, this Court will proceed with an independent review of this claim "`through the lens of § 2254(d).'" Id. at 448, quoting Price v. Vincent, 538 U.S. 634, 639, 123 S.Ct. 1848, 155 L.Ed.2d 877 (2003).

The right to a fair trial is a "fundamental right secured by the Fourteenth Amendment." Estelle v. Williams, 425 U.S. 501, 503, 96 S.Ct. 1691, 48 L.Ed.2d 126 (1976). A fair and impartial trial requires that a defendant be afforded a presumption of innocence. Kennedy v. Cardwell, 487 F.2d 101, 104 (6th Cir.1973) citing Massey v. Moore, 348 U.S. 105, 108, 75 S.Ct. 145, 99 L.Ed. 135 (1954). "To implement the presumption of innocence, courts must be alert to factors that may undermine the fairness of the fact-finding process." Estelle, 425 U.S. at 503, 96 S.Ct. 1691. Certain procedures pose such a threat to the "fairness of the fact-finding process" that they call for "close judicial scrutiny." Id. at 504, 96 S.Ct. 1691.

Shackling a defendant is an "inherently prejudicial practice" which should be subject to close judicial scrutiny and "permitted only where justified by an essential state interest specific to each trial." Holbrook v. Flynn, 475 U.S. 560, 568-69, 106 S.Ct. 1340, 89 L.Ed.2d 525 (1986). When a Petitioner challenges...