Lancaster v. Metrish

• Decision Date: 19 August 2010
• Docket Number: Case No. 07-13692
• Citation: 735 F.Supp.2d 750
• Parties: Burt R. LANCASTER, Petitioner, v. Linda METRISH, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

735 F.Supp.2d 750

Burt R. LANCASTER, Petitioner,

v.Linda METRISH, Respondent.

Case No. 07-13692.

United States District Court,

E.D. Michigan,

Southern Division.

Aug. 19, 2010.

Kenneth M. Mogill, Mogill, Posner, Lake Orion, MI, for Petitioner.

B. Eric Restuccia, Michigan Department of Attorney General, Lansing, MI, for Respondent.

AMENDED ^* MEMORANDUM AND ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

AVERN COHN, District Judge.

I. Introduction

This is a habeas case under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Petitioner Burt Lancaster (Petitioner) is a state prisoner. He was convicted after a bench trial in Oakland County on one count of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Petitioner was sentenced to life imprisonment on the first-degree murder conviction and received a consecutive two year prison sentence on the felony-firearm conviction.

Petitioner, through counsel, has filed petition for a writ of habeas corpus claiming he is incarcerated in violation of his constitutional rights. ¹ Petitioner specifically claims that he was deprived of his due process right to present a defense when the trial court retroactively applied a change in Michigan law to preclude him from raising a diminished capacity defense. Respondent says that the claim lacks merit. The Court agrees. Accordingly, the petition will be denied. The reasons follow.

II. Background

A.

Petitioner's convictions arose from an incident that occurred on April 23,1993, when Petitioner shot and killed his married girlfriend, Toni King, in the parking lot of a Southfield, Michigan shopping plaza. Petitioner was charged with first degree murder and felony firearm. At trial, Petitioner did not deny killing King but raised the defense of insanity and diminished capacity. A jury rejected both defenses and convicted him as charged. Petitioner was sentenced to life imprisonment on the murder charge and two years consecutive for the felony firearm charge.

Petitioner filed a direct appeal. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction and sentence in a per curiam decision. People v. Lancaster, No. 184033, 1998 WL 1991149 (Mich.Ct.App. June 23, 1998). The Michigan Supreme Court denied leave to appeal in a standard order. People v. Lancaster, 459 Mich. 951, 616 N.W.2d 172 (1999).

In 2000, Petitioner, through counsel, filed a habeas petition raising several claims, including a Batson² claim. Lancaster v. Adams, 01-70691. The case was assigned to the undersigned who granted the writ based on Petitioner's Batson claim. See Opinion and Order Conditionally Granting Writ of Habeas Corpus, filed September 25, 2001 (Doc. No. 26). Respondent appealed. The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed. Lancaster v. Adams, 324 F.3d 423 (6th Cir.2003). The Supreme Court denied certiorari. Adams v. Lancaster, 540 U.S. 1004, 124 S.Ct. 535, 157 L.Ed.2d 409 (2003).

Petitioner was retried at a bench trial on the same charges. As will be explained, the trial court did not permit Petitioner to raise a diminished capacity defense because the Michigan Supreme Court held, in a decision handed down after Petitioner's first trial, that the defense does not exist under Michigan law. See People v. Carpenter, 464 Mich. 223, 627 N.W.2d 276 (2001). Petitioner was, however, able to make an offer of proof as to his mental state. Petitioner was again convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment and two years consecutive. The Michigan courts affirmed Petitioner's conviction. People v. Lancaster, No. 263483, 2006 WL 3751420 (Mich.Ct.App.2006), lv. den., 478 Mich. 870, 731 N.W.2d 743 (2007).

Petitioner returned again to federal court and filed the present petition ³ in which he seeks the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus based on the following claim:

I. Abolishing a defense is a substantive change in the law, and U.S. Const., AM V & XIV, prohibits the judiciary from applying such a change retroactively.

III. Standard of Review

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 theSupreme 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); Harpster v. State of Ohio, 128 F.3d 322, 326 (6th Cir.1997).

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. An "unreasonable application" occurs when the state court identifies the correct legal principle from a Supreme Court's decision but unreasonably applies that principle to the facts of the prisoner's case. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 412-413, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000). A federal habeas court may not find a state adjudication to be "unreasonable" "simply because that court concludes in its independent judgment that the relevant state-court decision applied clearly established federal law erroneously or incorrectly." Id. at 411, 120 S.Ct. 1495.

IV. Analysis

A.

Federal law is clear on the right to present a defense. Just as an accused has the right to confront the prosecution's witnesses for the purpose of challenging their testimony, he also has the right to present his own witnesses to establish a defense. This right is a fundamental element of the due process of law. Washington v. Texas, 388 U.S. 14, 19, 87 S.Ct. 1920, 18 L.Ed.2d 1019 (1967); see also Crane v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 683, 690, 106 S.Ct. 2142, 90 L.Ed.2d 636 (1986) ("whether rooted directly in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, or in the Compulsory Process or Confrontation clauses of the Sixth Amendment, the Constitution guarantees criminal defendants 'a meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense' ") (internal citations omitted). However, an accused in a criminal case does not have an unfettered right to offer evidence that is incompetent, privileged, or otherwise inadmissible under the standard rules of evidence. Montana v. Egelhoff, 518 U.S. 37, 42, 116 S.Ct. 2013, 135 L.Ed.2d 361 (1996). The Supreme Court, in fact, has indicated its "traditional reluctance to impose constitutional constraints on ordinary evidentiary rulings by state trial courts." Crane, 476 U.S. at 689, 106 S.Ct. 2142. The Supreme Court gives trial court judges "wide latitude" to exclude evidence that is repetitive, marginally relevant, or that poses a risk of harassment, prejudice, or confusion of the issues. Id. ( quoting Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 679, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986)). Finally, rules that exclude evidence from criminal trials do not violate the right to present a defense unless they are " 'arbitrary' or 'disproportionate to the purposes they are designed to serve.' " United States v. Scheffer, 523 U.S. 303, 308, 118 S.Ct. 1261, 140 L.Ed.2d 413 (1998) ( quoting Rock v. Arkansas, 483 U.S. 44, 56, 107 S.Ct. 2704, 97 L.Ed.2d 37 (1987)). Finally, the federal constitution does not require a state to recognize a diminished capacity defense. See Wong v. Money, 142 F.3d 313, 324 (6th Cir.1998).

Petitioner says that precluding him from raising a diminished capacity defense at his retrial violated the Ex Post Facto clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, §§ 9 and 10 and denied him of due process of law. Federal law is also clear on this. The Ex Post Facto clause provides as follows: "No State shall ... pass ... any ex post facto Law." U.S. Const. Art. I, § 10,cl. 1. The Ex Post Facto clause has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to apply to the retroactive elimination of a "defense" as that term is linked to the "legal definition of [an] offense" or "the nature or amount of the punishment for its commission." Collins v. Youngblood, 497 U.S. 37, 50, 110 S.Ct. 2715, 111 L.Ed.2d 30 (1990) ( quoting Beazell v. Ohio, 269 U.S. 167, 169-170, 46 S.Ct. 68, 70 L.Ed. 216 (1925)).

The Supreme Court has held that the limitations on ex post facto judicial decision making are inherent in the notion of due process. In Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U.S. 347, 354-55, 84 S.Ct. 1697, 12 L.Ed.2d 894 (1964), the Supreme Court held that an unforeseeable judicial enlargement of a criminal statute, applied retroactively, violates the federal due process right to fair warning of what constitutes criminal conduct. See also Marks v. United States, 430 U.S. 188, 191-92, 97 S.Ct. 990, 51 L.Ed.2d 260 (1977) (stating that people have a fundamental right to fair warning of conduct which will give rise to criminal penalties and "that right is protected against judicial action by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment"). The constitutionality of judicial action turns on the traditional due process principles of "notice, foreseeability, and, in particular, the right to fair warning." Bouie, 378 U.S. at 358-59, 84 S.Ct. 1697; see also Hooks v. Sheets, 603 F.3d 316, 321 (6th Cir.2010) (citing Bouie ).

In Rogers v. Tennessee, 532 U.S. 451, 462, 121 S.Ct. 1693, 149 L.Ed.2d 697 (2001), the Supreme Court clarified Bouie when it ruled that "judicial alteration of a common law doctrine of criminal law violates the principles of fair warning, and hence must not be given retroactive effect, only where it is unexpected and indefensible by reference to the law which had been expressed prior to the conduct at issue." Id. at 462, 84 S.Ct. 1738; see also United States v. Barton, 455 F.3d 649, 654 (6th Cir.2006) (interpreting Rogers and stating that "when addressing ex post facto-type due process concerns,...