Laws v. Armontrout

• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit
• Writing for the Court: Before McMILLIAN, FAGG and MAGILL; MAGILL
• Citation: Laws v. Armontrout, 834 F.2d 1401 (8th Cir. 1987)
• Decision Date: 09 December 1987
• Docket Number: No. 87-1018,87-1018
• Parties: Leonard Marvin LAWS, Appellee, v. Bill ARMONTROUT, Appellant.

Page 1401

834 F.2d 1401

Leonard Marvin LAWS, Appellee, v. Bill ARMONTROUT, Appellant.

No. 87-1018.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted April 14, 1987.

Decided Dec. 9, 1987.

Stephen D. Hawke, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Mo., for appellant.

Barry A. Short, St. Louis, Mo., appointed, for appellee.

Before McMILLIAN, FAGG and MAGILL, Circuit Judges.

MAGILL, Circuit Judge.

The State of Missouri appeals from the district court's grant of habeas corpus relief to Laws. The district court vacated Laws' death sentence after concluding that Laws had received ineffective assistance of counsel during the punishment phase of his trial. We reverse and reinstate the sentence, finding no valid claim of ineffectiveness of trial counsel.

I. BACKGROUND.

In October of 1980, Leonard Laws was living in a two-room house trailer with George Clifton Gilmore, Gilmore's brother Norman, and several others in the Gilmore family. All three men were unemployed. George Gilmore suggested to his brother and Laws that they could make money easily by robbing old people and then killing them to prevent identification. The three bought shotguns and a rifle on October 8, 1980. In the early morning of October 29, 1980, they went to the home of Clarence and Lottie Williams, whom the Gilmores had known through an uncle. Mr. Williams was eighty-three years old and his wife was eighty-one. The assailants gained entry to the Williams' home after Laws cut the telephone line, then they tied Mr. and Mrs. Williams up in chairs. Laws threatened to cut off their fingers if they would not reveal where their money was concealed. They complied, and the three ransacked the house. Mr. and Mrs. Williams were then untied and taken into the bedroom. George Gilmore prepared to kill them with his twelve-gauge shotgun, and Laws suggested instead: "Let me hit them in the head with a ball bat." Gilmore, however, told Laws to go stand outside and see if he could hear the shotgun blasts, and Laws complied. Gilmore then shot Mrs. Williams, reloaded the weapon, then shot Mr. Williams. The first shot failed to kill Mr. Williams, and he tried to run toward the front door, so Gilmore shot him a second time, killing him. Laws then reentered the house. After removing property, the three poured fuel oil on the floor, which Laws lit, starting a fire which substantially destroyed the house.

II. PRIOR PROCEEDINGS.

Laws received a four-day trial in St. Louis County, Missouri Circuit Court in July of 1982. A jury found him guilty of two counts of capital murder. The punishment phase of the case began on the morning of July 23, 1982, before the same jury. During this phase the State introduced evidence, through certified copies of judgments, that Laws had been convicted of two previous but separate capital murders in Missouri, ¹ for which he received life sentences, two armed robberies in Arizona, for which he received concurrent five to six-year sentences, and one aggravated assault in Mississippi, for which he received an eleven-year sentence. Laws was imprisoned in March of 1982 in the Missouri State Penitentiary for his first Missouri murder conviction, and he has been incarcerated ever since. Laws had previously spent a little over six years in prison on the armed robbery and aggravated assault convictions before being paroled. Laws' lawyer, although arguing on his behalf, introduced no evidence of mitigating circumstances. ² The trial court nonetheless gave the jury an instruction which directed it to consider any mitigating circumstances. ³ The jury returned a verdict fixing Laws' punishment at death. Laws' motion for a new trial was overruled on September 17, 1982, and he was sentenced to death on each count of capital murder. Laws appealed, represented by new counsel, but the conviction and sentence were affirmed in full. State v. Laws, 661 S.W.2d 526 (Mo. banc 1983), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1210, 104 S.Ct. 2401, 81 L.Ed.2d 357 (1984). Rehearing was denied on December 20, 1983. Laws then filed a pro se motion pursuant to Mo.S.Ct.R. 27.26, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. ⁴ New counsel was appointed for him, and on November 16, 1984, an evidentiary hearing was held on the Rule 27.26 motion before a different judge from the one presiding over Laws' trial. The court found no showing of incompetence by Laws' trial counsel, and Laws appealed. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of relief. Laws v. State, 708 S.W.2d 182 (Mo.App.1986). Laws' motions for rehearing and for transfer were denied on March 25, 1986 and May 13, 1986. He then unsuccessfully petitioned to the Supreme Court for certiorari. Laws v. State, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 246, 93 L.Ed.2d 171 (1986).

Thus, after eight unsuccessful attempts in the state court system, four of them alleging ineffective assistance of counsel, Laws began the federal attack upon his sentence, filing a pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus in the district court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254. Counsel was appointed for him, and in his amended petition he raised two arguments. He first argued that he was denied effective assistance of trial counsel in violation of the sixth and fourteenth amendments, when his court-appointed attorney failed totally to put on any evidence in mitigation during the punishment phase of his trial. ⁵ In support of this contention he argued that the following mitigating evidence should have been investigated and presented: First, Laws' honorable service record in Vietnam; and second, hospital psychiatric records and family testimony, showing how his psyche had been changed by his time serving in Vietnam. Laws also argued that the imposition of the death penalty violated his eighth and fourteenth amendment rights in that Laws was only an accomplice and had no direct role in the killing of the victims. Laws sought only a new trial of the death penalty phase, and did not raise issues regarding his counsel's handling of the guilt phase of his trial. In an unpublished memorandum opinion, the district court granted Laws' habeas corpus petition and vacated his two consecutive death sentences, giving the State the opportunity to retry the punishment phase of the case. ⁶

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW.

In considering an appeal from the granting of habeas corpus relief on the ground of ineffective assistance of counsel, this court may engage its own independent review of the district court's conclusion, because the issue of ineffective assistance of counsel presents a mixed question of law and fact. Martin v. McCotter, 796 F.2d 813, 817 (5th Cir.1986), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 935, 93 L.Ed.2d 985 (1987); Reiger v. Christensen, 789 F.2d 1425, 1427 (9th Cir.1986). If a state court has rendered specific predicate factual findings, those findings should be presumed correct unless certain conditions exist which cast those findings into doubt. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254(d); Sumner v. Mata, 449 U.S. 539, 101 S.Ct. 764, 66 L.Ed.2d 722 (1981); Martin, 796 F.2d at 817. The district court's findings of fact, however, are reviewable under the clearly erroneous standard. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a); Morrow v. Parratt, 574 F.2d 411, 413 (8th Cir.1978); see also Martin, 796 F.2d at 817.

IV. DISCUSSION.

The State points to a number of flaws in the district court's opinion. We find three of these flaws serious enough to mandate reversal.

First, although it is unclear whether the district court intended to do so, it appeared to set out an erroneous legal test for determining ineffective assistance of counsel, a test that departs from the one the Supreme Court set out in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Second, the district court erroneously considered and in part based its conclusion of ineffective counsel on a claim that was not raised in the state courts and was therefore not properly before the district court. Third, as to the claims properly before it, the district court reached a conclusion of ineffective assistance of counsel that was not supported by the state court factual findings.

A. Erroneous Legal Test for Ineffectiveness of Counsel.

The State argues that the district court wrongly established a per se rule, by holding that trial counsel would be found ineffective whenever a defendant received the death penalty and counsel had offered no evidence in mitigation. The State argues that such a per se rule flies in the face of both Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), and Darden v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 187, 106 S.Ct. 2464, 91 L.Ed.2d 144 (1986), because in both cases no mitigating evidence was put on in the punishment phase, yet the death sentences were upheld. Examining the district court's analysis and the applicable cases, we agree with the State's argument.

The district court found that counsel's decision not to present mitigating evidence was based on: (1) his belief that a jury would not impose the death penalty since Laws had not directly participated in the killings; (2) his discussion with a juror from Laws' earlier capital murder case indicating that the jury had decided not to impose the death penalty because of a deal, also applicable to this case, the State had made with Gilmore; and (3) his phone conversations with one of Laws' brothers and a woman he thought was Laws' stepmother. The court found that these three factors did not represent:

a reasonably thorough investigation into petitioner's character and background or into other information potentially relevant to mitigating circumstances. The record does not reflect counsel's investigation of petitioner's military or psychiatric background for purposes of the punishment phase of the trial. Nor does the record reflect a responsible effort to glean available relatives' own knowledge of and relationship to petitioner * * *.

Mem.Op. at 22.

Calling counsel's decision to offer no evidence at the penalty phase "a bold tactic," ...