Lawton v. Muniz

• Decision Date: 30 July 2020
• Docket Number: Case No. 1:17-cv-00737-DAD-JDP
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California
• Parties: CHARLES LAWTON, Petitioner, v. WILLIAM MUNIZ, Warden, Respondent.

CHARLES LAWTON, Petitioner, v. WILLIAM MUNIZ, Warden, Respondent.

Case No. 1:17-cv-00737-DAD-JDP

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

July 30, 2020

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO DENY PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS AND DECLINE TO GRANT A CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILTY

OBJECTIONS DUE IN THIRTY DAYS

ECF No. 9

ORDER DENYING PETITIONER'S MOTION FOR AN EVIDENTIARY HEARING

ECF No. 9

Petitioner Charles Lawton, a state prisoner proceeding without counsel, seeks a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. ECF No. 9. Petitioner claims that his due process rights were violated when: (1) the trial court failed to bifurcate gang enhancement proceedings from the remainder of his criminal trial; (2) police officers used an unduly suggestive identification procedure; and (3) the trial court refused to excuse a biased juror. See id. at 4-5. For the reasons below, we recommend that the court deny the petition.

I. Background

In 2013, a jury sitting in Kern County convicted petitioner of thirteen criminal charges, including robbery, attempted robbery, assault with a firearm, and active participation in the West Side Crips criminal street gang. He was sentenced to more than 70 years in state prison, a sentence that accounted for numerous gang and firearm enhancements.¹ People v. Langston, No. F067421, 2016 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 3712, at *1 (Cal. Ct. App. May 17, 2016). We set forth below the facts of the underlying offenses, as stated by the California Court of Appeal. A presumption of correctness applies to these facts. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1); Crittenden v. Chappell, 804 F.3d 998, 1010-11 (9th Cir. 2015).

The evidence at trial

Gold Buyers, Bakersfield, September 30, 2011

Jacqueline Carrillo, 19 years old, testified that she was the manager of Gold Buyers at 4040 Ming Avenue in Bakersfield, a business that paid customers cash for gold jewelry. Around 2:00 in the afternoon on September 30, 2011, Carrillo was the only employee in the store. An African-American man, about six feet tall, appeared at the glass door and rang the doorbell. Carrillo buzzed him in. She testified that he was in his late 20s and wore sunglasses, a black newsboy cap, and a long-sleeve, button-down burgundy shirt. A second man, also African-American, appeared and entered with him. He was younger and shorter, about 19 or 20, around five feet two or three inches tall (thus shorter than Carrillo, who was five feet four inches tall), and around 150 pounds. The short man was wearing a dark plaid, short-sleeve, button-down shirt with jean shorts. He was also wearing a black baseball cap with a sports team logo.

The short man was holding a black handgun. He jumped over the counter and knocked Carrillo down. He pinned her to the floor on her stomach, held her by the hair and put the gun to her head. He said, "Tell me where the money is, bitch? I'm going to fucking kill you." As he looked for money, he dragged her along the floor by her hair. The tall man stood behind the counter, telling the short man where to look for money. Then the short man grabbed Carrillo's arm and told her to get up. The robbers demanded to know where the safe was and said they would shoot her if she did not show them. She showed them the safe and opened it. It contained about $10,000 and some gold items. The short man took this property.

During the robbery, the tall man gave orders to the short man. The tall robber's voice was neutral, but the short one spoke loudly and was the more nervous of the two. After they took the money, they told Carrillo to buzz them out. The tall man was holding Carrillo's purse and the short one had taken her cell phone. Carrillo said she would not buzz them out unless they gave her things back to her. After taking the battery out of the phone, they complied and she buzzed them out.

Carrillo and Sergeant Brent Stratton testified about photo lineups Carrillo viewed on October 4, 2011. While investigating a suspect ultimately not charged in the case, Stratton created a photo lineup not including Lawton or Langston. Carrillo made no selection. Carrillo and Detective James Dossey testified that Dossey showed Carrillo two photo lineups on November 8, 2011. One included Langston and the other included Lawton. Carrillo identified Langston as the short robber. She did not select anyone in the lineup that included Lawton.

Carrillo testified that, in January 2012, she met a police officer at the courthouse and was asked to look through a window in a courtroom door. This was on the day of the preliminary hearing. Three African-American men were inside the courtroom sitting at a table. The officer asked Carrillo whether the robbers were among the men. Carrillo could not see the men well enough to identify any of them. She said they were too far away. She picked out one man, however, and said he definitely was not one of the robbers. Sergeant Stratton testified that the three men in the courtroom at that time were Lawton, Langston, and Harper. Harper was the one Carrillo singled out as not having been involved.

During trial, after Carrillo described her recollection of the robbers' appearance as "very vague," the prosecutor asked her whether anyone in the courtroom looked like the perpetrators. Carrillo said Langston looked like the short robber, based on his height and the lower part of his face. "He had the hat on which was kind of low; so I could just make out more so the bottom part of his face," she said. Carrillo then testified that Lawton looked like the other robber. She relied on height and the lower part of the face in Lawton's case as well. "Since he had a hat and glasses on, it's really hard for me to make out the eyes," she testified. When Lawton and Langston stood together, the difference in height looked the same as the difference in height between the robbers. Carrillo said she was "80 percent sure" of her identifications of each defendant.

On cross-examination, Carrillo said she remembered the short robber's height because he was a couple inches shorter than she was. When Carrillo and Langston stood together in the courtroom, however, Carrillo conceded that Langston was about an inch taller than she was.

Catherine Bloxham testified that she worked in an office in the same building as Gold Buyers. Carrillo came to Bloxham's office and called the police after the robbery. Bloxham recalled seeing two men enter Gold Buyers shortly before. She saw them from about 15 feet away through the glass front of her office. A few minutes later, she saw them leave. She had seen the same men at the door of Gold Buyers about three days earlier. On November 8, 2011, a detective showed Bloxham a photo lineup including Lawton and another including Langston. Bloxham selected Lawton but identified no one in the lineup including Langston. Bloxham testified that the photo she selected looked most like one of the men she saw, but she was not certain. When asked if she could identify the defendants at trial, she said she "couldn't make a positive identification." Like Lawton and Langston, the robbers were a taller, huskier man and a shorter, more slender one, and their skin tones were similar to those of the robbers. Bloxham could not testify to any additional similarities.

Advance America Cash Advance, Delano, October 11, 2011

Adriana Gutierrez, 20 years old, testified that she was the only employee working at Advance America Cash Advance at 1019 Main Street in Delano on October 11, 2011. Advance America Cash Advance was a business that made payday loans to customers. At 3:10 p.m., two African-American men entered. She estimated one was between five feet eight inches and six feet one inch tall and weighed about 230 pounds. He wore a hat, a white shirt, and a black tie. The other man was about five feet five or six inches tall and weighed about 120 pounds. He wore a hat, a turquoise striped shirt, and black pants. A surveillance video and still photos from the video were shown to the jury. These show the robbers' clothing, size, and body types but do not include clear images of their faces. The short robber's shirt was a plaid in black, white, and turquoise.

When the two men entered, the short one approached the counter as the tall one walked to the back of the store. The short robber then leaped over the counter, knocked Gutierrez to the floor, and put a gun to her head. He held her down on the ground, demanded to know where the money was, ordered her to open the cash drawer, called her "bitch" repeatedly, and threatened to kill her. The tall robber ordered her to direct him to the safe, which was unlocked. Then, still pointing the gun at her, the short robber ordered Gutierrez to lock herself in the bathroom. About $2,000 was stolen.

Gutierrez and Detective Heriberto Trigo testified about photo lineups Trigo showed to Gutierrez. On October 12, 2011, the day after the robbery, Trigo showed Gutierrez a lineup that did not include defendants. She did not select any of the pictures. On November 10, 2011, Trigo showed Gutierrez two more lineups, with Langston in one and Lawton in the other. Gutierrez identified Lawton and, after first marking a different photo, also identified Langston. Gutierrez testified that she recognized the picture of Langston partly because his left eye was slightly lower than his right.

On January 10, 2012, the day of the preliminary hearing, Gutierrez came to the courthouse under subpoena and was asked to sit in the courtroom and observe about 10 inmates who were present there. Lawton and Langston were among them. Gutierrez recognized them as the robbers. She also identified defendants as the robbers in the courtroom at trial, saying yes when asked whether she could do so "with certainty."

Gold Rush Jewelers, Bakersfield, October 22, 2011

Michelle Castellanos, who was 25, testified that she was at work at Gold Rush Jewelers at the corner of Brundage and H Streets in Bakersfield around 4:00 p.m. on October 22, 2011. Also present in the store

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