Lewis v. Clarke, CASE NO. 7:20CV00421
| Decision Date | 20 April 2021 |
| Docket Number | CASE NO. 7:20CV00421 |
| Parties | JAMES NELSON LEWIS, Petitioner, v. HAROLD CLARKE, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia |
James Nelson Lewis ("Lewis" or "Petitioner"), a Virginia inmate proceeding pro se, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, challenging his 2016 convictions in Pittsylvania County Circuit Court for abduction, aggravated malicious wounding, strangulation, use of a firearm in the commission of abduction, malicious shooting within an occupied building, and shooting from a motor vehicle, for which he is serving an active sentence of 26 years. As explained more fully below, all of Lewis's habeas claims must be dismissed because the state courts' prior decisions resolving his claims for ineffective assistance of counsel were not contrary to clearly established federal law nor the product of unreasonable factfinding, and his remaining claims were procedurally defaulted under state law.
Between April 3 and April 6, 2015, a domestic argument escalated into a weekend of terror for Petitioner's wife, Monica ("Monica"). Because of the procedural posture of this case and the nature of Lewis's claims, the court will first summarize the evidence presented at trial, including the testimony of Monica, and the couple's then 13-year-old daughter, Alyssa. , Suspecting his wife of infidelity, Lewis became enraged, demanding to know whom she was seeing and what she was hiding. He seized her cell phone, reading every text message and questioning every phone number he did not recognize. Lewis then dumped the contents of cabinets and drawers onto the floor, at one point even cutting the bottom lining off the living room sofa and chair to look inside them. Lewis said he was going to torture Monica until she told him the truth, and he threatened to kill her. Over the course of the Easter weekend, Lewis savagely beat his wife. To boot, he threw large objects at her, including a chair and an amplifier, hitting her in the face and chest. Monica and Alyssa also testified that Lewis cut Monica with a straight razor, slicing her arms, legs, and back, drawing blood. He even carved an "A" into the top of one leg.
On Saturday, Lewis wanted to go to the store, so he took Monica with him. Lewis's friend Skylar drove, and Monica sat in the middle with Lewis in the passenger seat. Lewis brought a Derringer .22 revolver with him and held it against Monica's leg during the ride. Monica testified that Lewis said he was going to shoot her in the leg. At some point, the car hit a bump in the road and the gun fired a bullet through Monica's calf. She said the entry wound cauterized immediately, but the exit wound was bleeding. Despite his earlier threats, Monica testified that she did not know if he intended to shoot her or if the gun went off accidentally when the car hit the bump. After they returned home, Lewis retrieved a shotgun and pointed it at Monica. She retreated to the master bathroom behind a half-wall, while Lewis sat on the bed with the shotgun pointed at the bathroom. He fired a shot past Monica's head which went through the bathroom wall. At one point, Lewis placed the shotgun under his chin, acting like he was going to shoot himself. When Alyssa came into the bedroom afterhearing the gunshot, Lewis put the shotgun away. Monica did not try to leave the home during these events because she feared that Lewis would disappear with the children, or much worse.
In the living room, Lewis sat Monica on an ottoman facing the sofa, where Alyssa was sitting. He used his pistol to fire one shot to the left of Monica's head and one to the right. Both bullets lodged into the wall to the right of the living room window. Then, after cutting the shirt off her back, he threw darts into her back, making Alyssa pull the darts out of Monica's back and retrieve the darts that missed so he could throw them again. Alyssa went to bed early after that because she could not take any more. Her younger brother, James, Jr., had been hiding in his bedroom most of the weekend, and their eight-month-old baby sister was at Monica's parents' home for the Easter weekend. Alyssa awoke during the night to hear her mother screaming in the next room. Monica testified that Lewis was choking her, and just before she thought she would lose consciousness, she was able to kick him off her. He chased her into the living room, where he again began hitting her and punching her and knocked her to the ground. As Lewis prepared to strike her with a heavy object, she testified that the look in his eyes terrified her, and she knew if she didn't get out of the house that minute, he would kill her. She grabbed a guitar and hit him in the abdomen as he was leaning towards her. Lewis backed up and said he couldn't breathe and needed his inhaler. At this point, Monica fled the house, barefoot, and ran to a neighbor's trailer down the road for help. Even though she was not acquainted with the neighbor, the lady took her in and called 911. After police took Monica's statement, she was transported to a hospital, where she was admitted and remained for two nights. Trial Tr. vol. 1 at 158-310, 415-473.
Roxanne Terrill, a forensic nurse examiner at Centra Hospitals, testified about Monica's injuries, including identifying numerous photographs. She documented 106 injuries to Monica, including facial bruising all around her left eye, her jaw, and her chin; abrasions on her scalp with signs of blunt-force trauma; swelling and ulcerations in her mouth consistent with bruising; dark purple bruising behind the ears; a ruptured eardrum; petechial bruising consistent with strangulation cutting off air supply; bruising on her upper left arm; a long linear cut and three smaller superficial cuts on her lower left arm; nine superficial linear cuts on her right lower arm, with scab formation; a curved abrasion under her right armpit; eleven overlapping linear superficial cuts on her upper left thigh and same on her upper right thigh; a puncture wound on her left calf; a healing gunshot wound to her right calf, with burn marks around the entrance wound; twenty-seven crisscrossing linear superficial cuts on her back, along with seven puncture wounds; bruising on her right hip and side. Trial Tr. vol. 2 at 7-43.
On the morning of April 6, 2015, Police arrested Lewis, and he was held without bond. Following a preliminary hearing on August 5, the matter was certified to the grand jury. On August 17, the grand jury indicted Lewis for abduction in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-47(A), maliciously shooting within an occupied building in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-279 and shooting from a motor vehicle in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-286.1. Direct indictments were also issued for use of a firearm in the commission of abduction in violationof Virginia Code § 18.2-53.1, aggravated malicious wounding in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-51.2, and strangulation in violation of Virginia Code § 18.2-56.1. CCR1 at 100-106.
After twice requesting and receiving new appointed counsel, the matter finally came to trial on July 25 and July 26, 2016. At the conclusion of the Commonwealth's evidence, Lewis's counsel moved to strike the evidence. Trial Tr. vol. 2 at 63-106. The defense had two witnesses present to testify that Monica was using cocaine the whole weekend, a fact that she adamantly denied during cross examination. The trial court found the proffered testimony irrelevant and in violation of the rule against collateral impeachment. Id. at 107-151. Thereafter, Lewis decided to change his plea from "not guilty" to "no contest" on all charges, without the benefit of a plea agreement. Following the full appropriate colloquy, the court accepted the change of plea and found Lewis guilty of all charges. Id. at 153-169; CCR at 147-155. The trial court ordered a presentence report and victim impact statement and set the matter for sentencing on December 27, 2016.
Following consideration of the presentence report, victim impact statement, and argument of counsel, the trial court sentenced Lewis to seven years for abduction, with four of those years suspended; 35 years for aggravated malicious wounding, with 22 of those years suspended; five years for strangulation, with two of those years suspended; seven years for malicious shooting within an occupied dwelling, with four of those years suspended; five years for shooting from a motor vehicle, with four of those years suspended; and the mandatory three-year sentence for use of a firearm in the commission of abduction. In total, the sentenceimposed was 62 years, with 36 years suspended, leaving 26 years to serve. CCR at 191-193. The trial court imposed an active sentence above the guidelines, which recommended a sentence between six years, nine months, and fifteen years, one month, with a midpoint of twelve years, seven months. Id. at 194.
Lewis appealed his conviction and sentence to the Virginia Court of Appeals, challenging the court's evidentiary ruling that excluded the testimony of his two defense witnesses and challenging the above-guidelines sentence. Noting that a plea of guilty or no contest disposes of all matters pertaining to guilt, leaving nothing to appeal, the court held that a conviction based upon such a plea waives all appeals except for jurisdictional issues and improper sentencing. Based upon the record, in which Lewis stated, under oath, that he understood he was waiving his right to appeal by pleading no contest, the court found the plea to be intelligent and voluntary. Because he knowingly and voluntarily pled no contest, the court held that his objection to the evidentiary ruling was waived. Further, the court held that Lewis had not properly preserved an objection nor assigned error to the above-guidelines sentence and, even if...
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