Leyva v. Williams
| Decision Date | 03 October 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-2371.,05-2371. |
| Citation | 504 F.3d 357 |
| Parties | Armando LEYVA, Appellant v. Antonio WILLIAMS, Probation Officer; The District Attorney of the County of Philadelphia; The Attorney General of the State of Pennsylvania. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Before FUENTES, VAN ANTWERPEN, and SILER,* Circuit Judges.
Armando Leyva was convicted in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas of statutory sexual assault and corruption of a minor. Leyva, who was thirty-five years old at the time, had engaged in a six-month sexual relationship with a teenage girl who attended his church. He was sentenced to eleven-and-a-half to twenty-three months in prison, followed by three years of probation.
Represented by new appellate counsel, Leyva sought direct and collateral state court review of his conviction, asserting various claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Among these claims, Leyva contended that trial counsel had a conflict of interest arising from his former representation of the complainant's mother's ex-boyfriend. He also claimed that trial counsel had received an offer from the complainant's mother to drop the charges against Leyva in exchange for $5,000. According to Leyva, trial counsel was ineffective for failing to withdraw his representation in order to testify about these facts. Pennsylvania's courts denied review of some of Leyva's claims because he failed to submit affidavits that trial counsel or the complainant's mother were "available and willing" to testify; they declined to review other claims after Leyva was released from custody.
Leyva raised his ineffectiveness claims in a federal petition for habeas corpus. The District Court dismissed the petition after concluding that Leyva's failure to comply with Pennsylvania's procedural requirements constituted a procedural bar to federal review. Because we disagree, we will vacate and remand for further proceedings.
On July 21, 1999, Armando Leyva was tried before a judge in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas on charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault, corruption of a minor, and indecent assault.1 The prosecution's principal witness at trial was an adolescent girl, L.B., who attended the church where Leyva was an organist. According to her testimony, during the first six months of 1998, when she was fourteen years old, the two carried on a consensual sexual relationship. According to Leyva, the two had never engaged in any sexual conduct.
A central issue at trial was L.B.'s credibility. During cross-examination, Leyva's attorney attempted to introduce evidence of a "previous perjury." App. 235. Specifically, he questioned L.B. about a prior accusation of sexual assault she had made against Wilfredo Lopez (her mother's former boyfriend), but later recanted. Lopez, it came to light, had been represented by Leyva's attorney at the time of the accusation, so the attorney was familiar with the surrounding facts. He questioned L.B. about whether she was pressured by her mother into making the accusation against Lopez. L.B. maintained the accusation had been truthful, explaining that she later recanted it because she was afraid of Lopez, and because Leyva's attorney asked her to say "nothing happened." App. 257, 253.
At the conclusion of trial, the judge found Leyva guilty of statutory sexual assault and corruption of a minor, in violation of 18 Pa. Stat. §§ 3122.1 and 6301, respectively. Because of the evidence about L.B.'s recanted accusation, the judge gave Leyva "the benefit of the doubt as far as involuntary deviate sexual intercourse is concerned," finding him not guilty of that more serious offense. App. 305.2 On September 16, 1999, he sentenced Leyva to eleven-and-a-half to twenty-three months in prison, followed by three years' probation.
On appeal, Leyva retained a new attorney who submitted to the trial court a statement of matters complained of on appeal, as required under Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 1925(b). Notably, he included an affidavit from Leyva's wife stating that trial counsel told her and Leyva that L.B.'s mother offered to drop the charges against Leyva in exchange for $5,000.3 In response, the trial judge issued an opinion concluding that Leyva's claims of ineffectiveness warranted a new trial. This opinion was without effect, however, because the case was already on appeal before the Superior Court.4
On appeal, Leyva argued that trial counsel was ineffective for: failing to interview several potential witnesses; failing to withdraw based on a conflict of interest because of his prior representation of Lopez; failing to present L.B.'s mother as a witness; and failing to withdraw from representing Leyva in order to testify at trial.
On October 17, 2002, the Superior Court affirmed Leyva's conviction. The court disposed of Leyva's first two claims on the merits, concluding that neither trial counsel's failure to interview the witnesses identified by Leyva, nor the alleged conflict of interest constituted error or prejudiced Leyva. Regarding Leyva's second two claims, the court declined to reach them on the merits, concluding that Leyva had failed to present affidavits indicating that L.B.'s mother or Leyva's trial counsel would have testified.5
Leyva petitioned for reconsideration, and shortly thereafter petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for allowance of appeal. Both petitions were denied. On August 5, 2004—four days before the expiration of his probation—Leyva filed a petition for collateral relief under Pennsylvania's Post Conviction Relief Act ("PCRA"), raising additional claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. A few months later, however, the Court of Common Pleas summarily dismissed the PCRA petition because Leyva was no longer in custody.
On the same day that Leyva filed his PCRA petition, he also filed a petition for habeas corpus in federal court. His petition raised five grounds for relief:
(1) Trial counsel was ineffective because he (a) failed to withdraw in order to testify about the efforts of L.B.'s mother to obtain $5,000 from Leyva in exchange for dropping all the charges against him, and (b) failed to call L.B.'s mother as an adverse witness.
(2) Trial counsel was ineffective for (a) failing to withdraw his representation in order to testify after L.B. stated at trial that she was pressured by trial counsel to drop the charges against Lopez, and (b) having a conflict of interest because he previously represented Lopez.
(23) Trial counsel was ineffective and had a conflict of interest because he failed to present evidence that L.B.'s mother was motivated to lie (and to pressure her daughter to lie) because she was cooperating with the government in an unrelated case.
(4) Trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request evidence of L.B.'s mother's cooperation agreement with the government in an unrelated case. Moreover, the government's failure to turn over this evidence rendered his conviction unconstitutional.
(5) Trial counsel was ineffective for failing to introduce evidence about L.B.'s previous accusation against Jose Rojas.
The District Court referred Leyva's petition to a Magistrate Judge, who recommended denying relief for three reasons. Leyva v. Williams, 2005 WL 746042, at *2 (E.D.Pa. Mar.30, 2005). First, the Magistrate Judge concluded that claim 1(a) was procedurally defaulted because Leyva failed to comply with Pennsylvania's "affidavit rule" when presenting his claim in state court. Id. at *3. Second, she concluded that claims 1(b), 2(a), 3, and 4 were procedurally defaulted because Leyva failed to comply with Pennsylvania's custody requirement for bringing a PCRA petition.6 Finally, reaching the merits of claims 2(b) and 5, the Magistrate Judge concluded that Leyva had not demonstrated that the state court decision was contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Leyva, 2005 WL 746042, at *6-7.
Leyva did not object to the Magistrate Judge's report and recommendation, and the District Court adopted it in full. On November 14, 2005, we granted a certificate of appealability, requesting that Leyva address whether his claims had been procedurally defaulted.
A federal court has jurisdiction to entertain a habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a) "only if [a petitioner] is in custody in violation of the constitution or federal law." DeFoy v. McCullough, 393 F.3d 439, 441 (3d Cir.2005); see also Obado v. New Jersey, 328 F.3d 716, 717 (3d Cir.2003) (). The term "custody" extends beyond physical confinement, and encompasses other "significant restraints on . . . liberty" that are "not shared by the public generally." Jones v. Cunningham, 371 U.S. 236, 242, 240, 83 S.Ct. 373, 9 L.Ed.2d 285 (1963). The requirement is satisfied when a petitioner is on probation. Lee v. Stickman, 357 F.3d 338, 342 (3d Cir.2004) (). "In making a custody determination, [federal courts look] to the date that the habeas petition was filed." Barry v. Bergen County Probation Dept., 128 F.3d 152, 159 (3d Cir.1997); see also Lee, 357 F.3d at 342 ().
Although Leyva was in...
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