Lightbourne v. Dugger
| Decision Date | 18 September 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-3643,86-3643 |
| Citation | 829 F.2d 1012 |
| Parties | Ian LIGHTBOURNE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Richard L. DUGGER, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Respondents-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
James D. Crawford, Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis, Philadelphia, Pa., for petitioner-appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Sean Daly, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytona Beach, Fla., for respondents-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Before FAY, ANDERSON and EDMONDSON, Circuit Judges.
This appeal challenges a denial of a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. Ian Lightbourne, (hereinafter petitioner), was found guilty of premeditated murder and felony murder in the perpetration of burglary and sexual battery in Marion County, Florida. Petitioner is incarcerated in a Florida correctional facility awaiting execution. The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida denied petitioner's claims for relief under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254 (1982). Because we conclude that petitioner has failed to establish that either his conviction or sentence are violative of the Constitution and laws of the United States, we affirm.
Nancy Alberta O'Farrell was the daughter of a thoroughbred horse breeder in Ocala, Florida. On January 16, 1981, the O'Farrell family, with the exception of Nancy, attended an awards dinner in Hialeah, Florida. Nancy stayed behind in her cottage located at the edge of the stud farm in order to address some brochures for a horse sale scheduled for Sunday, January 18, 1981. Nancy was last seen alive at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Friday, January 16, 1981. Sometime during Friday evening, Nancy was sexually assaulted and fatally wounded with a gun.
On Saturday, January 17, 1981, Nancy's sister, Mrs. Mary Lewis, and her husband arrived at Nancy's cottage to pick up some furniture. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis discovered a broken window and entered the residence A pillow was found by Nancy's head and a pool of blood was discovered under her body. The source of the blood was traced to a gunshot wound just inside the hairline near the left temple. When Nancy's body was removed from her bed, a .25 caliber shell casing was detected. The bedspread on which Nancy was lying was taken to headquarters and examined for the presence of hairs and fibers.
through an unlocked sliding glass door. Nancy's body, dressed only in a bra and panties, was found lying on her bed. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis attempted to contact the police and noticed that the telephone wires had been cut. When the authorities arrived, Nancy's body was examined for signs of life. After none were found, officials from the Marion County Sheriff's Office secured the scene and conducted an investigation.
On January 18, 1981, an autopsy was performed on Nancy's body. An X-ray showed the existence of a bullet in the right posterior portion of Nancy's head. The bullet was retrieved, evidence of rape was preserved, and blood and hair samples were taken.
On January 24, 1981, petitioner was arrested in Ocala for carrying a concealed weapon. Petitioner, a twenty-one year old native of New Providence, Nassau, was found sleeping in his car in the possession of an RG .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol with black tape wrapped around the handle. Petitioner was seen by the Ocala police with this gun on January 15, 1981, the day before Nancy died. 1 At the time of the arrest, petitioner listed the Ocala stud farm as his address. Petitioner was formerly employed by the stud farm as a groom, and he informed the arresting officer that although he no longer lived or worked at the O'Farrell ranch, he still received his mail there.
While petitioner was detained pending the concealed weapon charge, he made some incriminating statements to his cellmates. These statements were reported to the authorities. On February 3, 1981, when petitioner was questioned by officials from the Marion County Sheriff's Department, he admitted that he owned the .25 caliber pistol found on his person and that he owned a rose shaped pendant bearing three Greek letters attached to a fine gold chain. Petitioner was charged with murder after a ballistics report connected petitioner's gun to the homicide. An indictment was filed on February 18, 1981. The indictment accused petitioner of premeditated murder and felony murder in the perpetration of either burglary, sexual battery, or both.
Petitioner was tried in the Circuit Court of the Fifth Judicial Circuit in Marion County, Florida. At trial, Dr. Gertrude Warner, an Associate Medical Examiner for Marion County, testified that she was the pathologist who performed the autopsy. According to Dr. Warner, the cause of Nancy's death was a brain hemorrhage precipitated by the gunshot wound. Dr. Warner further testified that an analysis of bodily fluids revealed that Nancy had engaged in sexual relations within forty-eight hours of the examination.
Keith R. Paul, a forensic serologist from the Florida State Crime Laboratory, testified about tests performed on Nancy's clothing. A blood and semen analysis revealed the presence of type B blood factors and phosphoglucomutase (PGM) enzyme type 2-1. Both of these blood factors matched the results of tests performed on samples of petitioner's blood. Nancy had type O blood and PGM type 1.
Charles R. Meyers, a laboratory analyst and specialist in forensic ballistics testified that he examined the pillow found next to Nancy's head and detected a bullet hole passing through it. According to Meyers, residue found on the pillow indicated that a Mary Ann Mayer, a microanalyst employed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, testified that she performed examinations of hairs collected from Nancy's bedspread. After comparing one hair to samples taken from petitioner, Mayer found that the hair recovered from Nancy's residence was microscopically identical to petitioner's pubic hair. Mayer stated that it was extremely rare for individuals to have hair with precisely the same characteristics.
gun had been fired within close proximity. Also, Meyers compared the bullet retrieved during the autopsy with bullets test fired from petitioner's gun. In Meyers's opinion, the bullet which caused the death of Miss O'Farrell was fired from the same gun. In addition, Meyers compared the .25 caliber shell casing found in Nancy's bed to those used to test fire petitioner's gun. In Meyers's opinion, the similarity of markings on the primers indicated that the spent shell recovered from Nancy's bed was fired from the same weapon.
The necklace found in petitioner's possession was identified as Nancy's Alpha Omega Pi sorority lavaliere. Nancy's relatives testified that the necklace was unique and easily identifiable because Nancy had attached a Madonna cameo to the back of the pendant. Nancy's financial records reflect that she cashed a check for $150 on January 14, 1981. Nancy's relatives testified that only $2.00 was recovered from Nancy's residence after her death.
Theodore Chavers, a cellmate in the Marion County Jail testified that petitioner "knew too much" 2 about the details of Nancy's death and made some incriminating statements during the course of their conversations. According to Chavers, petitioner made references indicating that he entered Nancy's house, encountered her as she was coming out of the shower, forced her to engage in sexual intercourse, and shot her 3 despite pleas for mercy. This version of the facts was corroborated by Theophilus Carson, 4 another cellmate in the Marion County Jail. According to Carson, petitioner admitted forcing Nancy to have sex, shooting her because she could identify him, and taking a necklace and some money.
On April 25, 1981, the jury returned a guilty verdict and a judgment of conviction was entered by the circuit court for premeditated murder and felony murder in the perpetration of burglary and sexual battery. On May 1, 1981, the jury recommended the death penalty. After considering the pre-sentence investigation report and weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the circuit court imposed the sentence of death.
Petitioner's conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal. Lightbourne v. State, 438 So.2d 380 (Fla.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1051, 104 S.Ct. 1330, 79 L.Ed.2d 725 (1984). The Governor of Florida heard argument in favor of clemency on May 10, 1984. Approximately one year later, the Governor determined that executive clemency was not warranted and signed a death warrant authorizing petitioner's execution on June 4, 1985. Petitioner filed an emergency application for a stay of execution on May 31, 1985. The state circuit court construed the application as a motion for post-conviction relief pursuant to Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.850. The circuit court denied both the stay and the rule 3.850 motion. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed. Lightbourne v. State, 471 So.2d 27 (Fla.1985).
A Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus was filed on June 3, 1985, in federal district court. The district court reviewed as much of the record as possible on the eve of petitioner's scheduled execution and entered
an order staying the death sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254. On August 20, 1986, the district court denied the petition. After reviewing the record and applicable law and assessing the merits of petitioner's claims, 5 we affirm.
Petitioner argues that police interrogators violated Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), in the course of obtaining incriminating statements during custodial interrogation. The record reflects that on February 3, 1981, Investigator LaTorre advised petitioner of his Miranda rights and questioned him after petiti...
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