Maharaj v. Secretary for Dept. of Corrections, No. 04-14669.

• Decision Date: 15 December 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-14669.
• Citation: 432 F.3d 1292
• Parties: Krishna MAHARAJ, Petitioner-Appellant, v. SECRETARY FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, James V. Crosby, Attorney General of Florida, Charlie Crist, Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

432 F.3d 1292

Krishna MAHARAJ, Petitioner-Appellant, v. SECRETARY FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, James V. Crosby, Attorney General of Florida, Charlie Crist, Respondents-Appellees.

No. 04-14669.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

December 15, 2005.

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Benedict P. Kuehne, Sale & Kuehne, P.A., Miami, FL, Clive A. Smith, New Orleans, LA, for Maharaj.

John David Barker, Miami, FL, for Respondents-Appellees.

Saul P. Morgenstern, Kaye Scholer, LLP, New York City, for Amicus Curiae.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before HULL, MARCUS and HILL, Circuit Judges.

MARCUS, Circuit Judge:

Krishna Maharaj appeals from the district court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 claiming that the state prosecutor's office improperly withheld Brady material, that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, and that he was denied his rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The Florida Supreme Court denied Maharaj's application for post-conviction relief in all respects.

After thorough review, we affirm. The Florida Supreme Court's disposition of Maharaj's claims was neither contrary to nor an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law; nor was its decision based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the state court proceedings.

I.

The basic facts and procedural history are straightforward. A state-court jury in Miami-Dade County, Florida found Maharaj guilty of two counts of first degree murder, two counts of kidnaping, and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm while engaged in a criminal offense, for the shooting deaths of Duane and Derrick Moo Young. Maharaj was sentenced to die for one of the murder counts, to life imprisonment without the possibility for parole for twenty-five years for the second murder count, to two life sentences for the kidnaping counts, and to fifteen years' imprisonment for the firearm count. His convictions and sentences were upheld by the Florida Supreme Court on direct appeal. Maharaj v. State, 597 So.2d 786 (Fla.1992) ("Maharaj I"). His subsequent request for post-conviction relief was denied by the state trial court, which was, in turn, reversed by the Florida Supreme Court for failing to hold an evidentiary hearing and for failing to recuse in light of an ethical conflict. Maharaj v. State, 684 So.2d 726 (Fla.1996) ("Maharaj II"). On remand, the trial court denied Maharaj's post-conviction application for relief as to his conviction but granted his request to vacate the death sentence. Maharaj v. State, 778 So.2d 944 (Fla.2000) ("Maharaj III"). A new penalty trial was ordered, after which Maharaj was sentenced to life imprisonment on the murder count for which he had previously been sentenced to die.

The facts giving rise to Maharaj's convictions, taken from the three opinions of the Florida Supreme Court and from the testimony presented at his trial, are these. Krishna Maharaj is a British national, born in Trinidad, who was living in South Florida in October of 1986. He owned and operated a newspaper, the Caribbean Times, that catered to the West Indian Community. In the spring of 1986, Maharaj approached Eslee Carberry, the owner of another South Florida community newspaper, the Caribbean Echo, and told Carberry that Derrick Moo Young had stolen money from him. He gave Carberry documents that purported to corroborate his accusations about Derrick Moo Young, and paid the Caribbean Echo a $400 "sponsorship fee" to publish an article detailing the alleged theft.

After the article appeared in the Caribbean Echo, Derrick Moo Young contacted Carberry to provide his side of the story. Carberry testified that he met with Derrick Moo Young twice, and that Moo Young provided documents detailing a lawsuit he had filed against Maharaj. Subsequently, the Caribbean Echo published a series of articles describing Maharaj's alleged involvement in an illegal scam to take millions of dollars out of Trinidad.

The state's most important trial witness was Neville Butler, a reporter for the Caribbean Echo. Butler testified that in the course of writing for the Caribbean Echo, he had occasion to meet Derrick Moo Young and had assisted in writing some of the articles critical of Maharaj. At some point in September of 1986, Butler contacted the Caribbean Times after hearing from a friend that Maharaj might be interested in having Butler write for his paper too. He met with both Maharaj and Maharaj's wife, and although he was never officially hired, he wrote several articles for the Caribbean Times under various pen names.

Butler testified that shortly after he became associated with Maharaj and his periodical, Maharaj told him that Carberry and Moo Young were trying to extort money from Maharaj's relatives in Trinidad in exchange for suppressing still other stories critical of Maharaj and his family. Maharaj also told him that Carberry and Moo Young suggested to people in Trinidad that Butler was really behind the extortionate attempts. Butler said that Maharaj asked him to set up a meeting with Derrick Moo Young, so that Maharaj could: (1) extract a confession from Moo Young that he was actually behind the extortion and bribery; (2) require Moo Young to write two checks to repay him for the fraud; and (3) cause Butler to go to a bank with the checks and certify them, at which time Maharaj would permit Moo Young to leave.

Maharaj made it clear to Butler that Moo Young would not knowingly agree to a meeting with Maharaj. Accordingly, in order to trick Moo Young into meeting with Maharaj, a plan was devised whereby Butler would tell Moo Young, who was engaged in importing and exporting goods, that two individuals from the Bahamas (Eddie Dames and Prince Ellis) would be in Miami and that they were interested in purchasing goods for their catering business. Butler arranged for the meeting to be held on October 16, 1986, in Dames' room at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in Miami. He never informed Moo Young that Maharaj would be at the meeting.

Maharaj and Butler met at the Dupont on the morning of October 16. Butler gave Dames the keys to his rental car and instructed Dames that he would meet Dames in the lobby at around noon or 1:00 p.m. — which would allow sufficient time to use Dames' room for the 11:00 a.m. meeting with Moo Young. When Derrick Moo Young arrived at the Dupont Plaza Hotel for the meeting, Butler was surprised to see that Moo Young had unexpectedly brought along his son, twenty-three-year-old Duane Moo Young.

As the Moo Youngs entered Dupont Plaza Hotel room 1215, Maharaj emerged from behind the door carrying a pillow in his left hand and a gun in his gloved right hand. Soon thereafter, an argument ensued, and Maharaj shot Derrick Moo Young in the leg. Maharaj then instructed Butler to tie up Duane and Derrick Moo Young. Before he could do so, Derrick Moo Young lunged at Maharaj, who again shot Derrick Moo Young, hitting him three or four more times. Maharaj then turned his attention to Duane Moo Young, who Butler had loosely tied to a chair with the cord from an immersion heater. While Maharaj was talking to Duane Moo Young, Derrick Moo Young managed to open the door to the hallway and attempted to crawl outside. Once he noticed the escape attempt, Maharaj shot Derrick Moo Young still again and dragged him back inside the room by his ankles.

Butler testified that Maharaj then went back to interrogating Duane Moo Young, attempting to verify what the Moo Youngs had done with the money allegedly extorted from Maharaj's relatives in Trinidad. Soon thereafter, a person identifying himself as a hotel security guard shouted from outside the room that he noticed blood in the hall and inquired whether everyone was all right. According to Butler, Maharaj moved towards the door and responded that everything was all right. After several minutes of silence, Maharaj opened the door, poked his head out into the hall and appeared to tell someone that everything was all right. After Maharaj re-entered the room, Duane Moo Young unsuccessfully lunged at Maharaj in an attempt to gain control of the gun. Maharaj continued to interrogate Duane Moo Young, this time on the top floor of the two-level hotel suite.

Butler, who remained on the lower floor, testified that he then heard a single shot from above, after which Maharaj came downstairs alone, and they both left the room. Maharaj and Butler took the elevator to the ground floor and retrieved Maharaj's car from the parking lot. They drove around the block. Butler voiced his opinion that they needed to wait at the hotel for Dames to return. Maharaj agreed, and they parked in front of the hotel for approximately three hours until Dames returned.

While parked in front of the hotel, Maharaj told Butler that he was just as guilty for what happened in the room as Maharaj was, because Butler had arranged the meeting and been present during the killings. Maharaj promised Butler that he would take care of him, stating that he would give Butler a job with the Caribbean Times, provide a down payment for Butler's house, and give him a car.

When Dames finally arrived at the Dupont, Butler exited the car, retrieved his car keys from Dames, and left the scene. Later that day, Maharaj contacted Butler and told him he wanted to meet at a Denny's restaurant near the Miami Airport so they could coordinate their stories. Butler subsequently met up with Dames and Ellis, who had given statements to police investigators. Dames and Ellis convinced Butler to contact the police. Butler then called the lead investigator on the case, Miami Police Detective John Buhrmaster, and explained what had happened in the hotel room. Butler brought Buhrmaster to...