Maize v. Louisiana

• Decision Date: 18 March 2021
• Docket Number: CIVIL ACTION NO. 18-9393 SECTION: "J" (5)
• Parties: JACOBY MAIZE v. STATE OF LOUISIANA
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana

JACOBY MAIZE v. STATE OF LOUISIANA

CIVIL ACTION NO. 18-9393 SECTION: "J" (5)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

March 18, 2021

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

This matter was referred to the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge to conduct a hearing, including an evidentiary hearing, if necessary, and to submit proposed findings and recommendations for disposition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and (C), and as applicable, Rule 8(b) of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts. Upon review of the entire record, the Court has determined that this matter can be disposed of without an evidentiary hearing. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(2). For the following reasons, IT IS RECOMMENDED that the petition for habeas corpus relief be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.

Procedural History

Petitioner, Jacoby Maize, is a state inmate currently incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana. On September 8, 2011, Maize was indicted on seven counts by a Jefferson Parish Grand Jury.¹ On March 4, 2016, he was found guilty as charged by a jury of second-degree murder of Justin Hendricks (count one); aggravated second-degree battery of Cecilia Cruz Maize (count two); two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (counts three and five); intimidation of a witness, Cecilia CruzMaize (count four); aggravated arson (count six); and aggravated assault with a firearm of Cecilia Cruz Maize (count seven).² On March 28, 2016, his motion for a new trial was denied, and he was sentenced on counts one through seven, respectively, to life imprisonment without the benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence; 15 years at hard labor; 20 years at hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence; 40 years at hard labor; 20 years at hard labor; 20 years at hard labor; and 10 years at hard labor.³

Maize appealed the convictions and sentences, raising three counseled assignments of error: (1) the trial court erred in denying his motion to sever counts; (2) the trial court erred in admitting evidence of other crimes; and (3) the trial court erred in denying his motion in limine to exclude the 9-1-1 call made by Justin Hendricks and the hearsay testimony of Andrea Romano. Maize also filed a pro se brief alleging that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to subpoena witnesses for trial, failing to give a closing argument, failing to impeach the testimony of Ms. Rhode, failing to quash the indictment based on Ms. Rhode's testimony, and failing to strike potential jurors during voir dire. On June 15, 2017, his convictions and six of his seven sentences were affirmed by the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal.⁴ The appellate court vacated his sentence on count seven for excessiveness and remanded for resentencing and correction of the commitment. OnAugust 24, 2017, the trial court resentenced Maize on count seven to five years imprisonment.⁵ Maize then filed an application for writ of certiorari with the Louisiana Supreme Court. On April 27, 2018, the Louisiana Supreme Court denied relief.⁶

Shortly before that decision issued, on March 6, 2018, Maize submitted an application for post-conviction relief to the state district court.⁷ In that application, he raised the following claims for relief: (1) his convictions for two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon violated double-jeopardy principles; (2) the trial court lacked jurisdiction on the second count of being a felon in possession of a firearm; (3) the State suppressed material evidence under Brady with respect to prison phone calls; (4) ineffective assistance of trial counsel for failing to provide a defense, object to the second count of felon in possession of a firearm, subpoena an expert witness, recuse himself due to a conflict of interest, and admit a letter from a witness helpful to the defense; (5) prosecutorial misconduct in allowing perjured testimony; and (6) the conviction was unconstitutionally obtained. On May 9, 2018, the state district court denied relief, disposing of many claims as procedurally barred and denying some on the merits.⁸ On May 25, 2018, the state district court denied Maize'sobjection to the State's response and supplemental post-conviction relief application.⁹ On July 13, 2018, his supervisory writ application filed in the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal was denied for failure to provide the court with the necessary documentation to review his application.¹⁰ His related supervisory writ application filed with the Louisiana Supreme Court on July 16, 2018, along with a supplement submitted on November 7, 2018, was still pending when he filed his federal application with this Court.¹¹

On October 3, 2018, Maize filed his application for federal habeas corpus relief.¹² He asserted only the three grounds for relief that were considered and fully exhausted in the state courts on direct appeal: (1) the trial court erred in denying his motion to sever counts; (2) the trial court erred in allowing evidence of other crimes; and (3) the trial court erred in denying his motion in limine to exclude the 9-1-1 call made by Justin Hendricks and the hearsay testimony of Andrea Romano. On January 24, 2019, he filed a motion to stay theseproceedings based on the claims still pending review before the Louisiana Supreme Court.¹³ The motion to stay was granted over the State's objection even though it was not a mixed petition. The order expressly instructed Maize to file a motion to reopen and an amended petition raising any additional claims within 30 days of the ruling issued by the Louisiana Supreme Court.¹⁴

On September 17, 2019, the Louisiana Supreme Court denied relief.¹⁵ Maize timely filed a motion to lift the stay and the case was reopened.¹⁶ However, he has never filed an amended petition and the time for doing so has long expired. Thus, only the three exhausted claims raised initially in his federal application are before the Court on federal habeas review.¹⁷ The State concedes that the instant application is timely and that thethree claims for relief were exhausted in the state courts.¹⁸ Maize has filed a reply to the State's opposition.¹⁹

Facts

On direct appeal, the Louisiana Fifth Circuit briefly summarized the facts adduced at trial:

One day in April 2011, around 4:00 A.M., Henry Linares was traveling with his friend on River Road, when he witnessed a house off of River Road on fire. They stopped, called the police and proceeded to knock on the doors of the houses in the area to alert them to the fire. The same day, in the early morning hours, Tito Guevara-Hernandez was sleeping on his mother's couch when he heard someone screaming. He went to the window and witnessed the house next door on fire.²⁰ He woke up his mother and sister and they hid in the bathroom when he heard a knock on his front door. They stayed in the bathroom until he saw lights from an emergency vehicle. Mr. Guevara-Hernandez stated he was sitting outside on his front porch the night before the fire when he heard "arguing, fighting" coming from the house next door. He then heard "two shots and somebody ran away." He stated that he hid in the bathroom with his family because he was afraid that someone was knocking on his door the day of the fire because of what he heard on his porch the night prior to the fire.

On April 26, 2011, approximately 4:30 A.M., Detective Anthony Gaudet, an arson investigator with the Louisiana State Fire Marshal's Office, arrived at 112 Maine Street in Jefferson Parish to investigate a fire. He stated that the house was "basically, completely destroyed by the fire." The body of Justin Hendricks was found in the kitchen, with a visible gunshot wound to his pelvis area. The neighbor's home to the right was approximately fifteen to twenty feet away, and because of its close proximity, it also sustained damage from the fire that started at 112 Maine Street.

Detective Gaudet determined that the fire was not accidental or caused by a natural event, and that there was evidence indicative of human intervention in causing the fire. He also determined that there were two points of origin andthat gasoline was used as an accelerant. Detective Gaudet further established that the gas meter at 112 Maine Street did not fail, nor was it a source of the fire's origin. He testified that if the fire had reached the gas meter, an explosion would have occurred which potentially could have threatened the life of any of the individuals in the house next door. Investigator Thomas Lowe, an arson investigation supervisor with the Jefferson Parish Fire Department,²¹ similarly determined that if the fire had reached the gas meter, the three people in the occupied residence next door "could have been seriously injured" because of a probable explosion. He concluded that the fire was intentionally set, and the fire was classified as an aggravated arson because it spread to the occupied residence next door.

Dr. Susan Garcia, a forensic pathologist with the Jefferson Parish Forensic Center, performed the autopsy of Mr. Hendricks. She testified that he sustained a single, distant-range²² gunshot wound to his left side, which severed his femoral artery. The gunshot wound was the cause of death and his death was classified as a homicide.²³ She also conducted a carbon monoxide level test to determine if the fire contributed to his death. Dr. Garcia concluded that Mr. Hendricks died before he was exposed to the fire.

Dr. Garcia also testified that Mr. Hendricks had two sharp-force injuries to the ventral surface of his left forearm near his wrist.²⁴ She determined that these two wounds were made immediately before or after he sustained the gunshot wound. She further explained that wounds on extremities are usually classified as defensive wounds. While she could not say how Mr. Hendricks received those injuries, she stated that the wounds were in a position on his body

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