Mansfield v. Sec'y, Dep't of Corr.

• Decision Date: 09 May 2012
• Docket Number: No. 09–12312.,09–12312.
• Citation: 23 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 1019,679 F.3d 1301
• Parties: Scott MANSFIELD, Petitioner–Appellee, v. SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Attorney General of the State of Florida, Respondents–Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

679 F.3d 1301

23 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 1019

Scott MANSFIELD, Petitioner–Appellee,

v.SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Attorney General of the State of Florida, Respondents–Appellants.

No. 09–12312.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

May 9, 2012.

Stephen D. Ake, Office of the Attorney General, Tampa, FL, for Respondents–Appellants.

James L. Driscoll, Jr. (Court–Appointed), Capital Collateral Regional Counsel–Middle Region, Tampa, FL, for Petitioner–Appellee.

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

Before EDMONDSON, MARCUS and PRYOR, Circuit Judges.

MARCUS, Circuit Judge:

In this capital case, the State of Florida appeals the district court's order granting habeas relief to petitioner Scott Mansfield on his claim that the admission at trial of a videotape of his custodial interrogation by law enforcement officers, when he never received any Miranda warnings, yielded prejudicial constitutional error. On direct appeal, the Florida Supreme Court determined that the admission of the videotaped interrogation was error, but concluded that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The district court disagreed, determining that the Florida Supreme Court's harmless error determination was an objectively unreasonable application of clearly established federal law and that the admission of the videotape had a substantial and injurious effect on the jury's verdict.

After thorough review of the record, and having had the benefit of oral argument, we reverse the judgment of the district court. As we see it, the district court essentially engaged in its own factfinding process, failing to accept as correct (as it was obliged to do) some of the unrebutted factual findings of the Florida Supreme Court that credited significant pieces of the State's case against Mansfield. The district court also afforded precious little weight to other pieces of evidence that the Florida Supreme Court fairly relied upon, and ignored entirely still other evidence incriminating Mansfield. Viewing the entirety of the evidence in light of the full record and according proper deference to the Florida Supreme Court's factfinding process, we are constrained to conclude that the admission of the videotaped interrogation amounted to harmless error under the “actual prejudice” standard for collateral review set forth by the Supreme Court in Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 637, 113 S.Ct. 1710, 123 L.Ed.2d 353 (1993). Accordingly, we reverse the district court's order granting habeas relief.

I.

Mansfield was convicted of the first degree murder of Sara Robles. The underlying facts, which we glean from the trial testimony and the opinion of the Florida Supreme Court addressing Mansfield's direct appeal of his conviction and sentence, Mansfield v. State, 758 So.2d 636 (Fla.2000) ( “Mansfield I ”), are these.

On October 15, 1995, at approximately 3:00 a.m., Sara Robles was brutally murdered. Her body was discovered later that morning, lying adjacent to a Winn–Dixie grocery store in Kissimmee, Florida. Her breasts and pelvic area had been mutilated, and further examination revealed that her nipples had been cut off, as well as portions of her labia minora, labia majora, and clitoris. Robles was found wearing a watch that was cracked and stopped at 3:00 a.m. Food stamps were strewn around her body, and a pager was found less than eight feet away. The police also found two gold chains: one by the pager, and the other on Robles' body.

The police investigation that followed determined that Robles and a male matching Mansfield's description had been at a nearby bar called Rosie's Pub, located in the same shopping plaza as the Winn–Dixie, in the early morning hours on the day of the murder. The police interviewed a bartender at Rosie's Pub, who indicated that Robles, Mansfield, and a third individual, William Finneran, left the bar shortly after 2:00 a.m. The police also interviewed Finneran, who testified at trial that he left the bar at the same time as Mansfield and Robles and that he last saw the two just outside the Winn–Dixie before they entered the store.

The police discovered that the pager found at the crime scene belonged to Mansfield. Detectives from the Kissimmee Police Department went to Mansfield's residence on the evening of October 15 to question him. Mansfield agreed to be interviewed by the detectives at the police station. The interrogation was videotaped by the police.

The videotaped interrogation, which was played to the jury at trial over Mansfield's objection, is at the core of this appeal. The interrogation took place on the night of October 15, 1995, the date of the murder. Once at the police station, Mansfield was interrogated by a total of three officers. It is undisputed that the officers never informed Mansfield of his Miranda rights prior to or during the interrogation. Mansfield I, 758 So.2d at 644.

The vast majority of the approximately two-hour-long interrogation consisted of the officers asking Mansfield about where he went—and with whom—after leaving Rosie's Pub on the morning of the murder. Mansfield initially said that he went directly home by himself, but later, after being confronted with evidence placing him at the Winn–Dixie with the victim shortly before her death, repeatedly claimed that he was drunk at the time and could not remember what had happened or where he had gone. Mansfield gave similar denials when confronted with other evidence. When the officers told Mansfield that they had found his pager (because it had been discovered near Robles' body next to the Winn–Dixie), Mansfield claimed that he must have lost it at the bar or it must have been stolen.

The interrogation also contained a number of exchanges in which the officers accused Mansfield of committing this gruesome murder. The interrogation did not contain a confession, however. Throughout the interrogation, Mansfield consistently denied the officers' accusations.

During the course of the interrogation, the police received further evidence placing Mansfield at the scene of the crime. Juanita Roberson, who was working at the Winn–Dixie on the morning of the murder, identified Mansfield in a photo lineup. In particular, she identified him as the man she twice saw with Robles in the early morning hours of October 15—first inside the Winn–Dixie, and then outside of the store at approximately 3:00 a.m.

At the close of the interrogation, the police arrested Mansfield and took into evidence a ring with a “grim reaper” design that Mansfield was wearing. The next day, Mansfield's brother Charles called the police and alerted them to items found in Mansfield's room, which included food stamps, a knife, clothing, and a towel.

At trial, the State's medical examiner, Dr. Julie Martin, testified that Robles died of asphyxia due to airway compression as a result of blunt force trauma to the neck. Dr. Martin opined that the murderer likely strangled Robles with one hand, while using the other hand or an object, such as Mansfield's ring, to press down on her lower neck, causing the trachea to collapse. Dr. Martin concluded that Robles was alive but likely unconscious when parts of her genitalia were excised by a sharp object.

The jury found Mansfield guilty of first-degree murder. Mansfield I, 758 So.2d at 642. Following the penalty phase, the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty. Id. The trial court followed the recommendation and sentenced Mansfield to death. Id. In support of the death sentence, the trial judge found two aggravating circumstances. First, the crime was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, and second, the crime occurred during the commission of, or an attempt to commit, a sexual battery. Id. The trial court found no statutory mitigators and five nonstatutory mitigators. Id. The trial court afforded very little weight to the following three mitigators: (1) the defendant displayed good conduct during trial; (2) the defendant is an alcoholic; and (3) the defendant's mother was an alcoholic during his childhood. Id. However, the court afforded some weight to the other two mitigators: (1) the defendant had a poor upbringing and dysfunctional family; and (2) the defendant suffers from a brain injury due to head trauma and alcoholism. Id.

Mansfield filed a direct appeal of his conviction and death sentence, and the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the murder conviction and death sentence in an opinion issued on March 30, 2000. Mansfield I, 758 So.2d 636. After describing the videotaped interrogation, the Florida Supreme Court concluded that the interrogation was erroneously admitted and should have been suppressed. Id. at 644–45. The Florida Supreme Court noted that it was “undisputed that Mansfield was not advised of his [ Miranda ] rights at any point prior to or during the interrogation,” and that Mansfield would not have felt free to leave during the interrogation. Id. Accordingly, Mansfield was “in custody for purposes of Miranda.” Id.

The Florida Supreme Court then concluded that the admission of the interrogation was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt:

“The erroneous admission of statements obtained in violation of Miranda rights is subject to harmless error analysis.” Caso v. State, 524 So.2d 422, 425 (Fla.1988). Error is harmless if the reviewing court can say beyond a reasonable doubt that the error did not affect the verdict. See State v. DiGuilio, 491 So.2d 1129, 1139 (Fla.1986). Such is the character of the error that occurred in the instant case.

... In the instant case the State, in addition to the significant circumstantial evidence placing the defendant at the crime scene with the victim near the time the murder is presumed to have occurred, presented the testimony of [Christopher Randall a/k/a] Michael Johns, who recounted a jailhouse confession by Mansfield. Additionally, the testimony tended to show that the food stamps found in Mansfield's room...