Maxwell v. Sumner

• Decision Date: 21 April 1982
• Docket Number: No. 81-5349,81-5349
• Citation: 673 F.2d 1031
• Parties: Anthony Paul MAXWELL, Petitioner-Appellee, v. G. W. SUMNER, Warden, San Quentin Prison, Respondent-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1031

673 F.2d 1031

Anthony Paul MAXWELL, Petitioner-Appellee, v. G. W. SUMNER, Warden, San Quentin Prison, Respondent-Appellant.

No. 81-5349.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Dec. 9, 1981.

Decided Feb. 25, 1982.

As Amended on Denial of Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc

April 21, 1982.

Sandy R. Kreigler, Deputy Atty. Gen., Los Angeles, Cal., for respondent-appellant.

Joseph Shemaria, Beverly Hills, Cal., for petitioner-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Before ANDERSON and NORRIS, Circuit Judges, and MUECKE, ^* District judge.

NORRIS, Circuit Judge:

This is an appeal by the Warden of San Quentin prison from an order of the district court granting appellee Anthony Paul Maxwell's petition for writ of habeas corpus.

In July, 1975, Maxwell was convicted in California of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. Maxwell appealed his conviction to the California Court of Appeal, claiming, inter alia, that the trial court erred in denying his motion to proceed in propria persona. After the Court of Appeal affirmed his conviction, Maxwell unsuccessfully petitioned for a hearing in the California Supreme Court.

Maxwell then raised his self-representation claim in a petition to the California Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus. The petition was denied with a citation to In re Waltreus, 62 Cal.2d 218, 225, 397 P.2d 1001, 1005, 42 Cal.Rptr. 9, 13, cert. denied, 382 U.S. 853, 86 S.Ct. 103, 15 L.Ed.2d 92 (1965). The instant petition followed. After reviewing the record, the district court ruled that the state trial court erred in denying Maxwell's motion to proceed in propria persona. The district court found that Maxwell's request for self-representation was neither "outlandish" nor made for the purpose of delay, as the state trial court had concluded. Therefore, in light of Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 835-36, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 2541-42, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975), which holds that the Sixth Amendment affords every criminal defendant the right "knowingly and intelligently" to forgo his right to counsel, the district court granted Maxwell's petition for writ of habeas corpus.

Appellant raises three issues on appeal. First, he argues that Maxwell waived his right to assert his self-representation claim in a federal habeas petition by failing to raise the issue on direct appeal to the California Supreme Court. Second, appellant asserts that even if no waiver occurred, Maxwell had no right of self-representation at the time of his trial because Faretta was decided after Maxwell's conviction and is not retroactive. Finally, appellant contends that Maxwell's conduct at trial justified the state court's denial of his motion to proceed in propia persona.

I.

In his petition for a hearing in the California Supreme Court, Maxwell did not advance the trial court's denial of his propria persona motion as a reason for the Supreme Court to hear his case. Relying on Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 97 S.Ct. 2497, 53 L.Ed.2d 594 (1977), appellant contends that by this omission Maxwell waived his right to raise the self-representation issue in state (and therefore federal) habeas corpus.

Failure to comply with state procedural rules may bar federal habeas review of the underlying federal claim, absent a showing of "cause" for the failure and actual "prejudice" resulting from the alleged constitutional violation. Wainwright v. Sykes, supra; Myers v. Washington, 646 F.2d 355 (9th Cir. 1981). In Sykes, petitioner had failed at trial and apparently on direct appeal to challenge the admissibility of statements allegedly obtained in violation of his Miranda rights. 433 U.S. at 75 & n.3, 97 S.Ct. at 2500 & n.3. He apparently first challenged the use of the statements in an unsuccessful state habeas petition. Id. The Supreme Court held that petitioner's failure to comply at trial with the state's contemporaneous-objection rule constituted an "independent and adequate state ground" for the state court judgment, barring federal habeas review unless petitioner could show cause and prejudice. Id. at 86-87, 97 S.Ct. at 2506-07.

Circuit courts have applied the Sykes rule to procedural defaults at the appellate level. Myers v. Washington, supra; Forman v. Smith, 633 F.2d 634 (2nd Cir. 1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 1001, 101 S.Ct. 1710, 68 L.Ed.2d 204 (1981). In Myers, the Washington Supreme Court had rejected a state prisoner's habeas petition because the petitioner had failed to comply with a state rule requiring an issue to be raised on direct appeal before it could be raised as grounds for collateral attack. 646 F.2d at 357. We held that the procedural default was an independent and adequate state ground precluding federal habeas review of all but one issue, for which petitioner had shown cause and prejudice. Id.

In both Wainwright and Myers, federal habeas review was barred because the state court's denial of petitioner's federal claim rested on a procedural default, not on the merits of the claim. For reasons of comity and respect for the function of procedural rules in our judicial system, courts view the failure to present a federal claim in accordance with certain state procedural rules to be an independent and adequate ground for a state court judgment. See County Court v. Allen, 442 U.S. 140, 154, 99 S.Ct. 2213, 2223, 60 L.Ed.2d 777 (1979); Sykes, 433 U.S. at 88-90, 97 S.Ct. at 2507-08. "But if neither the state legislature nor the state courts indicate that a federal constitutional claim is barred by some state procedural rule, a federal court implies no disrespect for the State by entertaining the claim." County Court v. Allen, 442 U.S. at 154, 99 S.Ct. at 2223.

Sykes and Myers are inapplicable to this case because no independent and adequate state procedural ground exists; the state courts denied Maxwell's federal claim on the merits. Maxwell's state habeas petition was denied with a citation to In re Waltreus, supra, which involved a state habeas petition raising various claims of trial court error. The California Supreme Court denied the petition, stating that "(t)hese arguments were rejected on appeal, and habeas corpus ordinarily cannot serve as a second appeal." 62 Cal.2d at 225, 397 P.2d 1001, 42 Cal.Rptr. 9. Waltreus thus holds that arguments rejected on appeal will not be reviewed again in habeas; by citing Waltreus in its denial of Maxwell's habeas petition, the California Supreme Court stated by clear implication that Maxwell's self-representation claim had been considered and rejected on the merits on direct appeal.

Appellant interprets Waltreus as holding that California habeas corpus relief is barred if the issue on which the prisoner seeks relief was not raised on direct appeal to the California Supreme Court. We believe appellant misreads Waltreus. Appellant's interpretation-that a state prisoner waives his right to habeas review if he does not raise the habeas issue on direct appeal to the California Supreme Court-assumes that California has a rule similar to the rule relied on by the Washington Supreme Court in Myers. We find no such rule. ¹ More importantly, if such a rule does exist, the California Supreme Court did not invoke it in denying Maxwell's habeas petition; rather, the court indicated, by citing Waltreus, that petitioner's claim had been rejected on its merits by the California Court of Appeal. We thus find no independent and adequate state procedural ground for denying Maxwell's self-representation claim, ² and we hold that Maxwell is not barred from seeking federal habeas relief. ³

II.

The State next contends that Faretta does not apply retroactively and that Maxwell therefore had no right of self-representation at the time of his trial.

In Faretta, the Court held that an accused has a Sixth Amendment right to choose "knowingly and intelligently" to represent himself at trial. Under pre-Faretta Ninth Circuit law, a state defendant already had a constitutional right of self-representation equivalent to the right recognized in Faretta. Bittaker v. Enomoto, 587 F.2d 400, 401-402 (9th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 913, 99 S.Ct. 2013, 60 L.Ed.2d 386 (1979). Thus, Maxwell had a right to proceed in propria persona, even though his trial occurred before Faretta was decided.

III.

Finally, appellant contends that the state trial court's denial of Maxwell's request to proceed in propria persona was justified by Maxwell's disruptive behavior during trial, by the lateness of Maxwell's motion, and by Maxwell's intent to use the motion for the purpose of delay.

The district court in a habeas corpus proceeding must presume that the state trial court's factual determinations are correct, 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), unless a "determination is not fairly supported by the record." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) (8). To withstand appellate scrutiny, the federal habeas court must state its reasons for concluding that the state finding was "not fairly supported by the record." Sumner v. Mata, 449 U.S. 539, 551, 101 S.Ct. 764, 771, 66 L.Ed.2d 722 (1981). In this case, the district court reviewed the state trial court transcript and concluded that nothing in the record supported the state trial court's determination that Maxwell's behavior caused him to forfeit his right of self-representation: ⁴

There are no specific instances of conduct alluded to in the record that might be considered outlandish. There is no indication in the record as to what actions the state court based its characterization of petitioner's behavior. Respondent neglects to refer to any specific instances of conduct in the record that would support the state court's characterization of petitioner's behavior. Additionally, there is simply no evidence in the record to support the conclusion that the pro se request was untimely or would have resulted in undue delay. Petitioner's pro se request was well taken and not conditioned upon the granting of a...