McNair v. Campbell

Decision Date13 July 2005
Docket NumberNo. 04-12700.,No. 04-11440.,04-11440.,04-12700.
Citation416 F.3d 1291
PartiesWillie McNAIR, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Donal CAMPBELL, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, Troy King, The Attorney General of the State of Alabama, Leslie Thompson, Warden, Respondents-Appellants. Willie McNair, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Donal Campbell, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections, Troy King, The Attorney General of the State of Alabama, Leslie Thompson, Warden, Respondents-Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Kevin Christopher Newsome, J. Clayton Crenshaw, Anne Cole Adams, Montgomery, AL, for Respondents.

Cathleen I. Price (Court-Appointed), Randall S. Susskind (Court-Appointed), Equal Justice Initiative of AL, Montgomery, AL, for Petitioner.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

Before TJOFLAT, ANDERSON and HULL, Circuit Judges.

ANDERSON, Circuit Judge:

Defendant Willie McNair was convicted in Alabama state court and sentenced to death for the robbery and murder of Ella Foy Riley. He received a new sentencing hearing on direct appeal and was again sentenced to death. After his second sentence was affirmed, McNair sought and was denied state habeas corpus relief. He then filed a federal habeas corpus petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The district court granted the petition on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase and denied it on all other grounds. The State appeals the district court's grant of the petition. McNair cross-appeals the district court's denial of the petition with respect to his claims that (1) jurors improperly considered extraneous evidence during the penalty phase and (2) the prosecutor engaged in racial discrimination during jury selection in violation of McNair's Fourteenth Amendment rights under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). For the reasons discussed below, we reverse the district court's grant of McNair's petition on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel and affirm the district court's denial of the petition on all other grounds.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On the night of May 21, 1990, Willie McNair and another man went to the home of Ella Foy Riley, an elderly widow who lived alone and occasionally hired McNair to do yard work. When Riley came to the door, McNair asked her if he could borrow twenty dollars. Riley told him she had no money to lend him. McNair then asked if he could have a glass of water. Riley invited him in, and when she turned around McNair grabbed her by the neck and stabbed her in the throat. When the blade of the knife broke off in Riley's neck, McNair's companion retrieved another knife from the kitchen and McNair stabbed Riley in the neck again. The wounds severed Riley's carotid artery and jugular vein. Evidence indicated that McNair also strangled Riley, who struggled for several minutes as she bled to death. After killing Riley, McNair took her purse from the kitchen counter and fled the scene with his companion. The pair drove several miles down a rural road, rummaged through Riley's purse, then dumped it. When an officer came to his house the next morning, McNair admitted killing Riley and was arrested. He subsequently directed officers to the place where he had dumped Riley's purse and gave detailed descriptions of the murder to investigators.

McNair was convicted of capital murder in the course of a robbery on April 18, 1991. He was sentenced to death following a 10-2 jury vote in favor of that penalty. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals confirmed the conviction, but it remanded the case for a new sentencing hearing because the sentencing judge had improperly considered as an aggravating factor a prior conviction that resulted from a nolo contendere plea. McNair v. State, 653 So.2d 320, 327 (Ala.Crim.App.1992). The second jury recommended a sentence of life without parole by a vote of 8-4. The court rejected this recommendation and again sentenced McNair to death. McNair's case was twice remanded for correction of the sentencing order before finally being affirmed on direct appeal. McNair v. State, 653 So.2d 351 (Ala.Crim.App.1994). The United States Supreme Court denied McNair's petition for certiorari. McNair v. Alabama, 513 U.S. 1159, 115 S.Ct. 1121, 130 L.Ed.2d 1084 (1995).

After his unsuccessful direct appeal, McNair petitioned for post-conviction relief pursuant to Alabama Rule of Criminal Procedure 32 ("Rule 32"). The Henry County Circuit Court (the "Rule 32 court") issued an order dismissing as procedurally barred all of McNair's claims except (1) ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the Sixth Amendment, (2) state failure to turn over exculpatory evidence to the defense, and (3) the unconstitutionality of the death penalty due to a pattern of racial bias in its implementation. An evidentiary hearing for these claims was originally scheduled for September 22, 1995, but it was moved to November 8, 1995 on McNair's motion. The Rule 32 court entered an order denying McNair's petition on all grounds on November 13, 1995. Its order was affirmed by Court of Criminal Appeals, and the Alabama Supreme Court denied certiorari. McNair v. State, 706 So.2d 828 (Ala.Crim.App.1997).

McNair filed a federal habeas corpus petition in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama on August 18, 1998. He alleged numerous grounds for relief, including (1) ineffective assistance of counsel at the guilt and penalty phases of his trial, (2) improper consideration of extraneous evidence by jurors during the guilt phase, and (3) Batson violations by the State during jury selection. The district court determined that several claims were entitled to review under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, and, over the State's objection, granted an evidentiary hearing on McNair's ineffective assistance claims. The hearing was held on July 27-28, 2000.

On March 12, 2004, the district court granted McNair's habeas petition with respect to the death sentence, holding that McNair received ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase of his trial. The court denied McNair's petition on all other grounds. The State appealed the court's decision on the ineffective assistance issue, and McNair filed a cross-appeal with respect to his extraneous evidence and Batson claims. Those appeals are now before this court.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo a district court's grant or denial of a habeas corpus petition. Wright v. Hopper, 169 F.3d 695, 701 (11th Cir.1999). The district court's factual findings are reviewed for clear error, while mixed questions of law and fact are reviewed de novo. Id. An ineffective assistance of counsel claim is a mixed question of law and fact subject to de novo review. Id.

Because McNair filed his federal habeas petition after April 24, 1996, this case is governed by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA"), which "establishes a highly deferential standard for reviewing state court judgments." Parker v. Sec'y for Dept. of Corr., 331 F.3d 764, 768 (11th Cir.2003). Under AEDPA, a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a state court shall not be granted habeas relief unless the state court's decision was (1) "contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or (2) . . . was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Moreover, a state court's factual determinations are presumed correct unless rebutted by clear and convincing evidence. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1).

Finally, AEDPA mandates that a petitioner who failed to develop the factual basis for a claim in state court shall not be granted a federal evidentiary hearing absent certain extraordinary circumstances. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(2). A district court's decision to grant or deny an evidentiary hearing is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Kelley v. Sec'y for Dept. of Corr., 377 F.3d 1317, 1333 (11th Cir.2004). A district court abuses its discretion by misapplying the law or making findings of fact that are clearly erroneous. Id.

III. DISCUSSION
A. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

The district court, after holding an evidentiary hearing, granted McNair's habeas petition on the ground that he received ineffective assistance of counsel during the penalty phase of his trial. Specifically, the court held that McNair's counsel was constitutionally ineffective for presenting lay testimony about McNair's drug use without offering additional evidence about the effects of drug addiction and its potential mitigating effects. The State argues that the district court erred by (1) granting McNair an evidentiary hearing when McNair was not diligent in developing his claim in state court; (2) not deferring to the state court's determination on the merits as required by 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d); and (3) finding that McNair's counsel was constitutionally ineffective under the test laid out in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). For the reasons discussed below, we agree that the district court erred in granting McNair's petition.

We turn first to the State's argument that the district court erred in granting McNair an evidentiary hearing. Under AEDPA, when a federal habeas petitioner "has failed to develop the factual basis of a claim in State court proceedings, the court shall not hold an evidentiary hearing on the claim."1 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(2). The Supreme Court has held that "a failure to develop the factual basis of a claim is not established unless there is lack of diligence, or some greater fault, attributable to the prisoner or the prisoner's counsel." Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 420,...

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