Meeks v. Dugger

• Decision Date: 11 April 1991
• Docket Number: No. 71947,71947
• Parties: 16 Fla. L. Weekly 261, 16 Fla. L. Weekly 79 Douglas Ray MEEKS, Petitioner, v. Richard L. DUGGER, Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 713

576 So.2d 713

16 Fla. L. Weekly 261, 16 Fla. L. Weekly 79

Douglas Ray MEEKS, Petitioner, v. Richard L. DUGGER, Respondent.

No. 71947.

Supreme Court of Florida.

April 11, 1991.

Larry Helm Spalding, Capital Collateral Representative and Billy H. Nolas, Chief Asst. CCR, Office of the Capital Collateral Representative, Tallahassee, for petitioner.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Richard E. Doran, Director, Criminal Appeals, Tallahassee, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

Douglas Ray Meeks, a Florida prisoner under sentence of death, petitions this Court for a writ of habeas corpus. Meeks seeks relief from two death sentences arising from two separate convenience store murders. He alleges that available nonstatutory mitigating evidence was excluded from his sentencing hearings, and he is therefore entitled to new sentencing proceedings pursuant to Hitchcock v. Dugger, 481 U.S. 393, 107 S.Ct. 1821, 95 L.Ed.2d 347 (1987). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(1), (9), Fla. Const. ¹ Meeks was indicted for two first-degree murders occurring in separate mini-market robberies in Perry, Florida. The first indictment alleged that Meeks entered a Majic Market convenience store on October 24, 1974, and, while engaged in committing a robbery, mortally stabbed the store clerk, Chevis Thompson. The second indictment alleged that two weeks later, on November 6, 1974, Meeks and Homer Hardwick entered a convenience store and committed an armed robbery in which the store clerk and a customer, Lloyd Walker, were shot. Walker later died of his wounds. The state elected to try Meeks separately for each indictment.

At the penalty phase of both trials, the jurors were instructed to consider only those mitigating circumstances enumerated in section 921.141, Florida Statutes (1975). ² The jury recommended death in both instances, and the trial court imposed the recommended sentences, referring only to the statutory mitigating circumstances in its orders.

In the Walker case, the trial judge found four aggravating factors, specifically: (1) the murder was committed during the commission of a violent felony; (2) the murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding arrest; (3) the murder was committed for pecuniary gain; and, (4) the murder was committed to hinder the enforcement of laws. The court also found two mitigating circumstances: (1) lack of significant criminal history and (2) Meeks' youthful age and low intelligence. In the Thompson case, the trial judge found the same four aggravating circumstances plus the circumstance that Meeks had been convicted previously of a capital felony (the Walker murder). One mitigating circumstance was found (Meeks' youthful age and low intelligence). Meeks' convictions and sentences of death were affirmed by this Court on direct appeal. Meeks v. State, 336 So.2d 1142 (Fla.1976), and Meeks v. State, 339 So.2d 186 (Fla.1976).

Following the United States Supreme Court's decision in Gardner v. Florida, 430 U.S. 349, 97 S.Ct. 1197, 51 L.Ed.2d 393 (1977), we ordered the sentencing court to conduct a Gardner inquiry to determine whether Meeks' death sentence for the murder of Lloyd Walker was based upon consideration of evidence which was not known to Meeks or which he had no opportunity to explain or deny. The trial judge subsequently stated that his decision was based solely on information known to Meeks, and this Court found no violation of the Gardner principle. Meeks v. State, 364 So.2d 461 (Fla.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 991, 99 S.Ct. 592, 58 L.Ed.2d 666 (1978).

In 1980, Meeks sought postconviction relief under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 after a death warrant had been signed by the governor. The trial court denied relief, but we stayed Meeks' execution and remanded the cause for an evidentiary hearing on the issue of ineffective assistance of trial counsel during the sentencing phase of the trial. Meeks v. State, 382 So.2d 673 (Fla.1980). After denial of his rule 3.850 motion on remand, Meeks again appealed and this Court affirmed. The Court found that neither trial counsel's alleged failure to ask for additional peremptory challenges during jury selection nor counsel's introduction of evidence during the penalty phase in which he attempted to demonstrate that Meek's codefendant was the more dominant participant constituted ineffectiveness. Meeks v. State, 418 So.2d 987 (Fla.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1155, 103 S.Ct. 799, 74 L.Ed.2d 1002 (1983).

Meeks then petitioned for federal habeas corpus relief in the United States District Court, and relief was denied in 1985. He appealed to the Eleventh Circuit, which stayed his second scheduled execution pending its review of his claim on the merits. In 1987, while Meeks' appeal was still pending, the United States Supreme Court rendered its decision in Hitchcock v. Dugger. Consequently, Meeks moved for leave from the Eleventh Circuit to present his Hitchcock claim to this Court. The motion was granted. Meeks v. Dugger, No. 87-3281 (11th Cir. Nov. 18, 1987) (order granting leave to present Hitchcock claim).

In Hitchcock, the United States Supreme Court found it was error for the trial court to instruct the jury to consider only statutorily enumerated mitigating circumstances and for the court to sentence a defendant to death if the trial judge only considered those same statutory mitigating circumstances. We have previously recognized that the recent Hitchcock decision represents a sufficient change in the law to defeat a claim that the issue is procedurally barred. See, e.g., Thompson v. Dugger, 515 So.2d 173 (Fla.1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 960, 108 S.Ct. 1224, 99 L.Ed.2d 424 (1988); Demps v. Dugger, 514 So.2d 1092 (Fla.1987); Delap v. Dugger, 513 So.2d 659 (Fla.1987). In prior cases involving Hitchcock claims, we have recognized that errors may require a new sentencing hearing while in others we have applied the harmless error rule. See, e.g., Riley v. Wainwright, 517 So.2d 656 (Fla.1987); Thompson v. Dugger; Morgan v. State, 515 So.2d 975 (Fla.1987), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1036 108 S.Ct. 2024, 100 L.Ed.2d 610 (1988). But see Delap v. Dugger; Demps v. Dugger; Tafero v. Dugger, 520 So.2d 287 (Fla.1988).

Meeks' Hitchcock claim asserts: (a) that the record clearly establishes that the sentencing judge believed he could consider only statutory mitigating circumstances; (b) that the sentencing judge instructed the jurors accordingly and, in doing so, excluded available nonstatutory mitigating evidence; and, (c) that Meeks' defense counsel was also restricted by the then-prevailing statutory construction and thus failed to investigate, develop, and present available nonstatutory mitigating evidence regarding Meeks' character and background, and his emotional, intellectual, and psychological deficiencies. In support of his position, Meeks presented the affidavit of his trial attorney, wherein the attorney stated that he felt constrained by the language of the statute and did not investigate any other possible mitigating circumstances. Meeks also offered the report of a psychologist prepared January 25, 1988. The results in the report suggest several mitigating circumstances: that Meeks is easily led, suffers from a plethora of mental problems, has difficulty with abstraction and concept formulation, comes from a background of poverty and depravation, has abused alcohol and drugs from an early age, and was in fact under the influence at the time of the offense. Further, Meeks submitted the affidavits of two of his sisters and his mother, chronicling his underprivileged childhood.

Because of the erroneous jury instruction, the state concedes that the record establishes a Hitchcock violation but maintains the error is harmless. It argues that the record establishes "beyond a reasonable doubt that, after weighing the aggravating factors against the statutory and nonstatutory mitigating factors, the judge would have properly imposed death, regardless of a life recommendation." Demps, 514 So.2d at 1094. We might accept this proposition if we look only at the face of the record. However, according to the affidavits filed with this motion, Meeks' counsel did not seek to develop nonstatutory mitigating evidence because he was constrained by the then-prevailing statutory construction. These affidavits assert that substantial nonstatutory mitigating evidence could have been presented, including the fact that Meeks had been a patient in a state mental hospital, that he had received subsequent treatment with psychotropic medication, that he had a history of drug and alcohol abuse, and that he suffered from severe emotional problems as a result of his deprived childhood. On their face, the contents of these affidavits are sufficient to negate the conclusion that the Hitchcock error was harmless. The merits of the claims can only be determined by an evidentiary hearing.

Pursuant to our decision in Hall v. State, 541 So.2d 1125 (Fla.1989), Hitchcock claims should now be raised by motion for postconviction relief. However, Meeks' petition for habeas corpus was filed before our decision in Hall. Therefore, we remand this case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing directed to the Hitchcock allegations of this petition as if they had been filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. The issue to be decided will be whether the Hitchcock error was harmless. In the event the court decides that the error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, the sentences of death should be set aside and new sentencing proceedings conducted before separate juries. ³

It is so ordered.

SHAW, C.J., and McDONALD and GRIMES, JJ., concur.

KOGAN, J., concurs specially with an opinion, in which BARKETT, J., concurs.

OVERTON, J., dissents with an opinion.

KOGAN, Justice, specially concurring.

Although I agree with the general thrust of the majority opinion and its result, I believe the majority does not address some of the issues...