Miller v. Beard
Decision Date | 05 October 2016 |
Docket Number | CIVIL ACTION No. 10–3469 |
Citation | 214 F.Supp.3d 304 |
Parties | Dennis MILLER, Petitioner, v. Jeffrey BEARD, Commissioner, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, et al., Respondents. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
Mary E. Hanssens, Samuel J.B. Angell, Defender Association of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, for Petitioner.
Christopher J. Schmidt, Office of Attorney General, Harrisburg, PA, for Respondents.
On October 1, 1997, following a bench trial in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas, Dennis Miller (hereinafter "Petitioner") was convicted of raping and murdering his wife, and was subsequently sentenced to death. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence on direct appeal, and also affirmed the denial of Petitioner's claims for post-conviction collateral relief. Petitioner has now filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, seeking relief from his convictions and death sentence. He raises nine claims for relief, challenging the constitutionality of both his trial and sentencing hearing. For the reasons set forth below, I will deny the habeas petition as to the first degree murder conviction, but will grant habeas relief on the rape conviction and death sentence.
In its direct appeal opinion, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court set out the facts underlying Petitioner's conviction as follows:
on her hands and arms, the seminal material recovered from her vaginal vault, the absence of such material outside her vagina, and the absence of blood spatter in the area just above her vagina and between her legs.
From the crime scene, the police recovered Miller's bloody handprints on the pillow that was used to cover Sherry Miller's face. Furthermore, the police discovered a bloody footprint of Miller and a bandage with Miller's bloody fingerprint in the bathroom area. In addition, the police obtained a partial thumbprint from the murder weapon. [FN2: Although the print contained several characteristics consistent with Miller's right thumb, the partial print was insufficient for a positive identification.] The police noted that the box spring from the bed where Sherry Miller was found was broken, and the bed frame was bent. On the kitchen table, the police found a partially empty cup of coffee next to a vengeful note in Miller's handwriting. [FN3: In his note, Miller stated:
Now I hope some of Sherry's whore friends learn something from this. I didn't want it to go this far, but you people don't understand what she put me through. Some know, but they don't want to say something about her. Everybody told her everything I did, but me, I had to find out for myself what she did. All of my so-called friends f--- me one way or another. I had no friends. And I wish I had more time to get even with some of you assholes. I just want to say that you, Larry Brown, I would have killed you, and you, Sean Smith, I told Donny one time before to tell you to leave her alone. I don't know if he did. And if he did, the next time somebody tells you something, you better do what they say. I would have got you too. I hope somebody in my family takes care of Barb, Dennis. I do love you all. I will see some of you in hell.]
The police continued to search for Miller, contacting his friends and family members in an effort to locate him. Although their efforts were unsuccessful, the police were able to trace Miller's flight from the crime scene to Maryland from his use of his wife's automated teller machine card, and the police found Sherry's vehicle in Maryland; the vehicle contained a baseball cap belonging to Miller and a number of ATM receipts. Miller was ultimately apprehended six months later in Florida, after a tip following a description of the unsolved crime on the America's Most Wanted television program.
Commonwealth v. Miller (Miller I) , 555 Pa. 354, 724 A.2d 895, 897–98 (1999).
Trial commenced on September 29, 1997, following the denial of a motion to suppress and a waiver of Petitioner's right to a jury trial. At the conclusion of the trial, the court found Petitioner guilty of first degree murder, rape, indecent assault, recklessly endangering another person, possessing an instrument of crime, and flight to avoid apprehension. After the penalty phase, the court, sitting as fact-finder, issued a sentence of death, which was formally imposed on October 27, 1997. The court considered the aggravating circumstance of committing the murder while perpetrating a felony, the rape, and the mitigating circumstance of the Defendant's substantially impaired capacity to confirm his conduct to the requirements of law. The court found the aggravating circumstance to outweigh the mitigating circumstance and thus imposed the sentence of death.1
Petitioner filed a direct appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, challenging his conviction and sentence. That court affirmed both the verdict and the death sentence. Miller I , 724 A.2d 895. Petitioner's writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States was denied on October 4, 1999. Miller v. Pennsylvania , 528 U.S. 903, 120 S.Ct. 242, 145 L.Ed.2d 204 (1...
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