Miller v. Dretke
| Citation | 420 F.3d 356 |
| Decision Date | 28 July 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-40419.,04-40419. |
| Parties | Kathy Yolande MILLER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Doug DRETKE, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
Randy Schaffer (argued), The Schaffer Firm, Houston, TX, for Petitioner-Appellant.
Marta Rew McLaughlin (argued), Austin, TX, for Respondent-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Before HIGGINBOTHAM, WIENER, and CLEMENT, Circuit Judges.
Kathy Miller appeals the district court's denial of her § 2254 petition seeking relief from her sentence for engaging in deadly conduct by riddling the unoccupied home of her in-laws with rifle fire. We conclude that the state court's decision that Miller was not prejudiced by her counsel's failure to conduct a constitutionally adequate investigation into her mental disabilities is an objectively unreasonable application of settled federal law and reverse.
Miller was charged and convicted by a jury for the offense of deadly conduct in violation of Texas Penal Code § 22.05(b).1 The evidence showed that Miller had been married to Larry Miller, the son of Maxine Prismeyer and brother of Laura Kainer. Larry died of a drug overdose, and although members of the Prismeyer and Kainer families blamed Miller for his death, she was never charged. Approximately one year after Larry's death, Maxine Prismeyer and her husband Alfred left their nearly completed home in El Campo, Texas, in the care of Laura Kainer and her husband, Charles Kainer, for a weekend. The Kainers stayed in a mobile home located directly behind the Prismeyer residence.
At approximately 2:00 a.m. on December 19, 1998, six rounds from a .35 caliber rifle were fired into the Prismeyer residence. Four of the bullets passed through the residence and struck the mobile home in which the Kainers were sleeping. Charles Kainer exited the mobile home and saw a truck driving away on the road fronting the Prismeyer house. Shortly thereafter, local police spotted Miller's truck abandoned in a ditch. Miller, who had been drinking earlier in the evening, was found riding a tractor a short distance away. She admitted that she had driven her truck into the ditch and had walked home carrying her .35 caliber rifle. A DPS firearms examiner matched the casings recovered at the scene of the crime to Miller's rifle.
At the punishment phase of Miller's trial, the State presented evidence that at various times prior to the shooting, Miller had swerved her vehicle into the path of the Kainers' automobile, given the Kainers "the finger," and mouthed the words "I am going to get you" to the Kainers while in the checkout line at an HEB grocery store. The State also presented evidence that Miller had been charged with resisting arrest while being apprehended on the deadly conduct charge, and had been charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct one week before her sentencing.
Miller's ex-husband testified on behalf of the defense that, in 1994, Miller was hospitalized for several weeks after suffering head injuries in a severe car accident. He stated that as a result of her accident, she suffered from reverse forward amnesia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and severe clinical depression, requiring extensive medication and the care of numerous physicians. He pointed out that before her accident, Miller had been an industrious and responsible worker. Miller's aunt testified that Miller was a good person, and that she hoped to move to Louisiana to care for her elderly mother after the trial.
Miller testified that she had never been arrested prior to her husband's death. She claimed that she was taking several medications on account of her accident, and was seeing a number of physicians, including a neurologist and some psychiatrists. She stated that she was suffering from a variety of ailments, including memory loss, severe migraine headaches and a "white matter disease" that had to be monitored using "MRI's every so often to see if it's still growing." She asserted that, as a result of her condition, she had no memory of the shooting incident and could not recall mouthing the words "I am going to get you" to the Kainers.
On cross-examination, the prosecutor pointed out that Miller did not have a close relationship with her mother and had not returned to care for her mother even though she lived only 150 miles away. He also assailed Miller's claim that she was suffering from memory loss, insinuating that her testimony on this score was a fabrication.2 In closing argument, the prosecutor opined:
And what a wonderfully selective memory she has. She can remember so many specific details about her employment and those types of things. She can remember specific details about being on the tractor and not being intoxicated. She can remember specific details that happen at HEB, but she just doesn't have a clue what could have happened out there on County Road 355 on December the 19th. What does that look like? You have common sense, ladies and gentlemen. I think you perfectly well know.
The jury imposed a sentence of eight years and a $5,000 fine, and did not recommend that Miller's sentence be suspended.
After sentencing, Miller's trial counsel, Richard Manske, asked Miller if she knew of any evidence that might convince the court to grant a new trial. Miller told him the names of several doctors who were treating her for medical and psychiatric problems resulting from injuries she sustained in her car accident. Manske contacted internist Arthur Tashnek, neurologist Leonard Hershkowitz, and clinical psychologist Robert Borda, and obtained letters from each regarding Miller's condition.
In his letter, Dr. Tashnek stated that Miller had been a patient of his since 1991, and that she was suffering from "post-traumatic stress disorder [`PTSD'], gastro esophageal reflux disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, degenerative disk disease, memory loss, severe anxiety and depression, and retrograde amnesia." He noted that she was required to maintain a regular regimen of medications, and that her health would suffer significantly if these medications were not administered.
Dr. Hershkowitz wrote in his letter that Miller was suffering difficulties with cognitive function, and diagnosed organic brain syndrome. He noted that Miller's condition had been documented on "several very sophisticated neuropsychological tests," but admitted that he was unaware of her prognosis or general condition.
Finally, Dr. Borda stated in his letter that he had tested Miller at the request of Dr. Hershkowitz, and had found indications of PTSD and post-concussion syndrome. He noted that patients with severe PTSD exhibit marked feelings of vulnerability, suffer from depression and high anxiety, and may appear paranoid. According to Dr. Borda, testing had revealed that Miller suffered from "cognitive rigidity and poor problem-solving skills which typically are seen in injuries involving the frontal lobe." Although he had not seen Miller in over four years, he stated that her condition likely had not changed appreciably, and that imprisonment may exacerbate her PTSD, requiring "intense psychiatric intervention."
Armed with this evidence, Miller filed an unsuccessful motion for new trial. Her conviction was then affirmed on direct appeal,3 and she filed a state habeas application alleging, inter alia, that Manske was ineffective for failing to investigate and present evidence from Miller's doctors about her mental and emotional problems. Attached to her state habeas application was an affidavit prepared by Manske in which he admitted that he "did not prepare much for the punishment phase because I thought that Ms. Miller would accept the plea bargain offer of deferred adjudication probation." He conceded that he could have obtained the doctors' letters before the punishment phase of the trial, and stated that in retrospect, he "should have interviewed her doctors before trial and called them to testify in mitigation of punishment." The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Miller's application without written explanation.4
Miller filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The court denied Miller's petition and granted the State's motion for summary judgment.5 The court observed that admission of Miller's medical evidence was within the trial court's discretion, and that Manske could not be faulted for failing to offer it because it established no connection between Miller's mental condition and her illegal actions. Further, the court held that Miller was not prejudiced by Manske's failure to present the medical evidence because Miller and her ex-husband had testified regarding her condition, and the evidence showed that "Miller was guilty of the crime, had previous run-ins with the law, and had attempted to intimidate witnesses."6
Miller filed a notice of appeal, and the district court denied her application for COA. A single judge of our court granted COA on Miller's claim that Manske was "ineffective during the punishment phase of the trial because he failed to present expert testimony regarding Miller's medical and psychological problems."7
This appeal is governed by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which provides that habeas relief may not be granted unless the challenged state court proceeding resulted in "a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court."8 A decision must be more than merely incorrect in order to constitute an unreasonable application of federal law; it must be objectively unreasonable.9 Habeas relief is "inappropriate when a state court, at a minimum, reaches a `satisfactory conclusion.'"10
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