Miranda v. Bennett

• Decision Date: 26 February 2003
• Docket Number: Docket No. 99-2718.
• Citation: 322 F.3d 171
• Parties: Miguel MIRANDA, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Floyd BENNETT, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

322 F.3d 171

Miguel MIRANDA, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Floyd BENNETT, Respondent-Appellee.

Docket No. 99-2718.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: June 7, 2001.

Decided: February 26, 2003.

Larry W. Yackle, Boston University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts (Perry S. Reich, Schapiro & Reich, Lindenhurst, New York, NY, on the brief), for Petitioner-Appellant.

Amy Appelbaum, Assistant District Attorney, Kings County, Brooklyn, New York (Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney for Kings County, Leonard Joblove, Victor Barall, Assistant District Attorneys, Brooklyn, New York, Richard A. Brown, District Attorney for Queens County, John M. Castellano, Assistant District Attorney, Kew Gardens, New York, Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General for the State of New York, Valerie Singleton, Assistant Attorney General, New York, New York, on the brief), for Respondent-Appellee.

Before: KEARSE, STRAUB, and SACK, Circuit Judges.

KEARSE, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner Miguel Miranda, a New York State ("State") prisoner, seeks a certificate of appealability pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c) to permit review of a judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York which denied his petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for a writ of habeas corpus vacating his conviction on the grounds, inter alia, that he was denied a fair trial because of prosecutorial misconduct, that he was denied the right to represent himself at trial, and that he received ineffective assistance from his trial attorney, all in violation of his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The district court denied the petition, adopting the reasons given by the State's Appellate Division in affirming Miranda's conviction and the reasons given by the State in opposing the petition. For the reasons that follow, we remand to the district court for a specification of the ground or grounds on which the claims of prosecutorial misconduct and denial of self-representation were rejected; as to all other claims, we deny a certificate of appealability.

I. BACKGROUND

Miranda was convicted on several robbery counts following a jury trial in State Supreme Court. He appealed his conviction to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court complaining, inter alia, that the trial court denied his motion to dismiss his assigned counsel and appoint a new attorney to represent him, that his assigned counsel rendered ineffective assistance at trial, that misconduct by the prosecutor deprived him of a fair trial, and that he was improperly sentenced. The Appellate Division affirmed, stating as follows:

The trial court conducted a sufficient inquiry regarding the defendant's request that his assigned counsel be relieved and properly denied his application to appoint a new counsel since he failed to demonstrate good cause for the substitution (see, People v. Sides, 75 N.Y.2d 822, 824-825, 552 N.Y.S.2d 555, 551 N.E.2d 1233; People v. Outlaw, 184 A.D.2d 665, 584 N.Y.S.2d 870; People v. Gloster, 175 A.D.2d 258, 260, 572 N.Y.S.2d 370). Furthermore, a review of the record reveals that the defendant received effective assistance of counsel (see, People v. Baldi, 54 N.Y.2d 137, 146-148, 444 N.Y.S.2d 893, 429 N.E.2d 400).

Contrary to the defendant's contention, the court complied with the mandates of Penal Law § 70.10(2) and adequately set forth on the record its reasons for sentencing the defendant as a persistent felony offender (cf., People v. Gaines, 136 A.D.2d 731, 524 N.Y.S.2d 70).

The defendant's remaining contentions are unpreserved for appellate review, without merit, or do not require reversal.

People v. Miranda, 243 A.D.2d 584, 584-85, 665 N.Y.S.2d 507, 508 (2d Dep't), lv. denied, 91 N.Y.2d 877, 668 N.Y.S.2d 575, 691 N.E.2d 647 (1997).

Miranda filed his present petition for habeas corpus in the district court, asserting that his rights were violated by the prosecutor's misconduct, by the trial court's denial of his motion to dismiss his trial counsel and appoint a new attorney, by his trial counsel's ineffective assistance, and by the sentence imposed on him under state-law provisions for persistent felony offenders. He also claimed that the trial court improperly denied his motion to proceed at trial pro se; his petition attached copies of pages from the brief that had been submitted to the Appellate Division by his attorney, which stated that "defendant requested to represent himself."

The State opposed the petition, arguing that Miranda's claims were procedurally barred, lacked merit, had been waived, did not raise federal claims, or involved only nonprejudicial error. Some parts of the State's arguments may have created, rather than answered, relevant factual questions. For example, as to the claim that Miranda had been denied a fair trial by the prosecutor's questions on cross-examination, the State argued that "[t]he Appellate Division held that [that] claim was unpreserved for review" (see State's Memorandum of Law in Opposition to [Miranda's] Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus dated March 8, 1999 ("State's Memorandum"), at 8), despite the fact that the Appellate Division had not mentioned that claim except to the extent that it must have been one of the "remaining contentions" that the court stated were "unpreserved for appellate review, without merit, or d[id] not require reversal," People v. Miranda, 243 A.D.2d at 585, 665 N.Y.S.2d at 508 (emphasis added). In addition, the State's Memorandum argued that Miranda's claim of unfair cross-examination was procedurally barred because Miranda did not object at trial to the prosecutor's cross-examination (State's Memorandum at 7-8); but it also argued that Miranda could not meet the cause-and-prejudice test for his failure to object, and that the claim was without merit, because the trial court had taken curative steps "[a]fter petitioner's counsel objected to this line of questioning" (id. at 10-11).

With respect to the claim that Miranda had been denied the right to represent himself at trial, the State argued, inter alia, that "this claim is not supported by any evidence and must be discounted." (Id. at 12.) After describing Miranda's request for the replacement of his assigned counsel with new counsel, and describing an out-of-court incident in which Miranda allegedly threatened witnesses against him, leading the trial judge to order him separated from other inmates and from his codefendants during transport to and from prison because of his "very serious anger and hostility" (id. at 14 (internal quotation marks omitted)), the State said that "[i]t is apparent from the above that petitioner did not request to proceed pro se at any time, including before his trial began, and thus was not entitled to defend himself." (Id.) The State added that

[h]ad petitioner exercised his absolute right to proceed pro se before trial, it likely would have been revoked .... [I]t is well settled that the right to self-representation, although asserted before trial, can be constructively waived due to disruptive behavior during trial[] .... Had petitioner moved to proceed pro se after his trial began, it is doubtful that he would have been successful because of his "anger and hostility."

(Id. n. 2.)

In an order dated July 27, 1999, the district court rejected Miranda's claims, stating, in pertinent part, that the

petition for a writ of habeas corpus is denied substantially for the reasons set out in the decision of the Appellate Division, People v. Miranda, 243 A.D.2d 584, 665 N.Y.S.2d 507 (2d Dep't 1997), and the respondent's Memorandum of Law dated March 8, 1999, submitted in opposition to the petition.

In addition, petitioner's claims do not meet the standards required by 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) for grant of the petition. None of the state's rulings resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law as determined by the United States Supreme Court, or resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented.

District Court Order dated July 27, 1999.

The district court refused to issue a certificate of appealability, and Miranda applied for such a certificate in this Court.

II. DISCUSSION

We have reviewed each of Miranda's claims in light of the grounds on which the Appellate Division affirmed his conviction and the grounds on which the State sought denial of his petition. For the reasons that follow, we deny Miranda's request for a certificate of appealability with respect to his claims of refusal to appoint new counsel, ineffective assistance of assigned counsel, and unduly severe sentencing. With respect to his claims of prosecutorial misconduct and denial of self-representation, we remand to the district court for identification of the ground or grounds on which those claims were denied, and we hold the application for a certificate of appealability in abeyance pending receipt of such clarification.

A. The Review Function of the Courts of Appeals

As a general matter, the federal courts of appeals review decisions of the district courts. Different standards of review are to be applied, depending on whether the appellant's challenge focuses principally on issues of fact or issues of law. A district court's findings of fact are evaluated under the deferential "clearly erroneous" standard of review. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a) ("Findings of fact, whether based on oral or documentary evidence, shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous ...."). This standard is applicable to a district court's findings in federal habeas cases. See, e.g., Fed.R.Civ.P. 81(a)(2) ("These [Federal Rules of Civil Procedure] are applicable to proceedings for ... habeas corpus ... to the extent that the practice in such proceedings is not set forth in statutes of the United States and has heretofore conformed to the practice in civil actions."); ...