Monachelli v. Warden, SCI Graterford
| Decision Date | 11 September 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-1127,89-1127 |
| Citation | 884 F.2d 749 |
| Parties | Robert MONACHELLI v. WARDEN, SCI GRATERFORD and the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the District Attorney of Bucks County, Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Steven Harris (argued), C. Theodore Fritsch, Jr., Office of Dist. Atty., Doylestown, Pa., for appellants.
Peter Goldberger, Pamela A. Wilk (argued), Philadelphia, Pa., for appellee.
Before MANSMANN, SCIRICA and SEITZ, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal by the Warden, SCI Graterford, et al. (the "government") from the order of the district court granting the petitioner Robert Monachelli ("petitioner" or "Robert") a writ of habeas corpus. The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254(a). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Secs. 1291 and 2253.
The petitioner and his brother, Vincent Monachelli, were tried jointly and both convicted in the Court of Common Pleas of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania of first degree murder. 18 Pa.Cons.Stat. Sec. 2502. Specifically, the petitioner was held criminally liable for the intentional killing of Gregory Warmkessel, a deaf mute, with whom he had had a disagreement. 1 It is from this conviction and sentence that petitioner sought a writ of habeas corpus from the district court.
The district court granted Robert Monachelli's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. It found that petitioner's murder trial was conducted in such a way as to deny him his sixth amendment right to confrontation. It determined that the state trial court had improperly admitted into evidence, through the testimony of Fred Ludlow, certain statements made by Vincent Monachelli which had a prejudicial impact on Robert Monachelli. The district court further determined that the other evidence introduced against Robert Monachelli was not so "overwhelming" as to render the error harmless.
In deciding this appeal by the government we may only set aside the findings of fact of the district court if they are clearly erroneous. Sullivan v. Cuyler, 723 F.2d 1077, 1082 (3d Cir.1983). Also, where we are called on to interpret or apply legal precepts our review is plenary. Id.
Before the district court, the petitioner's claim for a writ of habeas corpus was premised on two alternative grounds: (1) the admission of his co-defendant's testimony, through Fred Ludlow, violated his sixth amendment right to confront adverse witnesses; and (2) petitioner's trial counsel was ineffective. As to petitioner's second ground, he claimed that his counsel was ineffective in that (1) he failed to object to the consolidation of the trials of petitioner and his brother; (2) he failed to seek redaction of Fred Ludlow's testimony; and (3) he failed to request a jury instruction on intoxication. 2 The government argues that neither of the grounds asserted by petitioner provides a basis upon which to grant petitioner a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner continues to assert both grounds in seeking an affirmance of the district court's order. 3
A. CONFRONTATION CLAUSE
The sixth amendment to the United States Constitution provides in pertinent part: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be confronted with witnesses against him." This right to confront adverse witnesses is applicable to the States via the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution. Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 404, 85 S.Ct. 1065, 1068, 13 L.Ed.2d 923 (1965). The "right to confront and cross-examine witnesses is primarily a functional right that promotes reliability in criminal trials," Lee v. Illinois, 476 U.S. 530, 106 S.Ct. 2056, 90 L.Ed.2d 514 (1986), in that it
(1) insures that the witness will give his statements under oath--thus impressing him with the seriousness of the matter and guarding against the lie by the possibility of a penalty for perjury; (2) forces the witness to submit to cross examination, the greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth; [and] (3) permits the jury that is to decide the defendant's fate to observe the demeanor of the witness in making his statement, thus aiding the jury in assessing his credibility.
Id. 476 U.S. at 540, 106 S.Ct. at 2062 (citation omitted).
At the joint trial of Vincent and Robert Monachelli neither defendant took the witness stand. The Confrontation Clause problem to be addressed in this case is whether certain statements of Vincent Monachelli, made to Fred Ludlow, were improperly admitted through the testimony of Fred Ludlow in violation of the rights of petitioner Robert Monachelli. We will first consider the propriety of admitting the statements.
At the criminal jury trial in the Court of Common Pleas Fred Ludlow testified for the prosecution that in the early morning hours of September 15, 1982 both Robert and Vincent Monachelli visited him at his house. Ludlow further stated that he had a conversation with Vincent Monachelli at that time. After eliciting this testimony, the prosecutor asked Ludlow to detail the substance of Ludlow's conversation with Vincent. Counsel for Robert Monachelli objected. The trial judge overruled the objection but cautioned the jury not to consider what Ludlow was about to say against Robert unless it found that a conspiracy existed between Robert and Vincent. Ludlow then testified that Vincent told him that Vincent and Robert were looking for the person with whom Robert had had a fight in a bar and that Robert was "packing a gun." The record does not reveal Robert's whereabouts at the time of this conversation.
Gregory Warmkessel was murdered in the early morning hours of September 16, 1982. Ludlow testified that on the night of September 17, 1982, Vincent Monachelli returned to Ludlow's house. The prosecutor asked Ludlow if he had a conversation with Vincent on September 17, 1982 and asked Ludlow to recount that conversation. Counsel for Robert Monachelli objected. The trial judge overruled the objection but cautioned the jury that Vincent's statements to Ludlow on September 17, 1982, having been made after the conclusion of any conspiracy which the jury might determine existed between Vincent and Robert, were admissible against Vincent only.
These questions and answers before the jury followed:
He kept on talking about that for about an hour. And later on that evening, he told me--well, first he asked me--he said "Can I trust you not to say anything?" I said sure. I wasn't really in the mood to have any company that night. And he told me--he says "My brother was just arrested for murder"--and he rattled on about that for a while. And later on, we were sitting at the kitchen table talking and he was telling me more or less what happened, and he reached over the table when he was telling me--or he reached over the table and he pointed his finger at my head and he went like this (indicating).
On cross-examination, counsel for Vincent Monachelli asked Ludlow, "when he [Vincent] was describing the shooting who was he talking about." To which Ludlow responded: "He didn't mention no name, he just kept saying 'he.' " Vincent's counsel then asked "He [Vincent] didn't say I shot the guy, did he?" to which Ludlow responded: "No." 4 Finally, counsel for Vincent asked Ludlow: "When Vincent was at your house Friday night: Friday, the day before he turned himself in, isn't it true he basically said 'I had nothing to do with this,' when he was describing what happened with Bobby?" Ludlow responded: "He said that [statement that] night or the next morning, because he asked me what I thought he should do; and I said well, you know, if he didn't have anything to do with it 'The best thing to do is to turn yourself in.' "
In his petition for a writ of habeas corpus before the district court, petitioner claimed that the admission of Ludlow's testimony, notwithstanding the trial judge's limiting instructions, violated his sixth amendment right to confrontation. The district court agreed with petitioner relying on Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968), and United States v. Ruff, 717 F.2d 855 (3d Cir.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1051, 104 S.Ct. 733, 79 L.Ed.2d 192 (1984).
In its brief before this court, the government argues that Ludlow's testimony did not violate petitioner's sixth amendment rights because (1) the trial judge gave the jury an instruction limiting the testimony's admissibility; and (2) Vincent's conversation with Ludlow was in a non-custodial setting thereby not implicating Bruton. At oral argument the government really abandoned these arguments. In any event, we find these arguments unpersuasive. In Bruton the Supreme Court held that where the non-testifying defendant's extrajudicial statements are both inadmissible as...
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