Moore v. Campbell, No. 02-11302.
| Decision Date | 15 September 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 02-11302. |
| Citation | 344 F.3d 1313 |
| Parties | Cayce Collins Moore, Petitioner-Appellant, Cross-Appellee, v. Donal Campbell, Attorney General for the State of Alabama, Respondents-Appellees, Cross-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Rhonda Brownstein, Southern Poverty Law Center, Montgomery, AL, for Moore.
James Bartholomew Prude, Montgomery, AL, for Campbell.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Before EDMONDSON, Chief Judge, KRAVITCH and GIBSON*, Circuit Judges.
Cayce Moore appeals the district court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The State of Alabama ("the State") cross-appeals the district court's determinations that Moore's habeas petition was not time-barred and that Moore's claims were not procedurally barred. We affirm the district court's denial of Moore's habeas petition.1
After being charged with capital murder, Moore entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental defect or disease. Before trial, mental health professionals examined Moore and found him competent to stand trial. Moore's trial began on 10 August 1987. On Monday, 17 August 1987, Moore's counsel informed the court that Moore had attempted suicide by taking a drug overdose. The trial court declared a recess in the trial to allow Moore to be treated. On 24 August 1987, Dr. Claudio Toro, the psychiatrist treating Moore, wrote a letter warning the trial court that Moore was depressed and a high suicide risk. At about this same time, the district court ordered that Moore be examined to determine his competency to stand trial. Dr. Kamal Nagi, a psychiatrist, examined Moore and informed the trial court that Moore was competent to stand trial.2
The trial court granted the State's motion to revoke Moore's bond. On 27 August 1987, Moore was taken from the hospital to the St. Clair County Jail where he was placed on suicide watch. Moore's trial resumed on 31 August 1987. On the evening of 1 September 1987, Moore was taken to the hospital, treated for dehydration, and discharged about four-and-a-half hours later. On 4 September 1987, the jury convicted Moore of capital murder. Moore was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
On appeal, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Moore's conviction and sentence. Moore v. State, 546 So.2d 404 (Ala.Crim.App.1989). The Alabama Supreme Court denied Moore's petition for a writ of certiorari on 4 August 1989. Ex Parte Moore, 549 So.2d 1363 (Ala.1989).
On 24 April 1997, Moore filed a petition for post-conviction relief in state court pursuant to Ala.R.Crim.P. 32. He alleged, among other things, that (1) Moore was mentally incompetent during a portion of his capital murder trial, (2) the trial judge had substantial evidence before the court which raised a reasonable doubt about Moore's competency to stand trial and, therefore, should have held a hearing on its own motion, and (3) Moore's counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to request a competency hearing and by failing to appeal the trial court's failure to hold a competency hearing.
On 16 October 1998, the state court held an evidentiary hearing on Moore's Rule 32 petition. Moore presented witnesses and submitted evidence for the state court's consideration.
Raymond Chapman, the "head trusty" at the county jail during Moore's trial, testified that Chapman and the other inmates were assigned to watch Moore to ensure that he would not attempt suicide. Chapman stated that, from Moore's arrival on 27 August 1987 until Moore was taken to the hospital on 1 September 1987, he did not observe Moore consume food or drink. Chapman testified that when Moore's trial resumed on 31 August 1987, he had to help Moore bathe and dress for court. That evening, the sheriff took Moore to a local physician, Dr. Norrell. According to Dr. Norrell's records, Moore had "refused to take food or fluids for four days" and "refused [an] injection [of] B-12."
On 1 September 1987, Chapman again bathed and dressed Moore for court. Chapman stated that, when Moore returned from court, he was in the same condition and was not talking to anyone. Later that evening, Moore was found lying unconscious on the floor of his cell. Moore was taken to the hospital.
Jean Moore, Moore's mother, testified that at the hospital Moore was "[a]lmost lifeless, pale — not really responding to me." Jean Moore stated that, when she begged Moore to accept the medical treatment, he initially refused. Jean Moore testified that, when she asked Moore if he would drink some water, he responded "[w]e'll just go to the Galleria [a Birmingham shopping mall] and get some orange spice tea." Jean Moore said that she eventually talked Moore into accepting medical treatment.
Moore was nineteen at the time of the trial. At the Rule 32 hearing, Dr. James Lewis, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Alabama, testified that a healthy, nineteen year-old male who fails to eat or drink for several days will suffer some effects of dehydration or volume depletion. Dr. Lewis stated that dehydration can result in a person being listless, stuporous, confused, and disoriented. Dr. Lewis further testified that, if a person is dehydrated, it could also affect their ability to understand the events taking place around them and to engage in conversation.
Dr. Lewis stated that the emergency room physician's description of Moore as "listless" with "breath smelling of ketones" was consistent with someone who was dehydrated or volume depleted.3 Dr. Lewis further testified that, although not a positive conclusion, if someone did not eat or drink for four days, was listless, had breath smelling of ketones, and was weak and disoriented, Dr. Lewis would be led to a medical conclusion that the person was dehydrated or volume depleted. Dr. Lewis, however, stated he would want to see a patient before initiating therapy.
At the Rule 32 hearing, Dr. Stanley Brodsky, a University of Alabama forensic psychology professor, testified that — based on his post-trial interviews with Moore and review of available information (including newspaper articles about the trial, Moore's hospital records, Dr. Toro's psychological evaluation, and the expert testimony at trial) — Moore was "seriously and substantially impaired [in] his ability to understand proceedings rationally; to consult with his attorneys and aid in his own defense" on 31 August and 1 September 1987. Dr. Brodsky testified that Moore's mid-trial suicide attempt and later refusal to eat and drink were "absolutely consistent with the characteristics of a major depressive episode." Dr. Brodsky stated that it was not Moore's depression by itself that made Moore incompetent, but Moore's failure to eat or drink. Dr. Brodsky testified that he did not believe that Moore's refusal to eat or drink was an attempt to manipulate the trial, but instead the result of Moore's depression.4
In rebuttal, the State presented the testimony of a St. Clair County sheriff's deputy, the St. Clair County District Attorney, and Dr. Nagi.
Dr. Nagi testified that after Moore's drug overdose he evaluated Moore at the request of the trial judge. Dr. Nagi stated that Moore expressed concerns about receiving a fair trial in the venue where the trial was taking place and stated that he wanted the trial moved. Dr. Nagi testified that Moore told him Dr. Nagi testified that he concluded that Moore was competent to stand trial and informed the trial judge of this fact. Dr. Nagi stated that he was not aware that Moore later had restricted his intake of food and liquid.5
The state court found and concluded that Moore was competent to stand trial and was able to aid and assist his counsel in his defense. The state court also found that Moore "undertook a calculated and concerted effort to disrupt his capital murder trial." The state court concluded that Moore's asserted incompetence was similar to a disruptive defendant who is excluded from the courtroom and stated that "[o]ne whose own actions causes him to be absent from trial, cannot claim error." The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the denial of Moore's Rule 32 petition in a memorandum opinion, concluding that all of Moore's claims were time-barred and that his claims of substantive and procedural incompetency were also procedurally barred. Moore then petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari.
While his petition for a writ of certiorari with the Alabama Supreme Court was pending, Moore filed a federal habeas petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 raising procedural and substantive competency claims and ineffective assistance of counsel claims.6
The State responded that Moore's habeas petition was time-barred and that Moore's claims were procedurally defaulted because they were raised outside Rule 32's two-year statute of limitations. The State further argued that Moore was entitled to no relief because he had failed to establish that he was incompetent and, regardless, any incompetence was self-induced.
A magistrate judge issued a report and recommendation. The magistrate judge first determined that Moore's federal habeas petition was timely. The magistrate judge next concluded that Moore's claims were not procedurally barred despite Moore's failure to raise his claims in state court within the two-year statute of limitations set out in Ala.R.Crim.P. 32.2(c). The magistrate judge determined that, because the jurisdictional nature of Rule 32.2(c) — where the state had not affirmatively plead the timeliness defense — was not "firmly established and regularly followed" at the time of Moore's Rule 32 proceeding, the claims were not procedurally barred under this rule. The magistrate concluded, however, that because Moore failed to raise...
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