Murden v. Artuz

Decision Date10 August 2007
Docket NumberDocket No. 05-0610-pr.
Citation497 F.3d 178
PartiesWilliam MURDEN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Christopher ARTUZ, Superintendent of Greenhaven Correctional Facility, Respondent-Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Andrea G. Hirsch, New York, New York, for Petitioner-Appellant.

Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney for Kings County (Leonard Joblove, Joyce Slevin, and Thomas M. Ross, Assistant District Attorneys, of Counsel), Brooklyn, New York, for Respondent-Appellee.

Before: WALKER, HALL, Circuit Judges, and COTE, District Judge*.

DENISE COTE, District Judge:

The Honorable Jack B. Weinstein issued a Certificate of Appealability with his denial of the petition filed by William Murden ("Murden") for a writ of habeas corpus. Murden asserts that his 1991 conviction for murder in the second degree in New York state court should be overturned because the jury was not given a charge on the partial affirmative defense of extreme emotional disturbance ("EED"). Specifically Murden complains that his trial counsel failed to develop the evidence that would have supported an EED charge. For the following reasons, Judge Weinstein's denial of the petition for a writ of habeas corpus is affirmed.

BACKGROUND
I. Trial Evidence

Murden was charged with two counts of murder in the second degree. N.Y. Penal Law § 125.25[1], [2]. The evidence at trial established that on September 4, 1976 ("Saturday"), Murden stabbed his girl-friend Diane Miles ("Miles") in her bedroom nineteen times, causing her death. At the time, Murden was thirty-three years old and Miles was twenty years old. The summary of trial evidence that follows is drawn from the testimony of both the prosecution witnesses and Murden, who testified on his own behalf. The discussion of Murden's relationship with Miles prior to September 3, 1976 ("Friday") is drawn entirely from Murden's testimony.

Murden, Miles, and Miles's five-year-old son Antoine, began living together in the summer of 1975. In February 1976, Antoine's father attacked Murden and Murden ran away. Miles and her mother teased Murden about the incident. Murden was later evicted from the apartment he shared with Miles and when he found a new apartment, Miles initially refused to move in with him again. After she rejoined him, the relationship went well for a few months, but in June 1976 Miles attempted to stab her sister and ended up stabbing Murden's friend instead. Miles also started to stay out nights. She would leave her son with Murden or relatives and sometimes threatened Murden with a knife when he asked where she had been.

On Friday, Miles returned to the apartment after a four-day absence. Murden asked where she had been, but did not get an answer. Murden, Miles, and Miles's mother drank late into the night. Miles then made Murden sleep separately so that Miles's mother could sleep in their bed.

On Saturday, some of Miles's other relatives and friends arrived. Miles and her mother mocked Murden, saying he would have to leave the apartment. Murden refused to leave, saying it was his apartment. Murden drank a pint of rum that Miles's mother had given him, but claimed at trial that he was not "drunk" on Saturday.

After drinking the rum, Murden went shopping. When he returned to the apartment, the only other people in the apartment were Miles, Antoine, Miles's fifteen-year-old cousin Cathy Faison ("Faison"), Miles's friend Jacqueline Crawford ("Crawford"), and Miles's seven-year-old niece Shereia Denee Webb ("Webb").1

The evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the state, see Policano v. Herbert, 430 F.3d 82, 84 (2d Cir.2005), established that the following events then occurred. Murden entered the kitchen, where Miles and Faison were sitting with Antoine and Crawford. Miles asked Murden how he had gotten into the apartment, since she had taken his key. Miles and Murden began arguing. Murden pulled a large knife out of a kitchen drawer and threatened to kill Miles with it. Miles began crying, and Murden placed the knife back in the drawer, assuring Miles that he loved her. Miles and Antoine then went to Miles's bedroom.

Murden hid a kitchen knife behind his back and followed Miles into the bedroom. Murden approached Miles and leaned over her twice as if asking for a kiss. When she refused to kiss him and pushed his face away, Murden pulled out the kitchen knife and repeatedly stabbed Miles as she cried for help and as her body slumped off the bed.

Murden left the bedroom and moved quickly down the hallway, holding the bloody knife. As Faison testified, Murden "looked really wild," his eyes were "really wide open," and he "looked crazy." When Faison asked Murden what was wrong, he did not answer, threw the knife down, and ran out of the apartment. Two other witnesses heard Murden say, "I killed the bitch."

Murden took a taxicab to his cousin Rita Burrows's home. He reported encountering several people at Rita's home, including a "Benny Porter," who helped Murden board a bus for Georgia, allegedly to see a "root doctor" or spiritual healer to cure pains in his stomach. Murden remained a fugitive for thirteen years, until his arrest in Florida in 1989, where he was living under the name Gary Walters. When arrested, Murden told a detective, "If I had stayed in New York this would be over by now," and, "I've been looking over my shoulder for thirteen years."

At trial, Murden's account of the sequence of events immediately preceding the murder differed sharply from that presented by the state witnesses. He denied that he had taken a knife out of the kitchen drawer and threatened Miles. He explained that he stayed in the kitchen talking to Faison and drinking a glass of ice water after Miles went into her bedroom. Murden then went to Miles's bedroom, where they continued to argue about whether he would move out. Murden testified that Miles then stabbed him in the leg with a knife. He said he reached for her knife and that as he struggled with Miles, other people attacked him from behind, hitting him in the head and biting his leg. He claimed that he then "blanked out." On cross-examination he testified that he remembered "grabbing at" the knife. Murden testified that he did not remember actually getting the knife away from Miles, but also admitted that he had stabbed Miles and remembered swinging the knife at her.2 Testimony by a forensic pathologist established that Miles's wounds were consistent with the assailant thrusting a knife downward and backward and the victim trying to protect herself and inconsistent with a knife slashing from side to side.

During the entire trial, Murden asserted a defense of justification, claiming that he stabbed Miles in self-defense. Sometime after explaining in his opening statement that his client had acted in self-defense, Murden's counsel decided to pursue an EED defense as well. The attorney argued vigorously for a jury charge on this partial affirmative defense. He argued that Miles's failure to appreciate all Murden had done for her, her aggressive treatment of him, her absences from the apartment at night, and her cruel responses to his questions about those absences "all add[ ] up to a point where any normal person can reach that state of extreme emotional ... disturbance" and that Miles's stabbing of Murden was "like the straw that broke the camel's back." The judge denied the request for an EED charge, holding that it was not supported by sufficient evidence. He observed,

The way I understood the defendant's testimony was that he went into the bedroom without any intention to do anything. That he was surprised when the deceased, Diane Miles, is alleged to have stabbed him with a knife. He reacted to the stabbing by apparently trying to protect himself from being attacked not only by Miss Miles, with a knife, but also someone behind him and someone on the floor biting his leg.

Defense counsel did not request an intoxication charge. The judge charged the jury on the defense of justification. Murden was convicted of murder in the second degree.

II. Sentencing

At the March 8, 1991 sentencing proceeding, the state asked for the maximum penalty of twenty-five years to life, emphasizing Murden's flight and lack of remorse. When Murden spoke, he mentioned three complaints. He complained about jury selection. He asserted that he was telling the truth when he testified that he did not remember stabbing Miles, but that his attorney told him during a recess in his testimony to admit that he remembered doing it. Finally, he objected that his witnesses had not been called to testify. He said, "I didn't get none of my witnesses that I gave — didn't get no witness that could help me on my side...." The judge asked for clarification, stating that there was "nobody else in the room who was an eyewitness as far as I know" and asking what kind of witness Murden was talking about. Murden responded, "They are saying it wasn't my apartment and all that stuff like that and all other stuff, owner of the building, and —." The judge interjected, "Those kind of witnesses doesn't matter. The question is whether you stabbed Ms. Miles with intent to cause her death, and as a result of the stabbing, you did cause her death, and whether you own the apartment, doesn't matter."

Murden concluded with a plea for mercy. The judge sentenced him to twenty years to life imprisonment.

III. Direct Appeal

On direct appeal, Murden argued that the trial court improperly refused his request for an EED charge. The Appellate Division affirmed Murden's conviction, holding that the trial evidence was insufficient to support an EED defense. People v. Murden, 190 A.D.2d 822, 593 N.Y.S.2d 837 (App. Div. 1993). It noted that Murden had relied at trial upon a justification defense. It found that his flight from the scene and the jurisdiction immediately after the defense was inconsistent with the loss of control associated...

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