Nelson v. Davis

• Decision Date: 29 March 2017
• Docket Number: NO. 4:16-CV-904,4:16-CV-904
• Parties: STEVEN LAWAYNE NELSON, Petitioner, v. LORIE DAVIS, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Texas

STEVEN LAWAYNE NELSON, Petitioner, v. LORIE DAVIS, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice,Correctional Institutions Division, Respondent.

NO. 4:16-CV-904

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS FORT WORTH DIVISION

March 29, 2017

MEMORANDUM OPINION AMD ORDER

Came on for consideration the amended petition¹ of Steven Lawayne Nelson ("petitioner") for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to the authority of 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Having considered the amended petition, the response of respondent, Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, the reply, the state court trial, appellate, and habeas records, and applicable authorities, the court finds that the relief sought by the petition should be denied.

I.Background and Procedural History

Petitioner was charged by an indictment filed May 26, 2011, with intentionally causing the death of Clinton Dobson by suffocating him with a plastic bag during the course of committing or attempting to commit the offense of robbery of, or burglary of a building of, Dobson. 1 CR² 12. Bill Ray ("Ray") and Steve Gordon ("Gordon") were appointed to represent petitioner at trial. 1 CR 28-29. By order signed April 13, 2011, the trial court granted petitioner's motion for appointment of mitigation specialist and appointed Mary Burdette to assist counsel in their preparation for trial. 1 CR 38. In addition, by order signed April 13, 2011, the court granted petitioner's motion to appoint an investigator and appointed Wells Investigation to assist counsel. 1 CR 39. On several occasions, the trial court approved payment of additional funds for the work of the mitigation specialist and investigator. 1 CR 201-04, 217-20; 2 CR 236-38, 367-68. And, the court granted petitioner's motions for appointment of an expert and additional funds to conduct DMA testing. 2 CR 332-38. Counsel also retained a forensicpsychologist to assist at trial. 43 RR³ 237-38; 2 CR 234 (approving interim payment).

The trial of petitioner commenced October 1, 2012. 32 RR 1, 15. On October 8, 2012, the jury returned its verdict at the guilt/innocence stage of his trial, finding petitioner guilty of the offense of capital murder, as charged in the indictment. 2 CR 401; 37 RR 32-34. The punishment phase of the trial commenced October 8, 2012. 38 RR 7. On October 16, 2012, the jury unanimously found, in response to special issues in the form prescribed by article 37.071 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, (1) beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a probability that petitioner would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society, (2) petitioner actually caused the death of Dobson or did not actually cause the death but intended to kill him or another or anticipated that a human life would be taken, and (3) that it could not find that, taking into consideration all of the evidence, including the circumstances of the offense, petitioner's character and background, and the personal moral culpability of petitioner, there was a sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances to warrant a sentence of life imprisonment without parole rather than a death sentence beimposed. 2 CR 417-19; 44 RR 32-33. On October 16, 2012, the trial judge signed a capital judgment imposing a death penalty on petitioner. 2 CR 424-26.

The trial court appointed David Pearson to represent petitioner on his direct appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. 2 CR 431. By its opinion delivered April 15, 2015, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the trial court's capital judgment imposing the death sentence on petitioner. Nelson v. State, No. AP-76, 924, 2015 WL 1757144 (Tex. Crim. App. Apr. 15, 2015). Petitioner then unsuccessfully petitioned the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. Nelson v. Texas, 136 S. Ct. 357 (2015).

On October 16, 2012, the trial court appointed John Stickels ("Stickels") to represent petitioner in the filing of his state petition for writ of habeas corpus. 1 CHR⁴ 127. While his direct appeal was pending, petitioner, acting through Stickels, filed his state application for writ of habeas corpus, raising seventeen grounds for relief. 1 CHR 2. Pertinent here, Stickels raised a claim of ineffectiveness of trial counsel for having failed to adequately investigate and present mitigation evidence, citing Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510 (2003), and Lewis v. Dretke, 355 F.3d 364 (5th Cir. 2003), among other authorities. 1CHR at 7, 49-59. The court ordered trial counsel to file affidavits to address, among other things, the contention that they had failed to thoroughly investigate petitioner's mitigation evidence and formulate a consistent and effective mitigation strategy. 1 CHR at 139. Having considered those affidavits and the State's response, the trial court adopted the State's proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, recommending that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals deny the relief sought. 2 CHR 352. Based on those findings and conclusions, as well as its own review of the record, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied petitioner's requested relief. Ex parte Nelson, No. WR-82,814-01, 2015 WL 6689512 (Tex. Crim. App. Oct. 14, 2015).

II.Evidence

On appeal, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals summarized the evidence at the guilt/innocence phase of the trial as follows:

A. Discovery of the Victims

Members of NorthPointe Baptist Church described the events surrounding the discovery of Clint Dobson and Judy Elliot. Church member Dale Harwell had plans to meet Dobson for lunch. When Dobson did not arrive at the appointed time, Harwell tried unsuccessfully to contact him. Debra Jenkins went to NorthPointe at around 12:40, where she saw Dobson's and Elliot's cars in the parking lot. Jenkins rang the doorbell and called the church office but received no answer, so she left after about five minutes. She returned fifteen minutes later, and Elliot's car, a Galant, was nolonger in the parking lot. At 1:00 p.m., another church member, Suzanne Richards arrived for a meeting with Dobson. His car was in the parking lot, but Elliot's was not. Richards waited for half of an hour, ringing the doorbell, calling, and texting Dobson.

Meanwhile, Clint Dobson's wife, Laura, called Jake Turner, the part-time music minister, because she had been unable to reach her husband by phone. Turner agreed to go to the church, and he called Judy Elliot's husband, John, who promptly drove to the church. John entered the church using his passcode and called out Dobson's name. John saw Dobson's office in disarray and saw a severely beaten woman lying on the ground. He did not immediately notice Dobson lying on the other side of the desk. John called the police.

Arlington police officer Jesse Parrish responded to the call. He noticed signs of a struggle, including blood and what appeared to be a grip plate of a pistol. Elliot was lying on her back with her hands bound behind her. John recognized his wife by her clothing. Parrish found Dobson lying face-up with his hands bound behind his back. A bloody plastic bag was covering his head and sucked into his mouth. Upon lifting the plastic bag off his head, Parrish knew that Dobson was dead.

Elliot was taken to the hospital in critical condition. She had a heart attack while there and neither the physicians nor John believed she would survive. She had traumatic injuries to her face, head, arms, legs, and back and internal bleeding in her brain. She was in the hospital for two weeks and underwent five months of therapy and rehabilitation. A permanent fixture of mesh, screws, and other metal holds her face together. At the time of trial, Elliot still had physical and mental impairments from the attack.

Doctor Nizam Peerwani, medical examiner for Tarrant County, testified that the manner of Dobson's death was homicide. Dobson's injuries indicated a violent altercation during which he attempted to shield himself from blows from an object such as the butt of a firearm. Two wounds to his forehead appeared to be from the computer monitor stand in the office. According to Dr. Peerwani, the injuries indicated that Dobson wasstanding when he was first struck in the head and that he was struck in the back of his head as he fell. After he had fallen to the ground and lost consciousness, his hands were tied behind his back, and the bag was placed over his head. With the bag over his head, he suffocated and died.

B [Petitioner's] Actions after the Murder

[Petitioner] texted Whitley Daniels at 1:24 p.m., and Daniels told him to bring her a cigar. After stopping at his apartment, [petitioner] drove Elliot's car to a Tire King store, where a customer bought Dobson's laptop and case out of the trunk of the Galant. At around 2:00 p.m., [petitioner] drove to a Tetco convenience store, where he used Elliot's credit card to buy gas, a drink, and a cigar. Anthony "AG" Springs' girlfriend brought AG to the Tetco. When [petitioner] tried to buy gas for her car, the card was declined. [Petitioner] and AG drove in Elliot's car to the apartment of Claude "Twist" Jefferson and Jefferson's aunt Brittany Bursey.

Daniels testified that [petitioner] and AG arrived at her house with the cigar some time after 3:00 p.m. [Petitioner] and AG soon left, but [petitioner] returned alone fifteen or twenty minutes later. [Petitioner] asked Daniels to go to the mall and use her identification with the credit cards. She declined to do so, and [petitioner] left.

[Petitioner] went to The Parks at Arlington mall. Using Elliot's credit cards at Sheikh Shoes, he purchased a t-shirt featuring the Sesame Street character Oscar the Grouch, and Air Max shoes. He also used the cards to buy costume jewelry at Jewelry Hut and Silver Gallery. [Petitioner] later returned to Sheikh Shoes with two companions, but a second attempt to use the credit card was not approved.

[Petitioner] returned to Bursey's apartment that evening with AG and Twist.

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