Porter v. Wainwright
| Citation | 805 F.2d 930 |
| Decision Date | 17 November 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-3832,85-3832 |
| Parties | Raleigh PORTER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Louie L. WAINWRIGHT, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, Respondent- Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Douglas Chumbley, Kimbrell & Hamann, P.A. (Eileen Rooney, Paralegal), R. Benjamine Reid, Miami, Fla., for petitioner-appellant.
Robert J. Landry, Asst. Atty. Gen., Office of the Atty. Gen., Tampa, Fla., for respondent-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
Before GODBOLD, HILL and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
Porter was indicted on two counts of premeditated murder and tried before a jury in a Florida circuit court. On November 30, 1978, the jury returned a general verdict, finding Porter guilty on both counts. Following a sentencing hearing, the jury recommended that Porter receive life imprisonment rather than the death penalty. On December 11, 1978, the trial judge overrode the jury's recommendation and sentenced Porter to death.
On June 4, 1981, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed Porter's conviction but vacated and remanded the case for resentencing. Porter v. State, 400 So.2d 5 (Fla.1981). The basis for the order to vacate Porter's sentence was a violation of Gardner v. Florida, 430 U.S. 349, 97 S.Ct. 1197, 51 L.Ed.2d 393 (1977), i.e., that Porter had not been allowed to rebut certain deposition testimony that the judge considered for sentencing purposes. At resentencing before the judge only, Porter's attorney presented evidence impeaching the previously unrebutted deposition testimony but presented little or no other evidence in mitigation. The trial judge again sentenced Porter to death.
On January 27, 1983, Porter's conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court. Porter v. State, 429 So.2d 293 (Fla.1983). The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. 464 U.S. 865, 104 S.Ct. 202, 78 L.Ed.2d 176 (1983). The governor of Florida denied clemency and signed a death warrant effective from October 22, 1985 to October 29, 1985. On October 22, 1985, Porter filed a motion in Florida circuit court to vacate judgment and sentence pursuant to Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.850. He also applied for a stay of execution. The 3.850 motion and stay were denied on October 22, 1985. The Florida circuit court did not hold an evidentiary hearing. On October 26, 1985, Porter's petition for federal habeas corpus was denied by the district court without benefit of an evidentiary hearing. That same day, this court granted a stay of Porter's execution pending appeal.
On appeal, Porter challenges both his first sentencing hearing before the trial judge and his second sentencing hearing before the trial judge. Porter claims that he was deprived of effective assistance of counsel in violation of the Sixth Amendment because his attorneys at both sentencing hearings failed to adequately investigate and present evidence of mitigating circumstances. Porter also asserts on appeal that his Sixth Amendment right to counsel was abridged at trial because his trial counsel had a conflict of interest as a result of that attorney's prior representation of a prosecution witness. Because we conclude that facts material to both of these claims were not adequately developed in state court, we remand this case to the district court for an evidentiary hearing in order to develop the facts necessary to resolve these issues. Porter's other claims on appeal are without merit.
Porter's first claim on appeal is that his representation at sentencing was constitutionally deficient because his attorneys at both sentencing hearings failed to adequately investigate and present evidence in mitigation of his crime.
At the first sentencing hearing, the only mitigating evidence presented was Porter's brief testimony. The jury recommended a sentence of life imprisonment. The trial judge rejected the jury's recommendation and sentenced Porter to death. The trial judge found that the statutory aggravating circumstances were that the murders were committed while Porter was engaged in the commission of a robbery for pecuniary gain, that the murders were committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest, and that the murders were especially heinous, atrocious and cruel. See Fla.Stat.Ann. Sec. 921.141(5)(d), (e), (h) (West 1985). The trial judge concluded that these aggravating circumstances outweighed the scant mitigating evidence that Porter had advanced. In fact, the trial judge found no evidence which tended to mitigate the crime. The trial judge noted that the defendant's age at the time of the crime, twenty-two, weighed against him in the eyes of the court because of the disparity between Porter's age and his physical strength and that of the victims. The trial judge also was not swayed by the fact that Porter was married and had two children because Porter was not supporting either his wife or his children but, in fact, he was living with another woman prior to and on the date of the murders.
The Florida Supreme Court vacated Porter's sentence and remanded for resentencing because Porter had not been allowed to rebut the deposition testimony of Larry Schapp which the judge had considered for sentencing purposes. On remand before the trial judge only, Porter's attorney presented evidence impeaching the Schapp deposition but virtually no other evidence. 1 The trial judge resentenced Porter to death.
At a minimum, Porter asserts, the district court erred in refusing to hold an evidentiary hearing on his ineffective assistance of counsel claim. While the district court is required to conduct an evidentiary hearing in certain circumstances, such a hearing is not required unless the petitioner alleges facts which, if proved, would entitle him to federal habeas relief. Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 312, 83 S.Ct. 745, 756, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963); Guice v. Fortenberry, 661 F.2d 496, 503 (5th Cir.1981) (former Fifth Circuit en banc). 2 Thus, assuming the facts Porter alleges to be true, he must state a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel under the standard enunciated in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Under Strickland, Porter must show that his attorneys' performances at sentencing were deficient and that the deficient performances prejudiced his defense. 104 S.Ct. at 2064.
In an effort to satisfy the performance prong of Strickland, Porter proffered a number of exhibits in both his state and federal habeas corpus proceedings. These exhibits were proffered as evidence of mitigating circumstances that his sentencing attorneys could have, but failed to present. A summary of that evidence is relevant here.
Affidavits of Porter's mother and sister describe an extremely difficult home environment. These affidavits include accounts of how Porter's stepfather inflicted mental and physical abuse on Porter to the point that Porter would not come home while his stepfather was there. These affidavits also depict Porter as a loving human being who cared deeply about his mother, sister, wife, and daughter. Both Porter's mother and sister also stated that they were not contacted by Porter's lawyers.
Porter also proffered his records from elementary school through high school. These records show that Porter was, at times, an average-to-good student and at other times was a poor student and a discipline problem. Much of Porter's high school career was spent in various juvenile detention centers, from one of which he graduated. A former superintendent of Porter's high school alma mater described that institution as grossly overcrowded, run by untrained and unnecessarily punitive staff members, and rife with incidents of physical and sexual abuse by some of the staff and among the boys. Porter also proffered the affidavit of a professor of criminology who had conducted research at another of the juvenile detention centers at which Porter was housed. This affidavit paints a grim picture of juvenile detention at this particular institution and concludes that juveniles incarcerated there were molded in such a way that, to some extent, they are not responsible for their subsequent behavior. Porter also proffered a book published in 1976 describing juvenile institutions and their effect on those people incarcerated at them.
Finally, Porter proffered the affidavit of a clinical psychologist who interviewed Porter after sentencing. Following a three and one-half hour examination, and a review of Porter's educational records, mental health reports, and the above described affidavits of Porter's family members and others, the psychologist concluded that Porter is a victim of his environment. 3 Porter argues that the totality of this evidence shows that deep down he is a good person and that his harsh home environment and his experiences in juvenile detention are at least partly to blame for the crimes he committed.
A. The First Sentencing
We now turn to the performance of Porter's attorneys at the first sentencing hearing. The only mitigating evidence presented at the hearing was Porter's own brief testimony. That testimony, in its entirety, is as follows:
BY MR. JACOBS:
Q Could you state your name, please, for the record, sir?
A Raleigh Porter.
Q How old are you, Raleigh?
A Twenty-two.
Q Have you ever been convicted of a crime before?
A I pled guilty to receiving stolen property one time.
Q Is that the only conviction of crime you have?
A Yes, sir.
Q Are you married?
A Yes, sir.
Q Do you have any children?
Q Do you have anything that you wish to say to the Jury at this time, as to this part of the trial?
A At this time, I sort of feel like I'm a fetus. You are all my surrogate mother. [sic] It's up to you if you're going to abort me or let me live.
Trial Record, vol. 5 at 744.
The state argues that Porter...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Lovern v. US, Crim. No. 82-00023-01-R
...where defendant alleges violation of a rule designed to protect the innocent, Mechanik analysis is appropriate); Porter v. Wainwright, 805 F.2d 930, 941-42 (11th Cir.1986) (applying Mechanik rule where habeas corpus petitioner alleged that one of the grand jurors was biased and that the pro......
-
Ingram v. State
...in order to obtain discovery, a petitioner must allege facts that, if proved, would entitle him to relief. Cf. Porter v. Wainwright, 805 F.2d 930, 933 (11th Cir.1986) ('a hearing [on a habeas corpus petition] is not required unless the petitioner alleges facts which, if proved, would entitl......
-
U.S. v. Teague
...taking into account all circumstances of the case as they were known to counsel at the time of the representation. Porter v. Wainwright, 805 F.2d 930 (11th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 482 U.S. 918, 107 S.Ct. 3195, 96 L.Ed.2d 682 (1987). Teague's counsel clearly had advised him that it would be......
-
Lightbourne v. Dugger
...conflict of interest. An attorney who cross-examines a former client inherently encounters divided loyalties. See Porter v. Wainwright, 805 F.2d 930, 939 (11th Cir.1986); Stephens v. United States, 595 F.2d 1066, 1070 (5th Cir.1979). Whether or not an actual conflict arose when Assistant Pu......
-
Grand Jury Abuse: the Remedy After Mechanik and Kilpatrick
...jury, and concluded that the Mechanik harmless error rule is not applicable to this type of defect in the grand jury proceedings. 15. 805 F.2d 930, 941-42 (11th Cir. 1986). 16. 788 F.2d 1250, 1254 (7th Cir. 1986). 17. 812 F.2d 548 (9th Cir. 1987). 18. The dissent in Benjamin argued that the......