Rhoades v. Henry

• Decision Date: 08 March 2010
• Docket Number: No. 07-99022.,07-99022.
• Citation: 596 F.3d 1170
• Parties: Paul Ezra RHOADES, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Jeff HENRY, of the IMSI, Department of Corrections State of Idaho<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL>, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

596 F.3d 1170

Paul Ezra RHOADES, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Jeff HENRY, of the IMSI, Department of Corrections State of Idaho^*, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 07-99022.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted February 3, 2010.

Filed March 8, 2010.

Oliver W. Loewy, Federal Defender Services of Idaho, Moscow, ID, for the petitioner-appellant.

L. LaMont Anderson, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, ID, for the respondent-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Idaho, Edward J. Lodge, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-93-00155-S-EJL.

Before: PAMELA ANN RYMER, RONALD M. GOULD and JAY S. BYBEE, Circuit Judges.

RYMER, Circuit Judge:

An Idaho jury found Paul Ezra Rhoades guilty of the 1987 first degree murder, first degree kidnapping, and robbery of Stacy Baldwin.¹ The trial court sentenced him to death for both the murder and the kidnapping, and to a fixed term of life in prison for robbery. The Idaho Supreme Court upheld his conviction, sentence, and denial of post-conviction relief, State v. Rhoades (Baldwin), 120 Idaho 795, 820 P.2d 665 (1991) (Rhoades I), and the federal district court denied his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Rhoades appeals, and we affirm.

I

Rhoades had been loitering around convenience stores in the Blackfoot and Idaho Falls area, including the Red Mini Barn in Blackfoot. Stacy Baldwin worked at the Red Mini Barn and began her night shift around 9:45 p.m. on February 27, 1987. Some time before 11:00 p.m., Carrie Baier and two other girls rented videos at the Mini Barn from Stephanie Cooper, Baldwin's co-worker. Cooper's shift ended at 11:00 p.m., which left Baldwin alone.

When Baier returned around midnight, she noticed a man leave the store, get into a pickup truck (it turned out to be one used by the Rhoades family), and drive recklessly toward her. Baier saw a passenger next to the driver, but neither she nor her friends could identify the driver or the passenger. Baier went into the Mini Barn but could not find Baldwin, though Baldwin's coat was still there and her car was outside. The last recorded transaction at the store was at 12:15 a.m. $249 was missing from the cash register.

Rhoades and another male had coffee at Stan's Bar and Restaurant, near the Mini Barn, sometime between 1:30 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. on February 28.

Baldwin's body was found later that morning near some garbage dumpsters on an isolated road leading to an archery range. She had been shot three times. According to a pathologist, Baldwin died from a gunshot wound to the back and chest, but may have lived for an hour or so after the fatal shot was fired.

On March 22 or 23, Rhoades's mother reported her green Ford LTD had been stolen. Rhoades was seen driving a similar looking LTD on March 22, and on March 24, truckers saw the LTD parked on a highway median in Northern Nevada. They also saw a person matching Rhoades's description lean out of the car, fumble with a dark brown item, and run off into the sagebrush. A Nevada trooper responding to the scene found a .38 caliber gun on the ground near the open door of the car, and a holster about forty-five feet away. Ballistics testing would show that this weapon had fired the bullets that killed Baldwin.

Rhoades turned up about 11:00 in the morning of March 25 at a ranch a mile and a half from where the LTD was found. Later that day, he got a ride from the ranch to Wells, Nevada, where he was dropped off at the 4 Way Casino around 9:00 p.m. Nevada law enforcement officers arrested Rhoades while he was playing blackjack. They handcuffed him, set him over the trunk of the police car, and read him his Miranda rights.²

Meanwhile, Idaho authorities were alerted to a Rhoades connection when the LTD was discovered. They had previously obtained a warrant for Rhoades's arrest for burglary of Lavaunda's Lingerie, and arrived at the 4 Way Casino shortly after Rhoades was arrested. As the Idaho officers — one of whom Rhoades knew from home — approached, Rhoades said: "I did it." Rhoades was advised of his Miranda rights by an officer from Idaho, Victor Rodriguez, and searched by another Idaho officer, Dennis Shaw. Rhoades had a digital wrist watch in his pocket, which he claimed to have found in a "barrow pit." It was just like the one Baldwin was wearing the night she was killed.

During the booking process at the Wells Highway Patrol Station, Shaw remarked something to the effect: "If I had arrested you earlier, Stacy Baldwin may be alive today." Rhoades replied: "I did it." Shaw then said, "The girl in Blackfoot," and Rhoades again replied, "I did it."³

Forensic analysis would show that footprints found in the snow near Baldwin's body were consistent with the size and pattern of Rhoades's boots, and that Rhoades's hair was consistent with a hair on Baldwin's blouse. Rhoades also admitted to a cellmate that he kidnapped Baldwin, took her to an archery range intending to rape her but was unable to do so because she was hysterical, and shot her twice in the back.

II

Based on this evidence, the jury found Rhoades guilty of murder in the first degree, kidnapping in the first degree, and robbery. The state court held an aggravation and mitigation hearing, after which it sentenced Rhoades to death on the conviction for first degree murder and the conviction for first degree kidnapping. Rhoades filed a direct appeal and sought post-conviction relief, which the trial court denied after holding evidentiary hearings. Once that denial was appealed, the Idaho Supreme Court consolidated both appeals in accord with its procedure for capital cases. It affirmed Rhoades's convictions, death sentences, and denial of post-conviction relief on September 12, 1991. The United States Supreme Court declined to issue a writ of certiorari.

Rhoades filed a Statement of Issues in federal court on April 29, 1993, and a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus on November 30, 1993. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), which became effective April 24, 1996, is not applicable except to procedural requirements for seeking review. Sims v. Brown, 425 F.3d 560, 562 (9th Cir.2005).

As one would expect, there were several amendments to the petition and numerous rulings by the district court.⁴ Among decisions pertinent to this appeal, the district court denied Rhoades's request for an evidentiary hearing on claims that the state withheld exculpatory evidence, that Rhoades's Miranda rights were violated, and that appellate counsel rendered ineffective assistance. Ultimately the district court denied all of Rhoades's claims, as well as his motion to alter and amend the Memorandum Decision and Judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59.

Rhoades has timely appealed those grounds on which he received a certificate of appealability.

III

We review de novo the district court's decision to grant or deny a petition for writ of habeas corpus. Martinez-Villareal v. Lewis, 80 F.3d 1301, 1305 (9th Cir.1996). We also review de novo the district court's decision to dismiss a habeas petition for procedural default or for failure to exhaust. Vang v. Nevada, 329 F.3d 1069, 1072 (9th Cir.2003). Similarly, "[i]neffective assistance of counsel claims are mixed questions of law and fact which we review de novo." Beardslee v. Woodford, 358 F.3d 560, 569 (9th Cir.2004).

"To the extent it is necessary to review findings of fact made in the district court, the clearly erroneous standard applies." Silva v. Woodford, 279 F.3d 825, 835 (9th Cir.2002). This clear error review is "significantly deferential," and our court "must accept the district court's factual findings absent a `definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.'" Id. (citation omitted). Further, "[a]lthough less deference to state court factual findings is required under the pre-AEDPA law which governs this case, such factual findings are nonetheless entitled to a presumption of correctness unless they are `not fairly supported by the record.'" Id. (citations omitted).

"A district court denial of an evidentiary hearing is reviewed for abuse of discretion." Beardslee, 358 F.3d at 573.

IV

Rhoades argues that exclusion of testimony regarding Keven Buchholz's confessions to the Baldwin murder denied him due process.⁵ Buchholz was arrested at his parents' home on March 14, 1987, after his father called the police to report a fight. At the jail, Buchholz, while quite drunk, told the officer on duty that evening, Larry Christian, that he had shot the girl from the Mini Barn twice in the back. Christian reported the conversation to his supervisor, then returned. Buchholz repeated that he shot the girl from the Mini Barn twice in the back, had shot several times around the body, and had emptied the gun. Rhoades tried, unsuccessfully, to subpoena Buchholz for trial. He then sought to call Christian to testify to what Buchholz told him.

Buchholz recanted the confession once sober, explaining that he was with his family the night of the murder. Family members confirmed this. In addition, Buchholz's fingerprints, hair sample, and shoe prints were taken; none matched anything connected to the crime.⁶ The police could not link Buchholz to the murder weapon, and determined that information in his confession could have come from public sources or gossip in the community.

The state moved to exclude Christian's testimony. Rhoades presented an offer of proof indicating that Christian would testify that Buchholz told him he shot the girl twice in the back; shot at her several times; stole a green pickup in Pocatello which he left at Fort Hall; and the gun was either a .38 caliber or a 9mm. The proffer also indicated that shell casings from both sizes were found at the scene. The trial court precluded Christian from testifying because it found that Buchholz's confession lacked sufficient corroboration to be trustworthy, thus Christian's testimony about what Buchholz told...