Roberts v. Bowersox
| Decision Date | 06 August 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 4:97CV2278-DJS.,4:97CV2278-DJS. |
| Parties | Michael S. ROBERTS, Petitioner, v. Michael S. BOWERSOX, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri |
Michael Roberts, Mineral Point, MI, pro se.
Richard H. Sindel, Sindel and Sindel, Clayton, MO, John William Simon, Simon Law Offices, Jefferson City, MO, for Michael Roberts.
Cassandra K. Dolgin, Atty. General of Missouri, Jefferson City, MO, for Michael Bowersox.
This matter is before the Court on the petition of Missouri state prisoner Michael S. Roberts, for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. On March 28, 1995, in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri, a jury found petitioner guilty of murder in the first degree. On May 26, 1995, the trial judge sentenced petitioner to death in accordance with the jury's verdict. In his petition, filed January 11, 1999, Roberts asserts thirty-six grounds for relief.
Petitioner was arrested on February 18, 1994 and charged with the first degree murder of Mary L. Taylor. Additionally, petitioner was charged with two counts of armed criminal action, one count of first degree robbery, one count of second degree burglary, one count of stealing and one count of stealing a motor vehicle. Resp.Exh. A-I, pp. 11-16. The first degree murder charge was severed from the other counts. On March 28, 1995, the jury found petitioner guilty of first degree murder in violation of § 565.020.1. Resp.Exh. A-III, p. 433. On March 29, 1995, based on its finding that petitioner committed the murder "for the purpose of the defendant receiving money or any other thing of monetary value" and because the murder involved depravity of mind in that defendant committed repeated and excessive acts of physical abuse upon the victim, the jury recommended that petitioner be sentenced to death. See Resp.Exh. A-III, p. 453.
On April 24, 1995, petitioner filed a motion for judgment of acquittal or, in the alternative for new trial, for new penalty phase trial or for reduction in punishment, asserting ninety-eight grounds for relief. Resp.Exh. A-III, pp. 468-498. The trial court1 denied petitioner's motion on May 26, 1995, and petitioner was sentenced to death and a warrant of execution was issued. Resp.Exh. A-III, pp. 499-502.
Petitioner then appealed his conviction and sentence to the Supreme Court of Missouri. Resp.Exh. A-III, p. 518. On September 29, 1995, petitioner filed a pro se motion to vacate, set aside or correct the judgment or sentence, pursuant to Missouri Supreme Court Rule 29.15. Resp.Exh. E-I, pp. 5-9. On December 11, 1995, with the assistance of appointed counsel, petitioner filed his first amended motion to vacate sentence and judgment, including eighteen claims for relief with multiple subparts. Resp.Exh. E-I, pp. 31-120. The circuit court held an evidentiary hearing on the grounds asserted in the motion. The hearing began on April 15, 1996 and concluded on April 18, 1996. Resp.Exh. E-IV, p. 486. The circuit court denied petitioner's motion on the record on April 18, 1996 and issued findings of fact and conclusions of law on May 15, 1996. Resp.Exh. E-IV, pp. 484-608. Petitioner appealed the denial of his Rule 29.15 motion on June 24, 1996. Resp.Exh. E-V, p. 614.
The direct appeal and the appeal from the denial of the Rule 29.15 motion were consolidated and petitioner was appointed new counsel. The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed petitioner's sentence and conviction as well as the trial court's decision overruling petitioner's 29.15 motion. State v. Roberts, 948 S.W.2d 577 (Mo. banc 1997). Petitioner's motion for rehearing was denied on August 19, 1997. On January 12, 1998, the United States Supreme Court denied Roberts' petition for a writ of certiorari. Roberts v. Missouri, ___ U.S. ___, 118 S.Ct. 711, 139 L.Ed.2d 652 (1998).
On November 12, 1997, petitioner filed a motion for appointment of counsel in the instant habeas corpus action. This Court appointed counsel for petitioner on March 12, 1998. The instant petition and request for evidentiary hearing were filed on January 11, 1999.
The Missouri Supreme Court summarized the facts of the case as follows:
From Michael Roberts's videotaped confession, the jury learned that on February 16, 1994, Roberts and his friends ran out of crack cocaine and money at the same time. He promised his friends that he would remedy the situation, went to his house, obtained a hammer and walked to the home of fifty-six-year-old Mary Taylor, eight doors away. Roberts claimed Ms. Taylor as a friend and believed that her "stuff" had value as a result of his familiarity with it.
Roberts rang Ms. Taylor's doorbell between 10:30 and 11:00 p.m. She let him in. They watched television together. Ms. Taylor took a phone call from her nephew. When the call ended, she and Roberts talked until Ms. Taylor said she wanted to go to sleep and asked Roberts to leave. The two walked toward the front door. Roberts suddenly turned, pushed Ms. Taylor over a table and began hitting her in the head with the hammer as she lay defenseless on the floor. Ms. Taylor pleaded with Roberts to stop. After hitting her in the head with a hammer more than fifteen times, he stopped the beating and went into the kitchen where he knew she kept her purse. Finding the purse, Roberts began rummaging through it until he heard Ms. Taylor move in the front room. Roberts returned to the living room and kicked Ms. Taylor in the head and side, telling her to stay still. Apparently not convinced that she would obey, he ripped the telephone cord from the wall, wrapped it around her neck, and pulled it as tight as he could. She continued to breathe. He ran to the kitchen, grabbed a steak knife and stabbed her repeatedly until he noticed that the knife's blade bent in that process. He tossed the steak knife aside, retrieved a butcher knife from the kitchen and began stabbing Ms. Taylor again. When that weapon did not seem "like it was penetrating her clothes," he went to the kitchen again, filled a large soup pan with water, took it to Ms. Taylor and held her face under the water. Noticing that brain matter had oozed onto his hands, Roberts felt queasy, but decided to continue. He repositioned his hand and forced her head under the water. When her body started to twitch, he "freaked out," released her head, took an answering machine and $200 and left, leaving the hammer and his Cleveland Indians baseball cap behind. He returned to Ms. Taylor's house twice — the first time to steal more valuables and her car and the second time to pretend to find her body and report the crime to the police.
State v. Roberts, 948 S.W.2d 577, 585 (Mo. banc 1997).
A federal court reviewing a state conviction in a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 proceeding may consider only those claims which the petitioner has presented to the state court in accordance with state procedural rules. Gilmore v. Armontrout, 861 F.2d 1061, 1065 (8th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1114, 109 S.Ct. 3176, 104 L.Ed.2d 1037 (1989). This requirement implicates both the question of whether petitioner has exhausted all remedies available in the state courts (the exhaustion requirement), and whether he has preserved his claims for federal habeas corpus review by complying with state procedural rules governing their presentation (the procedural default inquiry). Id. The question of whether a claim is procedurally barred is distinct from the inquiry concerning whether a claim has been exhausted. Satter v. Leapley, 977 F.2d 1259, 1261 (8th Cir.1992). A federal court may entertain a claim which has been procedurally defaulted in the state courts if petitioner can show cause to excuse his state court default as well as resulting prejudice from the default, or if petitioner can show that a fundamental miscarriage of justice would result from the Court's failure to entertain the claim. Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 87, 97 S.Ct. 2497, 53 L.Ed.2d 594 (1977); Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 750-52, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991). Failure to satisfy the procedural default analysis mandates rejection of that particular ground.
Respondent concedes that petitioner has exhausted his available state remedies in that he has either afforded the state courts a full and fair opportunity to review the claims, or there is not a non-futile state remedy available for these claims. See Resp. to Order to Show Cause, p. 10. However, respondent contends that petitioner did not afford the state courts a full and fair opportunity to review several of the grounds for relief that are now before the Court. The Court will address respondent's procedural default contentions in its analysis of the grounds at issue.
As a preliminary matter, the Court makes general observations regarding the format of the petition. Throughout the instant petition, petitioner cites a laundry list of constitutional amendments in support of each ground for relief. However, petitioner frequently fails to enunciate and explain specific constitutional theories for relief based on each cited amendment. Furthermore, the Court notes that for many grounds, petitioner fails to cite any relevant authority supporting relief. The Court's analysis of each ground will track the petitioner's treatment and address petitioner's constitutional claims generally. In stating each ground for relief, the Court will quote directly from petitioner's § 2254 petition. Finally, the Court notes that nowhere in the petition does petitioner argue that he did not kill the victim.
Ground I: Respondent's custody over the petitioner violates the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the...
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