Ross v. Fulcomer
| Decision Date | 04 June 1985 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 84-5774. |
| Citation | 610 F. Supp. 560 |
| Parties | Samuel ROSS v. Thomas FULCOMER, et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
Samuel Ross, pro se.
Andrew Rogoff, Asst. Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, Pa., for respondents.
Petitioner Samuel Ross, currently confined at the State Correctional Institution at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, has filed this pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. United States Magistrate Peter B. Scuderi, to whom the petition was referred for a report and recommendation, has recommended dismissing the petition for failure to exhaust state remedies. Ross has objected to Magistrate Scuderi's report and recommendation, contending that he has exhausted his state remedies and requesting a determination of the merits of his petition. After careful consideration of the Magistrate's report and the record in this case, the Court has, for the reasons set forth below, determined that Ross has satisfied the exhaustion requirement of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b) with respect to all of the claims raised in his petition. This Court thus will not dismiss this petition for failure to exhaust state remedies, but will refer the matter back to Magistrate Scuderi for further proceedings not inconsistent with 28 U.S.C. § 636, including a report and recommendation on the merits of the claims raised in this petition.
Ross was convicted of attempted rape and robbery in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County in 1977. He was sentenced to a two-to-ten year term on the robbery conviction and a concurrent two-to-twelve year term on the attempted rape conviction. He filed a post-trial motion for a new trial in the Court of Common Pleas, alleging that (1) the Pennsylvania Rape Shield Law, 18 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. § 3104, is unconstitutional; (2) the prosecution intentionally failed to disclose, prior to trial, an allegedly incriminating statement made by Ross to the police (prior to his arrest) while he was in a "delirious" condition, which statement was admitted against him at trial; (3) certain "inflammatory" remarks made by the prosecutor at trial constituted gross misconduct and deprived Ross of a fair trial; and (4) the prosecutor improperly informed the jury that Ross was in custody during the trial. Ross' motion for a new trial was denied. Ross appealed to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, raising the same four grounds. He also claimed, in connection with his allegation of prosecutorial misconduct, that the Commonwealth had failed to provide a full and complete transcript with which he could document other allegedly prejudicial remarks of the prosecutor which allegedly were not made a part of the trial record. The Superior Court affirmed his conviction and sentence. Commonwealth v. Ross, 285 Pa.Super. 622, 427 A.2d 1220 (1980).
Ross did not petition the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for allocatur immediately after his conviction was affirmed by the Superior Court in 1980. In 1983, he filed a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus in this Court. Ross v. Fulcomer, No. 83-900 (E.D.Pa.1983). In that petition, he raised the same grounds for relief as he had raised in his post-trial motion and in his appeal to the Superior Court. He also alleged that he had been unable to file a timely petition for allocatur in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court because his appellate counsel had failed to inform him of the Superior Court's decision and that he did not become aware of that decision until long after the time period for filing a petition for allocatur had expired. In an Order dated December 27, 1983, this Court approved the report and recommendation of Magistrate Scuderi and dismissed Ross' habeas petition for failure to exhaust state remedies. Ross was directed to file a petition for allocatur nunc pro tunc with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
In March of 1984, Ross filed a pro se petition for allocatur nunc pro tunc with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In that petition he raised all of his claims which he had raised in his post-trial motion, his appeal to the Superior Court, and his federal habeas corpus petition. In addition, he alleged that his trial counsel had been ineffective in failing to object to certain of the prosecutor's allegedly prejudicial remarks. Finally, he alleged that his petition for allocatur was untimely because his appellate counsel had been ineffective in failing to advise him of the Superior Court's decision and in failing to preserve his right to file a timely petition for allocatur. On June 29, 1984, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed Ross' petition for allocatur nunc pro tunc "without prejudice to petitioner's rights under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act" (PCHA) (42 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. § 9541 et seq.).
On August 23, 1984, Ross filed a second petition for a writ of habeas corpus in this Court. Ross v. Fulcomer, No. 84-4036 (E.D.Pa.1984). He noted that he had, as directed by the Court in his first habeas petition, filed a petition for allocatur nunc pro tunc, which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had denied without prejudice to his rights under the PCHA. He raised in the second habeas petition all of the issues he had raised in his first habeas petition. However, he also included allegations of ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel, which issues were not raised in his direct appeal. In a Memorandum and Order dated October 29, 1984, this Court observed that "as to the issues raised in the Superior Court on direct appeal, it would appear that petitioner has exhausted his state remedies" in view of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's disposition of his petition for allocatur nunc pro tunc. Ross v. Fulcomer, No. 84-4036, slip op. at 1-2 (E.D.Pa.1984). However, in view of the fact that this second habeas petition included claims of ineffective assistance of counsel that were not presented to the state court in his post-trial motion or on direct appeal, the Court determined that his petition would again be dismissed because of the inclusion of those unexhausted claims, pursuant to Rose v. Lundy, 455 U.S. 509, 102 S.Ct. 1198, 71 L.Ed.2d 379 (1982). The Court stated that "Petitioner may either drop the unexhausted claims and proceed solely on the exhausted grounds, or he may wish to exhaust all his claims in the state courts under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act before returning to federal court." Ross v. Fulcomer, No. 84-4036, slip op. at 2 (E.D.Pa.1984).
Ross then filed this present petition — his third federal habeas petition — on November 26, 1984, raising only those issues which he presented to the Superior Court on direct appeal. Ross v. Fulcomer, No. 84-5774 (E.D.Pa.1984). He has not included any allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel. The Magistrate nevertheless has recommended that this petition again be dismissed for failure to exhaust state remedies. The Magistrate reasoned that Ross did not "fairly present" his claims to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in his petition for allocatur nunc pro tunc because his petition included claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, and that the general practice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court with respect to such claims which were not raised on direct appeal is to dismiss the petition without prejudice to the petitioner's right to proceed under the PCHA. The Magistrate also noted that Ross had failed to follow the order of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court directing him to an available state remedy, i.e., a PCHA petition. This Court must, therefore, review the exhaustion requirement of 28 U.S.C. § 2254 as applicable to the circumstances of this case.
A petitioner for a writ of habeas corpus in the federal court bears the burden of showing that all of his claims were fairly presented to the highest state court, so that it had the opportunity to rule on the "substantial equivalent" of each of the claims presented to the federal court. Jones v. Superintendent of Rahway State Prison, 725 F.2d 40, 42 (3d Cir.1984); Santana v. Fenton, 685 F.2d 71, 73-74 (3d Cir.1982). The exhaustion requirement of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)-(c) "has been judicially interpreted to mean that claims must have been presented to the state courts; they need not have been considered or discussed by those courts." Swanger v. Zimmerman, 750 F.2d 291, 295 (3d Cir.1984), citing Picard v. Connor, 404 U.S. 270, 275, 92 S.Ct. 509, 512, 30 L.Ed.2d 438 (1971). Thus, if a claim is actually presented to the highest state court — for example, in the petitioner's brief — exhaustion does not require that the state court actually ruled on the merits of the claim. Smith v. Digmon, 434 U.S. 332, 98 S.Ct. 597, 54 L.Ed.2d 582 (1978); Swanger v. Zimmerman, 750 F.2d at 291. Indeed, even where the state court expressly did not consider the merits of a claim on the ground that it was deemed waived as a result of a procedural default, the claim must be considered to be exhausted if presented to the state court. See Swanger v. Zimmerman, 750 F.2d at 296 n. 8. Furthermore, the Third Circuit has determined that "a denial of allocatur ... or a similar refusal to entertain an appeal constitutes a sufficient presentation for purposes of exhaustion." United States ex rel. Geisler v. Walters, 510 F.2d 887, 892 n. 11 (3d Cir.1975). Finally, it is well-settled in this Circuit that a habeas petitioner who has presented all of his claims to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court need not also exhaust his remedies under the PCHA. Swanger v. Zimmerman, 750 F.2d at 295; Codispoti v. Howard, 589 F.2d 135 (3d Cir.1978); United States ex rel. Schultz v. Brierley, 449 F.2d 1286 (3d Cir.1971).
In the present case, the Magistrate reasoned that although all of Ross' grounds for relief in this habeas petition had been presented to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, they had been presented in a "procedurally defective manner" which had prevented...
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Morin v. Lopes, Civ. No. H-84-617 (PCD).
...an express deliberate bypass.) Important is the petitioner's efforts to obtain a timely review of his claims. See Ross v. Fulcomer, 610 F.Supp. 560, 565 (E.D.Pa.1985) ("Especially given Ross' efforts to seek a review of his claims in both state and federal court, this Court has determined t......