Roten v. Deloy
| Decision Date | 05 September 2008 |
| Docket Number | Civ. Act. No. 07-233-JJF. |
| Citation | 575 F.Supp.2d 597 |
| Parties | Ben ROTEN, Petitioner, v. Mike DELOY, Warden, and Attorney General of the State of Delaware, Respondents. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Delaware |
Ben Roten, pro se, Petitioner.
Gregory E. Smith, Deputy Attorney General of the Delaware Department of Justice, Wilmington, DE, for Respondents.
Pending before the Court is an Application For A Writ Of Habeas Corpus Pursuant To 28 U.S.C. § 2254 ("Petition") filed by Petitioner Ben Roten ("Petitioner"). (D.I. 1.) For the reasons discussed, the Court will dismiss the Petition and deny the relief requested.
On March 29, 2004, the Sussex County grand jury indicted Petitioner on the following charges: first degree kidnaping, attempted first degree murder, aggravated menacing, refusal to submit to photographs and fingerprinting, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, and resisting arrest. These charges stemmed from Petitioner's brutal beating of his girlfriend. On August 6, 2004, Petitioner pled guilty to the charges of aggravated menacing and first degree assault (as a lesser included offense of attempted first degree murder), in exchange for which the State nolle prossed the remaining charges. See Roten v. State, 884 A.2d 512 (Table), 2005 WL 2254202 (Del. Sept. 15, 2005).
Prior to sentencing, Petitioner filed a pro se motion to withdraw his guilty plea. During the sentencing hearing, the Superior Court denied Petitioner's motion to withdraw his guilty plea, and then sentenced Petitioner to 25 years at Level V incarceration for the first degree assault conviction and 5 years at Level V for the aggravated menacing conviction, suspended upon the successful completion of the Key Program for decreasing levels of supervision. Id.
Petitioner then filed a pro se notice of appeal, arguing that the Superior Court abused its discretion in denying his motion to withdraw the guilty plea without holding an evidentiary hearing. Id. Petitioner also filed a motion to disqualify his counsel from representing him on appeal. See (D.I. 17, at p. 3.) In December 2004, while his direct appeal was still pending, Petitioner filed a pro se Rule 35 motion for sentence modification. In February 2005, acting through counsel, Petitioner filed another Rule 35 motion for sentence modification. Id.
On March 11, 2005, the Superior Court held an evidentiary hearing on remand from the Delaware Supreme Court to consider Petitioner's motion to represent himself on appeal. During the hearing, Petitioner withdrew his request to represent himself, and he stated that he wished counsel to represent him on his motion to modify the sentence as well as on direct appeal. (D.I. 19, App. to Appellant's Br. in Roten v. State, No. 290, 2006, at A-22 through A-24.) Thereafter, on April 15, 2005, while retaining jurisdiction over the appeal, the Delaware Supreme Court remanded Petitioner's case to the Superior Court to permit the Superior Court to decide the motion for sentence modification. On May 19, 2005, the Superior Court denied Petitioner's motion for sentence modification, and the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed Petitioner's conviction and sentence in September 2005. Roten v. State, 2005 WL 2254202 (Del. Sept. 15, 2005).
In February 2006, Petitioner filed a motion for state post conviction relief pursuant to Delaware Superior Court Criminal Rule 61 ("Rule 61 motion"), which the Superior Court denied. State v. Roten, 2006 WL 1360513 . Petitioner appealed, and the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court's judgment. Roten v. State, 2007 WL 773389 (Del. Mar. 17, 2007).
Petitioner timely filed the instant Petition in April 2007. (D.I. 1.) The State filed an Answer, asserting that the Petition should be dismissed because the claims do not warrant relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1). (D.I. 17.)
Absent exceptional circumstances, a federal court cannot review the merits of claims asserted in a habeas petition unless the petitioner has exhausted all means of available relief for the claims under state law. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b); O'Sullivan v. Boerckel, 526 U.S. 838, 842-44, 119 S.Ct. 1728, 144 L.Ed.2d 1 (1999); Picard v. Connor, 404 U.S. 270, 275, 92 S.Ct. 509, 30 L.Ed.2d 438 (1971). A petitioner satisfies the exhaustion requirement by "fairly presenting" the substance of the federal habeas claim to the state's highest court, either on direct appeal or in a post-conviction proceeding, in a procedural manner permitting the state courts to consider it on the merits. See Duncan v. Henry, 513 U.S. 364, 365, 115 S.Ct. 887, 130 L.Ed.2d 865 (1995); Castille v. Peoples, 489 U.S. 346, 351, 109 S.Ct. 1056, 103 L.Ed.2d 380 (1989); Lambert v. Blackwell, 134 F.3d 506, 513 (3d Cir.1997). The "fair presentation" requirement of the exhaustion doctrine is satisfied if the petitioner presented a claim to the state courts that is substantially equivalent to the claim asserted in his federal habeas petition. Lambert v. Blackwell, 134 F.3d 506, 513 (3d Cir.1997).
If a petitioner presents a habeas claim to the state's highest court, but that court "clearly and expressly" refuses to review the merits of the claim due to an independent and adequate state procedural rule, the claim is exhausted but procedurally defaulted. See Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 749-750, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991); Harris v. Reed, 489 U.S. 255, 260-64, 109 S.Ct. 1038, 103 L.Ed.2d 308 (1989). A federal court cannot review the merits of procedurally defaulted claims unless the petitioner demonstrates either cause for the procedural default and actual prejudice resulting therefrom, or that a fundamental miscarriage of justice will result if the court does not review the claims. McCandless v. Vaughn, 172 F.3d 255, 260 (3d Cir.1999); Coleman, 501 U.S. at 750-51, 111 S.Ct. 2546; Caswell v. Ryan, 953 F.2d 853, 861-62 (3d Cir.1992).
To demonstrate cause for a procedural default, the petitioner must show that "some objective factor external to the defense impeded counsel's efforts to comply with the State's procedural rule." Murray v. Carrier, 477 U.S. 478, 488, 106 S.Ct. 2639, 91 L.Ed.2d 397 (1986). To demonstrate actual prejudice, the petitioner must show that the errors during his trial created more than a possibility of prejudice; he must show that the errors "worked to his actual and substantial disadvantage, infecting his entire trial with error of constitutional dimensions." Id. at 494, 106 S.Ct. 2639.
Alternatively, if the petitioner demonstrates that a "constitutional violation has probably resulted in the conviction of one who is actually innocent," then a federal court can excuse the procedural default and review the claim in order to prevent a fundamental miscarriage of justice. Murray, 477 U.S. at 496, 106 S.Ct. 2639; Edwards v. Carpenter, 529 U.S. 446, 451, 120 S.Ct. 1587, 146 L.Ed.2d 518 (2000); Wenger v. Frank, 266 F.3d 218, 224 (3d Cir.2001). The miscarriage of justice exception applies only in extraordinary cases, and actual innocence means factual innocence, not legal insufficiency. Bousley v. United States, 523 U.S. 614, 623, 118 S.Ct. 1604, 140 L.Ed.2d 828 (1998); Murray, 477 U.S. at 496, 106 S.Ct. 2639. A petitioner establishes actual innocence by asserting "new reliable evidence—whether it be exculpatory scientific evidence, trustworthy eyewitness accounts, or critical physical evidence—that was not presented at trial," showing that no reasonable juror would have voted to find the petitioner guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Hubbard v. Pinchak, 378 F.3d 333, 339-40 (3d Cir.2004).
If, however, a petitioner presents a federal district court with a federal habeas claim that the state's highest court adjudicated on the merits, then the district court must review the habeas claim under the deferential standard contained in 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Pursuant to § 2254(d), federal habeas relief may only be granted when the state court's decision is "contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States," or the state court's decision is an unreasonable determination of the facts based on the evidence adduced in the trial. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1) & (2); Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 412, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000); Appel v. Horn, 250 F.3d 203, 210 (3d Cir.2001). Additionally, when reviewing a habeas claim, a federal court must presume that the state court's determinations of factual issues are correct. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1). This presumption of correctness applies to both explicit and implicit findings of fact, and is only rebutted by clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1); Campbell v. Vaughn, 209 F.3d 280, 286 (3d Cir.2000); Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 341, 123 S.Ct. 1029, 154 L.Ed.2d 931 (2003)( that the clear and convincing standard in § 2254(e)(1) applies to factual issues, whereas the unreasonable application standard of § 2254(d)(2) applies to factual decisions).
Petitioner asserts three claims for habeas relief: (1) the Superior Court violated his right to due process by denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea without holding an evidentiary hearing; (2) defense counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to investigate the medications Petitioner was taking in prison that may have affected his ability to enter the plea voluntarily, and also by failing to raise this issue on direct appeal; and (3) his guilty plea was invalid because the Superior Court judge did not define "drugs" during the plea colloquy.
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