Sandgathe v. Maass

• Decision Date: 20 December 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-35053.,01-35053.
• Parties: Joseph SANDGATHE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Manfred F. MAASS, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

314 F.3d 371

Joseph SANDGATHE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Manfred F. MAASS, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 01-35053.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted March 8, 2002.

Filed December 20, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Bryan E. Lessley, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Eugene, Oregon, for the petitioner-appellant.

Kathleen Cegla, Assistant Attorney General, and Janet A. Klapstein, Assistant

Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General of the State of Oregon, Salem, Oregon, for the respondent-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon; Janice M. Stewart, Magistrate, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-98-06179-ST.

Before: B. FLETCHER, O'SCANNLAIN and BERZON, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

BERZON, Circuit Judge.

Joseph Sandgathe appeals the denial and dismissal of his writ of habeas corpus filed in district court. The writ sought to challenge two 1993 convictions in the Lane County Circuit Court.

In one case ("the Bryson case"), Sandgathe was convicted in a jury trial of assault in the second degree. That case arose from a trip Sandgathe took in October 1992 to the dentist, reminiscent of the dentist scene in "The Little Shop of Horrors" — but in reverse.

Sandgathe visited his dentist, Dr. Bryson, to have a tooth bridge removed and repaired. Prior to the bridge removal, petitioner was given a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen, and a local anesthetic, Xylocaine.

During the procedure, Dr. Bryson decided it was necessary to give petitioner another Xylocaine injection to stop his gums from bleeding. Sandgathe was concerned about the additional injection, but Dr. Bryson assured him that the procedure was standard. Sandgathe nonetheless became agitated, cursed, stood up, and repeatedly hit and kicked Dr. Bryson. Sandgathe then walked to the reception area and yelled at the receptionist. When Dr. Bryson asked Sandgathe to leave, Sandgathe grabbed Dr. Bryson around the neck.

Dr. Bryson thereupon warned that the police were on their way. In response, Sandgathe tried to ram Dr. Bryson's head through the office's front door, smashed Dr. Bryson's head between the door and wall, and threw Dr. Bryson outside, where he began beating and kicking Dr. Bryson again. Dr. Bryson suffered a broken tooth, numerous cuts, contusions, bruises, a broken rib, and a collapsed lung.

The second case ("the Robertson case") also resulted in a conviction for assault in the second degree, this time for a violent outbreak at a tavern in February 1993. Sandgathe approached Robertson, a patron in a tavern, and started talking to him. Robertson told the bartender, "you should 86 this guy. He is acting weird." Sandgathe then stood up and hit Robertson in the face and left. Robertson suffered a facial tripod fracture, left upper eyelid laceration, and nasal abrasion.

On April 15, 1993, Sandgathe was convicted by a jury in the Bryson case, and the trial court sentenced him to 22 months' imprisonment and 36 months post-prison supervision. The next day, Sandgathe changed his plea in the Robertson case to guilty. The court sentenced Sandgathe to 32 months' imprisonment and 36 months post-prison supervision, to run consecutively with the sentence imposed in the Bryson Case.

Sandgathe directly appealed both convictions but failed to raise any issues as to why his conviction should be reversed.¹ Both convictions were affirmed without opinion by the Oregon Court of Appeals. Sandgathe did not seek review by the Oregon Supreme Court.

In Oregon, "violations of a defendant's rights that occur after trial, or that require a further evidentiary hearing for their determination" are appropriately determined on post conviction review. Kellotat v. Cupp, 719 F.2d 1027, 1030 (9th Cir.1983). Sandgathe challenged both convictions in petitions for post-conviction relief. In both cases, the Marion County Circuit Court denied relief on the merits, the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of post-conviction relief without opinion, and the Oregon Supreme Court denied review without opinion.

Sandgathe then filed a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in federal district court. His writ alleges four grounds for relief:

• Ground One alleges that Sandgathe was denied constitutional due process in the Bryson case because he was incompetent to stand trial or enter a guilty plea as a result of medication he was taking. Petitioner conceded before the district court that Ground One is procedurally defaulted.

• Ground Two alleges that he was denied adequate assistance of counsel in the Bryson case. Sandgathe raises eight ineffective assistance of counsel claims, all involving counsel's alleged disregard for Sandgathe's medical and mental incapacity. For example, Sandgathe alleges that counsel failed to investigate and research his mental status at the time of the offense to determine whether he had a viable mental status defense. Sandgathe conceded before the district court that the claims under Ground Two with regard to sentencing are procedurally defaulted. The district court reviewed and rejected on the merits the remainder of the claims under this Ground.

• Ground Three alleges that Sandgathe was taking a combination of prescription medications that rendered him incompetent to enter the guilty plea in the Robertson Case. The district court found this ground procedurally defaulted for failure to state federal due process claims to the state court on appeal from the denial of state post-conviction relief.

• Ground Four alleges ineffective assistance of counsel with regard to the guilty plea in the Robertson Case. Sandgathe argues that his attorney coerced him into pleading guilty. The district court reviewed and denied this claim on the merits.

Presented for our review on appeal are: the ineffective counsel claims in the Bryson case, except those related to sentencing (Ground Two); the incompetence to plead claim in the Robertson case (Ground Three); and the ineffective counsel claim in the Robertson case (Ground Four). We first conclude that the incompetence claim in the Robertson case (Ground Three) was not procedurally defaulted. But we reject that claim on the merits. We also reject on the merits the related claim for ineffective counsel in relation to the plea in the Robertson case (Ground Four). Finally, we reject on the merits the ineffective counsel claim in the Bryson case (Ground Two).

DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

The denial of a petition for writ of habeas corpus is reviewed de novo. Dubria v. Smith, 224 F.3d 995, 1000 (9th Cir. 2000) (en banc). Sandgathe's petition is governed by the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA"). Under AEDPA, "[s]tate court findings of fact are to be presumed correct unless the petitioner rebuts the presumption with clear and convincing evidence." Pollard v. Galaza, 290 F.3d 1030, 1033 (9th Cir.2002), citing 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1).

B. Procedural Default of the Incompetence to Plead Claim in the Robertson Case

In order to qualify for federal habeas review, a state prisoner must exhaust all available state remedies, either through direct appeal of his conviction or through collateral proceedings. Exhaustion occurs when the petitioner has given the state courts a full and fair opportunity to consider and resolve the federal claims. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1)(A); Duncan v. Henry, 513 U.S. 364, 365-66, 115 S.Ct. 887, 130 L.Ed.2d 865 (1995).

Procedural default and failure to exhaust are different concepts, see Franklin v. Johnson, 290 F.3d 1223, 1230 (9th Cir.2002), but both are relevant here. Both are reasons a federal court may be required to refuse to hear a habeas claim brought by a defendant convicted in state court. The practical difference between the two is that when a defendant merely fails to exhaust, he may still be able to return to state court to present his claims there. When a defendant's claim is procedurally defaulted, either the state court was presented with the claim but "declined to reach the issue for procedural reasons," or "it is clear that the state court would hold the claim procedurally barred." Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

A procedural default may be caused by a failure to exhaust federal claims in state court. See, e.g., O'Sullivan v. Boerckel, 526 U.S. 838, 848, 119 S.Ct. 1728, 144 L.Ed.2d 1 (1999) ("Boerckel's failure to present three of his federal habeas claims to the Illinois Supreme Court in a timely fashion has resulted in a procedural default of those claims."). That is what the state alleges happened here. In the state's view, Sandgathe did not give the state courts an adequate opportunity to consider his claims, and, because Oregon does not allow a second shot at habeas relief, the claims are now procedurally barred rather than merely unexhausted. See O.R.S. § 138.550(3) (requiring that all post conviction review claims be asserted in the original or amended petition unless they could not reasonably have been asserted therein). We conclude, to the contrary, that Sandgathe did exhaust his incompetence to plead claim, and that therefore the claim is not procedurally defaulted.

In his post-conviction petition, Sandgathe, it is true, did not frame his claim of incompetence to enter a plea in the Robertson case (Ground Three) in terms of any federal right. Ordinarily, "fairly presenting" a federal claim means that "the petitioner must make the federal basis of the claim explicit either by citing federal law or the decisions of federal courts, even if the federal basis is self-evident." Lyons v. Crawford, 232 F.3d 666, 668 (9th Cir.2000) (quotation marks and internal citation omitted).

But in this case, the post-conviction trial court expressly included federal constitutional claims in its ruling: "Petitioner's plea of guilty was made knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently ... In the underlying criminal proceedings resulting in petitioner's conviction, petitioner...