Sexton v. French

• Citation: 163 F.3d 874
• Decision Date: 23 December 1998
• Docket Number: No. 98-9,98-9
• Parties: Michael Earl SEXTON, Petitioner--Appellant, v. James B. FRENCH, Warden, Central Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, Respondent--Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 874

163 F.3d 874

Michael Earl SEXTON, Petitioner--Appellant, v. James B. FRENCH, Warden, Central Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, Respondent--Appellee.

No. 98-9.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued Sept. 23, 1998.

Decided Dec. 23, 1998.

ARGUED: Irving L. Joyner, Durham, North Carolina, for Appellant. Valerie Blanche Spalding, Special Deputy Attorney General, North Carolina Department Of Justice, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Tracy Hicks Barley, Pillmon-Daye & Barley, Durham, North Carolina, for Appellant. Michael F. Easley, Attorney General of North Carolina, North Carolina Department Of Justice, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Before WILKINSON, Chief Judge, and HAMILTON and MOTZ, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge HAMILTON wrote the opinion, in which Chief Judge WILKINSON and Judge DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ joined.

HAMILTON, Circuit Judge:

Following a jury trial in the Superior Court for Wake County, North Carolina, Michael Earl Sexton was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Kimberly Crews. He now appeals the district court's denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254. ¹ We affirm.

I

A

The facts of this case are set forth in detail in the opinion of the Supreme Court of North Carolina on direct appeal. See State v. Sexton, 336 N.C. 321, 444 S.E.2d 879, 885-91 (N.C.1994). Accordingly, we need only summarize them briefly.

Kimberly Crews (Crews) was a child abuse counselor. Her office was located in the Wake Area Health Education Center, which is part of the Wake County Medical Center (WCMC) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Shortly before 6:00 p.m. on August 8, 1990, Crews telephoned her husband, Alan Crews, who was at home with their daughter. Crews asked her husband if the family needed anything from the store, and he replied in the negative. Crews then told her husband that she had just finished with her last client and was on her way home.

Kaye Johnson, a prenatal educator at WCMC, telephoned her husband at 5:45 p.m. on August 8, 1990, and told him that she needed to work one more hour. However, when she realized it was raining heavily, Johnson decided to leave and take her work home. As she left WCMC, she walked through several parking lots to Parking Lot 4. As she approached her car, she noticed an open umbrella in good condition in front of the car. The umbrella was lying upside down with water in it. When Johnson got into her car, she looked at the car's clock. It indicated 6:02 p.m.

Robert McCoy, the supervisor of WCMC's laundry, where Sexton was employed, testified that Sexton was at work when he (McCoy) arrived at 2:00 p.m. on August 8, 1990. At 3:30 p.m., when the laundry room shift changed, Sexton was missing. McCoy testified that the next time he saw Sexton was after everybody had punched out. Sexton came running in through the back ramp and was soaking wet. Sexton said to McCoy, "I got to go. I got to go. I was out there fixing my young lady's car and that was the only thing I was out there doing." Sexton left, and his time card indicated that he left at 6:30 p.m.

By 8:00 p.m., Crews had not returned home, and her husband began to worry. Shortly thereafter, her husband telephoned a friend with whom his wife often exercised. The friend said that she and Crews had planned to exercise but changed their minds on account of the stormy weather. Crews' husband next telephoned 911 and was advised to call area hospitals. Crews' husband contacted three local hospitals, but none had admitted Crews. Crews' husband again called 911.

An officer of the Raleigh Police Department arrived and took a brief statement from Crews' husband. The officer was called away to a robbery but soon returned. The officer asked about possible routes used by Crews in driving home from work and then left to begin checking those routes. Later, the officer returned and informed Crews' husband that his wife had not been found.

Shortly after midnight, Ronnie Holloway, a detective from the Raleigh Police Department, found Crews' minivan on Galahad Street. The minivan was 200 yards from a WCMC parking deck. As Holloway approached the minivan, he shined his flashlight into the minivan. At this point, he saw a nude body, later identified as Crews, in the backseat. According to Holloway, Crews "was lying on her back side and her arms were down[,] the left hanging toward to [sic] the floor of the van and the right one was laying [sic] across her body and the legs were spreaded [sic] open."

Several pieces of physical evidence tied Sexton to Crews' murder. Johnny Leonard, latent examiner for the City-County Bureau of Identification, testified that muddy footprints found in the minivan were made by Sexton's shoes. One of Sexton's footprints was lifted from Crews' shoe, which was recovered near the front passenger seat. Scott Worsham, a forensic chemist for the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), testified that head hair consistent with Sexton's was found on: (1) the carpet around the driver's front seat; (2) the carpet around the passenger's front seat; (3) the driver's seat cushion and seat back; (4) the minivan's middle seat; (5) the minivan's headlining above the backseat and over Crews' head; and (6) Crews' chest or shoulder. Worsham also testified that pubic hair consistent with Sexton's was found on the rear seat underneath Crews, in combings from Crews' pubic area, and on Crews' back. SBI Agent John Wayne Bendure testified that fibers from Sexton's shirt and shorts were found on Crews' dress, and in tapings from Crews' shoulders, arms, chest, back, abdomen, and legs. Bendure also testified that fibers from the seat covers in the minivan were also found on Sexton's clothes. SBI Agent David Spittle testified that swabs taken from Crews' mouth showed the presence of spermatozoa consistent with Sexton's blood type and inconsistent with Alan Crews' blood type. Spittle also testified that vaginal swabs from Crews showed the presence of Sexton's spermatozoa, which was also found on the seat under her buttocks.

Crews' autopsy, performed by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. John Butts, revealed that she died as a result of ligature strangulation, which obstructs the flow of blood to the brain. The autopsy also revealed that Crews' body was battered. Crews had facial injuries, two burn-like ligature marks on her neck, two bruises on the back of her left hand, a deep bruise on one of her forearms, and scrapes on both of her knees and on her right elbow.

Crime scene investigators found Crews' keys, employee parking lot entry card, health club membership card, and other personal items in a water-filled ditch on Old Bunch Road. Crews' pocketbook, portfolio containing books, and her pantyhose were found beside the same road. Nearby, crime scene investigators recovered Crews' umbrella and her checkbook, which was propped against a tree. ² Sexton assisted the crime scene investigators in recovering many of these items.

The state also introduced evidence that at 6:50 p.m. on the evening of Crews' murder someone withdrew $100 from Crews' checking account by way of an automatic teller machine (ATM) at the Centura Shopping Center on Poole Road in Raleigh. The Centura Shopping Center is approximately two miles from WCMC. Leon Turner testified that he saw Sexton at the Centura Shopping Center ATM at 6:40 p.m.

The state also introduced evidence that at 7:30 p.m. there was a withdrawal request for $200.00 from Crews' savings account. This request, made from an ATM at the Triangle East Shopping Center in Zebulon, was denied because it exceeded the daily withdrawal limit. In his confession, which was played to the jury, Sexton stated that Crews saw him trying to start his girlfriend's car ³ and offered to give him a ride to the security office at the front of the WCMC. Sexton stated that he asked Crews to drive him to Galahad Street because his cousin's car was there and he could use his cousin's jumper cables to start Perry's car. Sexton also stated that he asked Crews if she wanted to go to the back of the minivan and that, in response, Crews got up and went to the back without saying anything. Sexton said he asked Crews to take off her clothes and she did so. Sexton stated that Crews changed her mind about having sex with him and that he wrapped her pantyhose around her neck and tightened them because she was attempting to scream and get out of the minivan. Sexton further stated that when he left the minivan he thought Crews had passed out and would later wake up. Sexton also denied having sex with Crews.

Sexton's trial testimony was consistent with his confession, except that in his trial testimony Sexton admitted having sex with Crews. Sexton testified the encounter was consensual.

B

On September 10, 1990, a Wake County grand jury indicted Sexton for first-degree murder, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, first-degree kidnapping, and robbery. At his jury trial, Sexton was represented by Thomas Manning and Duncan McMillan. At the conclusion of the trial, Sexton was convicted of all the charges contained in the indictment. In the bifurcated proceeding, the trial court submitted four aggravating circumstances to the jury: (1) the murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest, see N.C. Gen.Stat. § 15A-2000(e)(4); (2) the murder was committed while Sexton was engaged in the commission of a robbery, rape, first-degree sexual offense, or kidnapping, see N.C. Gen.Stat. § 15A-2000(e)(5); (3) the murder was committed for pecuniary gain, see N.C. Gen.Stat. § 15A-2000(e)(6); and (4) the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, see N.C. Gen.Stat. § 15A-2000(e)(9). The jury found the existence of only three of these aggravating circumstances, declining to find the (e)(6) aggravating circumstance. The jury found beyond a reasonable doubt that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating...