Sims v. Cisneros

• Decision Date: 17 April 2023
• Docket Number: 22-cv-0814-BLF
• Parties: ANTHONY SIMS, Plaintiff, v. THERESA CISNEROS, Warden, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California

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ANTHONY SIMS, Plaintiff, v. THERESA CISNEROS, Warden, Defendant.

No. 22-cv-0814-BLF

United States District Court, N.D. California, San Jose Division

April 17, 2023

ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS [RE ECF 1]

BETH LABSON FREEMAN UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

A jury convicted Petitioner Anthony Sims of second-degree murder. See ECF 1 (“Petition”) at 2 (stating Sims was found guilty of violating Cal. Penal Code § 187). Sims was sentenced to a total term of fifteen years to life in prison. Pet. at 1.

Sims subsequently, and unsuccessfully, pursued direct review in California state court. Pet. at 2-3; Resp. at 2. On appeal Sims argued his trial was plagued by prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel. ECF 13-11, Ex. 3 (“Opening Brief on Appeal”). On July 7, 2020, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment in a reasoned opinion. ECF 13-11, Ex. 6 (“Court of Appeal Opinion”). The California Supreme Court summarily denied Sims's petition for review. ECF 10, Ex. 8.

This matter now comes before the Court on a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Respondent answered the Petition. See ECF 12 (“Response”). Though given notice and an opportunity to do so, Mr. Sims did not file a traverse.

Having considered the parties' submissions, the record in the case, and the applicable law, the Court DENIES the petition.

I. BACKGROUND

The following facts, presumed to be correct under 28 U.S.C § 2254(e), are excerpted from the California Court of Appeal's decision on direct appeal. See Brown v. Horell, 644 F.3d 969, 972 (9th Cir. 2011):

Factual and Procedural Background

Sims was tried with three other participants in the gun battle. We affirmed the convictions of two of his co-defendants, Alex Davis and Michael Stills, Jr., in a previous opinion. (People v. Davis (Mar. 27, 2019 A152259 & A153136) (Davis) [nonpub. opn.].) Our recitation of the facts in the following subheadings A through I is quoted from that opinion. As set forth in more detail below, the evidence tended to suggest that Sims shot at the third co-defendant, Jerry Harbin; was shot in the chest himself; and escaped from the scene as Davis, who fired the shot that killed Pierce, shot toward him and another participant, Julian Ambrose.

“A. Third World and the Bottoms.

“In March 2015, Pierce was killed near the intersection of 30^th Street and Chestnut Street in West Oakland. The area is nicknamed ‘Third World' after a rapper from there. Of the people charged with crimes in connection with Pierce's murder, several were associated with Third World: Shelton McDaniels, who hung out in a house at that intersection; Davis, who was friends with McDaniels and also hung out at the house; Jerry Harbin, who shared a half brother with McDaniels and also hung out in Third World, although he was not from that neighborhood; and Stills, who grew up around Third World and often hung out in that area as well.

“The other people charged were associated with another neighborhood of West Oakland known as ‘the Bottoms': Joneria Reed; her son, Dijon Ward; a cousin of hers, ... Sims, who was actually from East Oakland; and ... Ambrose, who was friends with Ward.

“Despite the prosecution's attempts to paint the shootout as a battle between warring groups, little evidence suggested there was any tension between the two neighborhoods at the time of the murder.

To the contrary, several witnesses testified that the conflict that day grew out of personal disagreements. Indeed, as discussed further below, the evidence showed a complex web of friendships and other connections between the two groups. [FN 1]

[FN 1: Sims, Harbin, Davis, and Stills were tried together in this case. After the jury indicated it was deadlocked on the murder charge against Harbin, he pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, and he was sentenced to 13 years in prison in July 2017. Davis and Stills were convicted of second degree murder and various firearm enhancements, and later that year they were sentenced, respectively, to 40 years in life in prison and 16 years to life in prison.

(Davis, supra, A152259 & A153136.) Sims, who was 19 years old at the time of the murder, was not sentenced until July 2018, to allow for time to make a record for a future youth offender parole hearing under People v. Franklin (2016) 63 Cal.4th 261.

The cases against McDaniels and Ambrose were still pending at the time of Sims's sentencing. “Ward pleaded no contest to being an accessory after the fact and received probation. Finally, Reed testified for the prosecution in this case under an agreement that if she was truthful, she would be allowed to withdraw her plea to murder and receive a six-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter.” (Davis, supra, A152259 & A153136.)]

“B. Harbin and His Girlfriend Go to Third World.

“On March 9, 2015, Harbin, who was the only one of the four defendants to testify, bought a used red Porsche Cayenne SUV. Around 3:30 p.m., he picked it up from the seller at 30th Street and Broadway in Oakland. He left the car he had driven there, a rental gray Buick Regal, and drove the Porsche to 28th Street to pick up his girlfriend.

“After getting his girlfriend, Harbin called McDaniels, whom he considered a brother. McDaniels was at a nearby liquor store, and Harbin headed there to show him the Porsche. While his girlfriend stayed in the car, Harbin got out and spoke to McDaniels, who was with Davis, a friend nicknamed Goofy, and another friend Harbin did not know. McDaniels told Harbin that there was a group of ‘maybe 15 to 20 women' in the Third World area who were ‘trying to basically hang out and have a good time' with McDaniels and his friends. McDaniels invited Harbin to come, and Harbin responded that he would meet McDaniels there after taking his girlfriend to pick up the Buick.

“Meanwhile, Harbin's girlfriend spoke on the phone to one of her close friends. Based on the conversation, Harbin's girlfriend believed that her friend was going to get in a fight with Ward's girlfriend and that another friend, R.B., might also become involved. R.B. had dated Donald Ward, Ward's brother and Reed's son, until his murder a few months earlier. R.B. was in the beginning stages of a relationship with McDaniels, whom she continued to date after he went to jail for Pierce's murder.

“When Harbin returned to the Porsche and told his girlfriend they were going to get the Buick, she asked him if he could first take her to find R.B. Harbin had seen R.B. around 30th and Chestnut, where she lived, earlier that day, so he drove to that area. He testified that when he and his girlfriend arrived, there were ‘a lot of women in the middle of the street,' including his younger cousin, who was best friends with R.B. The women were ‘in an uproar,' and he ‘could tell something was going on.' His girlfriend spotted R.B. and asked her to leave with them, but R.B. refused.

“C. The Fight Between Harbin's Girlfriend and Ward's Girlfriend.

“Reed and her sister had driven to Third World earlier that afternoon to visit a friend. Ward's girlfriend, the mother of his child, subsequently arrived at 30th and Chestnut to get Reed's EBT card to buy groceries. Two of Ward's girlfriend's female cousins accompanied her. At the time they arrived, Davis, Stills, and McDaniels were in the area.

“Before Harbin and his girlfriend could leave after making contact with R.B., Ward's girlfriend approached the passenger's-side window of the Porsche and asked Harbin's girlfriend what she was looking at. Harbin's girlfriend responded, ‘“I'm grown. I can look wherever I want,”‘ and they exchanged more words. Harbin's girlfriend testified that Ward's girlfriend did not like her because she had had a fling with Ward the previous year, but Ward's girlfriend denied ever ‘hav[ing] issues over [Ward]' with the other woman.

“Harbin tried to drive away, but his girlfriend, whom he described as having an ‘explosive' temper, jumped out of the Porsche while it was moving. She ‘beeline[d] straight towards [Ward's girlfriend],' punched her, and grabbed her hair. Harbin's girlfriend was bigger than Ward's girlfriend, and witnesses agreed that Harbin's girlfriend was winning the fight.

“Several other women then joined the fight to help Ward's girlfriend. Among them were Reed's sister, both of Ward's girlfriend's cousins, and Harbin's cousin. R.B. saw Ward's girlfriend's younger cousin hit Harbin's girlfriend and intervened in an attempt to stop the fight, but she soon gave up in the chaos.

“Meanwhile, Harbin got out of the Porsche and also tried to stop the fight. He saw his cousin punching his girlfriend, who was pregnant but not yet showing, and said, ‘“You know she pregnant. You wrong. What are y'all doing?”' Several of the women were pulling his girlfriend's hair, and he tried to remove their hands from her head and pull her away from Ward's girlfriend.

“According to Ward's girlfriend, Harbin ‘pushed people off of [his girlfriend], got violent with the girls,' including hitting Ward's girlfriend's younger cousin. Ward's girlfriend's cousins agreed with this characterization, although the younger one allowed that Harbin was originally trying to break up the fight. Reed testified that as she was trying to stop the fight, Harbin ‘shove[d]' her to the ground. Harbin admitted that he pushed Reed as he was ‘breaking everyone up' but denied it was intentional.

“Reed testified that she expected one of the men present from the Third World group would help her up, ‘since they were cool with [her deceased] son,' and she became angry when no one did. A neighbor w' “ho lived near 30th and Chestnut testified that she ‘noticed a commotion' and then heard a female voice say, ‘“You Third World niggas are some punk ass niggas,”'

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