Taylor v. Sec'y

• Decision Date: 28 July 2014
• Docket Number: No. 12–12112.,12–12112.
• Citation: 760 F.3d 1284
• Parties: Perry Alexander TAYLOR, Petitioner–Appellant, v. SECRETARY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Attorney General, State of Florida, Respondents–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

760 F.3d 1284

Perry Alexander TAYLOR, Petitioner–Appellant,

v.SECRETARY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Attorney General, State of Florida, Respondents–Appellees.

No. 12–12112.

United States Court of Appeals,Eleventh Circuit.

July 28, 2014.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. D.C. Docket No. 8:10–cv–00382–JSM–AEP.

Before MARCUS, PRYOR, and JORDAN, Circuit Judges.

MARCUS, Circuit Judge:

In 1989, Perry Alexander Taylor was convicted of the grisly first-degree murder and sexual battery of a thirty-eight-year-old woman. After trial, Taylor was sentenced to death. He now appeals from the district court's denial of habeas relief, raising two guilt-phase claims: (1) whether the state trial court violated his due process rights by excluding corroborative evidence proffered by the defense; and (2) whether trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel by calling Taylor to testify at trial and having him reenact the murder. After thorough review, we also conclude that Taylor is not entitled to relief on either claim and, accordingly, affirm.

I.

A.

The essential facts are these. On October 24, 1988, Geraldine Birch's severely beaten body was found in the third-base dugout of the Belmont Heights Little League field in Tampa, Florida. Taylor v. State, 583 So.2d 323, 325 (Fla.1991) (per curiam). Two drag marks on the ground of the dugout led to the victim's heels, which were covered in dirt. The victim's dress was pulled up around her neck. Law enforcement officers recovered her dentures, a wig, and swatches of hair strewn near her corpse.

Twenty-two-year-old Taylor had been at “the cut,” an alley near the baseball field, around the time of the murder. When the police first interviewed Taylor as a witness, he told the officers he had not been to the Belmont field in over six weeks and promised to listen for “street talk ... concerning the offense.” In response to the officers' request, Taylor handed over the Adidas tennis shoes and the pair of jeans he was wearing on the night of October 23rd. Law enforcement then matched shoe prints discovered at the murder scene to the shoes Taylor had provided. Two days later, the police interviewed Taylor a second time. Once again, Taylor initially denied his involvement, but after the officers confronted him with the positive identification, he confessed to killing Birch.

On November 16, 1988, a Hillsborough County jury indicted Taylor for first-degree murder and sexual battery. At trial, the State proceeded under two theories: (1) pre-meditated murder; and (2) felony murder, since the killing occurred during the course of a sexual battery. The defense was built around the claim that Taylor was guilty of only second-degree murder and that the sexual contact between the defendant and the victim was consensual in nature. Birch had offered sex in exchange for money or cocaine. Moreover, the defense theory went, Taylor beat Birch because he became “absolutely enraged” and was “operating from a depraved mind,” not with any premeditated intent.

The State's evidence adduced during a three-day trial included Taylor's extensive murder confessions to Detectives George McNamara and Melvin Duran. Detective McNamara, the lead investigator in the case, interviewed Taylor first. The detective testified that Taylor informed him that he ran into Birch around 4:00 a.m. on October 24, 1988 at “the cut.” Birch agreed to have oral sex with Taylor in the dugout, and while performing fellatio, she bit down on his penis. Taylor proceeded to choke Birch with both hands for about two to three minutes, as she made “a gasping noise ... to try to get her breath.” Then, Taylor said he clenched his right fist and struck Birch in the face several times. When she collapsed onto the ground, he dragged her to the other end of the dugout and dropped her, whereupon he kicked the lifeless victim three to four times in her upper chest area and stomped on her two to three times. Notably, Taylor did not mention anything about Birch's offer of sex in exchange for crack or money. After interviewing Taylor, Detective McNamara turned the defendant over to Detective Duran, who collected hair and saliva samples.

Detective Duran testified that Taylor similarly admitted that he choked, struck, kicked, and stomped Birch to death after she bit his penis. Although Taylor denied engaging in vaginal sex with Birch to Detective McNamara, Taylor informed Detective Duran that “he had penis-to-vagina intercourse with the victim” before she performed oral sex. At the conclusion of his interview with Taylor, Detective Duran examined the defendant's penis and had an identification technician photograph it. The detective did not observe any abrasion, laceration, or injury consistent with bite marks, but he did notice a small white dot.

Dr. Lee Miller, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Birch's body, also took the stand. He testified that the cause of death was massive blunt injuries to the head, neck, chest, and abdomen, reflecting “a beating ... with hands and/or feet.” Birch suffered a minimum of about ten blows, all of which occurred at or near the time of death. Dr. Miller described the victim's horrific injuries, including extensive bleeding in the brain; torn and fractured kidneys, intestines, lungs, and ribs; a “pulped” liver; a damaged heart and spleen; and patterned bruises all across the face, chest, and stomach. Dr. Miller opined that the death was likely not instantaneous. Moreover, he observed numerous injuries both inside and adjacent to the outside of the victim's vagina that were inconsistent with Taylor's sexual-consent defense. In his medical opinion, these lacerations were caused by “[s]omething [that] was inserted into the vagina which stretched the vagina enough for it to tear over the object that was inserted in there.” Images of the ghastly wounds Taylor inflicted on Birch corroborated the law enforcement officials' and the doctor's testimony. One photograph of the victim's chest, for example, depicted bruising with a design similar to the shoe impressions found in the dugout.

After the prosecution rested its case, Taylor proffered testimony from three of Birch's sisters, who saw the victim occasionally purchase or use crack cocaine between one and five-and-a-half months before she was murdered. Outside the presence of the jury, Joyce Robinson testifiedthat she had seen her sister buy crack cocaine “[j]ust one time” about five-and-a-half months before her demise. Another sister, Alice Rose, asserted that she had seen Birch “once use” crack cocaine about three-and-a-half months before she died. When defense counsel asked if Birch “was a heavy user,” Rose responded, “Well, half the time she couldn't get it.” Finally, Yvonne Robinson testified that she had seen her sister use crack cocaine “maybe two, three times.” The last time she saw Birch using crack was about a month before her death in their mother's utility room. Robinson also acknowledged that Birch was involved with a man who had a few prostitutes working for him out of Sulphur Springs. None of the sisters, however, had ever witnessed Birch offer to sell her body for crack. Ultimately, the trial court excluded the proffered testimony, ruling that the sisters' accounts were irrelevant to the claim of sexual consent and remote in time.

Taylor took the stand to establish his second-degree murder defense. He testified that on the night of the murder, he went to Manila Bar with some friends. Around 3:45 or 4:00 a.m., after the bar had closed, the group migrated to “the cut.” They were outside “shooting the bull” when Birch approached. She talked briefly with others in the group, and then all but Taylor and a friend walked off. Taylor, 583 So.2d at 325. Taylor testified that as he began to walk away, Birch called out to him and told him she was trying to get to Sulphur Springs. He informed her that he did not have a car. She then offered “sexual favors,” or to “turn a trick,” in exchange for “a five dollar hit of crack and ten dollars.” When Taylor indicated he “couldn't help her on the drugs part of the situation,” Birch decided ten dollars would do. The pair then headed towards the Belmont Little League field.

Taylor testified that upon reaching the third-base dugout, he sat down on a bench. Defense counsel asked Taylor to position himself in the chair as if it were the bench, and Taylor complied. Taylor described that he and Birch attempted to have vaginal intercourse in the dugout for less than a minute. Id. Birch then ended the attempted intercourse and began performing fellatio instead. According to Taylor, he complained to Birch that her teeth were irritating him and tried to pull away. She bit down on his penis. Acting “out of reflexes,” Taylor claimed he “grabbed her immediately” and choked her.

At that point, defense counsel asked Taylor to remove his sweater so that the jury could view his strong arms and chest. Counsel also inquired about Taylor's exercise regimen and weight-lifting abilities, instructing Taylor to show the jury what a “dead lift” is. Following this demonstration, Taylor described how once he succeeded in getting Birch to release her bite, he struck and kicked her several times in anger. The entire incident “was over before it started.”

To corroborate his version of the events, Taylor introduced testimony from two of his friends who were with him at “the cut” on the early morning of October 24th. Otis Allen testified that Birch approached the group and told Taylor she wanted to exchange sex for “money or stones.” As Allen left, he witnessed Birch walking freely and voluntarily with Taylor towards the baseball field. Adrian Mitchell testified that he saw Birch approach Taylor and converse with him. Then he witnessed Birch motioning to Taylor to follow her, and the pair walked off together.

On May 11, 1989, the jury reached a verdict, finding Taylor...