Trimble v. Bobby

• Decision Date: 22 October 2015
• Docket Number: Nos. 13–3381,13–3455.,s. 13–3381
• Citation: 804 F.3d 767
• Parties: James TRIMBLE, Petitioner–Appellee/Cross–Appellant, v. David BOBBY, Warden, Respondent–Appellant/Cross–Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

804 F.3d 767

James TRIMBLE, Petitioner–Appellee/Cross–Appellant

v.David BOBBY, Warden, Respondent–Appellant/Cross–Appellee.

Nos. 13–3381

13–3455.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: Dec. 3, 2014.

Decided and Filed: Oct. 22, 2015.

Rehearing En Banc Denied Jan. 4, 2016.

ARGUED:Thomas E. Madden, Office of the Ohio Attorney General, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellant/Cross–Appellee. Joseph E. Wilhelm, Office of the Federal Public Defender, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellee/Cross–Appellant. ON BRIEF:Thomas E. Madden, Stephen E. Maher, Office of the Ohio Attorney General, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellant/Cross–Appellee. Joseph E. Wilhelm, Alan C. Rossman, Office of the Federal Public Defender, Cleveland, Ohio, Kathryn L. Sandford, Office of the Ohio Public Defender, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellee/Cross–Appellant.

Before: SILER, BATCHELDER, and CLAY, Circuit Judges.

BATCHELDER, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which SILER, J., joined, and CLAY, J., joined in part. CLAY, J. (pp. 784–91), delivered a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.

OPINION

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge.

In 2005, James Earl Trimble shot and killed his then-girlfriend and her seven-year-old son with an assault rifle. Later that same night, he broke into the apartment of a female college student, held her hostage, and eventually killed her with a handgun. Overwhelming evidence established Trimble's guilt, including his admissions of guilt to two family members and the police, significant forensic evidence tying him to the murders, and eyewitness testimony. A jury convicted him of the three murders and the trial judge, upon the jury's recommendation, imposed three death sentences. The district court conditionally granted Trimble habeas relief because it determined that an alternate juror who was later empaneled during the penalty phase of Trimble's trial could not set aside his personal views on the death penalty and apply the law. Because we conclude that the alternate juror was not an automatic-death-penalty juror, and that Trimble's other claims are meritless, we REVERSE the district court's granting of the writ on the juror bias claim and AFFIRM the district court's denial of habeas relief on Trimble's claims of prejudicial admission of weapons and prosecutorial misconduct.

I.

On January 21, 2005, James Earl Trimble shot and killed his live-in girlfriend, Renee Bauer, and her seven-year-old son, Dakota Bauer, with an AR–15 assault rifle. Trimble shot Renee once in the head and eleven times in the back and the hand, and Dakota six times in the head, neck, and torso. Soon after the shootings, Trimble's mother called him at the house he had shared with the two victims, and he confessed to the killings. Trimble's mother called Trimble's brother and asked him to contact Trimble. Trimble again confessed to killing Renee and Dakota, this time to his brother. Upon hearing this information, Trimble's brother told Trimble to remain in the house while he called the police.

Unfortunately, Trimble did not heed his brother's advice. He left his home on foot and ended up at a nearby residence, where he held two occupants of the home at gunpoint for a few minutes, but eventually let them go unharmed. Leaving this house, he ran through the nearby woods, randomly stumbling upon the apartment of Sarah Positano, a twenty-two-year-old college student, whom he then took hostage.

Positano called 9–1–1 at 11:18 PM, presumably at Trimble's request, in order to relay his demands to the police; she reported that Trimble had entered her home and would shoot her if police attempted to raid the apartment. She told the operator that Trimble had a “9–mm pistol with no safety.” Trimble took the phone from Positano and declared, “I have got the hammer held back and the trigger pulled. So if the cops shoot me or even attempt to break in here, I will let go of the trigger and the innocent girl will die.” During the call, Positano asked Trimble, “could you not put the gun to my head?”

Meanwhile, police established a perimeter around Positano's apartment and reconnected with Trimble on the phone through hostage negotiators, talking with Trimble about various topics. The last call culminated in Trimble's telling Positano that she would be going home if the cops did not “come up here.” A few seconds later, Positano—with whom another negotiator had maintained phone contact—screamed “I've been shot” and started to gasp for breath. Shortly thereafter, around midnight, the authorities lost the phone connection. Apparently, the hostage negotiator did not hear the shouting or gasping for breath, because throughout the night the police continued to believe that Positano was alive. The next morning, however, the SWAT team raided the apartment, found Positano's body, and arrested Trimble.

After being transported to jail, Trimble waived his Miranda rights and confessed to the three murders. Although he claimed that he did not remember killing Renee and Dakota Bauer, he admitted that he must have because “no one else was there.” He later asserted that because of a combination of sleep deprivation and drug addiction, he simply had lost control of himself. Trimble contended that he had not intended to kill Positano, but that the gun accidentally discharged when the police entered the apartment, startling him. Overwhelming evidence at trial, however, indicated that the police had entered the apartment only once, when the SWAT team found Positano's body and arrested Trimble. Police found the AR–15 assault rifle and a Sig Sauer 9–mm handgun at the Bauer and Positano residences, respectively. Police matched casings at the crime scenes to these two weapons. Trimble does not dispute that the apparent murder weapons belonged to him.

A grand jury indicted Trimble on three counts of aggravated murder, all with death specifications, as well as three counts of kidnapping, two counts of felonious assault, and one count of aggravated battery with firearm specifications. Trimble pleaded not guilty. At trial, the state presented extensive evidence of Trimble's guilt, including the aforementioned confessions, forensic evidence, and eyewitness testimony. Trimble's defense focused on why the killings occurred and suggested decreased culpability. The jury found Trimble guilty on all charges.

After the finding of guilt, the case proceeded to the penalty phase. In mitigation, Trimble introduced evidence that he suffered from bipolar disorder

and drug and alcohol addiction, that he was a good and dependable worker, that he gave assistance to elderly members of his church and his mother, and that he was remorseful.

The state provided several aggravating factors: that he murdered his victims as part of a course of conduct involving the purposeful killing of two or more people, that he killed a child under the age of thirteen, and that he murdered Positano while committing the offenses of kidnapping and aggravated burglary. Ultimately, the jury recommended death sentences for each of the killings, which the trial court imposed.

Trimble timely appealed. The Ohio Supreme Court denied relief on all grounds and affirmed Trimble's death sentences. State v. Trimble, 122 Ohio St.3d 297, 911 N.E.2d 242 (2009). The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. Trimble v. Ohio, 558 U.S. 1055, 130 S.Ct. 752, 175 L.Ed.2d 526 (2009). Trimble also sought post-conviction relief, which the trial court denied. The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed, State v. Trimble, 2008–Ohio–6409, 2008 WL 5147441 (Ohio Ct.App. Dec. 5, 2008), and the Ohio Supreme Court denied review, State v. Trimble, 122 Ohio St.3d 1502, 912 N.E.2d 107 (2009) (table).

In 2010, Trimble filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He raised six grounds for relief, only three of which are relevant for this appeal. First, he claimed that the court's empaneling of a particular juror violated his right to a fair and impartial jury guaranteed under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Second, he claimed that the court's admission and display of firearms not used in the killings violated his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights. Third, he claimed that prosecutorial misconduct denied him a fair and reliable sentencing hearing in violation of his Fourteenth Amendment rights. The district court granted Trimble's petition as to his juror-bias claim and denied relief on all remaining grounds. The court certified an appeal on the juror-bias claim, the admission-of-weapons claim, and the prosecutorial-misconduct claim. The Warden appeals the district court's grant of habeas relief on the juror-bias claim, while Trimble cross-appeals the district court's denial of habeas relief on the other two claims.

II.

We review de novo a district court's legal conclusions and mixed questions of law and fact, and review its factual findings for clear error. Lucas v. O'Dea, 179 F.3d 412, 416 (6th Cir.1999). Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”), a district court may not grant a habeas petition with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in the state courts unless the adjudication of the claim “resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1). Under the “contrary to” clause, a federal habeas court may grant the writ if the state court arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by the Supreme Court on a question of law, or if the state court reaches a decision different from that of the Supreme Court on a set of materially indistinguishable facts. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 412–13, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000). Under the “unreasonable application” clause, a federal habeas court may grant the writ if the state court identifies the correct governing legal principle from the Supreme Court's decisions but...