Webster v. Lockett, Cause No. 2:12-cv-86-WTL-WGH
| Decision Date | 13 November 2013 |
| Docket Number | Cause No. 2:12-cv-86-WTL-WGH |
| Parties | BRUCE CARNEIL WEBSTER, Petitioner, v. CHARLES LOCKETT Warden, United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute (USP), Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana |
This cause is before the Court on Petitioner Bruce Carneil Webster's petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241.1 Dkt. No. 1. Webster's motion is fully briefed, and the Court, being duly advised, DENIES the motion for the reasons set forth below.
During the fall of 1994, Webster, Orlando Hall, and Marvin Holloway operated a marijuana trafficking business in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.2 With the help of Steven Beckley, the men regularly purchased marijuana from the Dallas/Fort Worth area in Texas and transported the drugs back to Arkansas. On September 21, 1994, Hall flew to Dallas to purchase marijuana from two local drug dealers, Stanfield Vitalis and Neil Rene. That same day, Hall and Beckley met with Vitalis and Rene at a car wash and gave them $4,700 for the purchase of marijuana. Themen agreed to return to the car wash later that that day to transfer the drugs. Vitalis and Rene, however, never returned to the car wash and later claimed they were robbed of the $4,700.
On September 24, 1994, Webster flew to Dallas where he met with Hall, Hall's brother Demetrius Hall, and Beckley. After they discovered where Neil Rene lived, the four men drove to Rene's apartment and knocked on his door. Lisa Rene, Neil Rene's sixteen-year-old sister, was the only one home. She refused to let the men in and called police. Armed with handguns, a baseball bat, duct tape, and gasoline, the men forced their way into the apartment and kidnapped Lisa before police arrived. Lisa was eventually taken to a motel in Pine Bluff, Arkansas where she was held for several days. During the ordeal, she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Webster and the other men. After two days of captivity, Webster, Hall, and Beckley drove Lisa to a park where they placed a sheet over her head and beat her with a shovel. Webster Direct Appeal, 162 F.3d at 319. Although she was "likely still breathing," Webster, Hall, and Beckley buried Lisa and returned to the motel. Id.
Shortly thereafter, Beckley was arrested and confessed to police. As a result, Webster was charged by indictment with kidnapping in which a death occurred in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1) (count one), conspiracy to commit kidnapping in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1201(c) (count two), traveling in interstate commerce with the intent to promote extortion in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1952 (count five), and using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (count six). In February 1995, the Government filed its notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Webster.
In 1996, a jury found Webster guilty of counts one, two, and six of the indictment.3 During a separate sentencing hearing before the same jury, Webster's defense team argued that Webster is mentally retarded and thus could not be sentenced to death pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3596(c).4 In support of this argument, defense counsel introduced as evidence Webster's low IQ scores, testimony from Webster's friends and family, and testimony from four psychologists and psychiatrists who examined Webster after his arrest.5
During the hearing, clinical psychologist Dr. Raymond Finn testified that he administered a full-scale intelligence test on Webster, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised ("WAIS-R"), and Webster received an IQ score of 59. Dr. Finn also opined that Webster is "clearly mentally retarded." Similarly, psychologist Dr. Denis Keyes testified that he administered two intelligence tests on Webster, the Stanford-Binet Fourth Edition and the Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test, and Webster's IQ scores were 51 and 55, respectively. Dr. Keyes also conducted a Vineland adaptive skills test on Webster to measure his "adaptive functioning."6 Dr. Keyes ultimately concluded that Webster functions at the level of a seven-year-old and is mentally retarded. Neuropsychologist Dr. Robert Fulbright testified that he performed several neuropsychological tests on Webster. Based on the results, he believed Webster had significant impairment in his intellectual capacity, attention capacity, and reasoningabilities, and suffered from limited language and memory capabilities. The fourth expert, Dr. Mark Cunningham, testified that he spoke with Webster's family and examined Webster while he was in prison. Dr. Cunningham further testified that Webster suffers from mild mental retardation
Defense counsel also introduced evidence of an IQ test that was given to Webster by an Arkansas state mental health center in 1992. The test demonstrated that Webster had an IQ of only 48 more than a year before Lisa's kidnapping and murder. Webster's friends and family also testified at the hearing. They stated that Webster had to repeat two grades in school, was in special education classes, was unable to live away from his mother, received income from welfare, food stamps, family members, and girlfriends, and had illegible handwriting.
To rebut Webster's evidence of mental retardation, the Government presented testimony from two experts. Dr. George Parker testified that he administered a partial WAIS-R and estimated Webster's IQ to be 72. He also testified that Webster does not suffer from mental retardation, and Webster's IQ scores were artificially deflated because he was motivated to do poorly on the tests to avoid the death penalty. Dr. Richard Coons, a psychiatrist, testified similarly. Dr. Coons further claimed that Webster had lied about taking special education classes in his youth.7
The Government also focused on Webster's apparent ability to adapt to life in jail. Dr. Parker and Dr. Coons testified that Webster made his bed, put away his clothes, and kept an organized cell while awaiting trial. Fellow inmates and corrections officers also testified that Webster had written letters, grievances, and requests for various services, read newspapers aloud, submitted names and addresses for his visitation list, appeared to be reading from law books andtaking notes in the law library, and on one occasion, Webster complained because he received incorrect change from the commissary.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the jury determined that several statutory and nonstatutory aggravating factors existed, see 18 U.S.C. § 3592, and concluded that the death penalty was an appropriate sentence for Webster's actions. On September 30, 1996, the court agreed with the jury's recommendation and sentenced Webster to death on count one, life imprisonment on count two, and sixty months' imprisonment on count six. The court also issued an entry entitled Factual Finding Regarding Mental Retardation stating that, Webster Direct Appeal, 162 F.3d at 351.
Webster appealed his convictions and sentence to the Fifth Circuit arguing, among other things, that his death sentence was unconstitutional because he is, in fact, mentally retarded. The court disagreed, however, noting that "[t]he government presented substantial evidence to support the finding" the he was not mentally retarded. Id. at 353. Webster's conviction and death sentence were ultimately affirmed by the Fifth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States denied his petition for certiorari. Webster v. United States, 528 U.S. 829 (1999).
Thereafter, on September 29, 2000, Webster timely filed a motion for relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255.8 Again, Webster argued that his death sentence is improper because he is mentally retarded. Webster also argued that counsel was ineffective in failing "to investigate and present additional evidence demonstrating mental retardation and the extreme abuse Webster suffered as a child." United States v. Webster, 392 F.3d 787, 793 (5th Cir. 2004) ("Webster 2255I"). The district court denied his motion, but granted a certificate of appealability as to two of Webster's claims: "first, that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to warrant the district court's finding that Webster is not mentally retarded; and second, that his alleged retardation renders him ineligible for a death sentence." United States v. Webster, 421 F.3d 308, 310 (5th Cir. 2005) ("Webster 2255 II").
Once more, however, the Fifth Circuit rejected Webster's arguments regarding his alleged mental retardation and provided the following explanation for its decision:
Id. at 313-14 (citation omitted) (emphasis in original). Webster's petition for a writ of certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court. Webster v. United States, 549 U.S. 828 (2009).
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