Williams v. Armontrout

• Decision Date: 12 October 1990
• Docket Number: No. 88-1342,88-1342
• Parties: 30 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1275 Doyle J. WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. Bill ARMONTROUT, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 924

912 F.2d 924

30 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1275

Doyle J. WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. Bill ARMONTROUT, Appellee.

No. 88-1342.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted April 10, 1990.

Decided Aug. 15, 1990.

Leave to File Amicus Briefs in Support

of Petition for Rehearing En Banc

Denied, Petitions for Rehearing

En Banc Denied Oct. 12, 1990.

Charles W. German, Kansas City, Mo., for appellant.

John M. Morris, Jefferson City, Mo., for appellee.

Before LAY, Chief Judge, BRIGHT, Senior Circuit Judge, McMILLIAN, ARNOLD, JOHN R. GIBSON, FAGG, BOWMAN, WOLLMAN, MAGILL, and BEAM, Circuit Judges, En Banc.

FAGG, Circuit Judge.

Doyle J. Williams, a Missouri prisoner convicted of capital murder, appeals the district court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. See 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254 (1982). We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Williams's capital murder conviction arose out of a cold-blooded scheme to eliminate witnesses who might implicate him in the 1980 burglary of a doctor's office in Auxvasse, Missouri. After the burglary, Williams attempted to pass a forged prescription using a form stolen in the burglary. Williams first murdered the doctor in the belief that by preventing the doctor from testifying that he had not signed the prescription form, the state's charge against Williams for attempting to obtain a controlled substance by fraud would fail. Williams was eventually convicted of murdering the doctor. See generally Williams v. Armontrout, 877 F.2d 1376, 1378 (8th Cir.1989), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1140, 107 L.Ed.2d 1044 (1990). With the help of one of his girl friends and his accomplice in the burglary, Williams then set out to kill the accomplice's roommate, who could also tie Williams to the crime. The girl friend was Betty Coleman, and the accomplice was John Morgan. The target of the murder scheme was Kerry Brummett.

To carry out the murder, Williams asked Coleman to arrange a date with Brummett late on October 9, 1980. Coleman met Brummett at a restaurant and drove Brummett to an isolated area near the Missouri River where Williams and Morgan were waiting. When Coleman and Brummett arrived, the men dragged Brummett from the car, brutally beat him, and handcuffed his hands behind his back. The men then put Brummett in the trunk of the car Coleman had arrived in and drove to a location where they could sink Brummett's body in the river after they killed him. Finding their chosen location occupied by campers, the men drove on in search of another secluded location to complete their murderous scheme.

When they reached a deserted point at the river's edge, Williams and Morgan removed Brummett from the trunk. While Morgan obtained a rope and weight to dispose of Brummett's body, Williams brutally beat the handcuffed Brummett. No doubt sensing the men's intentions, Brummett exercised his final option and fled toward the river with Williams in hot pursuit. Brummett ran into the water and immediately sank. After Brummett surfaced for the second time, Williams ordered Morgan to shoot him. Despite Williams's order, Morgan later explained that he aimed and fired over Brummett's head. Williams, who could have rescued Brummett if he was not bent on murder, entered the water only in an attempt to retrieve incriminating handcuffs from the body of a drowned man. When authorities discovered Brummett's beaten and handcuffed body seven days later, they determined the cause of death was drowning. Other opinions further detail these facts. See Williams v. Armontrout, 679 F.Supp. 916, 922 (W.D.Mo.1988); State v. Williams, 652 S.W.2d 102, 106-07 (Mo.1983) (en banc).

Coleman was convicted at a separate trial of capital murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Morgan received immunity from all charges in exchange for his testimony at Coleman's and Williams's trials. In 1981, a Missouri jury convicted Williams of capital murder. See Mo.Rev.Stat. Sec. 565.001 (1978) (repealed 1984). After a sentencing hearing, the same jury recommended the death penalty based on the aggravating circumstance of murder for the purpose of preventing a witness from testifying in a judicial proceeding. See Mo.Rev.Stat. Sec. 565.012.2(12) (Supp.1981) (repealed 1984). The state trial court sentenced Williams to death. The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence on direct appeal. See 652 S.W.2d at 117. Williams then sought a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court. We affirmed the district court's dismissal of this writ for failure to exhaust state court remedies. See Williams v. Wyrick, 763 F.2d 363, 365 (8th Cir.1985) (per curiam).

Williams unsuccessfully sought state postconviction relief, and the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed. Williams v. State, 712 S.W.2d 404, 411 (Mo.Ct.App.1986). Williams then brought this action in the district court seeking a second writ of habeas corpus under section 2254. In a comprehensive opinion, the district court denied the petition. See 679 F.Supp. at 949. Williams now appeals that denial to this court, claiming a number of errors we consider in turn.

II. LESSER INCLUDED OFFENSE INSTRUCTION

Williams asserts the state trial court denied him due process by refusing to instruct the jury on first-degree (felony) murder. See Mo.Rev.Stat. Sec. 565.003 (1978) (repealed 1984). Williams argues he was entitled to the felony murder instruction because Brummett's death occurred during a kidnapping. See id. Sec. 565.110.1(4)-(5) (1978). Williams also argues he was denied his right to equal protection because the Missouri Supreme Court applied in his case a different rule on felony murder as a lesser included offense than the Court applied in other cases.

In a capital case, due process requires a trial court to instruct the jury on all lesser included offenses supported by the evidence. See Hopper v. Evans, 456 U.S. 605, 611, 102 S.Ct. 2049, 2052-53, 72 L.Ed.2d 367 (1982); Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625, 637-38, 100 S.Ct. 2382, 2389-90, 65 L.Ed.2d 392 (1980). At the time of Williams's trial, felony murder was a lesser included offense of capital murder under Missouri law. See Mo.Rev.Stat. Sec. 565.006.1 (1978); State v. Daugherty, 631 S.W.2d 637, 645 (Mo.1982); State v. Fuhr, 626 S.W.2d 379, 379 (Mo.1982). The Missouri Supreme Court later held that felony murder is not a lesser included offense of capital murder in that state. See State v. Baker, 636 S.W.2d 902, 904-05 (Mo.1982) (en banc), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1183, 103 S.Ct. 834, 74 L.Ed.2d 1027 (1983). The following year, the Missouri court ruled the Baker holding would be applied only prospectively. See State v. Goddard, 649 S.W.2d 882, 889 (Mo.) (en banc), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 997, 104 S.Ct. 495, 78 L.Ed.2d 689 (1983). Goddard is the basis for Williams's equal protection argument and we recognize that some members of the Missouri Supreme Court have been critical of Goddard's treatment of Baker. See, e.g., State v. Holland, 653 S.W.2d 670, 680 (Mo.1983) (en banc) (Welliver, J., dissenting) ("The majority ... has treated similarly situated defendants differently in a transparent effort to avoid granting them new trials."); id. at 679-81; Williams, 652 S.W.2d at 117-18 (Welliver, J., dissenting); Goddard, 649 S.W.2d at 890-92 (Welliver, J., dissenting).

Williams's federal due process and equal protection arguments depend on Williams's contention the evidence at his trial supported giving the felony murder instruction as a lesser included offense of capital murder. See Hopper, 456 U.S. at 611, 102 S.Ct. at 2052-53; Beck, 447 U.S. at 635-37, 100 S.Ct. at 2388-90. We conclude the evidence does not provide the necessary support.

The federal district court in analyzing Williams's lesser included offense argument first determined that lack of premeditation was an essential element of felony murder in Missouri. See 679 F.Supp. at 924-25. After reviewing the evidence in the case, the court concluded that "overwhelming evidence of premeditation was presented." Id. at 924. Thus, the district court held the record did not support giving a felony murder instruction because "there was no evidence from which a reasonable jury could have concluded ... lack of premeditation was present." Id.

The state trial court, however, had taken a different approach to Williams's request for a felony murder instruction. The state court determined that under the evidence in this case no separate kidnapping occurred, and hence, no underlying felony was present to justify giving a felony murder instruction. We agree with the state court's analysis.

Missouri law does not recognize as a separate offense an abduction that otherwise meets the elements of a kidnapping when the abduction is "merely incidental to another offense." State v. Erby, 735 S.W.2d 148, 149 (Mo.Ct.App.1987); see, e.g., State v. Jackson, 703 S.W.2d 30, 32-33 (Mo.Ct.App.1985); State v. Jackson, 703 S.W.2d 23, 24-25 (Mo.Ct.App.1985); State v. Stewart, 615 S.W.2d 600, 602-04 (Mo.Ct.App.1981); State v. Johnson, 549 S.W.2d 627, 630-33 (Mo.Ct.App.1977); see also State v. Coleman, 660 S.W.2d 201, 209-10 (Mo.Ct.App.1983). In determining if the abduction is merely incidental for these purposes, the state trial court must consider whether the abduction substantially increased the risk of harm to the victim beyond the risk inherent in the principal crime. See, e.g., Erby, 735 S.W.2d at 149; Jackson, 703 S.W.2d at 31-33; Jackson, 703 S.W.2d at 24-25; Stewart, 615 S.W.2d at 604; Johnson, 549 S.W.2d at 631-33. Under these controlling legal principles, a victim who is marked for murder and transported to carry out the killing does not experience an "increased risk of harm or danger ... from the movement itself or from the potential of more serious criminal activity because of the remoteness ... of the area to which the victim is moved." Jackson, 703 S.W.2d at 25. Thus, Missouri would not recognize an abduction that is part and parcel of a premeditated murder plan as a separate...