Williams v. Booker

• Decision Date: 08 July 2010
• Docket Number: Case No. 07-12348.
• Citation: 715 F.Supp.2d 756
• Parties: Terrence Vernell WILLIAMS, Petitioner, v. Raymond BOOKER, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan

715 F.Supp.2d 756

Terrence Vernell WILLIAMS, Petitioner,

v.Raymond BOOKER, Respondent.

Case No. 07-12348.

United States District Court,

E.D. Michigan,

Southern Division.

May 28, 2010.

Order Granting Stay July 8, 2010.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.

Sheldon Halpern, Sheldon Halpern Assoc., Huntington Woods, MI, for Petitioner.

Andrew L. Shirvell, MI Dept. of Atty. Gen., Lansing, MI, for Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING THE WRIT OF HABEAS PETITION

ARTHUR J. TARNOW, District Judge.

Petitioner Terrence Vernell Williams has filed a pro se habeas corpus petition challenging his convictions for conspiracy to commit murder and three firearm offenses. Petitioner alleges that his trial attorney was ineffective and that the evidence at trial was insufficient to support his conspiracy conviction. Having reviewed the record and conducted an evidentiary hearing, the Court concludes that Petitioner is entitled to relief on his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim for failure to communicate a plea offer. Accordingly, the habeas petition is granted.

I. BackgroundA. The Charges, Trial, and Direct Appeal

Petitioner was charged in Saginaw County, Michigan with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, assault with intent to commit murder, felon in possession of a firearm, and two counts of felony firearm. The charges arose from the shooting of Frederick Stewart about 2:30 a.m. on May 14, 2002, in Saginaw, Michigan. Four men were charged with the shooting: Petitioner, Jack Tillman, Elijah Tillman, and Saejar Parker. Petitioner was tried with Jack Tillman and Saejar Parker. ¹ The trial testimony has been summarized by the Michigan Court of Appeals as follows:

The victim was sitting in his car in his driveway when he noticed a white car drive past him. A few minutes later, he heard gunshots and saw a tall man shooting at him. He crouched down in the car but was still struck by four bullets. A neighbor who heard the gunshots looked out his window seconds after the shooting stopped and saw a man dressed in dark clothing enter a white car on its passenger side and speed away. A police officer routinely patrolling the victim's block heard the gunshots. Moments later he spotted a white car driving erratically and aggressively, so he pursued it. The chase intensified, culminating in speeds well over sixty miles per hour through residential streets, and ended when the white car crashed into a tree and telephone

pole. Defendant Jack Tillman opened the driver's door and ran, but was later apprehended nearby. Defendant Williams tried to climb out of the open rear passenger side window, but the officer immediately pinned him to the ground. Defendant Parker went for the driver's door from the back seat, but never made it out of the car. After a lengthy scuffle, officers also apprehended the passenger who was riding in the front seat, Elijah Tillman.

Several hours later, police found a Luger pistol along the right side of the chase route. The scuffed pistol had a plug of dirt in the barrel and left a divot nearby, indicating that someone had thrown it, skipping it off a sidewalk onto the grass. Expert testimony matched the pistol to sixteen spent casings found at the scene of the shooting. Of the individuals in the car, footprints found near the casings matched only defendant Williams, who rode on the passenger side of the backseat. Police found two handguns in the vehicle, one on the front floorboards where Elijah Tillman was sitting, and one on the backseat where Parker and Williams were. Police also found a ski mask and gloves on the backseat.

People v. Williams, No. 245443, 2004 WL 1459559, at *1-2 (Mich.Ct.App. June 29, 2004) (footnote omitted).

The prosecutor's theory was that the four defendants were cruising the streets looking for a target when they saw Frederick Stewart. The prosecutor speculated that Petitioner got out of the car and shot Stewart and that Jack Tillman assisted Petitioner by stopping the car, waiting for him, and then driving off after Petitioner fired at Stewart and got back in the car.

On October 29, 2002, a Saginaw County Circuit Court jury found Petitioner guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 750.157a and 750.316(1)(a), felon in possession of a firearm, Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.224f, and two counts of possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.227b. The jurors were unable to reach a verdict on the second count charging Petitioner with assault with intent to commit murder. The trial court sentenced Petitioner to concurrent terms of two years in prison for each of the two felony firearm convictions, followed by life imprisonment for the conspiracy conviction and a concurrent term of 3-1/2 to 7-1/2 years (forty-two to ninety months) in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. ² Petitioner challenged the sufficiency and weight of the evidence in an appeal of right. He also alleged that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a directed verdict at the close of the prosecution's case, that the jury instructions were inadequate and incorrect, that the jury's verdict on the conspiracy count was void due to uncertainty caused by the jury's inability to reach a verdict on the assault count, and that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial, because prejudice resulted from improper contact with a juror attributed to the defense. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed Petitioner's convictions in an unpublished, per curiam opinion, see Williams, 2004 WL 1459559, ³ and on December 29, 2004, the Michigan Supreme Court denied leave to appeal. See People v. Williams, 471 Mich. 954, 690 N.W.2d 118 (2004) (table).

B. The State Collateral Proceedings.

Petitioner filed a motion for relief from judgment in which he alleged that his trial attorney was ineffective for failing to promptly notify him of a plea offer. The trial court denied relief from judgment, stating that Petitioner had failed to demonstrate “good cause” under Michigan Court Rule 6.508(D) for failing to raise his claim in the appeal of right. The Michigan Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court also denied relief on the ground that Petitioner failed to establish entitlement to relief under Rule 6.508(D). See People v. Williams, No. 268261 (Mich.Ct.App. Aug. 16, 2006); People v. Williams, 477 Mich. 997, 725 N.W.2d 670 (2007). ⁴

C. The Federal Proceedings

Petitioner filed his habeas corpus petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 on May 31, 2007. He alleges that his trial attorney was ineffective and that the evidence at trial was insufficient to sustain his conspiracy conviction. Respondent argues in an answer to the petition that Petitioner's ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim is procedurally defaulted and that Petitioner's sufficiency-of-the-evidence claim lacks merit.

The Court held an evidentiary hearing on July 7, 2009, July 27, 2009, and April 19, 2010. The parties have filed supplemental briefs, and the case is now ready for a decision.

II. Standard of Review

Section 2254(d) of Title 28, United States Code, imposes the following standard of review for habeas cases:

An application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court shall not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim-

(1) 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; or

(2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceedings.

28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Additionally, this Court must presume the correctness of state court factual determinations. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1).

A decision of a state court is “contrary to” clearly established federal law 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 decides a case differently than the Supreme Court has on a set of materially indistinguishable facts. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 405-06, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000). An “unreasonable application occurs” when “a state-court decision unreasonably applies the law of [the Supreme Court] to the facts of a prisoner's case.” Id. at 409, 120 S.Ct. 1495. A federal habeas court may not “issue the writ simply because that court concludes in its independent judgment that the relevant state-court decision applied clearly established federal law erroneously or incorrectly. Rather, that application must also be unreasonable.” Id. at 411, 120 S.Ct. 1495. Review is de novo if new and substantial evidence supporting a petitioner's claim comes to light on habeas corpus review. Brown v. Smith, 551 F.3d 424, 428-30 (6th Cir.2008).

III. DiscussionA. Petitioner's Ineffectiveness Claim

Petitioner claims that his trial attorney unilaterally rejected the prosecutor's offer to have Petitioner plead guilty to the weapons charges in return for a dismissal of the conspiracy and assault charges. Petitioner alleges that he first learned of the prosecutor's offer after the trial commenced and that he would have pleaded guilty to the weapons charges if he had known about the plea offer. According to him, if he had pleaded guilty to the weapons charges, he would have been eligible for parole at the completion of a minimum sentence of eight to ten years and, at worst, he would have been discharged on parole at the completion of his statutory maximum sentence. He states that he is unlikely to be paroled from his current sentence of life imprisonment.

1. Procedural Default

Respondent maintains that Petitioner's ineffectiveness claim is procedurally defaulted because Petitioner did not raise the claim on direct review and the state courts denied leave to...