Williams v. Dixon

• Decision Date: 24 March 1992
• Docket Number: No. 89-4001,89-4001
• Citation: 961 F.2d 448
• Parties: Douglas WILLIAMS, Jr., Petitioner-Appellant, v. Gary T. DIXON, Warden; Attorney General of North Carolina, Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 448

961 F.2d 448

Douglas WILLIAMS, Jr., Petitioner-Appellant, v. Gary T. DIXON, Warden; Attorney General of North Carolina,

Respondents-Appellees.

No. 89-4001.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued April 8, 1991.

Decided March 13, 1992.

As Amended March 24, 1992.

Mark Evan Olive, Atlanta, Ga., argued (William F. Larimar, University of North Carolina School of Law, Chapel Hill, N.C., on brief), for petitioner-appellant.

Barry Steven McNeill, Special Deputy Atty. Gen., Joan Herre Byers, Special Deputy Atty. Gen., Raleigh, N.C., argued (Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen. of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.) for respondents-appellees.

Before ERVIN, Chief Judge, WIDENER, Circuit Judge, and BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge.

OPINION

ERVIN, Chief Judge:

Douglas Williams, Jr. appeals the district court's denial of his petition for federal habeas corpus relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The core of Williams' arguments is that he did not have the mental capacity--because of organic brain damage and severe intoxication at the time of the offense--to have the requisite specific intent to be convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. More specifically, he argues that he was not given the opportunity to prove that he lacked the requisite mental capacity--because of either ineffective assistance of counsel, or some other violation of his rights either at trial, at sentencing, on appeal, or in the post-conviction proceedings.

After this appeal was argued, the United States Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the North Carolina jury instruction requiring unanimity among the jurors before they could consider mitigating circumstances in death penalty sentencing deliberations. McKoy v. North Carolina, 494 U.S. 433, 110 S.Ct. 1227, 108 L.Ed.2d 369 (1990). This jury instruction was given at Williams' trial. We affirm the district court's holding that the trial court did not commit constitutional error at the guilt phase of the trial; therefore, we do not disturb Williams' conviction. We further hold that Williams may receive the benefit of the rule set out in McKoy; therefore, we vacate his sentence and remand to the district court.

I

On August 2, 1981, Williams was arrested and charged with the murder of Adah Herndon Dawson. A detailed description of the crime and the investigation leading to his arrest is set forth in State v. Williams, 308 N.C. 47, 301 S.E.2d 335, 339-341 (1983). Williams pled not guilty. The jury found Williams guilty of first-degree murder. It concluded that he had murdered Dawson during the perpetration of a first-degree burglary, as well as during the perpetration of a sex offense, and that the murder was committed with malice and premeditation and deliberation. After the sentencing hearing, the jury imposed the death penalty which was ordered by the trial court judge.

On appeal, the conviction was upheld by the North Carolina Supreme Court on April 5, 1983. Williams, 308 N.C. 47, 301 S.E.2d 335 (1983). The United States Supreme Court denied Williams' Petition for Writ of Certiorari on October 3, 1983. Williams v. North Carolina, 464 U.S. 865, 104 S.Ct. 202, 78 L.Ed.2d 177 (1983). Williams' Petition for Rehearing was denied on November 28, 1983. Williams v. North Carolina, 464 U.S. 1004, 104 S.Ct. 518, 78 L.Ed.2d 704 (1983).

On May 7, 1984, Williams filed a Motion for Appropriate Relief, a state post-conviction procedure, pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 15A-1411 et seq. Twenty-one claims for relief were alleged in the motion, including ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and on appeal. During these proceedings, Williams' new counsel filed numerous motions, all of which were denied by the state court judge. ¹ The court did order that an evidentiary hearing be held on one claim--ineffective assistance of counsel at trial--and that Williams' remaining claims would "be heard on the record before the court and oral arguments."

The evidentiary hearing was held on June 4-5, 1985, after which the state court judge entered an order denying Williams' post-conviction relief. The North Carolina Supreme Court denied Williams' petition for discretionary review.

On October 13, 1987, Williams filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The petition contained twenty-four claims for relief. The judge denied the petition without oral argument on September 13, 1988. From this denial of habeas corpus relief, Williams now appeals.

II

Williams raises three issues arising from the guilt phase of his trial. First, he contends that the imposition of the death penalty upon a mildly mentally retarded defendant violates the constitution. Second, he alleges that he did not receive effective assistance of counsel. Third, he asserts that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's verdict finding Williams guilty of first-degree murder. We find no merit in any of these arguments.

A

The Supreme Court in Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U.S. 302, 109 S.Ct. 2934, 106 L.Ed.2d 256 (1989), held that the execution of a mentally retarded defendant convicted of a capital offense is not categorically prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. This precedent forecloses this issue.

B

The standard by which to judge claims alleging ineffective assistance of counsel is set forth in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). The standard in Strickland consists of two prongs. First, the court must inquire into the competence of the legal assistance in question. "The proper measure of attorney performance remains simply reasonableness under prevailing professional norms." Id. at 688, 104 S.Ct. at 2065. In this regard, an attorney's conduct is to be accorded a great deal of deference, and a reviewing court should avoid second-guessing the attorney with the benefit of hindsight. The second prong of the test involves assessing whether, given that counsel's assistance was constitutionally deficient, this fact had a reasonable probability of affecting the outcome. In other words, the petitioner "must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome." Id. at 694, 104 S.Ct. at 2068.

Williams specifically argues three major errors in his representation. First, that his attorney should have sought out available witnesses who saw Williams staggering drunk near the time of the offense. Second, that he should have discovered readily available mental health experts who diagnosed Williams as mentally retarded and brain damaged at the time of the offense and who would testify that Williams' mental condition satisfied the test for statutory and nonstatutory mitigation. Third, the attorney unreasonably introduced Williams' nine prior convictions during his capital sentencing argument, even though the State could not have introduced the convictions.

After careful review of the record, we agree that Williams' attorney could have perhaps investigated the facts of the case more thoroughly and with more diligence. However, we cannot conclude that his conduct was unreasonable without engaging in excessive second-guessing, which we refuse to do. Moreover, in light of the evidence, we believe that the government has carried its burden of showing beyond a reasonable doubt that the verdict would not have been different even if Williams' counsel had been more diligent or had used different trial tactics. See Smith v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 667, 116 L.Ed.2d 758 (1991) (denial of certiorari) (Blackmun, J., dissenting, and Stevens, J., dissenting).

C

We find the evidence to be sufficient to support the jury's verdict. In his confession, Williams stated that when he entered the Dawson house, he was looking for a place to sleep and thought that the house was deserted. Once inside, he was surprised by Dawson, who threw salt in his face. While in a state of alcohol and drug intoxication, he struck her with a stick he picked up on the porch, knocking her down. After rummaging through the house, he went back into the kitchen and forced a mop handle into her vagina. The medical examiner found that Mrs. Dawson had severe cuts on her neck, face, scalp, ears, vagina, and rectum. She also had fractures of the skull, pubic bones, hip bones, and some facial bones.

Williams now argues that his confession contains no evidence of any deliberation or premeditation to kill Dawson. Furthermore, he claims he had no "intent to commit larceny" when he entered the house and thus could not be convicted of felony-murder with the underlying felony being burglary. In addition, he contends that the murder was not "in perpetration of" a sex offense.

As the district court found, these arguments have little merit. We find particularly weak the argument that this murder was not committed "in perpetration of" a sex offense. The nexus between the sex act and the murder that Williams claims is required for felony-murder is much too restrictive and burdensome. See State v. Williams, 308 N.C. at 67, 301 S.E.2d at 348; State v. Powell, 299 N.C. 95, 261 S.E.2d 114 (1980).

III

In his sentencing instructions, the judge listed the following considerations as possible mitigating factors: Williams' age; his mental problems and deficiencies; and his condition the night of the murder (allegedly intoxicated and under the influence of drugs).

In the sentencing proceedings, the jury was asked to answer unanimously four questions: (1) whether there were any aggravating factors (proved by the State); (2) whether there were any mitigating factors (proved by Williams); (3) whether the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances; and (4) whether the aggravating circumstances were sufficiently substantial to justify the...