Williams v. State
| Decision Date | 30 August 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. SC 86095.,SC 86095. |
| Citation | 168 S.W.3d 433 |
| Parties | Marcellus WILLIAMS, Appellant, v. STATE of Missouri, Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Melinda K. Pendergraph, Office of the Public Defender, Columbia, MO, for Appellant.
Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., Evan J. Buchheim, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, MO, for Respondent.
Marcellus Williams was sentenced to death for the murder of Felicia Gayle. Williams appeals a judgment overruling his Rule 29.15 motion for post-conviction relief. The judgment is affirmed.
On August 11, 1998, Williams drove his grandfather's car to a bus stop and then took a bus to University City, Missouri. While in University City, Williams burglarized Felicia Gayle's home and fatally stabbed her. After the murder, Williams washed off and took a jacket to conceal his bloody shirt. He left Gayle's home with her purse and her husband's laptop computer.
Williams returned to the bus stop, retrieved the car, and then picked up his girlfriend, Laura Asaro. Asaro testified at trial that she saw Williams' bloody shirt and the laptop computer. She also saw Williams place the clothes in his backpack and throw the backpack into a storm sewer. Asaro further testified that, the next day, while retrieving some of her clothing from the car trunk, she found Gayle's purse, which contained Gayle's state identification card, coin purse, and several grocery coupons. Asaro confronted Williams about the items. Williams then confessed to Asaro the details of the murder. A few days later, Asaro also discovered a calculator and a ruler in the car. Both of these items belonged to Gayle.
Approximately three weeks later, Williams was arrested on unrelated charges and incarcerated in the St. Louis City workhouse. At that point, no arrest had been made in the Gayle case and Williams was not a suspect. However, in May 1999, Williams was talking with his cellmate, Henry Cole, and confessed to the murder. Cole was released from jail in June 1999 and went to the University City police and told of Williams' involvement in the murder, including details that had not been publicly reported. In November 1999, Asaro also told University City police that Williams had confessed to Gayle's murder. The police searched the car Williams had driven on the day of the murder and found some of Gayle's personal belongings in the car trunk. The police also recovered Gayle's husband's laptop computer from Glenn Roberts. Roberts was an acquaintance of Williams to whom he had sold the laptop after the murder.
Williams was tried and convicted of one count of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, and first-degree robbery and two counts of armed criminal action. Williams was sentenced to death on the murder conviction. This Court affirmed the conviction and sentence on direct appeal. State v. Williams, 97 S.W.3d 462 (Mo. banc 2003).
Williams timely filed his pro se Rule 29.15 motion for post-conviction relief, alleging several instances of ineffective assistance of counsel. Appointed counsel filed an amended motion. The court held a hearing on Williams' claim that counsel was ineffective for failing to allow Williams to testify during the penalty phase but denied Williams' request for a hearing on the remaining claims. The court entered judgement overruling Williams' motion. Williams appeals.
Rule 29.15 sets forth the procedure for litigating claims of ineffective assistance of counsel where the defendant has been convicted of a felony. There are two components to a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. First, a movant must show that counsel's performance "did not conform to the degree of skill, care, and diligence of a reasonably competent attorney." Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). There is a presumption that counsel acted professionally and that any challenged action was part of counsel's sound trial strategy. Id. Second, if the movant establishes that counsel's performance was not reasonably competent, then the movant must demonstrate the he or she was prejudiced by counsel's performance. Id. To demonstrate prejudice, a movant must show that, but for counsel's poor performance, there is a reasonable probability that the outcome of the court proceeding would have been different. Id. A movant may obtain an evidentiary hearing on his or her Rule 29.15 motion only if: (1) the motion alleges facts, not conclusions, warranting relief; (2) the facts alleged raise matters not refuted by the record; and, (3) the facts alleged must establish prejudice. Ringo v. State, 120 S.W.3d 743, 745 (Mo. banc 2003).
"This Court will uphold the findings and conclusions of the motion court unless they are clearly erroneous." Morrow v. State, 21 S.W.3d 819, 822 (Mo. banc 2000); Rule 29.15(k). Findings and conclusions are clearly erroneous if, after reviewing the entire record, the appellate court has the definite and firm impression that a mistake has been made. Moss v. State, 10 S.W.3d 508, 511 (Mo. banc 2000).
The state must disclose exculpatory evidence, including evidence that may be used to impeach a government witness. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963); Rule 25.03. Williams argues that the state failed to disclose the addresses of Henry Cole and Laura Asaro, failed to disclose impeachment evidence regarding Cole and Asaro, and that the state attempted to manufacture evidence against Williams.
Rule 29.15(a) permits a person convicted of a felony to set forth claims that the conviction and sentence "violates the constitution and laws of this state or the constitution of the United States." However, Rule 29.15 is not a substitute for direct appeal, and this Court has held that "the state's alleged failure to comply with [movant's] discovery request is a claim of trial error, which is outside the scope of a Rule 29.15 motion." State v. Carter, 955 S.W.2d 548, 555 (Mo. banc 1997). Nonetheless, other cases dealing with Rule 29.15 have reviewed similar claims on the merits. See Middleton v. State, 103 S.W.3d 726 (Mo. banc 2003)(reviewing a Rule 29.15 claim alleging the state's failure to disclose a "deal" with a prosecution witness). Although Williams' point is arguably a claim for direct appeal and not for a Rule 29.15 motion, the motion court assessed Williams' claim and determined that Williams' claims of prosecutorial misconduct were refuted by the record and did not warrant an evidentiary hearing. A review of the record and the motion court's findings on this issue reveals that the court did not clearly err in denying Williams' claim.
The trial began on June 4, 2001. In March 2000, the state applied to preserve the testimony of Cole and Asaro by deposition because both witnesses allegedly feared reprisal by Williams and had not been in regular contact with police or prosecutors. In May 2000, the prosecutor notified Williams' counsel that Cole and Asaro had made videotaped statements and that those statements were available for viewing. Williams' counsel was, therefore, aware that Cole and Asaro were potential witnesses for more than a year prior to the trial and had access to their statements. Furthermore, on March 13, 2001, nearly three months prior to trial, the state provided Williams' counsel with Cole's New York address and Asaro's St. Louis address. The state also provided defense counsel with the videotaped statements and with police reports concerning both of them. As the motion court found, the state did not conceal the whereabouts or statements of Cole and Asaro such that Williams' counsel was prevented from adequately investigating their statements and credibility.
Williams' argument that motion court clearly erred by not finding that the state failed to disclose impeachment evidence regarding Cole and Asaro is similarly without merit because the "prosecution has no obligation to disclose evidence of which the defense is already aware and which the defense can acquire." State v. Brooks, 960 S.W.2d 479, 494 (Mo. banc 1997). During discovery in the Rule 29.15 case, Williams filed extensive requests for production on the state that included Cole's and Asaro's medical and psychiatric records from a variety of different federal, state, and private institutions. The state responded by allowing defense counsel to inspect and copy everything in the state's file on the case. If Williams' counsel wanted to acquire Cole's and Asaro's medical and psychiatric records, the discovery requests should have been directed at the entities holding those records.
Finally, Williams alleges that the state manufactured evidence against him because the prosecutor offered to assist two other men with their ongoing criminal prosecutions if they would testify against Williams. Although neither man testified at trial, Williams's Rule 29.15 motion alleges that he was prejudiced because the fact that "agents for the state were willing to manufacture evidence taints the veracity of the testimony from the State's paid snitches." It is speculative and conclusory to allege that the prosecutor's offer of assistance to two men who did not testify at trial is tantamount to the "manufacture" of evidence that negatively impacts the credibility of witnesses who testified and were subject to cross-examination. The motion court did not err in denying this claim without an evidentiary hearing.
Williams alleges that the motion court clearly erred in denying his claim that trial counsel was ineffective for not investigating several of Henry Cole's family members and for not obtaining expert testimony to...
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