Wood v. Quarterman

• Decision Date: 05 October 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-70027.,06-70027.
• Citation: 503 F.3d 408
• Parties: David Leonard WOOD, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Nathaniel QUARTERMAN, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

503 F.3d 408

David Leonard WOOD, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Nathaniel QUARTERMAN, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 06-70027.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

October 5, 2007.

Michael Dennis Samonek, John Thomas Haughton, Law Office of John T. Haughton, Denton, TX, for Wood.

Woodson Erich Dryden, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, TX, for Quarterman.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Before HIGGINBOTHAM, BENAVIDES and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.

DENNIS, Circuit Judge:

This case involves an application for a certificate of appealability ("COA") filed by Petitioner David Leonard Wood ("Petitioner") to appeal the district court's denial of habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Petitioner seeks a COA to appeal the denial of his claims that (1) the indictment was defective because it did not state a capital offense; (2) trial and appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel; and (3) the trial court erred in admitting evidence of an extraneous offense during the guilt phase of the trial. Because we conclude that Petitioner has failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right, we deny his application for a COA.

I. BACKGROUND

The district court set forth the relevant facts as follows:

This case stems from the disappearances of six women from the El Paso, Texas area between May 13, 1987 and August 27, 1987. Between September 4, 1987 and March 14, 1988, the bodies of these women were found buried in shallow graves in the same desert area northeast of El Paso. Five of the bodies were located in the same one by one-half mile area; the sixth was three-quarters of a mile away. All of the bodies were approximately 30 to 40 yards from one of the dirt roadways in the desert. Four of the bodies were in various states of undress, indicating that the killer had sexually abused them. Five of the victims were seen by witnesses on the day of their disappearance accepting a ride from a man with either a red Harley-Davidson motorcycle or a beige pickup truck, matching the two vehicles owned by Petitioner. Petitioner's girlfriend testified that he owned a burnt orange blanket and some shovels, all of which he kept in the back of his pickup truck. A forensic chemist later testified at trial that orange fibers found on the clothing of one of the victims matched orange fibers taken from a vacuum cleaner bag which Petitioner and his girlfriend had left in their old apartment.

Petitioner's cell mate, Randy Wells, testified that Petitioner told him about the murders, describing his victims as topless dancers or prostitutes. Petitioner told him that he would lure each girl into his pickup truck with an offer of drugs, drive out to the desert, tie her to his truck, and dig a grave. Next, he would tie the victim to a tree and rape her. Another cell mate, James Carl Sweeney, Jr., testified at Petitioner's trial that Wood had shown him numerous clippings about the El Paso, Texas murders and had confessed to him that he was the one who had committed the murders.

The testimony of Judith Kelly ("Kelly") regarding an extraneous criminal offense committed by Petitioner played a crucial role at the guilt phase of the trial and in the opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Kelly, a prostitute and heroin addict, testified that in July 1987 she had been walking outside of a convenience store in the northeast part of El Paso when a man identified as Wood, and matching his description, asked if she needed a ride. She accepted his offer but Wood did not take her home as directed. Instead, he stopped at an apartment complex and went inside. When he returned, a piece of rope was hanging from one of his pockets. Petitioner drove northeast of town toward the desert, and after driving around the area for a period of time, stopped the truck, got out, and ordered Kelly out as well. She saw him get a "brownish red" blanket and shovel from the back of his truck. After tying her to the front of his truck with the rope, Petitioner proceeded to dig a hole behind some bushes. Ten or fifteen minutes later he returned with the blanket and began ripping her clothes and forcing her to the ground. Upon hearing voices, Petitioner ordered Kelly to get back in the truck. Wood drove to a different location in the desert where he stopped his truck again, ordered Kelly out, spread the blanket on the ground, and forced the victim to remove her clothes. He gagged her, tied her to a bush, and raped her. Immediately afterwards, Petitioner stated that he heard voices, and hastily threw his belongings back into the truck and drove away, leaving Kelly naked in the desert. His final words to her were, "Always remember, I'm free."

Wood v. Dretke, 2006 WL 1519969, **1-2 (N.D.Tex. Jun. 2, 2006).

On November 30, 1992, Petitioner was convicted by a jury of capital murder and was sentenced to death by lethal injection. He appealed his conviction and sentence to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ("TCCA"), which affirmed his conviction and death sentence in an unpublished opinion. See Wood v. State, No. 71,594 (Tex. Crim.App. Dec. 13, 1995). He then filed a state application for writ of habeas corpus on December 19, 1997. The TCCA denied relief in an unpublished order. See Ex Parte Wood, No. 45,746-01 (Tex.Crim.App. Sept. 19, 2001). On May 6, 2002, Petitioner filed an initial federal petition for writ of habeas corpus and an amended petition on October 2, 2002. In his amended petition, he argued, inter alia, that (1) his indictment was constitutionally defective, (2) trial and appellate counsel were ineffective by failing to object to the alleged technical defects in the indictment; and (3) the trial court erred in admitting evidence of an extraneous offense. The district court denied each claim on the merits and subsequently denied a COA. Petitioner filed a notice of appeal and the instant application for a COA.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA"), a COA may not issue unless "the applicant has made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right." Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 483, 120 S.Ct. 1595, 146 L.Ed.2d 542 (2000) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)). According to the Supreme Court, this requirement includes a showing that "reasonable jurists could debate whether (or, for that matter, agree that) the petition should have been resolved in a different manner or that the issues presented were `adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.'" Id. at 483-84, 120 S.Ct. 1595 (quoting Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880, 893 n. 4, 103 S.Ct. 3383, 77 L.Ed.2d 1090 (1983)). As the Supreme Court explained:

The COA determination under § 2253(c) requires an overview of the claims in the habeas petition and a general assessment of their merits. We look to the District Court's application of AEDPA to petitioner's constitutional claims and ask whether that resolution was debatable amongst jurists of reason. This threshold inquiry does not require full consideration of the factual or legal bases adduced in support of the claims. In fact, the statute forbids it. When a court of appeals side steps this process by first deciding the merits of an appeal, and then justifying its denial of a COA based on its adjudication of the actual merits, it is in essence deciding an appeal without jurisdiction.

Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 336-37, 123 S.Ct. 1029, 154 L.Ed.2d 931 (2002).

In sum, Petitioner need not show that his habeas petition will ultimately prevail on the merits in order for this court to issue a COA. Id. at 337, 123 S.Ct. 1029. In fact, the Supreme Court has specifically instructed that a court of appeals should not deny a COA simply because the petitioner has not demonstrated an entitlement to relief. Id. Instead, "where a district court has rejected the constitutional claims on the merits, the showing required to satisfy § 2253(c) is straightforward: The petitioner must demonstrate that reasonable jurists would find the district court's assessment of the constitutional claims debatable or wrong." Id. at 338, 123 S.Ct. 1029 (citing Slack, 529 U.S. at 484, 120 S.Ct. 1595).

For claims that were adjudicated on the merits in state court, deference to the state court's decision is required unless the adjudication was "contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly establish Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States," 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1), or "was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(2); see also Ladd v. Cockrell, 311 F.3d 349, 357 (5th Cir.2002).

III. ANALYSIS

A. Sufficiency of the Indictment Claim

The first issue raised by Petitioner is whether the indictment in this case is constitutionally defective. This court has held that "[t]he sufficiency of a state indictment is not a matter of federal habeas relief unless it can be shown that the state indictment is so defective that it deprives the state court of jurisdiction." McKay v. Collins, 12 F.3d 66, 68 (5th Cir.1994) (citation omitted); see also Yohey v. Collins, 985 F.2d 222, 229 (5th Cir.1993); Alexander v. McCotter, 775 F.2d 595, 598 (5th Cir.1985). That question is foreclosed to federal habeas review, however, if "the sufficiency of the [indictment] was squarely presented to the highest court of the state on appeal, and that court held that the trial court had jurisdiction over the case." Millard v. Lynaugh, 810 F.2d 1403, 1407 (5th Cir.1987) (quoting Liner v. Phelps, 731 F.2d 1201, 1203 (5th Cir.1984)). Here, the sufficiency of the indictment was squarely presented to the TCCA, which adopted the state habeas court's express findings that the indictment was not fundamentally defective and that even if the indictment failed to...