Wycuff v. Haviland

• Decision Date: 03 February 2020
• Docket Number: CASE NO. 2:19-CV-3549
• Parties: CHARLES WYCUFF, Petitioner, v. JAMES HAVILAND, WARDEN, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

CHARLES WYCUFF, Petitioner, v. JAMES HAVILAND, WARDEN, Respondent.

CASE NO. 2:19-CV-3549

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO EASTERN DIVISION

February 3, 2020

JUDGE EDMUND A. SARGUS, JR.

Magistrate Judge Chelsey M. Vascura

ORDER and REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Petitioner, a state prisoner, brings this petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. This matter is before the Court on the Petition, Respondent's Return of Writ, and the exhibits the parties submitted. For the reasons that follow, it is RECOMMENDED that this action be DISMISSED.

In addition, Petitioner's Motion for Stay and Abeyance (ECF No. 7) is DENIED.

I. BACKGROUND

Petitioner challenges his April 17, 2018 convictions after a jury trial in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas on charges of rape, gross sexual imposition, sexual battery, and pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor, with sexually violent predator specifications. The Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals summarized the facts and procedural history of the case as follows:

On November 7, 2014, appellant was indicted on a 54-count indictment in Auglaize County, Ohio. The indictment included charges for rape, in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b) and/or (A)(2), gross sexual imposition, in violation of R.C. 2907.05(A)(1) and/or (A)(4), sexual battery, in violation of R.C. 2907.03(A)(1) and/or (A)(5), and one count of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, in violation of R.C. 2907.322(A)(1) and/or (A)(3). Several of the counts included sexually violent predator specifications pursuant to R.C. 2941.148.

Although the events giving rise to the indictment occurred in Auglaize County, the Auglaize County Court of Common Pleas concluded that a fair and impartial trial could not be held in that court. As such, the court ordered that venue be transferred to Franklin County. A jury trial on the charges commenced October 6, 2015.

The sole victim of the charges was appellant's stepson, N.F. Appellant married N.F.'s mother, L.A., when N.F. was three or four years old. At that time, appellant and L.A. filed for and received custody of N.F. from his biological father. Appellant and L.A. had a child, C.A.W. who was four and one-half years younger than N.F. The family lived in the country near Wapakoneta, Ohio.

L.A. worked days as a school teacher, and appellant worked second or third shifts at a factory. As such, appellant would care for N.F. during the day when N.F. was a child. N.F. testified that, even during his early childhood, appellant "always acted like he didn't want [N.F.] there." (Tr. Vol. II at 21.) N.F. recalled being four years old and asking for some shampoo while taking a shower, and appellant walking in and "smack[ing] [N.F.] over the head." (Tr. Vol. II at 16.) When N.F. started kindergarten, he would become "physically sick to [his] stomach knowing [he] was going home" to appellant. (Tr. Vol. II at 23.) N.F. would frequently vomit or urinate himself when he was around appellant. When N.F. vomited or urinated himself, appellant would become upset and spank N.F.

When N.F. was young, appellant would use just his hand for spankings. As N.F. got older, appellant began to use belts or paddles made out of wood to spank N.F. Appellant would have N.F. watch as he crafted the paddle he was about to use for a spanking. N.F. described how "terrifying" it was knowing "what's coming before it even happens," and how appellant would "drill[] holes in [the paddle] so it was more * * * aerodynamic." (Tr. Vol. II at 37.) During these spankings, appellant "usually would tell [N.F.] to pull down [his] pants and grab [his] ankles, so [N.F.] would be standing up and holding [his] ankles." (Tr. Vol. II at 26.) N.F. would have to "sit in the bathtub with cold water" after a paddling "to try to keep the swelling and the bruising down." (Tr. Vol. II at 38.) Appellant would paddle N.F. for any reason or no reason; N.F. often did not know "why [he] was receiving this treatment." (Tr. Vol. II at 27.)

N.F. explained how appellant continuously made him "feel worthless." (Tr. Vol. II at 28.) Appellant would tell N.F. that he was "stupid, retarded, dumb, like [his] life didn't matter. Like when he told [N.F. he] never should have been born. Or [he] should have been a come stain on the sheets." (Tr. Vol. II at 28.) C.A.W. noted that "the verbal abuse" was "almost constant for [N.F.]." (Tr. Vol. III at 20.)

One of N.F.'s chores during his middle school years was to "clean up the dog poop area" outside. (Tr. Vol. II at 45.) N.F. once missed picking up a piece, and appellant grabbed N.F. "by the back of [his] neck and he shoved [his] face in the pile of dog poop, and he took his other hand and shoved some in [N.F.'s] mouth, [and] told [him] to eat it." (Tr. Vol. II at 46.) N.F. confirmed that he ate the dog feces. L.A. witnessed this event, and confirmed that appellant "took [N.F.'s] face and shoved it down on the ground in the dog feces and made him eat it." (Tr. Vol. III at 143.)

Children services became involved twice during N.F.'s childhood; once due to the extent of bruising N.F. had from a paddling, and once after L.A. came home to find that N.F. had "swelling on his lip and a bruise." (Tr. Vol. III at 79.) Caseworkers from the Auglaize County Children Services department testified at trial regarding the agency's involvement with N.F. during the early nineties. The agency ultimately concluded that, although "there was abuse," the abuse was "not to the point to maintain active involvement with the family." (Tr. Vol. III at 70.) The agency "encouraged the mother to consider alternative babysitting arrangements for her son instead of having [appellant] in charge of him." (Tr. Vol. III at 87.)

As N.F. got older, the physical abuse became more intense. N.F. recalled appellant pressing pressure points on his body to inflict pain, slamming N.F. against doors, and repeatedly "punching [N.F.] in the chest so [he] would bounce off the door." (Tr. Vol. II at 43.) Appellant once threw N.F. against a door so hard that N.F.'s head hit the door, and N.F. "ended up going to the hospital for stitches in the back of [his] head." (Tr. Vol. II at 43.) N.F. recalled times where appellant would grab him by his "throat and he would hold [him] up against the door, off [his] feet." (Tr. Vol. II at 43.)

Appellant opened a metal fabrication shop on the family's property around 2000, and N.F. would help appellant in the shop. N.F. explained that, if he did not put the tools away correctly, appellant would "hit [N.F.] over the head, like with his hands, or smack [him] in the face. He would punch [N.F.] in the throat." (Tr. Vol. II at 54-55.) N.F. recalled appellant kicking him "in the groin when [they] were in the shop," hard enough that it left a bruise in that area that lasted "a week or two." (Tr. Vol. II at 55.) N.F. described appellant once hitting him in the shin with a "wrench or tool" and "it left, like, a cartilage or a bone chip or whatever on [his] shin." (Tr. Vol. II at 57.) Appellant once threw "a circular saw blade at [N.F.'s head. Like it went right by [his] head and it stuck in the wall." (Tr. Vol. II at 61.) C.A.W. noted that appellant told him he threw "saw blades at [N.F.]," and C.A.W. recalled seeing the "circular saw blades" that were "stuck in the drywall and they were still there." (Tr. Vol. III at 22.)

When N.F. was around 12 years old, appellant started to sexually abuse him. The first incident occurred on a day when N.F. "stayed home sick from school." (Tr. Vol. II at 80.) Appellant and N.F. were in the living room, and appellant told N.F. to take his clothes off. Appellant "started playing with [N.F.'s] genital area before he started performing oral on [him]." (Tr. Vol. II at 77.) N.F. did not orgasm, and appellant told N.F. that maybe he had not "hit maturity yet, or [he] wasn't old enough to * * * ejaculate." (Tr. Vol. II at 79.) Appellant then "pulled down his pants and he sat on the couch. And then he told [N.F.] to start playing with his penis before he told [N.F.] to perform oral on him." (Tr. Vol. II at 79.) Appellant ejaculated in N.F.'s mouth, and N.F. stated that he was "Too afraid to spit it out so [he] swallowed it." (Tr. Vol. II at 79.) N.F. testified to several other instances of fellatio, noting that the "normal routine" was that appellant "performed oral sex on [N.F.] and then [N.F.] would perform oral sex on him." (Tr. Vol. II at 84.)

As time went on, the sexual abuse went further. N.F. explained that, when he was in high school, appellant came into his bedroom and "started with, you know, the usual, him playing with me, performing oral sex on me. He had me perform oral sex on him. But at the same time, same incident, he had told me to bend over the bed while I was standing and he was going to perform anal sex on me." (Tr. Vol. II at 86.) Appellant "put his penis inside of [N.F.'s] ass." (Tr. Vol. II at 86.) Appellant asked N.F. "if he could come inside of [him]," and N.F. was "too afraid to say no, so [he] said yes." (Tr. Vol. II at 87.) N.F. testified that appellant performed anal intercourse on him several times, and that appellant also had N.F. "perform anal intercourse on him." (Tr. Vol. II at 91.)

When N.F. was "in either tenth or eleventh grade," L.A. became involved in the sexual abuse. (Tr. Vol. II at 100.) N.F. explained that "[t]he first time it happened" appellant and L.A. had gone out for the night. (Tr. Vol. II at 100.) when they returned, appellant woke N.F. up and explained that L.A. was "in the [bed]room and there was going to be sexual activity of some sort." (Tr. Vol. II at 100.) Appellant took N.F. to appellant's and L.A.'s "bedroom. And [L.A.] was lying on the bed, on her back. And [appellant] told [N.F.] top perform oral sex on her." (Tr. Vol. II at 100.) N.F. did as he was told, and stated that L.A. was "moaning a little and, like, moving her legs a little bit like it was pleasurable" as he performed oral sex on

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