Source: http://openjurist.org/257/f3d/554/charlie-lee-mitchell-v-warden-gerald-mason
Timestamp: 2013-12-12 08:51:07
Document Index: 237676546

Matched Legal Cases: ['§2253', '§2254', '§2254', '§2254', '§2254', '§2254']

257 F3d 554 Charlie Lee Mitchell v. Warden Gerald Mason | OpenJurist
257 F. 3d 554 - Charlie Lee Mitchell v. Warden Gerald Mason	Home257 f3d 554 charlie lee mitchell v. warden gerald mason
257 F3d 554 Charlie Lee Mitchell v. Warden Gerald Mason 257 F.3d 554 (6th Cir. 2001)
Charlie Lee Mitchell, Petitioner-Appellee,v.Warden Gerald Mason, Respondent-Appellant.
Argued: December 1, 2000Decided and Filed: July 12, 2001
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit, No. 98-71338, Arthur J. Tarnow, District Judge.
Rolf E. Berg, STATE APPELLATE DEFENDER'S OFFICE, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee.
Before: DAUGHTREY and MOORE, Circuit Judges; CARR, District Judge.*
MOORE, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which DAUGHTREY, J., joined. CARR, D. J. (pp. 574-81), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.
Petitioner-Appellee Charlie Lee Mitchell ("Mitchell") was convicted in a Michigan state court of second-degree murder and sentenced to a term of ten to fifteen years' imprisonment. Throughout his six-month confinement in custody awaiting trial, Mitchell sought to have new counsel appointed to his case because he claimed that his court-appointed lawyer refused to meet with him. Mitchell's motion to replace his counsel was addressed by the state trial court on the second day of jury selection and was subsequently denied. On direct appeal, Mitchell raised a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, which was rejected by the Michigan Court of Appeals and then the Michigan Supreme Court. Having exhausted his state remedies, Mitchell filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court in the Eastern District of Michigan, which granted Mitchell's habeas petition. We believe that Mitchell's petition for habeas relief must be granted because the Michigan Supreme Court unreasonably applied clearly established Supreme Court precedent in its review of Mitchell's claim. Therefore, we AFFIRM the district court's order.
We have jurisdiction to hear Warden Mason's appeal from the district court's grant of Mitchell's petition for habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. §2253.
Charlie Lee Mitchell was arrested and charged with first-degree murder for the death of Raymond Harlin, who was killed after a fight broke out in Mitchell's kitchen on October 3, 1988.1 On October 6, 1988, Gerald K. Evelyn was appointed counsel for Mitchell. Evelyn represented Mitchell at a preliminary examination on October 14, 1988, during which he called one witness and argued against the denial of bail. Evelyn next represented Mitchell, close to four months later, at the final conference on February 3, 1989. On April 5, 1989, Evelyn was suspended from practicing law in the State of Michigan.2 He was reinstated on May 8, 1989, the day jury selection began for Mitchell's trial.
According to the facts offered at trial by the prosecution, Mitchell was the leader of a drug-trafficking ring and his Detroit apartment served as a wholesale warehouse for several street-level sellers who sold drugs in the lobby of the building. Harlin, the deceased, allegedly worked for Mitchell as a drug seller. The prosecution's theory was that Mitchell directed the events that took place in his apartment surrounding Harlin's murder. On the night in question, Mitchell, Harlin, co-defendant Antonio Moore, and several others were present in Mitchell's apartment around 10:00 p.m. According to trial testimony, a fight broke out between Moore and Harlin in Mitchell's kitchen.3 The only reason offered at trial for the start of the fight was that Moore did not like the way Harlin was looking at him. After the fight began, Tyrone Thompson and another individual arrived. Thompson, who was the prosecution's principal witness, testified that when he arrived at the apartment he saw a gun in plain view on the windowsill and that he took it for fear that Mitchell would use it to shoot Harlin. Thompson also testified that Mitchell said "shoot a hole in his [Harlin's] heart" and thereby ordered the killing. Soon thereafter, co-defendant Lamont Mason and Nehemiah Anderson arrived at the apartment. Mason was another drug seller and Anderson had come to purchase drugs. Thompson testified that by the time Mason and Anderson arrived, he thought the situation had calmed down so he put the gun down. At that point, Mason then picked up the gun and shot Harlin in the neck and back.4
Mitchell, Mason, and Moore were all charged with first-degree murder. Separate juries heard Mitchell's and Mason's cases, while Moore opted for a bench trial. Mason, the alleged killer, was acquitted at trial. Moore, who was the primary aggressor in Harlin's beating, received probation for his conviction on felonious assault.
At Mitchell's trial, Evelyn did not present an opening argument. Mitchell did not testify, nor did Evelyn present any witnesses on Mitchell's behalf. At the close of the prosecution's case, Evelyn moved for a directed verdict. The court partially granted the motion by reducing the charge to second-degree murder. During closing arguments, Evelyn argued that Thompson's testimony was equivocal and that the prosecution had not carried its burden of proof. The jury convicted Mitchell of second-degree murder on May 17, 1989. Mitchell was sentenced by the trial judge to ten to twelve years' imprisonment and then resentenced to ten to fifteen years' imprisonment due to a miscalculation in his original sentence.
Prior to the trial, Mitchell wrote six separate letters to the trial judge, the chief judge, and others requesting new counsel. Mitchell alleged that Evelyn had not visited him once in prison nor had he had the opportunity to speak with his lawyer in court. On April 27, 1989, eleven days before jury selection was to begin, the trial court held a hearing on Mitchell's "Motion for Withdrawal of Counsel" at which Mitchell appeared on his own behalf. Evelyn did not appear for the hearing, although he had notice of it. At the hearing, Mitchell informed the court that he had received a letter from his counsel informing him that he was suspended for a month. He also asked for a new lawyer and a postponement of the trial to afford a new lawyer the chance to review his case. Because Evelyn was not present, the trial court held the motion under advisement.
On the second day of jury selection, May 9, 1989, Mitchell again renewed his motion for new counsel. At that point, Evelyn, who had been reinstated the day before, informed the court that Mitchell wanted him removed because he had failed to visit him the night before in prison as promised. The district court denied Mitchell's motion without prejudice.
On May 15, 1989, the sixth day of trial, Evelyn informed the court that he had received a grievance letter filed by Mitchell with the Attorney Grievance Commission on May 1, 1989. He then offered to have himself removed from the case. In response to questions from the court, Mitchell then stated: "I would like to, you know, cancel that grievance, you know, because all the motions and everything that I requested have been answered. ... I'm satisfied, your Honor." J.A. at 192.
Mitchell filed an appeal as of right in the Michigan Court of Appeals challenging his conviction and sentence. In his appeal, Mitchell raised eight issues, including a claim that the trial court erred by failing to appoint substitute counsel. Mitchell also requested a remand for the purposes of holding an evidentiary hearing, known as a Ginther hearing, on the effective assistance of his trial counsel. See People v. Ginther, 212 N.W.2d 922 (Mich. 1973). The Court of Appeals remanded to allow Mitchell a Ginther hearing.
At the hearing, which occurred before the same judge who had presided over the trial, Mitchell presented the testimony of four witnesses, including Mitchell's mother. Mitchell himself also testified. Mitchell's appellate counsel did not call his trial counsel, Evelyn, to the stand. Appellate counsel introduced two witnesses who had been present at Mitchell's apartment on the night of Harlin's murder to establish that they were material witnesses and that Evelyn neither contacted them nor called them to testify at trial. Mrs. Mitchell's testimony was offered to establish her numerous efforts to contact Evelyn and to inform him that there were other witnesses whom he should interview. Mitchell also testified to his efforts to contact Evelyn and discuss his case with his lawyer.
After the hearing, the trial judge found that Mitchell had not demonstrated objective unreasonableness or prejudice as required by state law and that he had received effective assistance of counsel.
The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld Mitchell's conviction in a per curiam decision. See People v. Mitchell, No. 118832 (Mich. Ct. App. January 5, 1994). J.A. at 105.
The Michigan Supreme Court granted Mitchell leave to file an appeal on two issues, only one of which is relevant to this case: whether defendant was denied his right to counsel or effective assistance of counsel. On March 25, 1997, the Michigan Supreme Court affirmed Mitchell's conviction: three Justices voted to uphold Mitchell's conviction, two abstained, and two dissented. People v. Mitchell, 560 N.W.2d 600, 602 (Mich. 1997). On Mitchell's ineffective assistance of counsel claims, the Michigan Supreme Court first found that Evelyn's suspension did not constitute a "per se" denial of counsel during a critical stage of the proceedings under United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648 (1984). That court rejected Mitchell's contention that his case warranted a presumptive finding of ineffectiveness under the Sixth Amendment, concluding that Mitchell's claim presented neither a circumstance in which it was unlikely that any lawyer could provide effective assistance of counsel, a constructive denial of counsel, nor an unconstitutional failure to grant a continuance. See Mitchell, 560 N.W.2d at 607-08.
According to the Michigan Supreme Court, Mitchell's claims related to his lawyer's inadequate preparation and were therefore more properly analyzed under the Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), standard for ineffective assistance of counsel, which requires deficient performance and a showing of prejudice. The court found that because Mitchell had not adequately developed a record at the Ginther hearing "regarding what Mr. Evelyn did or did not do, or whether Mr. Evelyn knew of the alleged eyewitnesses," there was "no factual basis for a conclusion that counsel's performance was constitutionally deficient." Mitchell, 560 N.W.2d at 609. Without an adequate record, Evelyn's failure to call the witnesses was presumed to be trial strategy. Id. Accordingly, the court found that Mitchell could not prove either element of the Strickland test. Id. at 610. The court concluded that "[a]n inference of constitutional ineffectiveness cannot be established on the basis of the 'circumstance' of counsel's thirty-day suspension during seven months of representation, without any inquiry into the conduct of the trial or any record being developed regarding counsel's actual preparedness and its effect on the result." Id. at 613.
Finally, on Mitchell's ineffective assistance of appellate counsel claim based on appellate counsel's failure to call the trial counsel as a witness at the Ginther hearing, the Michigan Supreme Court held that appellate counsel was not ineffective because his decision not to call the trial counsel was "obvious[ly] strategic" and therefore constitutionally sufficient. Id.
Two Justices dissented, finding that Evelyn's performance was "per se" ineffective under United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648 (1984), and Geders v. United States, 425 U.S. 80 (1976), because of a confluence of factors, including: Evelyn's suspension, rendering him completely unavailable for thirty days during the critical stage of pre-trial investigation; the fact that Evelyn failed to hold a private meeting with the defendant during the seven-month period of his representation; and the gravity of the first-degree murder charge against Mitchell. See Mitchell, 560 N.W.2d at 621-22. The dissent concluded that the surrounding circumstances made it so unlikely that any lawyer could provide effective assistance of counsel that Mitchell was constructively denied counsel.5
On March 25, 1998, Mitchell filed a petition for habeas corpus relief with the district court under 28 U.S.C. §2254. Mitchell asserted three grounds for habeas relief: first, that the trial court violated his right to counsel by failing to appoint new counsel, or grant a continuance, when the judge was informed eleven days prior to trial that counsel had not interviewed him and was suspended from the practice of law up to the start of trial; second, that trial counsel's failure to interview or call three witnesses who would have given favorable testimony constituted ineffective assistance of counsel; and third, that appellate counsel was ineffective.
The state argued in its response that Mitchell had procedurally defaulted his right to challenge the adequacy of his counsel because he failed to call his trial counsel at the Ginther hearing and otherwise failed to make an adequate record to support his claims; that the district court was bound by the state court's factual determination that none of the witnesses called at the Ginther hearing would have affected the result of the trial and that, without trial counsel's testimony, Mitchell could not rebut these findings; and, finally, that declaring defense counsel ineffective per se for a thirty-day suspension would be a new constitutional rule and thus unavailable to Mitchell.
The district court applied the standard of review the Sixth Circuit had developed in Nevers v. Killinger, 169 F.3d 352 (6th Cir. 1999), prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 120 S. Ct. 1495 (2000). The district court found that the facts indicated that "[f]rom the delivery of discovery materials to Mr. Mitchell until the time of trial, a period of approximately six months, the attorney never communicated with his client." J.A. at 35. Relying onGeders v. United States, 425 U.S. 80 (1976), the district court concluded that "[p]retrial preparation is a critical stage of the proceeding" and that "[t]he denial of the opportunity to confer with an attorney results in reversible constitutional error." J.A. at 40. Therefore, the district court concluded that Mitchell had been constructively denied counsel for the purposes of the Sixth Amendment and conditionally granted Mitchell's petition for habeas relief.
Warden Mason appeals from the district court's judgment.
Whether the district court properly granted the writ of habeas corpus is a question of law that we review de novo. Doan v. Brigano, 237 F.3d 722, 729 (6th Cir. 2001). The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA"), Pub. L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (1996), which amended 28 U.S.C. §2254, applies to all habeas petitions filed after April 24, 1996, the effective date of the Act. Because Mitchell's petition for habeas was filed after the effective date, AEDPA governs our review of this case.
Pursuant to AEDPA, a writ of habeas corpus may "not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim --
28 U.S.C. §2254(d)(1)-(2). The federal court must presume that all determinations of factual issues made by the state court are correct unless the defendant can rebut that presumption by clear and convincing evidence. See 28 U.S.C. §2254(e)(1).
The question whether Mitchell was deprived of his right to effective assistance of counsel is a mixed question of law and fact. Olden v. United States, 224 F.3d 561, 565 (6th Cir. 2000). In a habeas case, we apply the "unreasonable application" prong of §2254(d)(1) to a mixed question of law and fact. Harpster v. Ohio, 128 F.3d 322, 327 (6th Cir. 1997). In Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (2000), the Supreme Court elaborated upon the independent meaning conveyed by the "contrary to" and "unreasonable application of" clauses of the statute, as well as the distinct analysis to be performed under each clause. Williams, 529 U.S. at 410 (O'Connor, J., concurring). According to the Court, a federal habeas court may find that the state court decision resulted in an "unreasonable application of" clearly established Federal law if "the state court identifies the correct governing legal principle from this Court's decisions but unreasonably applies that principle to the facts of the prisoner's case." Id. at 413, 120 S. Ct. 1495. The Supreme Court cautioned that "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. TheWilliams decision also clarified that in our review of the state court's judgment, we may only took to the holdings, as opposed to the dicta, of the Supreme Court's decisions as of the time of the relevant state-court decision to determine whether the state court unreasonably applied clearly established federal law. See id. at 412, 120 S. Ct. 1495.
With these guidelines in mind, we turn to the question whether the district court properly granted Mitchell's petition for habeas corpus relief.
Preliminarily, we must address the Warden's first argument that the district court erred by evaluating Mitchell's ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim instead of rejecting it as procedurally defaulted in state court. Warden Mason asserts that under Michigan law, when the effectiveness of a lawyer's representation is challenged, the lawyer must be called as a witness to testify at the Ginther hearing in order to create the proper evidentiary record. According to the Warden, Mitchell's failure to call his trial counsel at the Ginther hearing violated this state procedural rule. Therefore, Mitchell was unable to establish the necessary factual record from which that court could evaluate his claim. The Warden asserts that the Michigan Supreme Court relied on this state procedural rule to deny Mitchell relief.
When the state argues that a petitioner has defaulted his federal claims in state court pursuant to an independent and adequate state procedural rule, federal habeas review is barred unless the petitioner can show cause for the default and actual prejudice as a result of the alleged violation of federal law. Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 750 (1991). For the doctrine of procedural default to bar federal review, however, a firmly established and regularly followed state procedural rule applicable to the petitioner's claim must exist, and the petitioner must have failed to comply with that rule. See Ford v. Georgia, 498 U.S. 411, 423-24 (1991) (explaining that an adequate and independent state procedural bar to the consideration of "constitutional claims must have been 'firmly established and regularly followed' by the time as of which it is to be applied") (citing James v. Kentucky, 466 U.S. 341, 348 (1984)). We have jurisdiction to review the petitioner's federal claim unless the last state court from which the petitioner sought review clearly and expressly invoked a firmly established state procedural rule as a basis for its decision to reject review of the petitioner's federal claim. Coleman, 501 U.S. at 735.
Based on our review of Michigan case law, we conclude that there was no well-established state procedural rule as of the time that Mitchell's claim was reviewed which barred appellate review in the absence of trial counsel's testimony at aGinther hearing. At oral argument before this court, counsel for the Warden first pointed us to this very case, People v. Mitchell, 560 N.W.2d 600 (Mich. 1997), as evidence that Michigan has a firmly established procedural rule requiring the defendant to call defense counsel at a Ginther hearing or risk procedurally defaulting the claim. Of course, citing to the very case under review is useless to counsel because it is his burden to demonstrate that the rule was already firmly established and regularly followed as of the time the state court invoked the rule. See Ford, 498 U.S. at 423-24. Counsel for the Warden then cited to a one-paragraph order in another case granting a Ginther hearing, People v. Williams, 391 Mich. 832 (1974), to support his contention. This single, one-paragraph order is utterly insufficient to demonstrate the existence of a state procedural rule so "firmly established and regularly followed" that it may bar a petitioner's federal constitutional claim on collateral review. Ford, 498 U.S. at 423-24 (quoting James, 466 U.S. at 348).
When there has been no motion for a new trial or a Ginther hearing, the case law reveals that a Michigan reviewing court will consider claims of ineffective assistance of counsel but will be forced to limit itself to examining the trial record for errors, as no other record has been developed.6 Thus, while Ginther and its progeny indicate that it is crucial to develop an adequate record of trial counsel's failures if petitioner's claim is to succeed, we believe that those Michigan courts that have rejected ineffective assistance of counsel claims have done so on the merits of the claim and not due to a procedural default.7 Because we conclude that there was no firmly established and regularly followed state procedural rule to bar Mitchell's ineffective assistance claim when the Michigan Supreme Court reviewed this case, the district court did not err in considering the claim and we need not engage in a cause-and-prejudice analysis before reaching the substance of Mitchell's claim.
C. Application of AEDPA
The threshold question under AEDPA is whether Mitchell seeks to apply a rule of law that was clearly established at the time his state court conviction became final. Williams, 529 U.S. at 390. There is no doubt that the rule of law that Mitchell seeks to apply -- the "per se" ineffective assistance of counsel rule -- was clearly established by the Supreme Court inUnited States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648 (1984). In Cronic, the Supreme Court held that an appeals court must reverse a criminal defendant's conviction "without any specific showing of prejudice to defendant when counsel was either totally absent, or prevented from assisting the accused during a critical stage of the proceeding." Cronic, 466 U.S. at 659 n.25. In other words, when counsel is totally absent during a critical stage of the proceedings, prejudice must be presumed. InWilliams, the Supreme Court confirmed the vitality of this "per se" approach, noting that while the Strickland v. Washington, 488 U.S. 668 (1984), test for ineffective assistance of counsel, requiring proof of deficient performance and prejudice, provides guidance for resolving virtually all ineffective assistance of counsel claims, there are "a few situations in which prejudice may be presumed." Williams, 529 U.S. at 391 (citing Strickland, 466 U.S. at 692). We have recently applied the presumption-of-prejudice test to a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Olden, 224 F.3d at 568 (prejudice is presumed when counsel is absent during prosecution's presentation of evidence that implicates defendant because such absence occurred during "critical stage" of trial). Thus, we easily reach the conclusion that it was clearly established by the Supreme Court, as of the time that Mitchell's case was decided in state court, that the "complete denial of counsel during a critical stage of a judicial proceeding mandates a presumption of prejudice." Roe v. Flores-Ortega, 120 S. Ct. 1029, 1038 (2000) (citing Cronic, 488 U.S. at 659).
Because there is clearly established law applicable to Mitchell's claim, the next question we must address is whether the Michigan Supreme Court's decision reject