Source: http://openjurist.org/435/f3d/946/allen-v-w-ornoski
Timestamp: 2013-12-06 09:44:50
Document Index: 785863095

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2244', '§ 2254', '§ 2253', '§ 2244', '§ 2254', '§ 636', '§ 2254', '§ 2254', '§ 2244', 'art, 220', '§ 2253', '§ 2253']

435 F3d 946 Allen v. W Ornoski | OpenJurist
435 F. 3d 946 - Allen v. W Ornoski	Home435 f3d 946 allen v. w ornoski
435 F3d 946 Allen v. W Ornoski 435 F.3d 946
Clarence Ray ALLEN, Petitioner-Appellant,v.Steven W. ORNOSKI, Warden, of the California State Prison at San Quentin; Attorney General of the State of California, Respondents-Appellees.
No. 06-99001.
No. 06-70206.
Submitted and Filed January 15, 2006.*
Michael Satris, Bolinas, CA, for the appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California; Frank C. Damrell, Jr., District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-00064-FCD-DAD.
Before GRABER, WARDLAW, and CLIFTON, Circuit Judges.
Clarence Ray Allen appeals from the district court's order denying and dismissing in part his second petition for writ of habeas corpus and denying his requests for a stay of execution and for the issuance of a certificate of appealability on his Eighth Amendment claim based upon age and physical infirmity. He seeks a certificate of appealability and consideration on the merits of his age and physical infirmity claim, which, he argues, encompasses his Lackey claim, based on his long tenure on death row under "horrific conditions." See Lackey v. Texas, 514 U.S. 1045, 115 S.Ct. 1421, 131 L.Ed.2d 304 (1995) (Stevens, J., respecting denial of certiorari). Allen also asks that if we consider the Lackey claim independently, we find that it is not a second or successive petition within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 2244 or, in the alternative, that we grant permission to file that claim in the district court.1 Finally, for the first time on appeal, Allen challenges the constitutionality of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1), which outlines the circumstances in which a federal court may grant habeas relief from a state court judgment.
Because we conclude that reasonable jurists would not find debatable the district court's ruling that Allen failed to make "a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right," 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2), we deny his motion for a certificate of appealability on his age and physical infirmity claim. Because we conclude that Allen's Lackey claim is a second or successive application which could "have been discovered previously through the exercise of due diligence," 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(2)(B)(i), and which we have previously rejected as a predicate for relief from execution, we affirm the district court's dismissal with prejudice of Allen's claim, and decline to authorize a second or successive application. Because Allen's challenge to 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) is untimely and fails to satisfy the procedural requirements of our appellate rules, we decline to address its merits. We therefore deny Allen's request for a stay of execution because he has not demonstrated substantial grounds upon which relief may be granted, and we affirm the district court's denial and dismissal in part of his second writ petition.
Allen was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982 for the murders of Bryon Schletewitz, Douglas White, and Josephine Rocha, which he orchestrated while incarcerated in Folsom Prison and serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for the murder of Mary Sue Kitts.2 Allen was fifty years of age when the murders and conspiracy occurred and fifty-two years of age at the time his death sentence was imposed.
The California Supreme Court affirmed Allen's conviction and sentence on December 31, 1986, see People v. Allen, 42 Cal.3d 1222, 232 Cal.Rptr. 849, 729 P.2d 115 (1986), and summarily denied his December 1987 and March 1988 supplemental habeas petitions. Allen filed his first federal habeas petition on August 31, 1988, and moved for an evidentiary hearing. The district court stayed proceedings to enable Allen to exhaust his state remedies. It reopened federal habeas proceedings in 1993. A magistrate judge presided over a six-day evidentiary hearing in April 1997, on the issue of ineffective assistance of counsel in the penalty phase. In March 1999, the magistrate judge issued Findings and Recommendations denying Allen's habeas petition. Following objections to the magistrate judge's report, the district court conducted a de novo review of the case in April 2001, in compliance with 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C), holding argument on April 26, 2001. In May 2001, the district court issued a Memorandum and Order adopting in full the magistrate judge's Findings and Recommendations and denying Allen's petition. The district court issued a certificate of appealability on both the guilt and penalty phase issues, and Allen appealed. In January 2005, we issued an opinion affirming the district court's denial of Allen's habeas petition. Allen v. Woodford, 395 F.3d 979 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. 134, 163 L.Ed.2d 137 (2005).
After the Supreme Court denied Allen's petition for writ of certiorari, the Superior Court of Glenn County held a hearing on November 18, 2005, and appointed January 17, 2006, as the date of Allen's execution. On December 13, 2005, Allen filed a petition for clemency with the Governor of California, which the Governor denied on Friday, January 13, 2006. Allen petitioned for writ of habeas corpus and related orders in the California Supreme Court on December 23, 2005. On January 10, 2006, the California Supreme Court denied all relief.3 Allen filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, a motion for a stay of execution, a motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis, and an application for appointment of counsel4 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California on January 12, 2006.
Allen's petition presents two distinct claims: (1) that his execution would violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause, because he is both elderly5 and infirm6; and (2) that his execution would violate the Eighth Amendment because of the inordinate length of time, twenty-three years, he has spent on death row and the "horrific" conditions of his confinement, a Lackey claim, also known as "death row phenomenon." His petition does not challenge the constitutionality of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) in any respect, but instead states that the petition is brought "pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254."
District Judge Frank C. Damrell, Jr. denied Allen's first claim on the merits and dismissed Allen's second claim for lack of jurisdiction. Allen v. Ornoski, 2006 WL 83384 (E.D.Cal. Jan.12, 2006).
Judge Damrell properly analyzed Allen's claims independently to determine whether each constituted a "second or successive" habeas petition subject to the restrictions of 28 U.S.C. § 2244.7 See Lambright v. Stewart, 220 F.3d 1022, 1024 (9th Cir. 2000) (examining each claim individually to determine whether standard for certificate of appealability was met); see also United States v. Orozco-Ramirez, 211 F.3d 862, 869 (5th Cir.2000) ("We consider each claim independently in deciding whether it is `second or successive' under AEDPA."). That Allen's age and physical infirmity claim both encompasses and is supported by his long tenure on death row does not eliminate our obligation also to consider it independently, especially when Allen asserted these as separate claims for relief in his second habeas petition and supporting memorandum of points and authorities filed in the district court. In addition, Allen specifically relied upon Lackey in the district court. Justice Stevens' concurrence in Lackey makes no reference to age or infirmity, but only to tenure. Because each claim now occupies a distinct procedural sphere, we analyze them independently from that perspective as well.
CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY ON ALLEN'S AGE AND PHYSICAL INFIRMITY CLAIM
Having been denied a certificate of appealability on his age and physical infirmity claim by the district court, Allen asks us to certify this claim, as he must secure a certificate of appealability before he can proceed with the merits of his claims. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1); 9TH CIR. R. 22-1; see also United States v. Mikels, 236 F.3d 550, 551-52 (9th Cir. 2001). A petitioner must make "a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right" to warrant a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2); see Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 483-84, 120 S.Ct. 1595, 146 L.Ed.2d 542 (2000). "The petitioner must demonstrate that reasonable jurists would find the district court's assessment of the constitutional claims debatable or wrong." Slack, 529 U.S. at 484, 120 S.Ct. 1595; see also Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 338, 123 S.Ct. 1029, 154 L.Ed.2d 931 (2003). To meet this "threshold inquiry," Slack, 529 U.S. at 482, 120 S.Ct. 1595, the petitioner "`must demonstrate that the issues are debatable among jurists of reason; that a court could resolve the issues [in a different manner]; or that the questions are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.'" Lambright, 220 F.3d at 1025(alteration and emphasis in original) (quoting Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880, 893 n. 4, 103 S.Ct. 3383, 77 L.Ed.2d 1090 (1983) (internal quotation marks omitted)). Even if a question is well settled in our circuit, a constitutional claim is debatable if another circuit has issued a conflicting ruling. See id. at 1025-26. "[T]he showing a petitioner must make to be heard on appeal is less than that to obtain relief." Id. at 1025 n. 4 (citations omitted); see also Miller-El, 537 U.S. at 337, 123 S.Ct. 1029 (reaffirming the Court's holding in Slack "that a COA does not require a showing that the appeal will succeed"); Silva v. Woodford, 279 F.3d 825, 832 (9th Cir.2002) ("It is essential to distinguish the standard of review for purposes of granting a COA from that for granting the writ.").
Allen argues that proceeding with the execution despite his old age and physical infirmities would deprive him of his constitutional right under the Eighth Amendment to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Allen's petition, however, displays a woeful lack of support for the proposition that the Eighth Amendment prohibits execution of the elderly and the infirm. Allen provides only one case which discusses an Eighth Amendment claim based upon the advanced age of an inmate, Hubbard v. Campbell, 379 F.3d 1245 (11th Cir.) (per curiam), cert. denied, 542 U.S. 958, 125 S.Ct. 15, 159 L.Ed.2d 846 (2004). Hubbard is unhelpful, however, because there the Eleventh Circuit upheld the district court's dismissal of Hubbard's petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on the ground that the claim should have been filed as a second or successive habeas petition. Id. at 1247. Allen cites no other authority favoring or disfavoring his legal position.
Allen instead argues that the Supreme Court's recently developing Eighth Amendment jurisprudence naturally extends to a constitutional prohibition against executing the elderly and infirm. In support, Allen points to the Supreme Court's capital case decisions of the post-Furman era, in which the Court has gradually (1) enlarged the classes of persons who are ineligible for the death penalty, see Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399, 106 S.Ct. 2595, 91 L.Ed.2d 335 (1986) (executing the mentally incompetent is unconstitutional); Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815, 108 S.Ct. 2687, 101 L.Ed.2d 702 (1988) (executing youths under sixteen at time of offense is unconstitutional); Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335 (2002) (executing the mentally retarded is unconstitutional); Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005) (executing juveniles who committed the offense while under eighteen is unconstitutional), and (2) narrowed the range of offenses that are death-eligible, see Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584, 97 S.Ct. 2861, 53 L.Ed.2d 982 (1977) (execution for offenses short of murder is unconstitutional); Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782, 102 S.Ct. 3368, 73 L.Ed.2d 1140 (1982) (executing those who aided a felony but did not kill or intend to kill is unconstitutional). Allen vaguely suggests that execution of an elderly person does not comport with "evolving standards of decency," in that the execution "offends humanity," provides no deterrence value, does not serve any retributive purpose, and violates the norms of domestic and international law.8 However, Allen's argument fails in two critical respects: (1) the Supreme Court's limitations on the use of the death penalty are grounded in the theory that some classes of persons are less culpable and therefore not deserving of the death penalty and Allen's age and infirmity do not render him less culpable at the time of his offenses; and (2) Allen cannot demonstrate the required "objective indicia of consensus" that "evolving standards of decency" now prohibit the execution of elderly and infirm persons. Thus, his contention that reasonable jurists could debate whether he has made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right fails because there is no clearly established Supreme Court authority, or any legal authority, supporting his position, even if one stretches existing Supreme Court authority to its maximum reach.
The Supreme Court's rulings in Roper, Atkins, Thompson and Enmund are inextricably bound to the concept that the execution of certain classes of inherently lessculpable persons offends the Eighth Amendment's proportionality requirement. In Roper, the Supreme Court enumerated three traits of juveniles which, as a class, render them less culpable and therefore unsuitable to be placed in the worst category of offenders: (1) a "lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility" resulting in "impetuous and ill-considered actions and decisions;" (2) a heightened vulnerability to "negative influences and outside pressures;" and (3) personality that is "more transitory, less fixed." Roper, 125 S.Ct. at 1195. The Court found that "[t]heir own vulnerability and comparative lack of control over their immediate surroundings mean juveniles have a greater claim than adults to be forgiven for failing to escape negative influences in their whole environment," and therefore concluded that the social purpose of "[r]etribution is not proportional if the law's most severe penalty is imposed on one whose culpability or blame-worthiness is diminished, to a substantial degree, by reason of youth and immaturity." Id. at 1195-96. The Court again focused on culpability in assessing whether executing juveniles fulfilled the social purpose of deterrence and found that "the absence of evidence of deterrent effect is of special concern because the same characteristics that render juveniles less culpable than adults suggest as well that juveniles will be less susceptible to deterrence." Id. at 1196.
In Atkins, the Court again linked "relative culpability" to the "penological purposes served by the death penalty." 536 U.S. at 317, 122 S.Ct. 2242. With respect to retribution, the Court found that because "severity of the appropriate punishment necessarily depends on the culpability of the offender ... an exclusion for the mentally retarded is appropriate." Id. at 319, 122 S.Ct. 2242. Culpability was again key to the Court's finding that execution of the mentally retarded did not serve the penological purpose of deterrence, because "it is the same cognitive and behavioral impairments that make these defendants less morally culpabl