Opinion ID: 784195
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Petitioner's Habeas Claim

Text: 16 Newton contends that his right to due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments was violated when the trial court refused to give a multiple aggressor qualification in the jury instruction. Specifically, he argues that the trial court denied him a meaningful opportunity to put forth a complete defense based on his theory of self-defense — that he stabbed randomly in the air because he believed it was necessary to protect himself against the concerted actions of Hutcherson and Woolums. 17 The Supreme Court has interpreted the due process clause to require that criminal defendants be afforded a meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense. See California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 485, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984). In keeping with this principle, it has ruled that a defendant is entitled to an affirmative defense instruction even though it may be inconsistent with other portions of his requested jury instructions. In Stevenson v. United States, 162 U.S. 313, 16 S.Ct. 839, 40 L.Ed. 980 (1896), the Court reversed a murder conviction arising out of a gunfight. The defendant had requested that the trial court give both a manslaughter and a self-defense instruction. Although self-defense may be inconsistent with the charge of manslaughter, the Court recognized that a full defense necessitated both instructions. Similarly, in Mathews v. United States, 485 U.S. 58, 63-64, 108 S.Ct. 883, 99 L.Ed.2d 54 (1988), the Supreme Court held that even if a defendant denies one or more elements of the crime, he is entitled to an affirmative defense instruction whenever there is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could find for him on this issue. 18 In dictum, we have interpreted Mathews as establishing a rule that `a defendant is entitled to an instruction as to any recognized defense for which there exists evidence sufficient for a reasonable jury to find in his favor[.]' See Taylor v. Withrow, 288 F.3d 846, 852 (6th Cir.2002) (quoting Mathews, 485 U.S. at 63-64, 108 S.Ct. 883). Specifically, in Taylor this court stated that, in certain circumstances, failure to instruct a jury on self-defense when the instruction has been requested and there is sufficient evidence to support such a charge violates a criminal defendant's rights under the due process clause. Taylor, 288 F.3d at 851. We reasoned that the right to present a defense would be meaningless were a trial court completely free to ignore that defense when giving instructions. Id. at 852. Nevertheless, it was dictum, because we held that if that was the law, the petitioner's conduct did not warrant such an instruction on self-defense. 19 Unlike the defendant in Taylor, however, Newton's claim does not rest on the court's denial of a self-defense instruction. Rather, he challenges the specific content of the instruction, namely the omission of Woolums's name. 20 Newton argues that his case is analogous to Barker v. Yukins, 199 F.3d 867 (6th Cir.1999). In Barker, this circuit held that a trial court's failure to give a self-defense instruction that specifically stated that the defendant was justified in using deadly force to repel a rape under Michigan law violated the petitioner's due process right to put forth a complete defense and rendered the trial fundamentally unfair. 3 We reasoned that, under the instructions given, the jury could have found the petitioner's testimony to be credible but still have convicted her of murder under the mistaken belief that a sexual assault does not rise to the level of death or great bodily harm under the law. Id. In our case, the court instructed the jury on self-defense. Newton's complaint is that it did not include multiple offenders. 21 We have found no Supreme Court case which holds that a criminal defendant's right to present a defense includes the right to a specific jury instruction, particularly one that goes beyond a general affirmative defense. Nor do we believe that the omission of Woolums's name violated Newton's right to present a defense or resulted in an error of a constitutional dimension. See Murr v. United States, 200 F.3d 895, 906 (6th Cir.2000) (To warrant habeas relief because of incorrect jury instructions, a Petitioner must show that the instructions, as a whole, were so infirm that they rendered the entire trial fundamentally unfair.). The jury was instructed on self-defense under the law of Kentucky. The nature of the particular instruction given is a matter of state law, and we are not at liberty to grant a writ of habeas corpus simply because we find the state court's decision was incorrect under state law. See Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 411, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000) (O'Connor, J., concurring). 22 REVERSED.