Opinion ID: 75961
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Evidence, Argument, and Instructions Regarding Isaacs' Lack of Remorse

Text: 210 Next, Isaacs argues that his 5th Amendment rights were violated when the trial court permitted evidence, argument, and jury instructions at the sentencing stage of his trial related to his lack of remorse. Isaacs maintains that these statements violated the Supreme Court's decision in Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609, 85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed.2d 106 (1965), because they reflected negatively on his decision not to testify at trial. 211 The facts concerning this issue center around the trial court's decision to permit the State, at the sentencing stage of trial, to put on evidence relating to Isaacs' lack of remorse in the form of testimony from a television reporter, Mark Piccard. Isaacs made a pre-trial motion to exclude such remorse evidence, which the trial court denied. Piccard was then called as a witness during the sentencing hearing and, over objection, testified that during an interview with Isaacs in the 1970s, Piccard asked Isaacs [i]f he had it to do all over again, would he do it again. Piccard then testified that to the best of [Piccard's] recollection, Isaacs responded that he would. 212 The State utilized Piccard's testimony concerning Isaacs' lack of remorse in its closing argument, stating: 213 The evidence in this case is showing you something else about Carl Isaacs. Mark Piccard talked to him—he didn't know exactly when, but it was '77 or '78 — and he asked him about the Alday family. He asked him about those people. And you remember what Mark Piccard said? He said, I was stunned by the frankness of his answer, because he said he would do it again. 214 After closing arguments, the trial court agreed to give the following jury instruction concerning remorse: 215 In considering all of the evidence from both phases of trial, you should consider all of the aspects of the crime, all aspects of the defendant's character, including but not limited to, ... any evidence of remorse or lack thereof.... 216 Isaacs objected to this instruction, arguing that it was an improper comment on Isaacs' decision not to testify. The State argued that the instruction was permissible and pointed to Piccard's testimony. The trial court agreed with the State and gave the instruction. 217 On direct appeal, Isaacs challenged both the prosecutor's comments concerning Isaacs' lack of remorse, and the trial court's instruction concerning remorse. The Georgia Supreme Court rejected Isaacs' arguments, stating: 218 Contrary to the defendant's contention, the defendant's remorse or lack thereof is a permissible area of inquiry during sentencing. Fair v. State, 245 Ga. 868(4), 268 S.E.2d 316 (1980). Compare, cf., U.S. v. Reed, 882 F.2d 147, 150-51 (5th Cir.1989) (approving federal sentencing guidelines provision for reduction of sentence when defendant demonstrates affirmative acceptance of personal responsibility manifested by sincere contrition (emphasis supplied)). 219 Piccard's testimony was not otherwise inadmissible. See Division 30, post. 220 Isaacs, 386 S.E.2d at 323. The later portion of the opinion cited to in this section, Division 30, supports the proposition that Piccard's testimony was admissible because [t]here is no evidence [Piccard] was acting as an agent of the state, or that Isaacs' statement was not voluntary. Id. at 330. Finally, the Supreme Court rejected Isaacs' contention that the prosecutor's closing argument was improper, stating Isaacs had not objected to the argument at trial and that the argument did not entitle Isaacs to relief because it did not result in the sentence of death being imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice, or any other arbitrary factor. Id. at 333 (citation and quotation omitted). 221 In his federal habeas petition, Isaacs again pressed these challenges — Ground 15 related to the evidence and prosecutorial argument and Ground 21 related to the jury charge. Isaacs argued that the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments were violated by the remorse evidence, argument and jury instruction. The district court held that the Georgia Supreme Court's decision was neither an unreasonable application of, nor contrary to, Supreme Court precedent, and that Isaacs' claim was therefore due to be denied pursuant to § 2254(d)(1). 222 As mentioned above, even though the Georgia Supreme Court did not expressly discuss the Supreme Court's Griffin decision or any other federal cases (although the federal constitutional claim was presented) in disposing of Isaacs' claims relating to remorse, we assume that the court adjudicated those claims, and we must affirm the denial of habeas unless the result it reached would be contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, established Supreme Court precedent. See Wright v. Secretary of Dept. of Corrections, 278 F.3d 1245 (11th Cir.2002). 223 To begin with, we will look at the federal case law relevant to Isaacs' claims. His claims are based on the Supreme Court's opinion in Griffin v. California, in which the Supreme Court addressed whether it was permissible for a trial judge to instruct the jury in a criminal trial that it could draw an unfavorable inference from a defendant's decision to remain silent at trial. 380 U.S. 609, 85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed.2d 106 (1965). The Court concluded that a rule permitting such an inference violated the Fifth Amendment because: 224 It is in substance a rule of evidence that allows the State the privilege of tendering to the jury for its consideration the failure of the accused to testify. No formal offer of proof is made as in other situations; but the prosecutor's comment and the court's acquiescence are the equivalent of an offer of evidence and its acceptance. 225 Id. at 613, 85 S.Ct. at 1232. The Court noted that the decision to remain silent is not inconsistent with innocence in our legal system. Id. at 613-15, 85 S.Ct. at 1232-33. It also noted that a jury might draw a negative inference from silence, even without comment by the prosecutor or judge, but stated: What the jury may infer, given no help from the court, is one thing. What it may infer when the court solemnizes the silence of the accused into evidence is quite another. Id. at 614, 85 S.Ct. at 1233. Therefore, the Court concluded that: 226 We ... hold that the Fifth Amendment, in its direct application to the Federal Government and in its bearing on the States by reason of the Fourteenth Amendment, forbids either comment by the prosecution on the accused's silence or instructions by the court that such silence is evidence of guilt. 227 Id. at 615, 85 S.Ct. at 1233. 228 Although Griffin involved statements made during the guilt phase of a bifurcated criminal trial, the Supreme Court has recently confirmed that the Griffin rule also applies to the sentencing phase of a trial. The Court first suggested that this would be the rule in its decision in Estelle v. Smith, 451 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 1866, 68 L.Ed.2d 359 (1981), when it discussed whether violation of the Fifth Amendment Miranda protections required exclusion of evidence during the sentencing stage of a trial. The Court stated: 229 The Court has held that the availability of the [Fifth Amendment] privilege does not turn upon the type of proceeding in which its protection is invoked, but upon the nature of the statement or admission and the exposure which it invites. In this case, the ultimate penalty of death was a potential consequence of what respondent told the examining psychiatrist. Just as the Fifth Amendment prevents a criminal defendant from being made the deluded instrument of his own conviction, it protects him as well from being made the deluded instrument of his own execution. 230 We can discern no basis to distinguish between the guilt and penalty phases of respondent's capital murder trial so far as the protection of the Fifth Amendment privilege is concerned. Given the gravity of the decision to be made at the penalty phase, the State is not relieved of the obligation to observe fundamental constitutional guarantees. 231 Id. at 462-63, 101 S.Ct. at 1873 (citations and quotations omitted). 232 Then, more recently, the Supreme Court directly held that Griffin 's reasoning applies to sentencing, as well as liability, phases of a criminal proceeding. See Mitchell v. United States, 526 U.S. 314, 119 S.Ct. 1307, 143 L.Ed.2d 424 (1999). In Mitchell, the Court considered whether it was permissible for a district court to draw a negative inference from a defendant's refusal to testify during a sentencing hearing after the defendant had pled guilty to the offense. Id. at 327-30, 119 S.Ct. at 1314-16. The Court decline[d] to adopt an exception [from the rule set out in Griffin ] for the sentencing phase of a criminal case with regard to factual determinations respecting the circumstances and details of the crime. Id. at 328, 119 S.Ct. at 1315. The Court stated: 233 The concerns which mandate the rule against negative inferences at a criminal trial apply with equal force at sentencing. Without question, the stakes are high: Here, the inference drawn by the District Court from petitioner's silence may have resulted in decades of added imprisonment. The Government often has a motive to demand a severe sentence, so the central purpose of the privilege — to protect a defendant from being the unwilling instrument of his or her own condemnation — remains of vital importance. 234 Id. at 329, 119 S.Ct. at 1315. See also Tucker v. Francis, 723 F.2d 1504, 1509-13 (11th Cir.1984) (noting in dicta that Griffin applies to sentencing phase). 235 We now turn to whether the prosecutor and trial court in this case ran afoul of Griffin with respect to the evidence, argument, and instruction concerning Isaacs' lack of remorse. On several occasions, we have addressed the proper application of Griffin, recognizing that the standards for evaluating a Griffin claim are as follows: 236 The Fifth Amendment prohibits a prosecutor from commenting directly or indirectly on a defendant's failure to testify. A prosecutor's statement violates the defendant's right to remain silent if either (1) the statement was manifestly intended to be a comment on the defendant's failure to testify; or (2) the statement was of such a character that a jury would naturally and necessarily take it to be a comment on the failure of the accused to testify. The question is not whether the jury possibly or even probably would view the remark in this manner, but whether the jury necessarily would have done so. The defendant bears the burden of establishing the existence of one of the two criteria. The comment must be examined in context, in order to evaluate the prosecutor's motive and to discern the impact of the statement. Because the trial judge is the only person who has the opportunity to observe the prosecutor's demeanor firsthand, we review the district court's denial of the motion for mistrial for abuse of discretion. 237 United States v. Knowles, 66 F.3d 1146 (11th Cir.1995) (citations, quotations, and footnotes omitted). See also United States v. LeQuire, 943 F.2d 1554, 1565 (11th Cir. 1991) (same); Solomon v. Kemp, 735 F.2d 395, 401 (11th Cir.1984). 238 In applying Griffin, we have strictly enforced the requirement that a defendant show that the allegedly offensive comment was either manifestly intended to be a comment on the defendant's silence or that the comment naturally and necessarily related to the defendant's silence. For example, in Knowles, the Court considered whether a prosecutor violated Griffin when he pointed out problems with the defendant's defense, and then asked, Did you ever hear an explanation for that? 66 F.3d at 1162. The Court held that this statement did not necessarily relate to the defendant's silence, because the defendant could have presented other types of evidence to explain the inconsistency. Id. at 1163. Therefore, the Court concluded that: 239 As such, the remark is not so much a comment on Wright's failure to testify, but rather on Wright's counsel's failure to counter or explain the [damaging evidence]. It is not error to comment on the failure of the defense as opposed to the defendant, to counter or explain the evidence. 240 Id. at 1163 (citations and quotations omitted). 241 Likewise, in Solomon v. Kemp, the prosecutor addressed the fact that the State was not sure which one of two defendants possessed which of two guns found at a crime scene, and stated: We don't know which defendant had which gun. The only person who can tell us that is [the defendant]. 735 F.2d at 401. We held that this statement was proper under Griffin, stating: 242 We find the statement to be rather an attempt to explain why the state could not match each defendant with one specific gun and to stress that this fact was not crucial to the state's case. Although the statement was an indirect reference to petitioner's silence, taken in context it is an objective evaluation of the state of the evidence. As such, it is permissible under Griffin. 243 Id. 244 In light of this precedent, we conclude that the Georgia Supreme Court did not act contrary to, nor did it unreasonably apply, Supreme Court precedent when it rejected Isaacs' claims related to the evidence, arguments, and instructions concerning his lack of remorse. It is true that some courts have found that remarks related to a defendant's lack of remorse may violate Griffin. See Lesko v. Lehman, 925 F.2d 1527 (3d Cir.1991) (holding that prosecutor's comment on defendant's failure to express remorse violated Griffin ); Hall v. State, 13 S.W.3d 115, 117 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2000) (A comment that directly focuses the jury's attention on the defendant's personal feelings of remorse, which can only be supplied through the defendant's own testimony, necessarily indicates the defendant's failure to testify.); Dickinson v. State, 685 S.W.2d 320, 324-25 (Tx.Crim.App.1984) (finding that argument concerning lack of remorse necessarily reflected on defendant's decision not to testify). 245 However, several other courts have found that, under many circumstances, arguments or comments related to a lack of remorse do not implicate the defendant's decision not to testify because they may relate to other evidence properly before the jury or to the defendant's demeanor at trial. See Williams v. Chrans, 945 F.2d 926, 953-54 (7th Cir.1991) (finding that comments related to lack of remorse did not violate Griffin because jury could consider remorse in light of defendant's demeanor and testimony); Commonwealth v. Clark, 551 Pa. 258, 710 A.2d 31, 39-40 (1998) (rejecting approach taken in Lesko and concluding that comments regarding lack of remorse were reference to defendant's demeanor at trial and character evidence); State v. Hamilton, 681 So.2d 1217, 1225 (La.1996) (holding that arguments concerning lack of remorse did not necessarily implicate failure to testify because other evidence of remorse could be presented); Odle v. Calderon, 919 F.Supp. 1367, 1397 (N.D.Cal.1996) (same). 246 We believe that this is such a case in which the Georgia Supreme Court reasonably could conclude that the arguments and comments concerning Isaacs' lack of remorse did not implicate the right not to testify. In particular, the most damaging evidence concerning Isaacs' lack of remorse came from his own words to that effect freely expressed to a reporter, Mark Piccard. There is no suggestion that Piccard was a state actor when he interviewed Isaacs, or that Isaacs statements to Piccard were involuntary. We see, and the Georgia Supreme Court found, no reason why that testimony was not permissible. Therefore, we conclude that the Georgia Supreme Court acted reasonably in holding that the remorse evidence, arguments, and instruction did not violate Griffin, but instead were related to the evidence properly before the jury. Because its holding was not contrary to, or unreasonable application of Griffin, further review is precluded by § 2254(d)(1). 247 E. Whether the District Court Erred in Holding that a Challenge to Electrocution as Cruel and Unusual Punishment was Procedurally Defaulted 248 Finally, Isaacs asserts that the district court erred by holding that his claim challenging the constitutionality of electrocution was procedurally barred. In Dawson v. State, 274 Ga. 327, 554 S.E.2d 137 (2001), however, the Georgia Supreme Court recently held that electrocution was unconstitutional under the Georgia Constitution. The court went on to conclude that the provision permitting electrocution was severable from other death penalty provisions, so all Georgia death sentences could be carried out by lethal injection. In light of this case, Isaacs' cruel and unusual punishment claim is moot.