Opinion ID: 166399
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The Eye-for-an-Eye Carving

Text: 178 Behind the judge's bench in the courtroom in which Mr. Thornburg was tried was a wooden carving on which appears the phrase, An Eye for an Eye & A Tooth for A Tooth. Mr. Thornburg contends that the presence of this carving in the courtroom was structural error automatically requiring reversal. The phrase an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, according to Mr. Thornburg, is widely invoked by proponents of the death penalty and has the potential to sway a jury to impose a death sentence, not as a result of the individualized judgment that our constitutional law requires, see Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 304, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976), but because of religious commandment. He also contends that his trial counsel was ineffective for not raising the issue at trial and his appellate counsel was ineffective for failure to raise the issue (both on the merits and as a ground of ineffective assistance of trial counsel) on appeal. 179 Mr. Thornburg's merits claim and his claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel, however, face the hurdle of procedural bar. Mr. Thornburg failed to advance either claim in state court until his petition to the OCCA for postconviction relief. The OCCA refused to review the claims, applying a state procedural bar for failing to raise an issue that could have been raised on direct appeal. See Thornburg v. State, No. PC-99-490 at . 180 In a § 2254 proceeding a state court's prior adequate and independent finding of procedural default will bar federal habeas review of the federal claim. Harris v. Reed, 489 U.S. 255, 262, 109 S.Ct. 1038, 103 L.Ed.2d 308 (1989). We have had several occasions to express concern about whether Oklahoma's procedural bar is adequate and independent, particularly with respect to ineffective-assistance claims, see, e.g., Cannon v. Mullin, 383 F.3d 1152, 1172-74 (10th Cir.2004) (for state rule of procedural bar to be adequate to bar claim of ineffective trial counsel because of failure to raise claim on direct appeal, state must provide procedural mechanisms permitting defendant to develop factual basis of claim on appeal), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 125 S.Ct. 1664, 161 L.Ed.2d 491 (2005); but Mr. Thornburg, who had new counsel for the direct appeal of his conviction, does not challenge independence and adequacy here. See Hooks v. Ward, 184 F.3d 1206, 1217 (10th Cir.1999) (defendant bears burden of contesting independence and adequacy of state procedural bar once state has asserted the affirmative defense). 181 An adequate and independent finding of procedural default can be overcome only if the party claiming error can establish cause for failure to raise the issue when required and show that the failure produced actual prejudice. Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. 107, 129, 102 S.Ct. 1558, 71 L.Ed.2d 783 (1982). While the nature of a constitutional claim may affect the calculation of cause and actual prejudice, it does not alter the need to make that threshold showing. Id. Thus, even structural errors are subject to state procedural bars. See McCracken v. Gibson, 268 F.3d 970, 976 (10th Cir.2001) (state procedural bar applied to allegation of structural error, although court alternatively addresses the merits and holds that error was not structural). 182 As cause for the failure to raise the issue on direct appeal, Mr. Thornburg claims ineffectiveness of his appellate counsel. The OCCA rejected this ineffective-assistance-of-appellate-counsel claim in Mr. Thornburg's postconviction proceedings: The brief filed in [Mr. Thornburg's] direct appeal reflects that appellate counsel raised eighteen non-frivolous claims at least equally meritorious to that which was omitted and is at issue here. We cannot find that appellate counsel's failure to investigate and litigate the . . . issue as fully as [Mr. Thornburg] claims he should have rendered counsel's performance unreasonable under prevailing professional norms. Thornburg v. State, No. PC-99-490, at  (Okla. Crim.App. Nov. 9, 1999). 183 Regardless of the merits of the OCCA's analysis, we agree that Mr. Thornburg's appellate counsel was not ineffective for failure to raise the biblical-reference issue. Appellate counsel is not ineffective for failing to raise an argument based on facts that he could not reasonably be expected to know. Not only was the presence of the biblical reference in the courtroom not obvious from the trial record, it was completely absent. For appellate counsel even to be aware of the issue, he would have had to assume a duty to visit the courtroom in which Mr. Thornburg was tried. Appellate attorneys work from a trial record, and we will not impose on them a duty to inspect courtrooms. Mr. Thornburg's trial counsel did not object to the carving; that may have been poor judgment, but it left the record devoid of anything that could have directed appellate counsel's attention to the eye-for-an-eye language. The prosecutor did make a reference to the sword in closing argument: Talk about the sword of mercy. It's above Judge Winchester. The sword there. You live by the sword, you die by the sword, folks. Tr. IV at 205. But he did not mention the phrase engraved on the sword. Mr. Thornburg even candidly admits as much in his brief to this court: 184 The error of the ever-present adage An Eye for an Eye, A Tooth for a Tooth, should have been objected to by trial counsel, and should have been asserted on direct appeal by appeal counsel. To be sure, the error is not apparent from the record. There is nothing in the paper record of Mr. Thornburg's trial to indicate that the artwork containing the Leviticus passage was in front of the jury. Trial counsel failed to make that record. Direct appeal counsel would not have known of the error, even investigating the case, as a reasonable investigation would not normally take the direct appeal lawyer into the courtroom in which the trial was conducted. 185 Aplt. Br. at 49. Accordingly, we reject on the merits Mr. Thornburg's claim of ineffective appellate counsel. As a consequence, Mr. Thornburg is procedurally barred from raising the biblical-reference issue or the related claim of ineffective trial counsel.