Opinion ID: 78277
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Claim of Judicial Bias

Text: In his final claim for habeas relief, Whisenhant asserts that the trial judge's bias and his appearance of partiality at the time of the 1987 penalty phase trial violated In re Murchison, 349 U.S. 133, 75 S.Ct. 623, 99 L.Ed. 942 (1955). Specifically, Whisenhant alleges that Judge McRae had an ex parte communication with the prosecution before the 1987 trial in order to cover up a potential error that occurred in the 1981 trial. This purported scheme between Judge McRae and the prosecution deprived him of his constitutional right to an impartial judge. Prior to the 1987 penalty phase trial, Whisenhant filed a motion for funds for a psychiatrist. Chris Galanos, the Mobile County District Attorney in 1987, gave Judge McRae a draft order granting that motion. Galanos attached a handwritten cover note stating that the order enumerates facts intended to preclude Ake error during the guilt stage, but I am not sufficiently familiar with the facts to determine the accuracy of the order. Let me know what you want to do. R1-14, Exh. Vol. 36 at 314. After making some minor revisions and increasing the amount of the funds from $2000 to $2200, Judge McRae entered an order the next day granting Whisenhant's motion. The state habeas court found that this claim was procedurally defaulted and, alternatively, lacked merit because even assuming the trial judge had ex parte communications with the prosecutor, the result was that Whisenhant received the money he had requested. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals only considered the claim on its merits. It found there was no evidence that the trial judge knew the motion was not served on the defense. There was also no potential error to be covered up because Judge McRae's denial of the 1981 motion for funds had already been affirmed on appeal before the draft order was submitted. See Whisenhant v. State, 482 So.2d 1225, 1228-30 (Ala.Cr.App.1982). Finally, the trial judge's order granted the funds Whisenhant had sought. Based on the foregoing, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals determined that Whisenhant failed to offer any evidence that the trial judge was personally biased or partial. Whisenhant challenges the finding by the Court of Criminal Appeals that Judge McRae did not know the motion was not served on the defense. He claims this finding is based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented at the Rule 32 proceeding. Factual findings by a state court are presumed correct unless the appellant rebuts the presumption by clear and convincing evidence. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1); Henyard v. McDonough, 459 F.3d 1217, 1240 (11th Cir.2006) (per curiam), cert. denied, 549 U.S. 1284, 127 S.Ct. 1818, 167 L.Ed.2d 328 (2007). Whisenhant had a full and fair opportunity to present evidence on this issue at the state habeas hearing. At that hearing, Whisenhant called as a witness Chris Galanos, who admitted he did not serve Whisenhant's trial attorneys with a copy of the draft order. Whisenhant did not ask Galanos whether he told Judge McRae that fact, however. Nor did Whisenhant call Judge McRae as a witness. Although the habeas judge stated that Judge McRae should only be called as a witness if absolutely essential, the habeas judge did not forbid Whisenhant from doing so. R1-14, Exh. Vol. 37, State Habeas Corpus Hearing on 24 October 1996 at 1-2. Without Judge McRae's testimony, we can only speculate as to what he knew and did not know. The burden was on Whisenhant to prove his claimed violation, and he has failed to do so. See Hendrix, 527 F.3d at 1153 (state court's finding was a reasonable determination of the facts where petitioner failed to present evidence at the state habeas hearing to support his claim). Thus, Whisenhant has not presented clear and convincing evidence to rebut the presumption of correctness afforded to the state court's factual finding. Even if Judge McRae had known that the defense did not receive a copy of the draft order, Whisenhant has failed to establish a constitutional violation. To the extent that Whisenhant argues that Judge McRae's appearance of partiality violates his due process rights, we have held that there is no Supreme Court decision clearly establishing that an appearance of bias or partiality, where there is no actual bias, violates the Due Process Clause or any other constitutional provision. Id. at 1153; see also Davis v. Jones, 506 F.3d 1325, 1336-37 (11th Cir.2007) (no due process violation where petitioner claims only an appearance of partiality and not actual bias). Thus, in so far as Whisenhant claims the trial court's ex parte actions created an appearance of partiality, we conclude that the state courts' rejection of Whisenhant's claim of judicial bias was not contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1). With respect to Whisenhant's claim of actual bias, he fares no better. It is long established that [a] fair trial in a fair tribunal is a basic requirement of due process. In re Murchison, 349 U.S. at 136, 75 S.Ct. at 625. The Supreme Court has identified various situations in which the probability of actual bias on the part of the judge or decisionmaker is too high to be constitutionally tolerable. Withrow v. Larkin, 421 U.S. 35, 47, 95 S.Ct. 1456, 1464, 43 L.Ed.2d 712 (1975). Such cases include those in which the judge has a pecuniary interest in the outcome or has been personally abused or criticized by the party before him. Id. None of the cases cited by Whisenhant are analogous to his own. In re Murchison involved a judge acting under state law as a one-man grand jury who later charged the witnesses with contempt based on their grand jury testimony, then tried and convicted them. 349 U.S. at 134-35, 75 S.Ct. at 624-25. The judge based his judgment of contempt on his own personal knowledge and impressions of what had occurred in the grand jury room, including his opinions that the witness was insolent and defiant, even though the judge's opinions could not be cross-examined. Id. at 138, 75 S.Ct. at 626. The Supreme Court held that it was a violation of due process for a judge to act as a grand jury and then try the very persons accused as a result of his investigations. Id. at 137, 75 S.Ct. at 625. Three other cases cited by Whisenhant also involved criminal contempt proceedings in which the Court held that a judge other than the one reviled by a contemnor should decide the contempt issue. In Offutt v. United States, 348 U.S. 11, 12, 75 S.Ct. 11, 12, 99 L.Ed. 11 (1954), a trial judge repeatedly clashed with defense counsel throughout a 14-day trial, ending in a finding of criminal contempt against trial counsel, which the Supreme Court reversed. In concluding that the trial judge was biased and not impartial, the Supreme Court emphasized that this was not a rare flareup, but rather a continuous wrangle on an unedifying level between the two. Id. at 17, 75 S.Ct. at 15. Likewise, in Taylor v. Hayes, 418 U.S. 488, 501, 94 S.Ct. 2697, 2705, 41 L.Ed.2d 897 (1974), a running controversy between the trial judge and defense counsel escalated during a 10-day trial to the point that the trial judge's mounting display of an unfavorable personal attitude toward petitioner, his ability, and his motives had left personal stings on both sides. In contrast, the trial judge in Mayberry v. Pennsylvania, 400 U.S. 455, 465-66, 91 S.Ct. 499, 505, 27 L.Ed.2d 532 (1971), was not an activist seeking combat like the judge in Offutt or Taylor. Nevertheless, the defendant's cruel slanders so vilified the trial judge that the judge necessarily becomes embroiled in a running, bitter controversy, requiring a new judge to preside over a contempt proceeding. Mayberry, 400 U.S. at 466, 91 S.Ct. at 505. It is clear that the judicial bias cases cited by Whisenhant involve totally different facts from his own case. There is no evidence that Judge McRae was involved in a running controversy with Whisenhant or Whisenhant's attorneys. Neither side made personal attacks against the other, and Judge McRae never displayed an inappropriate or hostile attitude toward the defense. Moreover, the order granting Whisenhant's motion for funds benefitted the defense. The cover letter by Chris Galanos does not establish that Judge McRae was in cahoots with the prosecution, nor that he signed the order granting the motion for funds in order to protect against a potential Ake error in the 1981 trial. As the district court adroitly concluded, Under the circumstances, Whisenhant's accusations of a judicial/prosecutorial conspiracy in a smoke-filled backroom are not credible where the conspiracy's object was an unremarkable order that gave the defense exactly what they wanted and made accurate observations about evidence available to the defense in earlier proceedings. Had a conspiracy truly been hatched, the [c]ourt suspects it would not have been used as a vehicle to grant a defense motion and make uncontroversial observations about evidence available in 1981. If Judge McRae and Galanos had ex parte dealings regarding the psychiatrist order, such interactions, without more, are in no way symptomatic of the kind of prejudice, hostility and antagonism required to support a finding of judicial bias. R1-22 at 58 n. 71. Based on a thorough review of the record, we conclude that the Alabama courts' denial of Whisenhant's judicial bias claim was neither contrary to, nor involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court. We therefore deny relief on this claim.