Opinion ID: 430923
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Trial Court's Asserted Bias

Text: 16
17 Res judicata does not apply to petitions for writ of habeas corpus. See Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 98 n. 12, 101 S.Ct. 411, 416 n. 12, 66 L.Ed.2d 308 (1980). The question of what consideration a federal court should give to a successive habeas petition was discussed by the United States Supreme Court in Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. 1, 15-19, 83 S.Ct. 1068, 1077-79, 10 L.Ed.2d 148 (1963). 7 In Sanders the Supreme Court established several guidelines for regulating successive applications on grounds previously heard and determined. These guidelines were summarized by the Court as follows: 18 Controlling weight may be given to denial of a prior application for federal habeas corpus or Sec. 2255 relief only if (1) the same ground presented in the subsequent application was determined adversely to the applicant on the prior application, (2) the prior determination was on the merits, and (3) the ends of justice would not be served by reaching the merits of the subsequent application. 19 Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. at 15, 83 S.Ct. at 1077 (footnote omitted). 20 Following the Sanders decision, Congress enacted a new statute dealing with successive habeas petitions, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2244 (1976). Section 2244(b) applies to state prisoners. 8 Similar provisions are contained in rule 9(b) of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts, which became effective February 1, 1977. 9 The general effect of rule 9(b) and section 2244(b) is to codify the criteria outlined in Sanders. Although both rule 9(b) and section 2244(b) do not specifically refer to the ends of justice test, the parties here apparently agree that the test has been implicitly incorporated. We assume, without deciding, the correctness of this position. 10 21 B. Is the Claim of Bias the Same Ground Raised and Determined in the Prior Habeas Petition? 22 With respect to the first consideration set forth in Sanders, we must consider whether Walker's claim of bias of the trial judge is the same ground as that presented in the earlier application. Walker argues that the tone of voice and demeanor of the trial judge were not considered by either the district court or this court in ruling upon the earlier habeas petition. Sanders states: 23 By ground, we mean simply a sufficient legal basis for granting the relief sought by the applicant. For example, the contention that an involuntary confession was admitted in evidence against him is a distinct ground for federal collateral relief. But a claim of involuntary confession predicated on alleged psychological coercion does not raise a different ground than does one predicated on alleged physical coercion. In other words, identical grounds may often be proved by different factual allegations. So also, identical grounds may often be supported by different legal arguments ... or be couched in different language ... or vary in immaterial respects .... Should doubts arise in particular cases as to whether two grounds are different or the same, they should be resolved in favor of the applicant. 24 Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. at 16, 83 S.Ct. at 1077. 25 So tested, Walker's claim of bias of the trial judge in his present petition is the same ground as raised and determined in the prior application. The district court in the first habeas hearing considered whether the trial judge's allegedly prejudicial remarks during the course of the trial and in the presence of the jury constituted a denial of due process. Walker v. Bishop, 295 F.Supp. at 773. On appeal this court carefully reviewed this claim and determined as follows: 26 The Supreme Court of Arkansas, which we highly respect, concluded that the trial court acted properly and even generously towards Walker in the course of the second trial, and that the judge exhibited no personal bias or prejudice to the jury. That court, among other things, noted that defendant was given seven months to prepare for the second trial, that his motion to be placed in the county jail during that time for the convenience of his counsel was granted as was what the Arkansas court characterized as defendant's sweeping motion for production and private examination of all the tangible objects which were to be introduced by the State in evidence. 27 Walker v. Bishop, 408 F.2d at 1382. 28 This court also specifically considered the statements made by the state trial judge some months before trial to a minister and two companions who sought his permission to take Walker to church for baptism. Although granting the request, the trial judge had warned the deputy sheriff to see that Walker was heavily guarded and to shoot him if he attempted to escape. [R. II, 83.] The trial judge also had said that he intended to burn the S.O.B. anyway. [R. II, 83.] In considering these statements, this court concluded as follows: 29 [A]ny such innermost thoughts on the part of the judge constituted no cause for his disqualification. The judge said that he could give defendant a fair trial. The Supreme Court of Arkansas held that there was no showing of bias or prejudice and the defendant was accorded a fair trial. Chief Judge Henley, the United States district judge, made the same finding in the habeas proceeding, and our canvass of the entire record of the second trial in addition to the voluminous habeas record compels the same conclusion on our part. 30 Walker v. Bishop, 408 F.2d at 1382. 31 In asserting that the tone of voice and demeanor of the trial judge were not considered, Walker is simply making a different factual allegation to prove the identical ground of bias or prejudice of the trial judge. Although the decisions of the district court and of this court do not specifically refer to the tone of voice or demeanor of the trial judge, nor does the decision of the Supreme Court of Arkansas, Walker's counsel at the second trial raised this objection out of the presence of the jury. [R. II, 294-95.] Walker's counsel apparently did not follow up and further urge the error asserted in this objection. It is clear from the rulings of the Supreme Court of Arkansas, the district court, and this court that the entire record was carefully reviewed and that bias and prejudice were not found. Because the same ground was presented in the prior application and was determined on the merits, the district court properly refused to consider once again the claim of bias or prejudice of the trial judge. 32 C. Will the Ends of Justice Be Served By Redetermining the Same Ground? 33 The next question under Sanders is whether the ends of justice would be served by redetermining Walker's claim of bias of the state trial judge. Sanders gives instruction as to the considerations to be weighed: 34 Even if the same ground was rejected on the merits on a prior application, it is open to the applicant to show that the ends of justice would be served by permitting the redetermination of the ground. If factual issues are involved, the applicant is entitled to a new hearing upon showing that the evidentiary hearing on the prior application was not full and fair; we canvassed the criteria of a full and fair evidentiary hearing recently in Townsend v. Sain, [372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963) ], and that discussion need not be repeated here. If purely legal questions are involved, the applicant may be entitled to a new hearing upon showing an intervening change in the law or some other justification for having failed to raise a crucial point or argument in the prior application. Two further points should be noted. First, the foregoing enumeration is not intended to be exhaustive; the test is the ends of justice and it cannot be too finely particularized. Second, the burden is on the applicant to show that, although the ground of the new application was determined against him on the merits on a prior application, the ends of justice would be served by a redetermination of the ground. 35 Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. at 16-17, 83 S.Ct. at 1077-78 (emphasis in original). Walker does not contend that the evidentiary hearing on the first habeas corpus was not full and fair. Rather, Walker contends that the ends of justice test is satisfied because of an intervening change of law, or alternatively because of an insufficiency of evidence upon which to rest his conviction. The first strand of Walker's ends of justice argument--an intervening change of law--is a consideration specifically enumerated in Sanders. The second strand of his argument--insufficiency of the evidence--is asserted under the catchall language in Sanders that the ends of justice cannot be too finely particularized. We consider each of these contentions in turn. 36 Intervening Change of Law. Walker argues that the intervening change in the law regarding judicial bias springs primarily from United States v. Brown, 539 F.2d 467 (5th Cir.1976) (per curiam). In the habeas hearing in Brown, a lawyer reported that some time before Brown's trial, at a state bar association meeting, the trial judge, while sitting around a swimming pool on motel grounds, said that he was going to preside at Brown's trial and that he was going to get that nigger. Id. at 468. A different district judge, in the habeas hearing, concluded that the remark had been made and that it cast a serious shadow on the case as far as the appearance of justice was concerned. He reviewed the record, however, and found that Brown had received a fair trial. 37 The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed. The court observed that the record would not reflect the tone of voice of the judge, his facial expressions, or his unspoken attitudes and mannerisms, all of which might have affected the jury and its verdict. The court further observed the language of the United States Supreme Court in In re Murchison, 349 U.S. 133, 136, 75 S.Ct. 623, 625, 99 L.Ed. 942 (1955), that justice must satisfy the appearance of justice. From this Walker argues that the appearance of justice standard, which is objective in nature, is a change in the law satisfying the ends of justice consideration in Sanders. Walker's further argument, that a review of the trial record under such circumstances is not required, is answered by the court's conclusion in Brown: The judge's statement did not comport with the appearance of justice, and it cannot be said from the record alone that appellant received a fair trial. 539 F.2d at 470. It is apparent that the record was reviewed in Brown. 38 In our case we have a complete review of the trial record by the Supreme Court of Arkansas and by both the district court and this court in the earlier habeas petition, and affirmative conclusions by these courts that there was no showing of bias or prejudice or that defendant was denied a fair trial. The Brown court could not reach such a conclusion. 39 We agree with the district court that Brown is unique to its own set of facts and that it involves a first rather than a successive application for writ of habeas corpus. Walker v. Lockhart, 514 F.Supp. at 1350-51. 40 Walker argues that other decisions have adopted the appearance of justice standard as a new rule of law which is constitutionally recognized. The cases cited, Mayberry v. Pennsylvania, 400 U.S. 455, 91 S.Ct. 499, 27 L.Ed.2d 532 (1971), Johnson v. Mississippi, 403 U.S. 212, 91 S.Ct. 1778, 29 L.Ed.2d 423 (1971), Peters v. Kiff, 407 U.S. 493, 92 S.Ct. 2163, 33 L.Ed.2d 83 (1972), and Taylor v. Hayes, 418 U.S. 488, 94 S.Ct. 2697, 41 L.Ed.2d 897 (1974), deal with criminal contempt charges or jury selection procedures, and do not establish an intervening change in the law as Walker argues. The appearance of justice as a consideration in both criminal contempt and other settings goes back at least as far as In re Murchison, 349 U.S. 133, 136, 75 S.Ct. 623, 625, 99 L.Ed. 942 (1955), in which the United States Supreme Court stated: 41 A fair trial in a fair tribunal is a basic requirement of due process. Fairness of course requires an absence of actual bias in the trial of cases. But our system of law has always endeavored to prevent even the probability of unfairness.... Such a stringent rule may sometimes bar trial by judges who have no actual bias and who would do their very best to weigh the scales of justice equally between contending parties. But to perform its high function in the best way justice must satisfy the appearance of justice. Offutt v. United States, 348 U.S. 11, 14, 75 S.Ct. 11, 13, 99 L.Ed. 11. 42 We do not read the Brown per curiam, or the contempt and jury selection cases on which it relies, as establishing an intervening change in the law as it relates to the claim of bias or prejudice of the trial judge. This court has cited Brown only once in United States v. Dean, 647 F.2d 779, 783 (8th Cir.1981), vacated, 667 F.2d 729 (8th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 1006, 102 S.Ct. 2296, 73 L.Ed.2d 1300 (1982). The panel decision in Dean reversed because of juror bias, but this court en banc affirmed on a different ground and made no reference to Brown. Dean cannot be said to recognize Brown as an intervening change of law. 11 43 Sufficiency of the Evidence. Walker alternatively argues that the ends of justice would be served by reexamining the bias issue, based on the weakness, or insufficiency, of the evidence giving rise to his conviction. Walker argues that sufficiency of the evidence falls within the Supreme Court's broad definition in Sanders that the ends of justice cannot be too finely particularized. He launches upon an extensive factual argument, the essence of which is that because of various conflicts in the evidence and various claims of suppressed evidence, there is no factual basis to support the jury's verdict. Although he does not specifically refer to the sufficiency of the evidence rule as established in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), in his briefs, his counsel stated at oral arguments that he would rely or stand on it. 44 Sufficiency of the evidence was not raised in the original application for writ of habeas corpus considered by the district court in 1967 12 and by this court in 1969, nor was it raised in the second petition considered by the district court in 1981. Thus, we do not consider sufficiency of the evidence as a distinct ground raised by Walker. Nonetheless, we are persuaded to consider this argument because of the Supreme Court's broad definition of the ends of justice in Sanders and because of appellant's counsel's enthusiastic adoption of sufficiency of the evidence as an additional ends of justice consideration. At least two further reasons support this action. Appellant unequivocally states that this court can properly rule on the habeas corpus petition on the record before us, which he says is adequate for this court to determine the questions of law. We also believe that finality of decision in this case further justifies our review of this argument. 45 In evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence, we are satisfied that the only standard that we can use is that expressed in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979): [T]he relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. 13 Id. at 319, 99 S.Ct. at 2789 (emphasis in original); see, e.g., Gipson v. Lockhart, 692 F.2d 66, 68 (8th Cir.1982) (per curiam); Fowler v. Parratt, 682 F.2d 746, 751 (8th Cir.1982); Lenza v. Wyrick, 665 F.2d 804, 812 (8th Cir.1981). 46 Walker and his counsel are convinced that there is no evidence to establish Walker's guilt. The brief boldly states, Certainly, there is nothing which would be called a fact which explains the jury verdict. Walker's argument, which is accepted by the dissent, is essentially based on considering all of the conflicting evidence and conclusions drawn most favorable to Walker. His argument totally ignores the following evidence: 47 First, Linda Ford, the passenger in the middle seat of the Oldsmobile driven by Kumpe, testified that after she was pushed into the car Walker sat to her right with a gun on her. [R. II, 605.] When the car stopped at the scene, Ford saw Officer Vaughan approach the passenger side of the car and saw that Walker still had the pistol out. [R. II, 607-08.] When the door opened, Walker started firing. [R. II, 608.] She then heard several shots. [R. II, 608.] She knew that Walker had fired first because she could see the fire from Officer Vaughan's gun when he fired. [R. II, 609.] 48 Second, Thomas Short, the cab driver who arrived on the scene almost contemporaneously with Officer Vaughan, saw Vaughan approach the passenger side of the Oldsmobile and bend over looking into the window to talk to someone. [R. II, 518; H. I, 293-94.] After a few seconds, the car door suddenly opened. [R. II, 518.] Officer Vaughan jumped backwards, pulling his gun as he did so. [R. II, 518; H. I, 295.] While Vaughan was dancing backwards, Short heard a shot and saw Vaughan's feet fly out from under him. [R. II, 518.] Further shots rang out. [R. II, 519.] Altogether, Short heard one shot and a pause and then four or five more shots fired in succession, real rapid like. [H. I, 295.] After the shooting was over, Short walked around and saw one of the police officers kick a gun out of Walker's hand. [H. I, 298.] When Walker was turned over, Short saw another gun underneath him. [H. I, 299.] 49 Finally, Captain Paul McDonald, a qualified ballistics expert, testified that the bullet removed from Officer Vaughan's body matched the four-inch barrel .38 caliber Smith & Wesson, [R. II, 767], which was identified as the weapon found under Walker. Walker v. Bishop, 295 F.Supp. at 771. In making that determination, Captain McDonald examined two other revolvers. [R. II, 737-38.] One was a fully-loaded two-inch barrel .38 caliber Smith & Wesson, which was observed being kicked away from Walker after the shooting. 295 F.Supp. at 771. The other was a four-inch barrel Colt .38, which was found under the front seat of the Oldsmobile. Id. at 772. Because of the differences in class characteristics, it was readily ascertained that the bullet which killed Officer Vaughan did not come from the Colt .38. [R. II, 768.] A microscopic study of samples obtained from the two Smith & Wessons led to a positive identification that the fatal bullet came from the four-inch Smith & Wesson. [R. II, 768-69.] Captain McDonald testified that he had no doubt about the identification. [R. II, 769.] 50 After viewing this evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, we conclude that any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. at 2789. 51 Walker points to a number of inconsistencies. He argues vigorously that It is absolutely transparent that [he] could not have shot Vaughan after he sustained [five shots to his body].... [N]o one at any time ... has ever suggested that the riddled and unconscious Walker could have shot Vaughan. However, [i]f Walker shot Vaughan, he had to do it before Vaughan shot him, but this means a man (Vaughan) who took a shot at the heart ... was able to ... fire five bullets into his assailant. In asserting the inherent improbability of this theory, Walker relies principally on a statement in the autopsy report that Death was presumably almost immediate. [R. II, 734 (Defendant's Exhibit B).] In doing so, however, Walker ignores the testimony of the pathologist who prepared that report. Dr. Davenport, the pathologist, testified that Officer Vaughan's death was not instantaneous and that immediate meant to him anything from a minute to a few minutes. [R. II, 759.] During that length of time, Officer Vaughan could have fired shots. [R. II, 760.] 52 Walker also argues that the only gun that he had was in his right hand fully loaded. He argues that when Vaughan first approached the car he held the gun in his hand above his head to show that he was submitting to the law. There is no evidence in the record that Walker ever placed his hands above his head. An offer of proof in this respect was rejected by the district court in the 1981 habeas hearing. [H. II, 311-12.] Walker in the second trial simply denied that he had shot Vaughan or that he had ever fired a shot at the scene of the shooting. [R. II, 854-55.] He did not testify to raising his hands above his head. He also gave no such testimony in the first habeas hearing. 53 Other issues that Walker raises have been treated extensively in earlier opinions. These issues include: the sawed-off Barentine gun; 14 the allegation that Barentine gave perjured testimony; 15 the alleged suppression of the Alderman testimony; 16 the failure to conduct a paraffin or fingerprint test on the weapon found under Walker; 17 the unavailability of Linda Ford and Mary Roberts to testify at the second trial; 18 the recantation of Mary Roberts' testimony; 19 and the report of defendant's absent ballistics expert. 20 54 In reviewing the record available to us, we conclude that the determinations made by the district court at the first habeas hearing, this court on appeal from its decision, and the decision of the Arkansas Supreme Court following the second conviction, were conclusions fully supported not only by the record before those courts but also by the record before us. This makes appropriate the comments of the district judge in the first habeas hearing that conflicts in the testimony were to be resolved by the jury: 55 This case involved the death of a police officer in line of duty; witnesses in the case included fellow officers of the deceased; two prostitutes and one cab driver. The fatal events occupied only a few seconds at most and took place during hours of darkness; all of the survivors were obviously frightened and excited. In such a situation serious credibility problems inevitably arise.... 56 The two juries which tried Walker were certainly aware that they were faced with problems of credibility. Both juries were satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt from all of the evidence that petitioner was guilty of first degree murder. The ultimate judgment in the case is not lightly to be set aside in a collateral proceeding such as this by a mere reiteration of arguments already addressed unsuccessfully to the jury or by a mere assertion that the State's witnesses perjured themselves and that the State knew it. 57 Walker v. Bishop, 295 F.Supp. at 776-77. We conclude, even considering these inconsistencies, 21 some of which were not in evidence before the jury, that any rational trier of fact could have found proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. at 319, 324, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2791, 61 L.Ed.2d 560. Thus, the insufficiency of the evidence argument of Walker does not, under the ends of justice, justify reexamination of the issues raised again in the second habeas petition. D. Conclusion 58 The district court in its June 2, 1981 order cites and relies on two decisions of other courts of appeals that have rejected successive applications for writ of habeas corpus. In United States ex rel. Townsend v. Twomey, 452 F.2d 350 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 854, 93 S.Ct. 190, 34 L.Ed.2d 98 (1972), the Seventh Circuit held that the district court abused its discretion in reconsidering grounds in a habeas application that were previously determined, stating that [w]hile the writ should never be denied in the proper case, judicial economy dictates restrictive limitations on reruns. Id. at 357. Similarly, the Second Circuit in United States ex rel. Schnitzler v. Follette, 406 F.2d 319 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 926, 89 S.Ct. 1783, 23 L.Ed.2d 244 (1969), held that the district court was bound to follow the court of appeals' prior decision on a habeas corpus application, rendered upon a factual and legal background identical to that before the district court. Chief Judge Lumbard observed that federal habeas corpus jurisdiction over state prisoners is a branch of criminal jurisprudence which is badly in need of some principles of finality. Id. at 322. 59 The tests of Sanders were applied in both Twomey and Follette as they were by the district court in this case. A final word from Sanders is appropriate: 60 The principles governing ... denial of a hearing on a successive [habeas] application are addressed to the sound discretion of the federal trial judges. Theirs is the major responsibility for the just and sound administration of the federal collateral remedies, and theirs must be the judgment as to whether a second or successive application shall be denied without consideration of the merits. Even as to such an application, the federal judge clearly has the power--and, if the ends of justice demand, the duty--to reach the merits.... We are confident that this power will be soundly applied. 61 Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. at 18-19, 83 S.Ct. at 1078-79. 62 We conclude that the district court properly ruled that the several grounds should not be reconsidered, and properly refused to hear additional testimony on these grounds. 63 This case presents a classic example of an effort to have a second consideration of issues once painstakingly decided. There is no reason to believe that what the district court decided in 1967 and what this court decided in 1969 can be decided better today. What we have is a persistent effort to present the same arguments in the hopes that at some point another judge or group of judges will consider the case in a more sympathetic light. In his concurring opinion in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 337 n. 12, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2798 n. 12, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), Justice Stevens quotes at length from Professor Bator's article, Finality in Criminal Law and Federal Habeas Corpus for State Prisoners, 76 Harv.L.Rev. 441, 451 (1963), as follows: 64 The presumption must be, it seems to me, that if a job can be well done once, it should not be done twice. If one set of institutions is as capable of performing the task at hand as another, we should not ask both to do it. The challenge really runs the other way: if a proceeding is held to determine the facts and law in a case, and the processes used in that proceeding are fitted to the task in a manner not inferior to those which would be used in a second proceeding, so that one cannot demonstrate that relitigation would not merely consist of repetition and second-guessing, why should not the first proceeding count? Why should we duplicate effort? After all, it is the very purpose of the first go-around to decide the case. Neither it nor any subsequent go-around can assure ultimate truth. If, then, the previous determination is to be ignored, we must have some reasoned institutional justification why this should be so. 65 ... What seems so objectionable is second-guessing merely for the sake of second-guessing, in the service of the illusory notion that if we only try hard enough we will find the truth. 66 There is every reason to reject Walker's efforts to have the initial determination of the district court and of this court be second-guessed. As Justice Harlan once observed: 67 Both the individual criminal defendant and society have an interest in insuring that there will at some point be the certainty that comes with an end to litigation, and that attention will ultimately be focused not on whether a conviction was free from error but rather on whether the prisoner can be restored to a useful place in the community. 68 Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. at 24-25, 83 S.Ct. at 1081-82 (Harlan, J., with Clark, J., dissenting). 69 Consideration of the ends of justice involves not only the interest of the accused in justice but the interest of the public in justice. The incident that gave rise to Walker's conviction occurred nearly twenty years ago. Retrial would in all likelihood be an impossibility. These considerations, as well as the Sanders analysis, support the refusal of the district court to retry the issues so carefully decided.