Opinion ID: 677086
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: second amended petition

Text: 10 On April 14, 1992, we remanded this habeas action to the district court with directions that the petitioner be permitted to file a second amended petition. Griffin v. Delo, 961 F.2d 793, 794 (8th Cir.1992). Without reaching the merits of the claims, we found that counsel may not have recognized and presented issues of constitutional significance during the petitioner's post-conviction and habeas proceedings. Id. Considering the severity of the sentence, we believed that it was the most prudent course to allow the petitioner a reasonable opportunity to raise additional claims of constitutional error for consideration by the district court. On July 7, 1993, the district court issued its memorandum and order on the petitioner's second amended habeas petition. We now review the findings of the district court. 11 In his second amended petition for writ of habeas corpus, Griffin raises fourteen claims for relief. Numerous claims allege violations of his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel. In addition to allegations of Sixth Amendment violations, Griffin asserts violations of his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. Griffin further claims that his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, as well as his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process, were violated by an instruction in the penalty phase of his trial. Lastly, Griffin claims that his Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated by the prosecutor's closing arguments in both the penalty and guilt phases of his trial.
12 To prevail on an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim the United States Supreme Court has ruled that a petitioner must establish that his attorney failed to exercise the skill and diligence that a reasonably competent attorney would exercise under similar circumstances and that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2068, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). The petitioner has the burden of establishing that counsel's conduct fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. Wing v. Sargent, 940 F.2d 1189, 1191 (8th Cir.1991). The petitioner must also affirmatively establish prejudice resulting from the attorney's conduct. Lawrence v. Armontrout, 961 F.2d 113, 115 (8th Cir.1992). 13 Trial counsel's failure to investigate the defendant's alibi defense did not cause the omission of affirmative evidence that would have exculpated Griffin. Nor is there any evidence of prejudice before the court such that the result of the trial would have been different. We agree with the district court's factual finding that the record reflects substantial evidence on which to find Griffin guilty of first-degree murder. We find no merit in the argument. 14 We also agree with the district court that there is no merit in the petitioner's claim that his trial attorney was ineffective in failing to discover that Robert Fitzgerald was placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program and relocated to St. Louis, Missouri, near the time Moss was murdered. The trial record clearly establishes that Griffin's counsel knew of Fitzgerald's participation in the program prior to trial. See Transcript of April 10, 1981, deposition of Robert John Fitzgerald at pp. 26-27. Therefore, trial counsel's conduct was not defective and the petitioner's due process claim under the Fourteenth Amendment is without merit. 15 Next, we review petitioner's claim that his trial counsel was ineffective because he did not present evidence at trial that Griffin is left-handed. The trial court found that evidence of Griffin's left-handedness would not have persuasively discredited Fitzgerald's testimony, because he admitted that he assumed that the gun was in the petitioner's right hand, but that he could not say for certain or say positively. (emphasis added). Undercutting the right-handedness of the petitioner would have nominal, if any, effect of Fitzgerald's credibility. Moreover, Fitzgerald positively identified Griffin's features, clothes, and the vehicle in which he was riding. We agree with the trial court that even if trial counsel's conduct was deficient in failing to present evidence of Griffin's left-handedness, the prejudice prong of Strickland test has not been met. 16 The petitioner also contends that trial counsel failed to investigate and present evidence to rebut the prosecution's theory that Griffin had a motive to kill Moss. The prosecution advanced the theory that the petitioner believed that Moss had killed his older brother, Dennis Griffin, in January 1980. We support the district court's finding that the petitioner has not satisfied the second prejudice prong of the Strickland test. If the other-motive evidence had been admitted at trial, we cannot say that the outcome of the trial would have been different in light of the eyewitness testimony and other substantial incriminating evidence. 17 Griffin further alleges that his trial attorney was ineffective in failing to object to the testimony of police officer Thomas Murphy and for failing to call Robert Campbell as a witness. During his oral testimony officer Murphy told the court what Campbell had told him at the scene of the murder. Griffin argued that the hearsay admission violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront his witnesses. The respondent argued that Campbell's statements were offered by Murphy to explain the course of police conduct at the murder scene, not to prove that Griffin shot Campbell. The respondent also argued that Campbell was available and could have been called by Griffin as a witness. On appeal the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that Campbell's statements delivered through Murphy's testimony were admissible as spontaneous statements or excited utterances. State v. Griffin, 662 S.W.2d 854, 858 (Mo.1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 873, 105 S.Ct. 224, 83 L.Ed.2d 153 (1984). Unavailability of the declarant is not a prerequisite to satisfying the Confrontation Clause where the out-of-court statement was a spontaneous declaration. White v. Illinois, 502 U.S. 346, 112 S.Ct. 736, 116 L.Ed.2d 848 (1992). A spontaneous declaration is a firmly rooted exception to the hearsay rule and thus carries sufficient indicia of reliability to satisfy the Confrontation Clause's reliability requirement. Id. 502 U.S. at ---- n. 8, 112 S.Ct. at 742 n. 8. There was no violation of Griffin's Sixth Amendment right to confrontation. 18 The district court, reviewing the findings of the Missouri Court of Appeals on post-conviction, found no merit in Griffin's ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim focusing on the failure to call Campbell to testify. At an evidentiary hearing, Griffin's trial counsel testified that he did not contact Campbell or make arrangements for him to testify because Griffin was relying upon a clean and simple alibi defense which concerned itself with keeping Campbell out of the courtroom. Griffin v. State, 748 S.W.2d at 759. The record establishes that Griffin's counsel filed a pretrial motion in limine to exclude Campbell's testimony. Id. The Missouri Court of Appeals court found these actions to constitute matters of professional judgment and trial strategy, and the district court agreed. 19 Trial counsel has a duty to conduct a reasonable investigation or to make a reasonable determination that an investigation is unnecessary. When a claim for ineffective assistance of counsel is alleged on the basis of failing to investigate or act, the reasonableness of the nonfeasance must be assessed in light of all circumstances, and a significant degree of deference given to counsel and his or her professional judgment. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 691, 104 S.Ct. at 2066. In this case counsel's decision not to call Campbell was clearly a matter of trial strategy. Accordingly, trial counsel's conduct does not violate either the performance or prejudice standard in Strickland. 20 The petitioner has further argued that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to object to the testimony of Missouria Moss, the decedent's mother, concerning alleged telephone threats she received prior to her son's death that were unrelated to Griffin. The Missouri Court of Appeals heard this post-conviction claim and ruled that it need not decide whether trial counsel's performance was deficient, because Griffin failed to establish that he was prejudiced. Griffin v. State, 748 S.W.2d 756, 761 (Mo.Ct.App.1988). The district court determined that the state court findings on the claim were entitled to a presumption of correctness. We agree that deference should be given to the state court findings. The petitioner submitted no evidence establishing prejudice as required by Strickland. 21 During voir dire the state prosecutor inquired of the venirepersons, whether, after hearing all the evidence in the case, they could consider all sentencing alternatives, including imposition of the death penalty. Griffin contends that his trial counsel was ineffective because he did not object to the prosecutor's death-qualification of the jury. In Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968), the United States Supreme Court held that a sentence of death cannot be carried out if the jury that imposed or recommended it was chosen by excluding veniremen for cause simply because they voiced general objections to the death penalty or expressed conscientious or religious scruples against its infliction. Id. at 521-22, 88 S.Ct. at 1777. In a footnote the Court explained that: 22 a prospective juror cannot be expected to say in advance of trial whether he would in fact vote for the extreme penalty in the case before him. The most that can be demanded of a venireman in this regard is that he be willing to consider all of the penalties provided by state law, and that he not be irrevocably committed, before the trial has begun, to vote against the penalty of death regardless of the facts and circumstances that might emerge in the course of the proceedings. 23 Id. at 522 n. 21, 88 S.Ct. at 1777 n. 21 (emphasis in the original). 24 In light of Witherspoon, the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled that [i]f death-qualification of a jury is constitutionally permissible, trial counsel cannot be faulted for failing to take any action to prevent such qualification. Griffin, 748 S.W.2d at 761. On habeas review the district court rightly found that the state court's findings of fact were supported by the record and were entitled to a presumption of correctness and that the prosecutor's challenged inquiry was proper under Witherspoon. Griffin has not satisfied the performance prong under Strickland. 25 On yet another ground, Griffin asserts that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to investigate and present mitigating evidence during the penalty phase of his trial. Griffin argues that his trial attorney violated the reasonable performance standard under Strickland by failing to investigate and present evidence of mitigating circumstances. By not implicating the decedent in the death of Griffin's brother and by not calling immediate members of Griffin's family to plead for his life, Griffin argues that his trial attorney was deficient and he was deprived of effective assistance of counsel. 26 Following an evidentiary hearing, the Missouri Court of Appeals determined that Griffin had failed to overcome the presumption that his trial attorney had employed sound trial strategy by not presenting mitigating evidence. Griffin, 748 S.W.2d at 760. Griffin conceded that, before the penalty phase of his trial, counsel had shown him a list of statutory mitigating circumstances and Griffin had agreed that none of the circumstances applied to his case. Id. During the evidentiary hearing Griffin was asked what mitigating evidence he would have wanted his trial counsel to have presented to the jury, and he replied, I don't know. Id. Griffin's trial counsel also testified at the evidentiary hearing that he thought it would have undermined Griffin's credibility to have had his family members take the stand and plead for mercy when Griffin had maintained his innocence throughout the trial. Given these facts, we find that Griffin has shown neither performance deficiency nor prejudice, and his claim must fail. 27 Griffin also challenges as ineffective the brief closing argument by his trial counsel during the penalty phase of the trial. The district court correctly found that the closing arguments in the trial were not evidence and that the trial court had so instructed the jury. We agree with the district court that there is no reason to conclude that a longer or more passionate closing argument would have resulted in an alternative sentence or that the brief dispassionate argument undermined the reliability of the jury's sentence of death. Because the petitioner has established neither a performance deficiency nor prejudice, we affirm the district court's denial of habeas relief on this claim. 28 Another claim asserts that Griffin's attorney on direct appeal failed to recognize and brief 1) a claim regarding a rebuttal witness to Griffin's alibi defenses under Wardius v. Oregon, 412 U.S. 470, 93 S.Ct. 2208, 37 L.Ed.2d 82 (1973); 2) an Eighth Amendment challenge to a mitigating-evidence instruction under Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973 (1978); and 3) a claim that in his closing arguments the prosecutor referred to Griffin's failure to testify in violation of Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609, 85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed.2d 106 (1965). 29 When state law mandates that a defendant must make pretrial disclosure of his alibi witnesses, then the state must also make a pretrial disclosure of all rebuttal witnesses. Wardius, 412 U.S. at 475, 93 S.Ct. at 2212. During Griffin's trial the prosecutor called Elizabeth Mack as a rebuttal witness. Griffin objected that he had not received prior notification of Ms. Mack's appearance, even though he had disclosed his alibi defense in writing before trial. The prosecutor advised the court that he discovered Ms. Mack only after hearing the testimony of Griffin's last alibi witness, Mr. Greenlee. The prosecutor testified that after hearing Greenlee's testimony he went to the Tradin' Times advertising agency and found Ms. Mack. Mack testified the same afternoon. The evidence is undisputed that the prosecutor did not learn the contents of the Tradin' Times advertisement before Greenlee testified and only investigated the contents of the advertisement after hearing the alibi testimony. We are in agreement with the district court that no Wardius violation occurred in this context, because the prosecutor's undisputed statements to the trial judge clearly indicate that he learned of the rebuttal witness' identity only after Griffin had presented his alibi defense and disclosed her identity to the court shortly thereafter. 30 As discussed in Parts II C & D, infra, we find no Eighth Amendment violation under Lockhart arising from the appellate counsel's failure to brief allegedly erroneous instructions concerning the jury's finding of mitigating circumstances. After reviewing jury instructions numbered 21-23, we affirm the district court's finding that the challenged instructions do not require that the jury unanimously find each mitigating circumstance, as was struck down in McKoy v. North Carolina, 494 U.S. 433, 110 S.Ct. 1227, 108 L.Ed.2d 369 (1990) and Mills v. Maryland, 486 U.S. 367, 108 S.Ct. 1860, 100 L.Ed.2d 384 (1988). Because the challenged instructions do not violate McKoy or Mills, Griffin has not satisfied the Strickland standard. Nor does the record support a finding that counsel on direct appeal was deficient in failing to raise and brief the prosecutor's alleged references to Griffin's failure to testify in violation of Griffin v. California, supra. No reasonable juror would conclude that the prosecutor's closing argument made reference to the petitioner's failure to take the stand. Accordingly, we find no performance deficiency or prejudice on the part of appellate counsel in not briefing these claims. 31 Lastly, Griffin claims that the cumulative effect of all these errors occurring during his trial and direct appeal violate his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel. The district court found some merit in the petitioner's argument but was properly governed by Byrd v. Armontrout, 880 F.2d 1, 11 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1019, 110 S.Ct. 1326, 108 L.Ed.2d 501 (1989), which requires that each claim for habeas relief must stand on its own merits. Accordingly, this claim must fail.
32 In addition to allegations of Sixth Amendment violations, the petitioner alleges multiple violations of his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. The alleged violations occurred when the prosecution failed to disclose 1) its intended use of testimony to rebut the petitioner's alibi defense; 2) that Robert Fitzgerald, the only eyewitness to the murder, had been arrested for assault and impersonation of a law enforcement official a few months prior to the petitioner's trial; and 3) that Robert Fitzgerald had been placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program and relocated to St. Louis. 33 In his first due process claim the petitioner alleges that the state failed to disclose a rebuttal witness in violation of Wardius v. Oregon, 412 U.S. 470, 93 S.Ct. 2208, 37 L.Ed.2d 82 (1973). As discussed supra, the district court properly found that nothing in the trial record indicated that the prosecutor knew of Ms. Mack prior to the petitioner's calling Mr. Greenlee as an alibi witness. Given the uncontested nature of these facts, the district court found no due process violation. We agree. 34 In his second due process claim Griffin alleges that the prosecutor failed to inform him that the only eyewitness, Robert Fitzgerald, had been arrested for assault and impersonation of a law enforcement officer. Petitioner claims that failure to disclose this information was a violation under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). Suppression by the state of evidence favorable to an accused after a request for discovery violates due process where the evidence is material to guilt or punishment. Brady, 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. at 1197. A successful Brady claim requires three findings: (1) the prosecution suppressed the evidence, (2) the evidence was favorable to the accused, and (3) the evidence was material to the issue of guilt. United States v. Thomas, 940 F.2d 391, 392 (8th Cir.1991).  '[M]aterial' means that there exists a reasonable probability that had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result would have been different. Id. 35 Griffin's claim does not satisfy the third element under Brady. Following a thorough review of the record, the district court found that the information pertaining to Fitzgerald was not material. The district court found that the information would not have changed the outcome of the trial, because the petitioner's cross-examination of Fitzgerald revealed his criminal history. Given Fitzgerald's prior criminal record and other misconduct, no reasonable probability exists that additional facts would have made a difference with the jury. Hence, the nondisclosed facts were not material. Failure to disclose the information did not entitle Griffin to federal habeas relief. 36 In his fourth claim Griffin contends that his due process rights were violated when the prosecutor failed to disclose that Fitzgerald was placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program and relocated to St. Louis. The trial record conclusively establishes that prior to trial the prosecutor disclosed Fitzgerald's participation in the Federal Witness Protection Program and his subsequent relocation to St. Louis. See Transcript of April 10, 1981, deposition of Robert John Fitzgerald at pages 26-27. Accordingly, we deny habeas relief on this claim. 37 In his fifth claim Griffin alleges that his Fourteenth Amendment rights to fair trial, due process, and equal protection were denied by the prosecutor's use of hearsay testimony from the decedent's mother, Missouria Moss, concerning phone threats she received prior to her son's death. In federal habeas corpus proceedings state evidentiary issues are reviewable only when the asserted error infringed a specific constitutional protection or was so prejudicial as to deny due process. Wallace v. Lockhart, 701 F.2d 719, 724 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 934, 104 S.Ct. 340, 78 L.Ed.2d 308 (1983). Due process is denied when the error is gross, conspicuously prejudicial or of such import that the trial was fatally infected. Rhodes v. Foster, 682 F.2d 711, 714 (8th Cir.1982) (citing Maggitt v. Wyrick, 533 F.2d 383, 385 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 898, 97 S.Ct. 264, 50 L.Ed.2d 183 (1976)). This circuit has ruled that this due process standard mandates a greater showing of prejudice than is needed to support a finding of plain error on direct appeal. Redding v. Minnesota, 881 F.2d 575, 579 (8th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1089, 110 S.Ct. 1158, 107 L.Ed.2d 1061 (1990) (citing Daniels v. Wood, 819 F.2d 195, 197 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 861, 108 S.Ct. 177, 98 L.Ed.2d 131 (1987)). 38 In light of these guidelines the district court found no due process violation deriving from the admission of Missouria Moss' testimony. The statements were not unduly prejudicial and in no way fatally infected the trial, because they did not connect the threats to the petitioner. We agree with the district court that the admission of her testimony relating to the telephone threats does not rise to the level of a federal constitutional violation of due process. 39 Next, the petitioner asserts that his due process rights were violated by the cumulative effect of all the errors committed during his trial and direct appeal. As we addressed the same claim in the context of the Sixth Amendment, each due process claim must succeed or fail on its own merits. Byrd, 880 F.2d at 11. Because we find no merit in any of the alleged due process claims, we deny habeas relief for cumulative claims.
40 Griffin next claims that his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated by an instruction requiring the jury to first unanimously agree that a mitigating circumstance or circumstances existed before weighing any mitigating evidence against the aggravating circumstance or circumstances. Griffin claims that the challenged instruction violates McKoy v. North Carolina, 494 U.S. 433, 110 S.Ct. 1227, 108 L.Ed.2d 369 (1990) and Mills v. Maryland, 486 U.S. 367, 108 S.Ct. 1860, 100 L.Ed.2d 384 (1988), by requiring the jurors to find each mitigating circumstance unanimously. The relevant part of jury instruction number twenty-two charged: 41 If you unanimously decide that a sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances exist which outweigh the aggravating circumstance or circumstances found by you to exist, then you must return a verdict fixing defendant's punishment at imprisonment for life by the Division of Corrections without eligibility for probation or parole until he has served a minimum of fifty years of his sentence. 42 Jury instruction number twenty-three charged: 43 Even if you decide that a sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances do not exist which outweigh the aggravating circumstance or circumstances found to exist, you are not compelled to fix death as the punishment. Whether that is to be your final decision rests with you. 44 In contrast, the jury instructions in McKoy 2 and Mills 3 mandated that jurors unanimously agree upon a mitigating circumstance or circumstances. The district court reasoned that instruction number twenty-two in Griffin did not require the jurors to unanimously agree on any particular mitigating factor, as in Mills and McKoy, but rather, instructed the jurors that they must unanimously agree that the mitigating factors they found outweigh the aggravating factors before a life sentence is mandated. (Emphasis added.) Memorandum and Order, July 2, 1993, at p. 64-65. In considering a penalty of death there was no substantial probability that reasonable jurors thought, in the words of Mills, that they were precluded from considering any mitigating evidence unless all 12 jurors agreed on the existence of a particular such circumstance. Id. at 384, 108 S.Ct. at 1870. We agree with the district court that the challenged jury instructions do not violate McKoy or Mills and are not unconstitutional.
45 In his last claim for relief petitioner contends that the prosecutor's closing arguments contained improper remarks regarding Griffin's failure to testify and an erroneous legal definition of reasonable doubt. In addition, Griffin asserts that the prosecutor interjected his personal viewpoints as well as facts not in evidence into his closing argument. In doing so, Griffin contends that the prosecutor violated his Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. 46 The district court properly found that no distinction exists between the guilt and penalty phases of a trial with respect to the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. A court must examine the context of the challenged remark to determine whether it was improper. Upon examining the context in which the prosecutor said [w]hat was the defendant's testimony during the guilt phase of the trial, the district court found that the inquiry was not an unconstitutional reference to Griffin's failure to testify, but was rather a poor choice of words. From the record it appears as if the prosecutor intended to say defendant's evidence and, in fact, later corrected himself. Upon review, we find no constitutional violation. 47 Griffin argues that the prosecutor's improper oratorical antics--evidentiary misstatements, inflammatory appeals, and an erroneous definition of reasonable doubt--rendered his trial fundamentally unfair. The district court thoroughly reviewed the trial record, including the jury instructions and closing arguments. The district court found that the prosecutor's erroneous definition of reasonable doubt was harmless, because the trial court had correctly defined reasonable doubt in the jury instructions. While finding that a few inflammatory remarks were made during the course of the prosecutor's long-winded closing argument, the district court found no errors rising to the level of a constitutional violation. We agree with the district court and find no merit in this claim.