Opinion ID: 77415
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ground One: Perjured Grand Jury Testimony

Text: 16 The testimony Beasley gave at trial differed from what she told the grand jury and FDLE agents. In all, Beasley gave three accounts of the murder: 17 When she appeared before the grand jury on July 15, 1987, she minimized her role in the killing and said that Grantham had been killed outside of her presence. She told the grand jury that Anderson and Grantham went for a ride while she remained in Anderson's apartment. When Anderson returned alone, he had blood all over the front of his shirt and on his hands, and his eyes were wild. She charged that Anderson admitted killing Grantham and threatened to kill her unless she helped him take Grantham's car to Tampa Airport. 18 After testifying before the grand jury, Beasley told a different story to FDLE agents. She told the agents on July 16 that Anderson walked into the apartment while Grantham was trying to rape her. Anderson pulled Grantham away, told her to get dressed, and forced Grantham into the car at gunpoint. Beasley also stated that she told agents that she saw Anderson shoot Grantham four times. 19 On July 24, Beasley negotiated a plea to third-degree murder with a maximum sentence of three years. Beasley told the prosecutor that she was present when Anderson shot and killed Grantham in accordance with a prearranged plan. She told the same story at trial. 20 Anderson, 574 So.2d at 90. Petitioner does not contend the State withheld from the defense the fact that Beasley lied to the grand jury. It is undisputed that the prosecutor told the defense of the perjury prior to trial and that Beasley told defense counsel, at her pre-trial deposition, that she lied to the grand jury. The trial court was also made aware of the perjury prior to trial as evidenced by the fact it made a transcript of Beasley's grand jury testimony available to the defense and the prosecutor and denied a motion to dismiss the indictment. 21 At trial, Beasley admitted that she lied to the grand jury and the FDLE agents. Id. She testified that she did not tell the grand jury the complete truth and that she lied to avoid admitting involvement in the murder. She stated that the story she told FDLE agents the day after her grand jury testimony was not true and that Petitioner had not found Grantham attempting to rape her on the night of the murder. 22 On direct appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, Petitioner argued his indictment should have been dismissed because the State knew about Beasley's false testimony to the grand jury and did nothing to correct it. Id. at 90. The Florida Supreme Court rejected this claim, stating: 23 We agree with the authorities cited by Anderson that due process is violated if a prosecutor permits a defendant to be tried upon an indictment which he or she knows is based on perjured, material testimony without informing the court, opposing counsel, and the grand jury. This policy is predicated on the belief that deliberate deception of the court and the jury by the presentation of evidence known by the prosecutor to be false involves[s] a corruption of the truth-seeking function of the trial process, United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 104, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 2398, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976), and is incompatible with `rudimentary demands of justice.' Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 153, 92 S.Ct. 763, 765, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972) (citation omitted). Moreover, deliberate deception is inconsistent with any principle implicit in any concept of ordered liberty. Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264, 269, 79 S.Ct. 1173, 1177, 3 L.Ed.2d 1217 (1959), and with the ethical obligation of the prosecutor to respect the independent status of the grand jury. Standards For Criminal Justice § 3-3.5, 3-48-4-49 (2d ed.1980); United States v. Hogan, 712 F.2d 757, 759-60 (2d Cir.1983); [ People v. Pelchat, 62 N.Y.2d 97, 476 N.Y.S.2d 79, 464 N.E.2d 447, 453 (1984)] (the cardinal purpose of the grand jury is to shield the defendant against prosecutorial excesses and the protection is destroyed if the prosecution may proceed upon an empty indictment). 24 The Florida Constitution provides that [n]o person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Art. I, § 9, Fla. Const. The state violates that section when it requires a person to stand trial and defend himself or herself against charges that it knows are based upon perjured, material evidence. Governmental misconduct that violates a defendant's due process rights under the Florida constitution requires dismissal of criminal charges. State v. Glosson, 462 So.2d 1082, 1085 (Fla.1985). 25 However, this principle is unavailing in Anderson's case because Beasley's grand jury testimony, although false in part, was not false in any material respect that would have affected the indictment. In every statement Beasley made, she consistently accused Anderson of the murder. Before the grand jury, she accused Anderson, but claimed he was alone when he murdered Grantham. At trial, she again accused Anderson, but switched her role in the murder from nonparticipant to unwilling, after-the-fact accomplice. Although Beasley's role changed, Anderson's did not. Here, we are not faced with subsequent testimony that can be said to remove the underpinnings of the indictment. On the contrary, Beasley's later testimony would have strengthened the probability of an indictment because she was an eyewitness to the murder. Thus, Beasley's perjurious grand jury testimony could have had no factual bearing on the grand jury's decision to indict Anderson for the murder. Cf. Giglio, 405 U.S. at 154, 92 S.Ct. at 766 (`the false testimony could [not] . . . in any reasonable likelihood have affected the judgment of the [petit] jury,') (quoting Napue, 360 U.S. at 271, 79 S.Ct. at 1178). Nor are we faced with any deliberate subornation. This is not a case where the state knowingly presented false testimony to the grand jury. 26 Id. at 91-92. 27 In his post-conviction 3.850 motion, Petitioner claimed to have evidence the State knew or should have known Beasley would perjure herself before the grand jury. Following an evidentiary hearing, the post-conviction court concluded: 28 That at the time the witness testified before the Grand Jury her testimony as far as the Defendant's involvement was consistent. She was trying to minimize her involvement but her basic testimony concerning the actions of the Defendant were true. 29 That the State Attorney in good faith believed the witness was going to testify truthfully and in good faith presented her testimony to the Grand Jury. 30 .... 31 There is absolutely no evidence or basis to believe the end result of an indictment and a conviction for first degree murder would have been different. 32 Anderson, 822 So.2d at 1266 (quoting the trial court). The Florida Supreme Court concluded the 3.850 court's findings that the State did not knowingly present the grand jury with perjured testimony are supported by competent substantial evidence. Id. Petitioner does not challenge these factual findings, and we take them as true. See id. § 2254(e)(1) (providing that state court factual findings are presumptively correct). 33 In his § 2254 petition, Petitioner challenges the Florida Supreme Court's conclusion that Beasley's perjured testimony was not material. The district court denied this claim on the merits, concluding Petitioner had not met his burden of showing the state courts' decisions were contrary to or an unreasonable application of . . . clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States. See id. § 2254(d)(1). 34 Jurists of reason would not debate the correctness of the district court's ruling. First, Petitioner has not cited a decision of the Supreme Court, and we have not found one, which clearly establishes the contours of the constitutional right he claims was violated. The Supreme Court has not announced a constitutional rule governing what a state prosecutor must do in the event he learns, prior to trial, that a grand jury witness testified falsely. Supreme Court decisions in the line of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), clearly establish that the prosecution may not suppress favorable and material evidence from the defense irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution. See also Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 115 S.Ct. 1555, 131 L.Ed.2d 490 (1995); United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985); United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976); Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972). And, [a]s long ago as Mooney v. Holohan, 294 U.S. 103, 112, 55 S.Ct. 340, 342, 79 L.Ed. 791 (1935), [the Supreme Court] made clear that deliberate deception of a court and jurors by the presentation of known false evidence is incompatible with `rudimentary demands of justice.' Giglio, 405 U.S. at 153, 92 S.Ct. at 766; see also Pyle v. Kansas, 317 U.S. 213, 63 S.Ct. 177, 87 L.Ed. 214 (1942); Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264, 269, 79 S.Ct. 1173, 1177, 3 L.Ed.2d 1217 (1959) (The same result obtains when the State, although not soliciting false evidence, allows it to go uncorrected when it appears.). Although these constitutional principles are well-established, they pertain to the prosecution's suppression of evidence, or presentation of false evidence, at trial. 35 The extension of these principles from the trial setting to the grand jury setting, however, is far from clear. In Bracy v. United States, for example, Justice Rehnquist denied an application to stay a judgment pending disposition of the petition for certiorari in a case where the applicants' chief contention was that their indictment should have been dismissed because a witness committed perjury before the grand jury. 435 U.S. 1301, 1301, 98 S.Ct. 1171, 1172, 55 L.Ed.2d 489 (1978). The applicants relied on cases such as Mooney, Giglio, and Napue in support of their contention that the prosecutor owes a duty to correct testimony introduced in grand jury proceedings which is later shown to be false. Id. at 1302, 98 S.Ct. at 1172. Justice Rehnquist denied the application, stating: 36 Because it seems to me that applicants misconceive the function of the grand jury in our system of criminal justice, I cannot conclude that four Justices of this Court are likely to vote to grant their petition. The grand jury does not sit to determine the truth of the charges brought against a defendant, but only to determine whether there is probable cause to believe them true, so as to require him to stand his trial. Because of this limited function, we have held that an indictment is not invalidated by the grand jury's consideration of hearsay, Costello v. United States, 350 U.S. 359, 76 S.Ct. 406, 100 L.Ed. 397 (1956), or by the introduction of evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. 338, 94 S.Ct. 613, 38 L.Ed.2d 561 (1974). While the presentation of inadmissible evidence at trial may pose a substantial threat to the integrity of that factfinding process, its introduction before the grand jury poses no such threat. I have no reason to believe this Court will not continue to abide by the language of Mr. Justice Black in Costello, supra, 350 U.S. at 363, 76 S.Ct. at 409: An indictment returned by a legally constituted and unbiased grand jury, like an information drawn by the prosecutor, if valid on its face, is enough to call for trial of the charge on the merits. The Fifth Amendment requires nothing more. 37 Bracy, 435 U.S. at 1302-03, 98 S.Ct. at 1172. As predicted, the Court denied the petition for certiorari. Bracy v. United States, 439 U.S. 818, 99 S.Ct. 79, 58 L.Ed.2d 109 (1978). If anything, Justice Rehnquist's comments in Bracy seem to suggest Supreme Court precedent would support a holding that an indictment is not invalidated by the grand jury's consideration of perjured testimony. 38 It is also unclear what role the petit jury's finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt would play in this situation. There is no Supreme Court precedent clearly establishing a constitutional rule that, irrespective of prosecutorial misconduct, an indictment must be dismissed because of perjured grand jury testimony where the perjurious testimony is not repeated before the petit jury which convicts. In United States v. Mechanik, the Supreme Court considered a case where the Fourth Circuit held that portions of a jury verdict had to be set aside because of a violation of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(d), which specified who could be present during a grand jury proceeding. 475 U.S. 66, 67, 106 S.Ct. 938, 940, 89 L.Ed.2d 50 (1986). The Supreme Court reversed and held that any violation of the rule was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because the petit jury's subsequent guilty verdict means not only that there was probable cause to believe that the defendants were guilty as charged, but also that they are in fact guilty as charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 70, 106 S.Ct. at 941-42. The Court, however, left open the possibility that some irregularities in the grand jury proceeding, such as racial discrimination in the selection of grand jurors, might not be harmless. Id. at 70 n. 1, 106 S.Ct. at 942 n. 1 (citing Vasquez v. Hillery, 474 U.S. 254, 106 S.Ct. 617, 88 L.Ed.2d 598 (1986)). Although Mechanik does not squarely address the situation presented in this case, it arguably favors a holding that the petit jury's conviction of Petitioner renders harmless Beasley's perjured grand jury testimony. 39 As the foregoing shows, Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court, is not clearly established with respect to Petitioner's claim. Although the Florida Supreme Court recognized a constitutional rule that due process is violated if a prosecutor permits a defendant to be tried upon an indictment which he or she knows is based on perjured, material testimony without informing the court, opposing counsel, and the grand jury, it concluded Petitioner's due process rights had not been violated because Beasley's false testimony was not material to the grand jury's decision. Anderson, 574 So.2d at 91-92. Were we to somehow disagree with that conclusion, we could not say the Florida Supreme Court's decision was contrary to or an unreasonable application of . . . clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States. See § 2254(d)(1) (emphasis added). The requirements of § 2254(d)(1), codifying Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288, 109 S.Ct. 1060, 103 L.Ed.2d 334 (1989), and respect for the finality of state criminal judgments preclude us from creating new constitutional rules of criminal procedure on collateral review. Smith v. Jones, 256 F.3d 1135, 1140 (11th Cir.2001) (citing Teague, 489 U.S. at 310, 109 S.Ct. at 1074; Lockhart v. Fretwell, 506 U.S. 364, 372-73, 113 S.Ct. 838, 844, 122 L.Ed.2d 180 (1993)). Second, even ignoring the lack of clearly established law, jurists of reason would not debate the reasonableness of the Florida Supreme Court's determination that Beasley's false testimony was not material, i.e., would not have affected the grand jury's decision to indict. The petit jury heard all of Beasley's stories and her admission that she lied to the grand jury and FDLE agents and found Petitioner guilty of first degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt. In light of the conviction, no reasonable jurist would debate whether the grand jury would have indicted Petitioner for first degree murder. See United States v. Mangual-Corchado, 139 F.3d 34, 42 (1st Cir.1998) (As the trial jury found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, we are not persuaded that a similarly informed grand jury would not have found probable cause.); Talamante v. Romero, 620 F.2d 784, 791 (10th Cir.1980) (finding perjured grand jury testimony immaterial where [e]ven if the perjured testimony had been brought to the attention of the grand jury, it seems highly unlikely, in view of the petit jury's later finding of guilt after a full trial, that the grand jury would have failed to indict based on probable cause). Petitioner is, therefore, not entitled to a COA with respect to this claim. 40