Opinion ID: 1040865
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Lockett/Eddings Claim.8

Text: McKinney claims that the trial court did not adequately consider mitigating factors in imposing the death penalty, thereby violating McKinney’s rights under Lockett, Eddings, and their progeny. McKinney argues that the trial court failed to consider mitigation evidence,9 finding that McKinney’s abusive childhood and its psychological effects did not affect McKinney’s “ability to perceive, comprehend or control his actions.” The State counters that the Arizona state courts fully considered all mitigating evidence and did not apply an unconstitutional nexus test. The State argues that the Lockett/Eddings line of cases holds only that a sentencer must fully consider proffered mitigation evidence and does not affect a sentencer’s determination of its weight. We agree. Because the record makes clear that the trial court adequately considered and weighed McKinney’s mitigation evidence, we deny relief. 8 The district court declined to grant a COA on this issue. However, because McKinney exhausted this claim and because we conclude that the district court’s resolution of the issue is “debatable amongst jurists of reason,” Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 336 (2003), we address it. 9 In addition to evidence of childhood abuse and psychology, McKinney argues that the trial court failed to consider McKinney’s level of participation in the murders. He develops this argument, without citation, in a single sentence: “The trial judge noted there is no proof McKinney killed Ms. Mertens at the Hedlund sentencing but not at Mr. McKinney’s sentencing.” Even assuming this properly characterizes the record, the record elsewhere reveals that the judge specifically considered McKinney’s level of participation in the crimes at sentencing. The trial court specifically found “substantial participation in the McClain homicide by Mr. McKinney.” 20 MCKINNEY V. RYAN
McKinney had a traumatic childhood. At sentencing, the trial court heard evidence from McKinney’s aunt and halfsister of various abuses against McKinney by his father and step-mother. McKinney’s would-be care givers neglected him by forcing him to live in appalling conditions. McKinney did not have adequate clothing or food. McKinney was also frequently beaten and locked out of the house in extreme weather. The trial court also heard evidence that these abuses led McKinney to develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”). After administering a number of tests, McKinney’s expert, Dr. McMahon, testified that McKinney could be “emotionally overwhelmed by environmental stress and act in poorly-judged ways.” Dr. McMahon concluded that McKinney had “learning disabilities” but tested negative for “significant neuropsychological dysfunction.” Dr. McMahon testified that McKinney began abusing drugs and alcohol to distract him from his environmental stressors. Finally, Dr. McMahon opined that a sudden confrontation by Mertens during the course of the burglary could trigger a violent response from McKinney and that McKinney would have a “high likelihood” of diminished capacity in such an instance. The trial court credited the testimony establishing McKinney’s “traumatic childhood.” The trial court also accepted, for the purpose of sentencing, Dr. McMahon’s PTSD diagnosis. Nevertheless, the trial concluded: [A]fter considering all of the mitigating circumstances, the mitigating evidence that MCKINNEY V. RYAN 21 was presented by the defense in this case as against the aggravating circumstances, and other matters which clearly are not set forth in the statute which should be considered by a court, I have determined that given . . . the aggravating circumstances which have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt by the State with respect to each of these homicides in Counts I and III have concluded that the mitigating circumstances simply are not sufficiently substantial to call for a leniency under all the facts of this case. The Arizona Supreme Court rejected McKinney’s argument that the trial court did not adequately take into account McKinney’s abusive childhood and its effects. McKinney, 917 P.2d at 1234. The court reasoned that “the judge gave full consideration to McKinney’s childhood and the expert testimony regarding the effects of that childhood . . . .” Id. The court explained that evidence of a traumatic childhood “does not necessarily have substantial mitigating weight absent a showing that it significantly affected or impacted the defendant’s ability to perceive, comprehend, or control his actions.” Id. (emphasis added). The federal district court concluded that the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the sentence was not contrary to, nor an unreasonable application of, Lockett/Eddings. 22 MCKINNEY V. RYAN
Supreme Court unreasonably applied Lockett/Eddings. In Lockett, the Supreme Court held: [T]he Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments require that the sentencer . . . not be precluded from considering, as a mitigating factor, any aspect of a defendant’s character or record and any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death. . . . Given that the imposition of death by public authority is . . . profoundly different from all other penalties, . . . [the sentencer must be free to give] independent mitigating weight to aspects of the defendant’s character and record and to circumstances of the offense proffered in mitigation . . . . 438 U.S. at 604–05 (finding Ohio death penalty statute invalid where it permitted consideration of only three mitigating circumstances). Later, in Eddings, the Supreme Court applied Lockett in a case where the trial judge found he could not consider in mitigation evidence of the defendant’s family history.10 10 In Eddings, the sentencing judge made clear, on the record, that he could not consider certain evidence as a matter of law. He stated: “[T]he Court cannot be persuaded entirely by the . . . fact that the youth was MCKINNEY V. RYAN 23 455 U.S. at 112–13. The appeals court affirmed the trial court, finding that the mitigation evidence was “not relevant because it did not tend to provide a legal excuse” for responsibility for the crime. Id. at 113. The Supreme Court reversed, explaining that “[j]ust as the State may not by statute preclude the sentencer from considering any mitigating factor, neither may the sentencer refuse to consider, as a matter of law, any relevant mitigating evidence. . . .The sentencer . . . may determine the weight to be given relevant mitigating evidence. But they may not give it no weight by excluding such evidence from their consideration.” Id. at 113–15. In Tennard v. Dretke, the Supreme Court rejected a “nexus test” that would find mitigating evidence relevant only where it bears a causal nexus to the crime. 542 U.S. 274, 287 (2004) (“[W]e cannot countenance the suggestion that low IQ evidence is not relevant mitigating evidence . . . unless the defendant also establishes a nexus to the crime.”). Citing Lockett and Eddings, the Court cautioned that the jury must be given an effective vehicle with which to weigh mitigating evidence so long as the defendant has met a “low threshold for relevance,” which is satisfied by “evidence which tends logically to prove or disprove some fact or circumstance which a fact-finder could reasonably deem to have mitigating value.” Id. at 284–85. In Smith v. Texas, the Court again considered the use of a nexus test to determine whether mitigating evidence is relevant. 543 U.S. 37, 45 (2004). The Court “unequivocally sixteen years old when this heinous crime was committed. Nor can the Court in following the law, in my opinion, consider the fact of this young man’s violent background.” 455 U.S. at 109 (alterations in original). 24 MCKINNEY V. RYAN rejected” any test requiring a causal nexus between mitigating evidence and the crime. Id. We have held that Tennard and Smith are retroactively applicable to decisions such as the Arizona Supreme Court’s 1996 decision in this case. See Schad v. Ryan, 671 F.3d 708, 723 (9th Cir. 2009) (per curiam), cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 432 (2012). Thus, under clearly established federal law, we review (1) whether the trial court considered all relevant mitigating evidence, as required by Lockett and Eddings; and, (2) whether the Arizona Supreme Court applied an unconstitutional causal nexus test to exclude evidence proffered in mitigation, contrary to Tennard and Smith. In this case, the Arizona courts did not improperly exclude any of McKinney’s mitigating evidence. Further, the Arizona courts did not employ an unconstitutional nexus test. Thus, the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to affirm McKinney’s sentence was not contrary to, nor an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law. 1. All mitigating evidence was considered as required by Eddings. The Arizona Supreme Court did not violate Eddings when it concluded that the trial court considered all the mitigation evidence before it. The Arizona Supreme Court clearly understood and applied the controlling Supreme Court precedent. See McKinney, 917 P.2d at 1227. It concluded: “[T]he judge considered McKinney’s abusive childhood and its impact on his behavior and ability to conform his conduct and found it insufficiently mitigating to call for leniency.” Id. at 1234 (emphasis added)). The Arizona Supreme Court did MCKINNEY V. RYAN 25 not say that the evidence was irrelevant or could not be considered.11 Id. We reject McKinney’s and the dissent’s implication that the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision merely paid lip service to Eddings, and the trial judge did not actually consider the evidence. As an initial matter, the trial court’s certification that it considered all the mitigation evidence is entitled to some weight. See Lopez, 491 F.3d at 1037 (“‘We must assume that the trial judge considered all this evidence before passing sentence. For one thing, he said he did.’” (quoting Parker v. Dugger, 498 U.S. 308, 314 (1991))). In addition, the record shows that the trial court’s commitment to Eddings was more than semantic—the trial judge genuinely weighed the mitigation evidence’s persuasive value. The trial judge expressly credited the evidence of childhood abuse, describing it as “beyond the comprehension and understanding of most people who have not grown up under those circumstances.” The trial court also accepted, for the purpose of sentencing, Dr. McMahon’s PTSD diagnosis. Further, even when the court discussed the possible link between McKinney’s PTSD and the crimes, the record shows that it considered all the evidence and weighed the evidence’s probative value. The trial judge stated: I found it interesting Dr. McMahon also indicated that one of the techniques—or the 11 Other cases pre-dating or contemporaneous with McKinney also demonstrate that the Arizona Supreme Court was well-aware of the Lockett/Eddings line of cases and the requirement that the sentencing court fully consider all mitigating evidence. See, e.g., State v. Towery, 920 P.2d 290, 310–11 (Ariz. 1996) (en banc); State v. Gonzales, 892 P.2d 838, 851 (Ariz. 1995) (en banc). 26 MCKINNEY V. RYAN manifestations of Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome that might be expected were that the individual be depressed, would be withdrawn. It appears to me that defense attempted to demonstrate that in their presentation of mitigating circumstances and that such an individual would expect to avoid contacts which would either exacerbate or recreate the trauma that would bring on this type of stress from childhood. And yet, rather than continue to avoid any of these circumstances after the Mertens homicide, it appears that the same thoughtful, reflective planning went into, then, the burglary of a known target to both the defendant and the co- defendant, Mr. McClain. Other portions of the sentencing transcript similarly demonstrate the judge’s deliberative process as he considered the PTSD evidence and weighed it against the other evidence presented. This careful analysis of Dr. McMahon’s testimony contradicts McKinney’s and the dissent’s claim that the sentencing judge excluded the evidence, or refused to consider it, as a matter of law.12 12 This obvious deliberation is in sharp contrast to the sentencing court record in Towery. In that case, we upheld the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to deny relief under Eddings despite some language in the sentencing transcript indicating that mitigating evidence was excluded, or not considered. See 673 F.3d at 936–37, 946–47. For example, the sentencing judge stated: “[A] difficult family background in and of itself, is not a mitigating circumstance.” Id. at 936. The sentencing court went on to explain that “[a] difficult family background is a relevant mitigating circumstance, if a defendant can show that something in that background had an [e]ffect or impact on his behavior that was beyond the defendant’s MCKINNEY V. RYAN 27 The dissent selectively quotes passages from the sentencing transcript to argue that the Arizona state courts did not properly consider evidence of PTSD. There are two problems with the dissent’s approach. First, it reads too much into certain passages, notably the sentencing judge’s discussion of the psychological study submitted as Exhibit 3. Contrary to the dissent’s view, nothing in the sentencing judge’s discussion of PTSD shows that he believed it was “irrelevant” as a matter of law. At most, the discussion of PTSD shows that the sentencing judge was equivocal about what effect in mitigation the PTSD diagnosis should have. This strengthens the conclusion that the sentencing judge considered the evidence and did not simply exclude it. However, even if the sentencing judge created some ambiguity in the record by “thinking out loud” as he considered the PTSD evidence, that ambiguity should be cast in favor of the state. See Poyson v. Ryan, 711 F.3d 1087, 1099 (9th Cir. 2013). Similarly, the dissent overlooks passages where the sentencing judge clearly stated that he considered “all of the mitigating circumstances.” Contrary to the dissent’s view, we do not fail to take into account the difference between the sentencing judge’s treatment of the PTSD and other mitigation evidence. There is no difference in treatment. The record clearly shows the sentencing judge’s deliberation as he considered each piece of mitigation evidence. Thus, the record as a whole contradicts the dissent’s view that the control.” Id. (emphasis added) (second alteration in original). Here, the record makes clear that both the sentencing court and the Arizona Supreme Court fully considered all mitigating evidence. Thus, the proper resolution of the Eddings issue in this case is even clearer than it was in Towery. 28 MCKINNEY V. RYAN Arizona state courts rejected the PTSD evidence as a matter of law. Because the record shows that the sentencing judge considered all the potential mitigation evidence, we reject McKinney’s and the dissent’s reliance on a number of our past cases granting relief. See, e.g., Williams v. Ryan, 623 F.3d 1258 (9th Cir. 2010); Styers v. Schriro, 547 F.3d 1026, 1035–36 (9th Cir. 2008); Lambright v. Schriro, 490 F.3d 1103, 1115 (9th Cir. 2007). Those cases provide little guidance to inform our AEDPA review. For example, in Williams, we granted relief under Lockett/Eddings. However, unlike the state courts here, the state courts in Williams held that the mitigating evidence “could not be considered as a mitigating factor of any kind.” 623 F.3d. at 1270 (internal quotation marks omitted). This statement resembles the clear statement from Eddings that the trial judge excluded mitigation evidence as a matter of law. See Eddings, 455 U.S. at 109. Styers and Lambright, also cited by McKinney and the dissent, contain similar statements. See Styers, 547 F.3d at 1035–36 (granting relief under Eddings where Arizona Supreme Court analysis made clear that mitigating evidence was not considered); Lambright, 490 F.3d at 1115 (granting relief under Lockett where the trial court did not consider “any evidence without an explicit nexus to the crime, or . . . gave such evidence de minim[i]s weight”). The record in this case does not contain the same clear statement of exclusion that appears in those cases, rendering them inapposite. See Schad, 671 F.3d at 724 (distinguishing Styers and Lambright, because “[i]n both of those cases . . . it was clear from the record that the lower court had applied the unconstitutional nexus test and had excluded mitigation MCKINNEY V. RYAN 29 evidence” (emphasis added)). We will not second-guess the Arizona state courts’ application of Eddings where the record shows that the courts considered and weighed all mitigation evidence13 and did not make a clear, affirmative statement of exclusion. See id. (“Absent a clear indication in the record that the state court applied the wrong standard, we cannot assume the courts violated Eddings’s constitutional mandates.”); see also Lopez, 491 F.3d at 1036–38 (denying relief under Eddings where “the sentencing court did not prevent [the petitioner] from presenting any evidence in mitigation, nor did it affirmatively indicate that there was any evidence it would not consider”). 13 The dissent argues that the Arizona Supreme Court’s conclusion that the sentencing judge “gave full consideration to” McKinney’s PTSD evidence, see McKinney, 917 P.2d at 1234, was based on an unreasonable determination of fact under § 2254(d)(2). The dissent also argues that the sentencing judge never accepted Dr. McMahon’s PTSD diagnosis, nor made a finding of PTSD, which tainted the Arizona Supreme Court’s review. As demonstrated above, the record contradicts both arguments. As