Opinion ID: 759483
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Improper Prosecution Arguments

Text: 176 Coe cites four statements made by the prosecution at the sentencing stage that he claims were improper. 177 First, Coe complains that the prosecutor improperly injected his expertise into his death-penalty argument. The prosecutor said that he took his decision to seek the death penalty very seriously; that the decision was difficult; that he had only ever requested the death penalty once before. Coe cites Eleventh Circuit precedent that is directly on point. See, e.g., Brooks v. Kemp, 762 F.2d 1383, 1410 (11th Cir.1985) (en banc) (holding very similar comments to be prejudicial). But Kemp ultimately held the error to be harmless, because the jury was well aware of the factors it had to consider, and the proceedings were permeated with similar hand-wringing. Id. at 1414. This case follows that pattern, and we cannot conclude that these comments had a substantial or injurious effect on the jury's verdict. Therefore, even if the comments were improper, they were harmless. 7 178 Coe claims next that the prosecutor denigrated mercy, suggesting to the jury that Coe did not deserve any, and allowed the jury to abdicate its responsibility by saying that it represented the community. First, these statements hardly seem so inflammatory that they would have convinced a jury inclined to be merciful to change its mind. Second, when read in context, the prosecutor was not denigrating mercy. Instead, he was responding to arguments by the defense that Coe had had a difficult childhood and so deserved mercy. The prosecutor was simply saying that Coe was responsible for his actions, and that it was for that reason that Coe deserved no mercy. These comments were not improper. 179 Coe's next argument also fails. The prosecutor said: [Y]ou're not here as one person, or two persons individually. You're here as representatives of this community, as representatives of justice to do your duty, to be true to your conscience, to be true to God. This was a far cry from saying, as Coe interprets the statement, that the community or God demanded the death sentence. 180 More problematic is the last prosecutorial statement at issue. In his closing statement, the prosecutor said the following: 181 I'm not a biblical scholar, ladies and gentlemen, and I don't pretend to be. But I would simply emphasize to you that the whole cornerstone of our law, the law of this land, the law of society is based upon those scriptures where it was established from, and the Bible and the scriptures themselves are replete with those circumstances where capital punishment has been applied. It's applied in reference to both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. Terms are mentioned regularly throughout the Old and the New. And I just want to ask you to put your mind at rest if that in any way has created any conflict because there's certainly foundation for capital punishment in the Bible and in the scriptures themselves. 182 Although we find these statements inappropriate, we cannot conclude that they so tainted the proceedings that they constitute reversible error. The cases that Coe cites for the contrary proposition involve cases in which a Bible was in the jury room; there is error in those cases not because the book was the Bible, but because the book was not properly admitted evidence. See Jones v. Kemp, 706 F.Supp. 1534, 1558 (N.D.Ga.1989); State v. Harrington, 627 S.W.2d 345, 350 (Tenn.1981), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1110, 102 S.Ct. 2913, 73 L.Ed.2d 1320 (1982). 183 Therefore, none of these alleged errors represent (either individually or collectively) sufficient grounds to vacate Coe's conviction or sentence. J. Cumulative Effect 184 Coe argues that even if none of the errors he alleges are harmful individually, they are harmful in combination with each other. We reject this claim. K. State Supreme Court Review 185 Coe claims that he has a federal due-process liberty interest, created by Tennessee in its mandatory death-penalty review statute, TENN.CODE ANN. § 39-2-205 (1982). He claims that by failing to live up to the statutory mandate, the state supreme court contributed to a violation of his due-process rights, and by extension his Eighth Amendment rights. 186 The statute requires the state supreme court to review a death sentence for (1) arbitrariness; (2) evidence supporting the aggravating and mitigating circumstances found by the jury; and (3) excessiveness or proportionality compared to other death sentences. The supreme court is also empowered by the statute to promulgate such rules as it deems appropriate to carry out the mandate. 187 Contrary to Coe's claims, however, Tennessee has not created a liberty interest here. To qualify as producing a state-created liberty interest, a statute setting up procedures must put specific limits on official discretion. An implicit requirement recognized by the Supreme Court is including  'explicitly mandatory language,' i.e., specific directives to the decision-maker that if the regulations' substantive predicates are present, a particular outcome must follow, in order to create a liberty interest. Kentucky Dep't of Corrections v. Thompson, 490 U.S. 454, 463, 109 S.Ct. 1904, 104 L.Ed.2d 506 (1989) (promulgating those requirements in the context of prisons). In this case, by contrast, the statute only tells the supreme court what questions it must ask. It does not tell the supreme court how it must do so, and it does not even define the terms (e.g., arbitrariness) of these questions. As a result, Coe has no federal due-process right that was violated by the state supreme court's procedural lapses, if any. 188 Even if there were a liberty interest here, any error in fulfilling that interest would be harmless. Although the state supreme court did not make detailed findings as to arbitrariness or to the sufficiency of the evidence on the mitigating and aggravating circumstances, our review of the record reveals that the jury's conclusions were neither arbitrary nor lacking in evidentiary support. Furthermore, Coe admits that he has no Eighth Amendment right to proportionality review. Pulley v. Harris, 465 U.S. 37, 44-45, 104 S.Ct. 871, 79 L.Ed.2d 29 (1984). L. Exclusion of Women from the Grand Jury 189 Finally, Coe complains that his Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated because the grand jury that indicted him systematically under-represented women. There is ample evidence in the record that women were very substantially under-represented on the grand jury, apparently because Tennessee used a key man system to choose grand jurors. Despite comprising 50.8% of the eligible population, women represented only 29.6% of the grand jury pool (200 of 676 people) from which Coe's grand jury was drawn, a non-random distribution if we have ever seen one (p 190 The district court held that Coe lacked standing. It cited among other cases our decision in Ford v. Seabold, 841 F.2d 677 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 928, 109 S.Ct. 315, 102 L.Ed.2d 334 (1988), which held specifically that a man does not have standing to raise an equal-protection challenge regarding the exclusion of women from a grand jury. The state supreme court had rejected Coe's challenge on the same grounds, five years earlier. State v. Coe, 655 S.W.2d 903, 910 (Tenn.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1063, 104 S.Ct. 745, 79 L.Ed.2d 203 (1984). 191 Coe responds by noting the Supreme Court's recent decision in Campbell v. Louisiana, 523 U.S. 392, 118 S.Ct. 1419, 140 L.Ed.2d 551 (1998). In Campbell, the Court decided that a white criminal defendant had standing to challenge the exclusion of Blacks from a grand jury, under both equal-protection and due-process theories. Id. at ---- - ----, 118 S.Ct. at 1424-25. 192 Regarding the equal-protection claim, the Court cited its prior decision in Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 411, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 113 L.Ed.2d 411 (1991), in which a defendant was found to have third-party standing to raise a Batson challenge to the exclusion from his jury of members of another race. Campbell, at ---- - ----, 118 S.Ct. at 1422-24. The Court applied Powers, a petit jury case, to the grand jury, and held that [i]f [the grand jury] process is infected with racial discrimination, doubt is cast over the fairness of all subsequent decisions, which represents injury in fact for Campbell even though he was not a member of the excluded group. Id. at ---- - ----, 118 S.Ct. at 1423-24. The other two parts of third-party standing (common interest, and a first party who is much less likely to vindicate his own interest) were held to apply as well. Id. at ----, 118 S.Ct. at 1424. 193 Unfortunately for Coe, we have already held that the Powers principle of third-party standing represented a new rule, and Coe's conviction became final seven years before Powers was decided. Echlin v. LeCureux, 995 F.2d 1344, 1351 (6th Cir.1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 993, 114 S.Ct. 552, 126 L.Ed.2d 453 (1994); accord Nguyen v. Reynolds, 131 F.3d 1340, 1351-52 (10th Cir.1997), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 119 S.Ct. 128, 142 L.Ed.2d 103 (1998); Jones v. Gomez, 66 F.3d 199, 204 (9th Cir.1995), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1143, 116 S.Ct. 1437, 134 L.Ed.2d 559 (1996); Van Daalwyk v. United States, 21 F.3d 179, 180 (7th Cir.1994); Farrell v. Davis, 3 F.3d 370, 372 (11th Cir.1993) (per curiam). Therefore, the state courts acted reasonably in rejecting Coe's claim of third-party standing. 8 Cf. United States v. Ovalle, 136 F.3d 1092, 1102-04 (6th Cir.1998) (allowing third-party standing to bring equal-protection claim on direct appeal). 194 This leaves the due-process portion of Coe's claim. We hold that this too is barred by Teague, though the issue is closer here. Before proceeding, a more detailed account of our task under Teague is in order: 195 Teague applies when the Supreme Court announces a new rule of criminal procedure. Essentially, if a decision announces a new rule of criminal procedure, it is not to be applied retroactively to convictions that have already become final when the decision is announced.... A decision announces a new rule if it breaks new ground, imposes new obligations on the states or federal government, or was not dictated by precedent existing at the time the defendant's conviction became final. 196 In re Green, 144 F.3d 384, 386 (6th Cir.1998) (citations, quotation marks, and emphasis omitted). 9 One indication that a result is not dictated by precedent is when courts have reached divergent results on an issue before resolution by the Supreme Court. See Butler v. McKellar, 494 U.S. 407, 415, 110 S.Ct. 1212, 108 L.Ed.2d 347 (1990). 197 In Campbell, the Court pointed to two sources in its prior case law for its holding that a defendant can challenge, on due-process grounds, the exclusion of members of another race from a state grand jury. The first was Peters v. Kiff, 407 U.S. 493, 92 S.Ct. 2163, 33 L.Ed.2d 83 (1972). In that case, decided well before Coe's case came along, six justices agreed that the defendant, Peters, was entitled to relief. Three justices (Marshall, Douglas, and Stewart) believed that this entitlement stemmed from the Constitution and from the criminal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 243, that forbids public officials from excluding people from grand jury service because of their race. Peters, 407 U.S. at 497-98, 92 S.Ct. 2163. Three other justices (White, Brennan, and Powell) believed that the entitlement stemmed, more narrowly, from the statute alone. Id. at 505-07, 92 S.Ct. 2163; see id. at 511, 92 S.Ct. 2163 (Burger, J., dissenting) (characterizing concurrence as such); Campbell, 523 U.S. at ----, 118 S.Ct. at 1424 (same). Justice White wrote in the concurrence that: 198 By this unambiguous provision, ... Congress put cases involving exclusions from jury service on grounds of race in a class by themselves. For us the majestic generalities of the Fourteenth Amendment are thus reduced to a concrete statutory command when cases involve race or color which is wanting in every other case of alleged discrimination. 199 Peters, 407 U.S. at 505-06, 92 S.Ct. 2163 (quotation marks omitted) (emphasis added). 200 Because the holding of the Court may be viewed as that position taken by those Members who concurred in the judgments on the narrowest grounds, Marks v. United States, 430 U.S. 188, 193, 97 S.Ct. 990, 51 L.Ed.2d 260 (1977), Peters cannot be said to stand for the proposition that the constitution gave Peters (or Coe) the ability to raise a due-process challenge to the exclusion of Blacks (or women) from his grand jury. Indeed, six justices declined so to hold. Rather, Peters stands only for the proposition that the criminal statute forbidding such exclusion produced the ability to assert such a claim. Unfortunately for Coe, 18 U.S.C. § 243 addressed only race, and there was no parallel gender-based statute in operation at the time of his trial. Therefore, Peters did not establish that Coe was entitled to relief, and a fortiori did not do so as a matter of existing precedent. 201 The next source relied upon by Campbell is Hobby v. United States, 468 U.S. 339, 104 S.Ct. 3093, 82 L.Ed.2d 260 (1984). Hobby was decided several months after the Supreme Court denied Coe's writ of certiorari on direct appeal. In Hobby, a white male defendant challenged his indictment because he said that the grand jury excluded Blacks and women. Because Hobby's claim had been dismissed as a matter of law, the Supreme Court assumed that the violation had occurred and proceeded to consider if Hobby had any remedy. Id. at 343, 104 S.Ct. 3093. The Court began by noting that purposeful exclusion of women and Blacks from grand jury service was unconstitutional, without distinguishing between gender and race. In proceeding next to the question of remedy, therefore, the Court seemed to be assuming implicitly that Hobby had standing to raise his claim, both on gender and racial grounds, though it noted the narrow holding of Peters. Id. at 343 & n. 2, 104 S.Ct. 3093. In the end, the Court decided (for reasons that do not concern us) that Hobby was not entitled to a remedy. The Campbell Court read Hobby approvingly, as establishing some sort of due-process protection with regard to race (the only issue Campbell pursued), though it left the determination of the bounds of that protection, which it said were still open, for the lower court to determine on remand. 202 We do not doubt that Hobby and Campbell can be read as extending due-process protection to men challenging the exclusion of women, though neither case provided detail on the extent of that protection. The casual manner in which these cases suggest such an extension does not mean, however, that the holdings followed necessarily from existing precedent. Indeed, the failure of Hobby even to mention the gender/standing question paved the way for conclusions such as the one we reached later in Ford v. Seabold. At any rate, because Hobby was decided after Coe's final appeal to the Supreme Court was turned away, and because it declared a new rule if any, Teague bars Coe's claim. 203 We pause to note additional (though not necessary) evidence that supports this conclusion. First, the Supreme Court denied Coe's petition for certiorari. Ordinarily we would not put much weight on such a denial, but there is more information than usual to be drawn from this particular one. Justices Brennan and Marshall dissented from the denial of Coe's petition, noting that they believed the death penalty to be cruel and unusual punishment. Coe v. Tennessee, 464 U.S. 1063, 104 S.Ct. 745, 79 L.Ed.2d 203 (1984) (Brennan and Marshall, JJ., dissenting). They did not comment on Coe's prominent objection to the composition of the grand jury that indicted him. 204 But Coe had not escaped Justice Marshall's notice. He dissented, alone, from the denial of certiorari in another case, Ford v. Kentucky, 469 U.S. 984, 105 S.Ct. 392, 83 L.Ed.2d 325 (1984), that came after Hobby. In that case, the petitioner asserted a claim identical to Coe's. The Kentucky state courts rejected the gender-based claim on standing grounds, but did not do so on the race-based claim. In significant contrast to the pre-Hobby denial of certiorari in Coe, Justice Marshall addressed head-on the question of standing to bring a due-process claim based on gender, noting the confusion surrounding the issue and citing Coeas an example: 205 Because the opinion announcing the judgment in Peters was joined by only three Justices, Peters did not definitively resolve the standing question raised in this petition for certiorari. The Court also declined in Alexander v. Louisiana, 405 U.S. 625, 633-34, 92 S.Ct. 1221, 31 L.Ed.2d 536 (1972), to decide whether males could challenge the statutory exemption of women from state grand jury service, although Justice Douglas would have reached the question and invalidated the statute on federal due process grounds.... 206 These conflicting pronouncements from the Court and our failure to speak definitively to the issue have spawned the sort of confusion in the lower courts that calls for the exercise of this Court's certiorari jurisdiction. In contrast to the views of the Kentucky Supreme Court, which are shared by the Supreme Court of Tennessee, see State v. Coe, 655 S.W.2d 903 (1983), at least two Federal Courts of Appeals have stated that a male defendant does have a due process right not to have women systematically underrepresented on the state grand jury that indicts him. Gibson v. Zant, 705 F.2d 1543 (11th Cir.1983); Folston v. Allsbrook, 691 F.2d 184, 186 n. 3 (4th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 939, 103 S.Ct. 2111, 77 L.Ed.2d 314 (1983). 207 Id. at 985-86, 105 S.Ct. 392 (citations omitted and simplified). 208 There are three interesting things about Justice Marshall's dissent. First, although he is writing in the shadow of Hobby, he does not mention that case, suggesting that it did not serve as a clear statement of Coe's position. Second, Justice Marshall admits that Peters did not resolve the question of standing in the due-process/gender context. Third, Justice Marshall notes that there were lower-court decisions on both sides of the question--evidence of the sort of difference of opinion among reasonable jurists that makes a decision resolving that difference a new rule. 209 The difference of opinion among courts was both wider and narrower than Justice Marshall suggested. In addition to the Kentucky and Tennessee Supreme Courts, federal courts, including this one, have held that claimants in Coe's posture lack standing. See, e.g., Ford v. Seabold, 841 F.2d at 687-88 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 928, 109 S.Ct. 315, 102 L.Ed.2d 334 (1988); Beal v. Rose, 532 F.Supp. 306, 311 (M.D.Tenn.1981), vacated and remanded on other grounds, 703 F.2d 558 (6th Cir.1982); see also Sheffield v. Lack, 702 F.Supp. 634, 636 (M.D.Tenn.1987) (citing Beal approvingly); aff'd, No. 88-5459, 1988 WL 121252, 862 F.2d 316 (6th Cir. Nov.15, 1988). See generally United States v. Abell, 552 F.Supp. 316, 320 (D.Me.1982) (listing cases). However, neither of the circuit-court cases that Justice Marshall cited even mentioned due-process protection; these and many other cases that have extended standing to claimants such as Coe have done so either in the context of federal juries or with regard to equal-protection claims. See generally Abell, 552 F.Supp. at 320 (conceding that the authority in this area is not unambiguous and listing cases--of varying applicability--on each side of the question, before finding standing in context of federal equal-protection rights and federal Jury Selection and Service Act). 210 Thus, when Coe's conviction became final, it was considerably less than clear that he had standing to assert his due-process claim that women were purposely excluded from his grand jury venire. The courts that handled Coe's conviction and direct appeal were not violating any precedent when they determined that Coe did not have standing. Therefore, Teague bars us from applying Campbell retroactively, thereby overruling the determination of the state courts, and from reversing the district court in this case.