Opinion ID: 453541
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Waiver of Right to Address Confrontation Issue on Appeal

Text: 8 According to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254(a), a state prisoner is entitled to habeas corpus relief in a federal court only if he is being held in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States. Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. 107, 119, 102 S.Ct. 1558, 1567, 71 L.Ed.2d 783 (1982). Before determining whether a state prisoner's rights have been violated, however, a court must decide whether the prisoner has waived his claim for federal habeas corpus relief by failing to comply with such state procedural rules as those requiring a defendant to object at trial or to raise an issue on direct appeal. Id. at 126 n. 28, 102 S.Ct. at n. 28; Williams v. Duckworth, 724 F.2d 1439, 1442 (7th Cir.1984), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 143, 83 L.Ed.2d 82 (1984). 1 The Supreme Court has observed that a federal court's decision whether to examine a state prisoner's constitutional claims when the prisoner has failed to abide by applicable state procedural rules implicates two types of concerns: (1) Congress's interest in providing a federal forum for the vindication of state prisoners' constitutional rights, and (2) the state's interest in the integrity of its procedural rules and in the finality of its judgments. Reed v. Ross, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 2901, 2907, 82 L.Ed.2d 1 (1984). The courts have noted that principles of comity require a state prisoner to present his claims to the appropriate state tribunal before seeking relief in federal court, thereby giving the state court the first opportunity to correct a constitutional violation. See, e.g., United States ex rel. Spurlark v. Wolff, 699 F.2d 354, 356 (7th Cir.1983). 9 Although recognizing the state's interest in the integrity of its procedural rules, the Supreme Court has consistently held that federal courts have the power under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254 to look beyond a state procedural forfeiture in order to examine a state prisoner's claim that his constitutional rights have been violated. Reed v. Ross, 104 S.Ct. at 2907. The Court has held that when a procedural default by a state prisoner bars litigation of a constitutional claim in the state courts, the prisoner may obtain federal habeas corpus relief by showing cause for and actual prejudice from the default. Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. at 129, 102 S.Ct. at 1572; Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 87, 97 S.Ct. 2497, 2506, 53 L.Ed.2d 594 (1977). In formulating the cause and prejudice standard, the Court has declined to give the term cause precise content because of the numerous reasons for an attorney's failure to comply with a procedural rule and the limitless array of contexts in which a procedural default could occur. Reed v. Ross, 104 S.Ct. at 2909. The Court has noted that the terms cause and actual prejudice are not rigid concepts, but rather take their meaning from principles of comity and finality. Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. at 135, 102 S.Ct. at 1575. Thus, these terms may yield in cases in which it is necessary for a court to correct a fundamentally unjust incarceration. Id. 10 In the present case, the respondent argues that the petitioner Jack Riner waived his Sixth Amendment confrontation claim by failing to make a contemporaneous objection during trial and by failing to raise the confrontation issue on direct appeal. The petitioner did not raise the confrontation issue until he filed his petition for post-conviction relief. In examining his petition, the state circuit court held that the petitioner had waived the confrontation issue by not raising it on direct appeal. The circuit court also concluded that if the confrontation issue had been raised on direct appeal, the Indiana Supreme Court would likely have granted the petitioner a new trial based on a violation of the petitioner's Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses under United States v. Bruton, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968). Upon petitioner's appeal of the circuit court's denial of post-conviction relief, the Indiana Supreme Court concluded that the petitioner had waived his right to raise the confrontation issue in his petition for post-conviction relief under the Indiana post-conviction relief statute 2 by not raising the issue at the time of the original trial or on direct appeal. Riner v. State, 271 Ind. 578, 581-82, 394 N.E.2d 140, 143-44 (1979). Since the petitioner has therefore waived his right to raise the confrontation issue in the Indiana courts by failing to raise the issue at trial or on direct appeal, we must determine whether the petitioner has shown cause for and actual prejudice from the default, thereby permitting us to overcome the waiver argument and to examine the petitioner's claim on the merits. 11 The petitioner claims that the confrontation issue was not raised at trial or on direct appeal because the same attorney represented him at both levels. We hold that dual representation of co-defendants at trial and representation of one or more of these defendants by that same attorney on direct appeal can meet the cause element of the cause and prejudice standard under certain circumstances. In a case where an individual is represented by the same counsel at both the trial and appellate levels, there exists the possibility that the attorney might be inhibited from raising on appeal issues stemming from the defendants' conflicting defenses because to do so might cast doubt on the effectiveness or propriety of the attorney's dual representation at trial. In several cases where a petitioner has been represented by different attorneys at trial and on appeal and where we have denied habeas corpus relief, we have hinted that the outcome of the case may have been different if the same attorney had represented the petitioner at both the trial and on direct appeal since the same attorney might be reluctant to raise issues on appeal that might suggest his ineffectiveness at trial. United States ex rel. Devine v. DeRobertis, 754 F.2d 764, 766-68 (7th Cir.1985); Dently v. Lane, 712 F.2d 1172, 1175-78 (7th Cir.1983); United States ex rel. Williams v. Franzen, 687 F.2d 944, 950 n. 11 (7th Cir.1982). Since it would be most difficult if not professionally awkward to require a lawyer to argue on appeal his own ineffectiveness in not raising at trial issues relating to his dual representation, such as the confrontation question presented here, we conclude that identity of trial and appellate counsel can constitute sufficient cause to meet the first element of the cause and prejudice standard. 12 In addition to showing cause for his failure to comply with state procedural rules, the petitioner must also show actual prejudice suffered as a result of his failure to raise an issue at trial or on direct appeal. Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. at 129, 102 S.Ct. at 1572; Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. at 87, 97 S.Ct. at 2506. Although noting that it would not precisely define the terms cause and prejudice, the Court in Wainwright v. Sykes held that the evidence presented at trial of the petitioner's guilt in that case was so substantial as to negate any possibility of actual prejudice resulting to the petitioner from the admission of his inculpatory statement. Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. at 87, 91, 97 S.Ct. at 2506, 2508. In the present case, we must determine whether the petitioner was prejudiced as a result of his attorney's failure to raise the confrontation issue at trial or on direct appeal, when the effect of that failure was the admission of Ronald's testimony as to his conversation with Evans in jail. 13 Ronald Riner testified as a prosecution witness at the joint trial of his brother and uncle. Based on his personal knowledge, Ronald related that he had been driving around with his uncle and brother in Evans's car in the early morning hours of August 10, 1970. Ronald stated that he had been sleeping in the back seat when the car stopped and Evans got out and walked back to the trunk. Ronald related that Evans removed a plastic bag from the trunk that had an object resembling the butt of a rifle sticking out of it and proceeded to ask Jack if he would go with him. Ronald stated that he lay back down in the back seat until he heard some shooting and saw several cars pulling up to a building. Ronald stated that he got out of the car and saw someone, whom he believed to be Evans, running first toward the car and then toward the town of Plainfield. Ronald testified that he became frightened and ran into a field. 14 In addition to his testimony based on his personal knowledge, Ronald testified to a conversation that he had had with his uncle while in jail awaiting trial. Ronald testified that his uncle had told him that he had instructed Jack to be a lookout on the morning of August 10 while Evans tried to force open the door of the trading post. Ronald also testified that his uncle said that he had been shot at by someone and had returned the fire. Evans also told Ronald that as he was running east, he was confronted by another man who fired at him, and that Evans shot this man. Before Ronald testified as to that conversation with Evans, the defendants' attorney objected as to Jack Riner on unspecified grounds. The state trial court sustained the objection as to Jack Riner and admitted Ronald's subsequent testimony only as to Evans. 3 15 We hold that the admission of Ronald's testimony as to his conversation with Evans resulted in actual prejudice to the petitioner. The petitioner was prejudiced because the admission of this testimony was the only evidence before the jury of the petitioner's involvement in aiding and abetting the burglary and murder. For example, Evans stated to Ronald that Jack had served as a lookout for Evans, thereby providing support for the charge that Jack had facilitated the burglary and murder. In contrast to this damaging testimony, Ronald's personal testimony as to the events transpiring on August 10, 1970, merely revealed that Jack had been asked by his uncle to go with him, not that Jack had actively aided and abetted his uncle in the ensuing crimes. There was no direct evidence presented at trial that Jack was even aware of what his uncle was planning to do. Even Harold Gibson's testimony that he had seen two persons fleeing the scene following the shooting did not establish that one of those persons was Jack. Since Ronald himself testified that he had become frightened when the shooting began and had fled the scene, the fleeing persons that Harold Gibson had seen might easily have been Ronald and his uncle. 16 Furthermore, the objection by defense counsel on unspecified grounds to the admission of Ronald's testimony regarding his conversation with Evans was insufficient to reduce or eliminate the substantial prejudice that the petitioner suffered as a result of the admission of the testimony. As will be discussed below, the admission of this testimony was a clear Bruton violation. Thus, the judge's statement to the jury to disregard the testimony as far as Jack was concerned could not erase the extremely prejudicial impact that the statement might have had on the jury. In cases such as the present one where there is not substantial evidence apart from the excludable testimony to implicate a petitioner in a crime, the negative effect on the jury of the admission of the testimony and the resultant prejudice suffered by a petitioner cannot be eradicated. 17 In sum, we hold that the petitioner has shown both the cause and actual prejudice elements necessary to overcome his waiver of the confrontation issue in the state courts. 18