Opinion ID: 509516
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: failure to give proper instruction on age discrimination

Text: 138 Harris also contends that the death sentence was arbitrarily imposed as a result of the uniquely ambiguous provisions of California's capital sentencing statute, Cal. Penal Code Sec. 190.3(h) (1977), because the statute permits arbitrary consideration of a defendant's age as an aggravating factor. Harris argues that section 190.3(h) is discriminatory and arbitrary because it permits age to be considered by the jury in balancing the aggravating and mitigating factors without labeling it either as aggravating or mitigating. The State argues that we should not consider this issue because Harris did not present this claim of instructional error in either his first or second federal petition nor was this issue exhausted on direct appeal or in post-conviction proceedings in the California court system. 139 A state prisoner who seeks relief under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254 must provide the state courts a fair opportunity to correct any federal constitutional error committed in the trial court. Picard v. Connor, 404 U.S. 270, 275-76, 92 S.Ct. 509, 512, 30 L.Ed.2d 438 (1971); Anderson v. Harless, 459 U.S. 4, 6, 103 S.Ct. 276, 277, 74 L.Ed.2d 3 (1982) (per curiam). Thus, the habeas petitioner must have 'fairly presented' to the state courts the 'substance' of his federal habeas corpus claim. Anderson, 459 U.S. at 6, 103 S.Ct. at 277. It is not enough that all the facts necessary to support the federal claim were before the state courts, or that a somewhat similar state-law claim was made. Id. (citations omitted). The Supreme Court recently stated: 140 Because it would be unseemly in our dual system of government for a federal district court to upset a state court conviction without an opportunity to the state courts to correct a constitutional violation, federal courts apply the doctrine of comity, which teaches that one court should defer action on causes properly within its jurisdiction until the courts of another sovereignty with concurrent powers, and already cognizant of the litigation, have had an opportunity to pass upon the matter. 141 Rose, 455 U.S. at 518, 102 S.Ct. at 1203 (quoting Darr v. Burford, 339 U.S. 200, 204, 70 S.Ct. 587, 590, 94 L.Ed. 761 (1950)).A. Federal Habeas Corpus Petitions. 142 Harris claims that the issue of instructional error concerning age discrimination was clearly raised in the first federal habeas corpus petition, and the only new aspect of the claim is the empirical support for it which has become apparent from the accumulated experience of capital sentencing in California. The record does not support this assertion. 143 In Harris' Appellant's Opening Brief filed in this court, he contended he was rendered unable to pursue his separate argument that, apart from endemic age discrimination, California's unique and open-end specification of age as a penalty factor permits particular juries to arbitrarily and capriciously turn a defendant's age against him in the capital sentencing process. (Emphasis in original). Harris claims he was unable to pursue this argument because the district court did not permit an evidentiary hearing on this issue. 144 It does not appear from the record that Harris requested an evidentiary hearing on this issue. Thus, he did not properly preserve this issue for appeal to this court. Moreover, he was not entitled to an evidentiary hearing to present a purely legal argument. An evidentiary hearing is to present disputed facts. 145 The district court provided Harris an opportunity to brief the issues raised in his petition, including his age discrimination claim. In response, Harris presented arguments in support of his age discrimination claims under the eighth and fourteenth amendments, but did not argue that section 190.3(h) is arbitrary because age is not labeled either as an aggravating or mitigating factor. Harris admits he did not raise this precise issue in the district court. 146 We ordered Harris and the State to file supplemental briefs and to attach relevant exhibits to demonstrate wherein Harris raised this issue in his state and federal proceedings. In Harris' supplemental brief, he asserts that he raised this issue in both state and federal court. However, as we demonstrate below, this claim finds no support in the record. 147 B. No Exhaustion In The State Court Proceedings. 148 Harris claims he raised this issue on direct appeal to the California Supreme Court. Specifically, Harris points to arguments presented in his Appellant's Opening Brief before that court at pages 164, 166 and 167. In his Supplemental Brief, Harris states: 149 [A]ppellant raised the issue of 'the need for (1) objective, unambiguous standards to guide and to channel the sentencing authority's discretion' (Appellant's Opening Brief, p. 164 ... [paragraph] 150 Specifically, appellant complained that although: 151 ... section 190.3 directs that the jury take into account what is termed 'aggravating' and 'mitigating' circumstances, the jury is never advised which factors listed in the statute fall into one category or the other. (See CALJIC Nos. 8.88.1, 8.89.) ... 152 This argument, however, is not the same contention Harris now raises on appeal. Furthermore, we addressed this question in Harris I. In Harris I, we stated: 153 Nor do we think that the statute's failure to label factors as aggravating or mitigating invalidates the statute. The Supreme Court has previously upheld the statute that did not explicitly identify factors as aggravating or mitigating but merely asked the jury to answer several particular questions. Because the California statute establishes factors to guide the jury's discretion and allows for consideration of the particular aggravating and mitigating circumstances in this case, the statute is not unconstitutional in this respect. 154 692 F.2d at 1194 (citation omitted). 155 Harris next contends he raised the instructional error issue in state post-conviction proceedings. Specifically referring to Section I of his state habeas corpus petition at page 3, Harris argues: 156 the pertinent portions of the petition set forth the claims that appellant's age was used as an aggravating factor by the jury in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Appellant alleged that the statute 'failed to limit and direct sentencing discretion'. 157 The issue actually presented in his state habeas corpus petition reads as follows: 158 PETITIONER'S DEATH SENTENCE MUST BE REVERSED BECAUSE THE CALIFORNIA DEATH PENALTY PROVISIONS FAIL TO LIMIT AND DIRECT SENTENCING DISCRETION AND FAILED TO AFFORD MEANINGFUL APPELLATE REVIEW, IN VIOLATION OF THE EIGHTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. 159 The argument that the statute is unconstitutional because it fails to limit and direct the sentencing discretion is not the same contention on appeal before us, namely that there was instructional error as to age as an arbitrary factor. The issue in fact presented to the state court was rejected in Harris I. 160