Opinion ID: 1060419
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: procedural analysis under the post conviction procedure act

Text: Although largely overlooked by the majority, this case presents several significant procedural issues concerning the ability to reopen a post-conviction petition under Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-30-217(a). Despite the fact that the petitioner filed his claim solely pursuant to subsection (a)(2), the majority does not address this issue on its merits. Invoking the doctrine of fundamental fairness, the majority instead concludes that the petitioner may reopen his petition under subsection (a)(1). Because the petitioner is not constitutionally entitled to reopen his post-conviction petition, but may do so only when the statute permits its reopening, I would deny his petition for failing to satisfy any of the statutory requirements for reopening his post-conviction petition.
Today, the majority has decided that the petitioner may file a new motion to reopen pursuant to subsection (a)(1). In so deciding, the majority has fashioned a unique procedure to provide the petitioner this avenue for relief. First, the Court has improperly addressed a constitutional issue that has been waived because the petitioner failed to raise it in his original post-conviction petition. Nevertheless, by ordering the parties to supply supplemental briefing on this constitutional issue, the Court has excused the waiver, addressed the substantive issue, and created a final appellate ruling establishing a constitutional right. The petitioner is now being allowed to refile his motion to reopen pursuant to subsection (a)(1), basing his claim on the majority's decision today. However, the majority overlooks a fundamental procedural flaw in its analysis: according to our unanimous holding in State v. West, 19 S.W.3d 753 (Tenn.2000), once an issue has been waived by a petitioner, the Court lacks the authority to excuse that waiver, see also Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-30-206(g); Tenn. Sup.Ct. R. 28, § 3(B). The unanimous order previously entered cannot be held to have placed the constitutional issue properly before this Court. For the reasons that follow, the constitutional issue should be dismissed, and the petitioner must seek to reopen his post-conviction petition on other grounds. In 1995, Van Tran filed his petition for post-conviction relief. He raised numerous and various claims, including an allegation that he was mentally retarded and therefore statutorily ineligible for the death penalty under section 39-13-203. The trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing in 1997, and the petitioner was provided with a full, fair, and meaningful opportunity to present proof and argument on the petition for post-conviction relief. Cf. House v. State, 911 S.W.2d 705, 714 (Tenn.1995); Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-30-206(h). Based on all the evidence presented, the trial court found the petitioner's claims of mental retardation to be without merit and subsequently dismissed his petition. Despite having a full, fair, and meaningful opportunity to be heard in 1997, the petitioner never raised the issue of whether execution of mentally retarded persons violates Article I, section 16 of the Tennessee Constitution. In fact, he did not even assert this issue in the current proceeding to reopen until he applied for permission to appeal to this Court. Where a petitioner fails to raise an issue, despite having had the opportunity to do so, that issue is deemed waived under the Post Conviction Procedure Act. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-30-206(g) (1997). Because the petitioner has previously waived the substantive constitutional issue before us now, the Post-Conviction Procedure Act does not permit him, outside of the exceptions listed in the statute, to assert that issue in any subsequent proceeding. The majority today appears to overlook the fact that petitioner's previous waiver of the substantive constitutional issue renders this Court without statutory authority to grant relief to the petitioner based on this issue under the post-conviction statutes. Consequently, because the substantive constitutional issue is not properly before the Court, the majority has inappropriately used subsection (a)(1) to give the petitioner an opportunity to avoid his capital sentence. Importantly, I do not find that our previous order requesting additional briefing on this issue has effectively excused the petitioner's previous waiver. Once an issue has been waived by a defendant in the post-conviction context, this Court possesses no authority, whether by statute, rule, or the plain error doctrine, to excuse that waiver in order to reach the merits of a claim. See West, 19 S.W.3d at 756-57. [3] Consequently, to the extent that our previous order requesting additional briefing could be construed as excusing the petitioner's waiver of that issue, the order was beyond the scope of our authority under the Post Conviction Procedure Act. Under no set of circumstances can our previous order be construed to place the substantive constitutional issue properly before the Court for resolution on its merits. Therefore, in accordance with the Post-Conviction Procedure Act and our previous holding in West , I find that the constitutional issue presently addressed by the Court has been previously waived by the petitioner and is beyond the authority of this Court to review. Because we also lack the authority to excuse the petitioner's waiver, we are likewise without authority to address the petitioner's constitutional claim on its merits as the majority has done today. Accordingly, I would hold that the substantive constitutional issue should be dismissed, thereby prohibiting the petitioner from filing a future motion to reopen under subsection (a)(1).
Without any explanation, the majority asserts that a motion to reopen may be based on a claim involving either a new legal issue or new scientific evidence establishing that the petitioner is actually innocent of the offense for which he or she was convicted. [4] Presumably, the majority has used the language new legal issue as a paraphrase for the precise statutory language of section 40-30-217(a)(1), which allows a petitioner to base a claim in a motion to reopen based upon a final ruling of an appellate court establishing a constitutional right that was not recognized as existing at the time of trial. Alternatively, as the majority has recognized, the petitioner may file a motion to reopen based on a claim of new scientific evidence establishing actual innocence of the offense or offenses for which the petitioner was convicted, Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-30-217(a)(2). Instead, the petitioner in this case has filed his motion to reopen presumably pursuant to subsection (a)(2), alleging that the WAIS-III provides new scientific evidence establishing his mental retardation, thereby rendering him actually innocent of his capital sentence. The majority never discusses the propriety of the petitioner's claim, specifically whether the petitioner has indeed satisfied the strict requirements for reopening a post-conviction petition under section 40-30-217(a)(2). Because this Court has never before considered the proper standard governing the admissibility of new scientific evidence, further inquiry is necessary to determine whether the petitioner has at all satisfied the strict requirements for reopening a post-conviction petition under section 40-30-217(a)(2). More importantly, I cannot accept the petitioner's expanded definition of the phrase actual innocence of the offenses for which he was convicted to include innocence of or ineligibility for the death penalty. This interpretation not only neglects the plain, unambiguous language of the statute, but, if relying on the United States Supreme Court's decision in Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U.S. 333, 112 S.Ct. 2514, 120 L.Ed.2d 269 (1992), also ignores that the General Assembly has adopted a more narrow definition of the actual innocence exception in section 40-30-217(a)(2) than was adopted by the Sawyer Court. Consequently, for the reasons that follow, I would deny the petitioner's motion to reopen for failing to satisfy any of the procedural requirements.
The Post-Conviction Procedure Act of 1995 does not define new scientific evidence as used in Section 40-30-217(a)(2). It seems to me that two reasonable constructions of the phrase are possible. First, the language could be narrowly construed to mean only scientific evidence which either was not developed or was not in existence at the time of the petitioner's original post-conviction proceeding. Alternatively, the language could be given a broader construction by including scientific evidence which, although in existence, was not available to the petitioner at the time of his original post-conviction proceeding by the exercise of due diligence. I would give the statutory language the broader construction because I believe that it more nearly effectuates the intent of the General Assembly. While this legislation was being considered by that body, Chairman Frank Buck of the House Judiciary Committee remarked, When some scientific test comes back and proves people to be innocent, there always ought to be some method by which that wrong is corrected. Always. 99th General Assembly, 1st Sess., House, Tape # 2, H.B. 0001 (Mar. 29, 1995) (remarks of Rep. Buck). Regardless of the construction given the phrase, such evidence must be admissible under the applicable Tennessee Rules of Evidence as required in Section 40-30-217(b) (The factual information set out in the affidavit shall be limited to information which, if offered at an evidentiary hearing, would be admissible through the testimony of the affiant under the rules of evidence. ) (emphasis added). The specific rules of evidence that govern the issue of admissibility of scientific proof in Tennessee are rules 702 [5] and 703. [6] See, e.g., McDaniel v. CSX Transp., Inc., 955 S.W.2d 257, 264 (Tenn.1997). The rules together necessarily require a determination as to the scientific validity or reliability of the evidence. See id. at 265. In short, evidence will be admissible if it is scientifically reliable or valid. Id. Several non-exclusive factors with which courts can determine reliability include the following: (1) whether scientific evidence has been tested and the methodology with which it has been tested; (2) whether the evidence has been subjected to peer review or publication; (3) whether a potential rate of error is known; (4) whether ... the evidence is generally accepted in the scientific community; and (5) whether the expert's research in the field has been conducted independent of litigation. Id. (citing Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993)). In my view, Van Tran's latest I.Q. scores may not be presumed new scientific evidence without consideration of the validity or reliability of the test as required by our evidentiary rules and procedures. Although I am of the opinion that the petitioner is not entitled to an evidentiary hearing on his motion to reopen his post-conviction petition for the reasons contained in this dissent, if a hearing is to be held, then it is clear that the petitioner will be required to show by clear and convincing evidence that: (1) the WAIS-III test was not reasonably available to him at the time of his original post-conviction petition; (2) the updated version of the I.Q. test is qualitatively different from its predecessor such that this updated version is able to provide a more accurate measurement of the petitioner's true intellectual abilities; [7] and (3) the WAIS-III test provides a valid or reliable measurement of the petitioner's I.Q.
Assuming arguendo that the test results from the WAIS-III do constitute new scientific evidence, the petitioner must nevertheless demonstrate that these results establish his actual innocence of the offense or offenses for which [he] was convicted. The petitioner does not argue that his alleged mental retardation proves his innocence of his underlying crime of murder; rather, he urges this Court to adopt an expanded meaning of this phrase to include actual innocence of or ineligibility for the death penalty.  As support, the petitioner cites the United States Supreme Court's decision in Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U.S. 333, 112 S.Ct. 2514, 120 L.Ed.2d 269 (1992), where the Court held that a prisoner could establish his actual sentencing innocence if the prisoner shows by clear and convincing evidence that, absent a constitutional error, no reasonable juror would have found the petitioner eligible for the death penalty under the applicable state law. Id. at 336.