Opinion ID: 2971734
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: analysis

Text: We apply the familiar habeas rules. Because Richey’s petition was filed after April 24, 1996, it falls under the restrictions imposed by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”). Lindh v. Murphy, 521 U.S. 320, 326 (1997). AEDPA requires that we respect any determination made by the state court unless it: (1) “was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court,” or (2) “was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceedings.” 28 U.S.C. §§ 2254(d)(1)–(2); see also Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (2000). Within these constraints, we review the district court’s legal conclusions de novo, but we may upset its factual determinations only if they were clearly erroneous. Lott v. Coyle, 261 F.3d 594, 606 (6th Cir. 2001).
The heart of the prosecution against Richey – and the basis for his death sentence – was that he committed aggravated felony murder, which is prohibited by Ohio Revised Code § 2903.01. Richey argues that to convict a person of aggravated felony murder under the statute, the State is required to prove that the defendant intended to kill the person who actually died (in this case, Cynthia Collins), but that here, the State introduced no evidence that Richey actually intended to kill Cynthia. The State disputes this argument on the merits, and also urges that the claim has been procedurally defaulted. Because a discussion of the procedural default in this case requires an understanding of the merits, we will discuss the merits of the claim first.
The district court rejected Richey’s statutory argument, ruling that “this claim is not cognizable in a federal habeas court as it is one touching purely on state law.” In so holding, the district court misunderstood Richey’s claim. According to Fiore v. White, 531 U.S. 225 (2001), the federal constitution’s Due Process Clause “forbids a State to convict a person of a crime without proving the elements of that crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. at 228-29. Therefore, the state No. 01-3477 Richey v. Mitchell Page 9 law question regarding the elements of the crime predicates the enforcement of Richey’s federal constitutional right. Thus, we must first look to state law to determine whether the State was required to prove, as an element of the crime, that Richey intended to kill the victim.
At the time of the fire, the statute at issue provided: (B) No person shall purposely cause the death of another while committing or attempting to commit, or while fleeing immediately after committing or attempting to commit . . . aggravated arson or arson . . . .