Court Opinion

ID: 9634001
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 12:11:49.948434+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:26:15.153371
License: Public Domain

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
Although the relevant statutory and judicial authorities compel me to concur in the court’s opinion, I nonetheless write separately to further explain my views.
This is a sad case. Sad first and foremost for the victims of a heinous crime. But also because this case vividly shows that, for those convicted of capital offenses, the quality of counsel may well be the difference between life imprisonment without parole and the death penalty.
Here, in brief, is the picture painted by Wooten (a not unreasonable view of the record): He received poor representation at trial, particularly at the penalty phase, when his first counsel’s entire penalty-phase presentation filled less than ten transcribed pages. That attorney, David Gibbons, called only two witnesses: an officer from the jail where Wooten was kept during trial and one of Wooten’s former co-workers. Gibbons also told the jury that it would “have to” find one aggravator and that he did not intend to appeal to emotion. As the court acknowledges, Gibbons “presented no evidence of personal history or testimony from family members to humanize Wooten.” Ante, at 771. That inadequate representation continued on direct appeal through the Arkansas courts, which denied relief.
Then, the hiring of James 0. Clawson, a disbarred felon, to represent Wooten in post-conviction proceedings, as we have known, was a great mistake. The mistake was not the fault of Wooten or his family. Clawson, among other things, failed to disclose his multiple felony convictions or his disbarment in Oklahoma to either Wooten or the courts. When Clawson filed the post-conviction petition (a scant ten pages), he failed to inform Wooten or seek Wooten’s personal verification of the pleadings, which is required under Arkansas law. The post-conviction pleadings raise the question whether Clawson did any independent investigation of the case whatsoever.
Unsurprisingly, Clawson’s post-conviction representation failed miserably in the district court. Next, Clawson missed a deadline to appeal the district court’s deni*787al of the post-conviction petition, an error remedied only by the grace of the Arkansas Supreme Court. But it did not really matter, as the untimely appeal contained only five pages of argument. The Arkansas Supreme Court, identifying an issue sua sponte, remanded the case to the district court with instructions to hold a hearing or enter written findings. Clawson took no further action. When the district court made findings without an evidentiary hearing, Clawson failed to appeal and, in clear prejudice to Wooten, did not even tell him that no appeal was filed.6 Ultimately, after granting Wooten permission to appeal, the Arkansas courts denied his request for post-conviction relief.
This relation of the court procedures represents a breakdown in the criminal-justice system of great magnitude. It seems to be obvious, even to any observer, that the criminal-justice system failed in this case, both during the penalty phase and the post-conviction proceedings. I express no opinion on the constitutional sufficiency of Wooten’s representation, but as a matter of common sense and judicial experience, the quality of Wooten’s representation is as shocking as it is poor.
Nonetheless, this court may be limited in its ability to correct an injustice. Under existing statutory and case law, Wooten may have procedurally defaulted his habeas claims because he did not present them in the state courts, and he is unable to avail himself of the narrow exceptions to the general rule. Specifically, Wooten’s incompetent post-conviction counsel, although dooming an important avenue for relief in state court, maybe is insufficient to excuse the procedural default that that very representation created. See Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 752-55, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991) (noting that ineffective assistance of post-conviction counsel cannot serve as cause to excuse procedural default). Federalism, comity, and the finality of judgments are important, to be sure. But the current legal landscape, as observed in the opinion of the majority, does not permit the intervention of the federal courts at this time.
Be that as it may, Wooten’s clearest avenue for relief relies in the Arkansas Supreme Court in the form of his apparently still pending Motion to Recall Mandate. As the court observes today, “[tjhis appears to be a case that could satisfy the three factor test in Lee [v. State, 367 Ark. 84, 238 S.W.3d 52, 55 (2006)].” Ante, at 785. I agree completely.

. Clawson's trouble with the law continued through this entire period, including a reprimand from the Arkansas Supreme Court in an unrelated case, two additional convictions for drunken driving, a conviction in federal court on six counts of bankruptcy fraud, and finally his disbarment in Arkansas.