Court Opinion

ID: 9490516
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:45:34.525338+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:08.560549
License: Public Domain

MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting, with whom RICHARD S.
ARNOLD, Chief Judge, McMILLIAN and FLOYD R. GIBSON, Circuit Judges, join.
Rubin Weeks filed his petition for habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. By way of excusing the procedural default that the state pleaded in bar, Mr. Weeks alleged that he was actually innocent of the charges against him, listed by name a number of witnesses who could exonerate him, and averred the existence of DNA, blood, saliva, and semen tests that would show that he did not commit the rape and kidnapping of which he was convicted. The court, though it ridicules these allegations, does not hold that they are delusional, or otherwise inherently incredible; nor does it deny that, if he produced the evidence that he claims exists, and it was believed, Mr. Weeks would have made out a case that he was actually innocent. Instead, the court holds, as I understand it, that Mr. Weeks has failed to submit sufficient evidence of his innocence, and therefore that his petition was properly dismissed.
The infirmity in the court’s position is that it confuses pleading with proof. The Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts, in keeping with modern trends toward notice pleading, require a *1357person seeking a writ of habeas corpus merely to “set forth in summary form the facts supporting each of the grounds” on which the petitioner relies. See Rule 2(c). A form appended to the rules and intended for the use of habeas petitioners, moreover, urges them to summarize “briefly the facts ” (emphasis in original) on the basis of which they are seeking relief, and in at least four other places, the same form directs petitioners to “tell your story briefly ” (emphasis in original). While the appendix to the rules does not seem to contain a recommended form for responsive pleadings from a petitioner when the matter at issue is a petitioner’s procedural default, it does have a form for situations in which the respondent claims that the petition is a successive one; and, in this latter instance, petitioners are told merely to explain their position by stating “FACTS” (capitals in original).
It is plain from this that all that habeas petitioners are required to do in their pleadings is to set out facts which, if found to be true, would entitle them to some legal conclusion of which they are seeking the benefit. There is no requirement that evidence be pleaded in habeas cases, and, presumably, any such requirement that a court would impose would be unauthorized because it would be contrary to the rules as they now stand. See, e.g., Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence and Coordination Unit, 507 U.S. 163, 168-69, 113 S.Ct. 1160, 1163-64, 122 L.Ed.2d 517 (1993), where the court held that federal courts were not authorized to apply a more stringent pleading requirement in eases brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, because doing so could not be squared with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Perhaps it would be useful, or even desirable, to establish heightened pleading standards in habeas corpus cases. But “that is a result which must be obtained by the process of amending” the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts, “and not by judicial interpretation.” Id. at 168,113 S.Ct. at 1163.
There is also no requirement in the rules that habeas petitioners attach to their petitions or other pleadings affidavits or documentary evidence supporting the factual allegations that those pleadings contain. No doubt, the judge reviewing the pleadings in habeas cases may, in imitation of Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(e), require such affidavits, in order to determine whether there are any material facts in dispute that would require an evidentiary hearing on a petitioner’s claim. See, e.g., Rule 8(a). But even before a judge can do that, the petitioner may well be entitled to discovery to help marshal the evidence to support the factual allegations in the petition. See Rule 6(a) and Bracy v. Gramley, — U.S.-,-,-, 117 S.Ct. 1793, 1795, 1799, 138 L.Ed.2d 97 (1997). In the present case, the district court never asked Mr. Weeks to support his claim of actual innocence with affidavits. The court makes much of the fact that Mr. Weeks, when asked to do so, failed to submit affidavits supporting his motions to disqualify the magistrate judge from the ease and to reassign the case to a district judge. But this fact has no relevance to the matter at issue, namely, Mr. Weeks’s actual innocence.
It will not be a matter of surprise if petitioner ultimately fails to prevail in this case. Habeas petitioners hardly ever win. But the court simply short-circuits the rules established for civil matters in general and essentially decides the case on the merits without regard to the procedural posture in which it comes before us. Since Mr. Weeks has pleaded facts that, if proved, would excuse his procedural default, his case should be allowed to proceed in the district court. If he prevails on his claim of actual innocence, then, for the reasons that I indicated in Weeks v. Bowersox, 106 F.3d 248 (8th Cir.1997), the district court would be obligated to proceed to judgment on his underlying claim, namely, that his plea was coerced, because his original petition contains facts that, if proved, would allow him to withdraw that plea. See Blackledge v. Allison, 431 U.S. 63, 97 S.Ct. 1621, 52 L.Ed.2d 136 (1977).
For the reasons indicated, I respectfully dissent.
FLOYD R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I join in Judge Morris Arnold’s dissent. I write separately, however, to express some *1358concerns I have which are illustrated by this case. Where a habeas petitioner brings a bona fide gateway claim of actual innocence, accompanied by the proper pleadings and supporting data, it is advisable and appropriate to allow the defendant an evidentiary hearing on the issue. I admit that the majority opinion fairly well sets out that Weeks, in pleading guilty to the crime charged, made some strong statements connecting him to this case, though he did not personally elucidate any actual details of his participation. Weeks claims he pleaded guilty because he was beaten and tortured but that he is, in fact, actually innocent of the crimes to which he pled. This poses a difficult dilemma for me. If Weeks is not guilty, a fundamental miscarriage of justice results if we do not provide him with a hearing to prove his innocence. On the other hand, if he is guilty, by claiming that he is actually innocent, he causes a great abuse of the legal process, and possibly his attorney could be involved in this abuse if he is aware of facts supporting Weeks’s guilt. When such an abuse of the legal process occurs, a habeas petitioner using these tactics should be sanctioned if it is found that his claim of actual innocence has no merit. An appropriate sanction would limit the number of illegitimate claims, while allowing those who are actually innocent to seek redress.
The record in this case, as expressed in the dissent by Judge Morris Arnold, presents some doubts as to Weeks’s guilt. The panel opinion appropriately remanded the case for an evidentiary hearing to resolve these doubts, one way or another. See Weeks v. Bowersox, 106 F.3d 248, 251 (8th Cir.1997) (opinion vacated upon rehearing en banc). I therefore adhere to the original panel opinion and join in Judge Morris Arnold’s dissent.