Court Opinion

ID: 9497044
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:42:13.730294+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:58.475017
License: Public Domain

MICHAEL DALY HAWKINS, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
A two-year old child tragically dies. The mother and her boyfriend, Armando Castillo (“Castillo”), are separately alone *891with the child when the fatal injuries occur. The medical evidence, sparse as it is, could be used to support a case against either. Law enforcement, convinced Castillo is responsible, conduct an in-custody interrogation of him which is captured on videotape. The lead detective, attempting to extract a confession,1 repeatedly accuses Castillo of the crime and tells Castillo that he knows he is lying because the medical evidence is entirely inconsistent with Castillo’s version of events. The tape also shows Castillo being patted down and asking for a lawyer. Throughout, the detective’s pointed questions are laced with accusations that are simply not true:
The bottom line is, is that he had a brain injury .... That could have only happened while he was with you.... The injury has been narrowed down[to occurring] during the time that you had him.... [The injury] was so acute that it had to happen within maybe a two hour period.... And you were the only one that was with him.... And that injury is consistent with either being shaken very hard or thrown down ... or something to that effect that would of caused ... his brain to bleed.... That’s all scientifically proved at this point.
When the prosecution proposes the use of the entire videotape as evidence, Castillo’s counsel objects. In the mistaken belief that he has reviewed the tape in advance, an experienced and thoughtful trial judge allows the tape, false accusations and all, to be played to the jury. . When he realizes his mistake, the judge is obviously embarrassed and chagrined:
In my 19 years on the trial bench, I have never ever admitted a tape like that in evidence. I’m really concerned about it. I actually thought at first that counsel has agreed ahead of time, had exchanged transcripts, ... that there really wasn’t a big objection to admission of these tapes.... I was, therefore, shocked when I started to hear this tape and read some of the things on this, the transcripts. The man invoking his rights was shown to the jury, his arrest, his pat down. I mean I would never have admitted any of this.... I’ve never admitted a tape like this before. Never. Never.... I can’t get over it. This will never hold up if there is any appeal, never in a million years.
The prosecutor relies on the tape’s content in final argument and the jury convicts Castillo. In denying a motion for new trial, the trial judge again admits a serious mistake in admitting the videotape, but nonetheless denies relief on the reasoning that any error from its admission was harmless. The state appellate courts agree and affirm Castillo’s 20-year sentence for child abuse and second degree murder on the basis that no fundamental error occurred at the trial.
My colleagues say we cannot reach the merits because counsel did not properly preserve the issue on appeal, failing to exhaust the federal due process claim in the Arizona state courts.2 I cannot agree. The use of the videotape has been a cen*892tral issue in this appeal from the beginning, and Castillo did reference the violation of his constitutional due process rights in his briefs to the state courts. However labeled, Castillo consistently complained of the use of the videotape in evidence and the correspondingly obvious prejudicial impact. And make no mistake about it, the tape is powerful evidence; so potent that all the curative instructions in the world could not erase its impact. I would, therefore, reach the merits and grant the petition.
I. Procedural Default
My colleagues determine that Castillo did not exhaust his state court remedies. Citing the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Baldwin v. Reese, — U.S. -, 124 S.Ct. 1347, 1350, 158 L.Ed.2d 64 (2004), they note that a state appeals court is not required to read the trial court decision to discover a constitutional issue not pled in the brief s. But where we disagree is precisely over Castillo’s pleadings to the Arizona Court of Appeals, and Baldwin did not change those rules.
To preserve his federal constitutional claim, Castillo was required to specifically apprise the state court that he was making such a claim. See Duncan v. Henry, 513 U.S. 364, 365-66, 115 S.Ct. 887, 130 L.Ed.2d 865 (1995); 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1)(A). He was required to describe to the state court the operative facts concerning his claim and the federal legal theory on which his claim is based — that the admission of the videotape violated his due process right to a fair trial under the Fourteenth Amendment. See Kelly v. Small, 315 F.3d 1063, 1066 (9th Cir.2003), cert. denied, 538 U.S. 1042, 123 S.Ct. 2094, 155 L.Ed.2d 1077 (2003). Castillo had to give the state courts a “fair opportunity to apply controlling legal principles to the facts bearing upon his constitutional claim.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). A general appeal to the broad principle of due process would not have been sufficient for exhaustion purposes, nor would it have been sufficient to only raise a state law claim that was similar to a federal claim. Hiivala v. Wood, 195 F.3d 1098, 1106 (9th Cir.1999); see Duncan, 513 U.S. at 366, 115 S.Ct. 887; Johnson v. Zenon, 88 F.3d 828, 829-31 (9th Cir.1996). But we have more than a general appeal, here, and more than just a state law claim. Although the federal constitutional claim was not well developed, I would hold that it was certainly sufficient to alert the state of Arizona to Castillo’s theory and to adequately raise the issue for exhaustion purposes.
There is no argument that Castillo did describe the facts surrounding the admission of the videotape in his brief to the state appellate court, even if he did so mostly in the context of his state law claims. The question is whether he sufficiently raised the federal constitutional argument.
In Castillo’s state appellate court briefs,3 he argued that he was denied a fair trial in violation of the United States Constitution. Also in that section, he cited three federal cases.4 And in his conclusion, he argued that his Fourteenth Amendment right was violated and that he should be granted a new trial consistent with due process of *893law. Taken together, these three references should have been enough to alert the state court as to the nature and basis of Castillo’s constitutional claims.
To raise the federal legal theory for purposes of exhaustion, Lyons v. Crawford, 232 F.3d 666, 669-70 (9th Cir.2000), as modified by 247 F.3d 904 (9th Cir.2001), requires that a petitioner either reference specific provisions of the federal Constitution or cite to federal case law. Castillo did both. Although it was in his conclusion,5 he referenced his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. Considering that he had also mentioned that he was denied a fair trial in violation of the Constitution in the context of his argument about the videotape,6 he met his burden.
Second, this is even clearer because Castillo cited federal cases. In the context of determining whether the petitioner fairly exhausted his state court remedies, this court in Sandgathe v. Maass, 314 F.3d 371, 378 (9th Cir.2002), noted that a petitioner’s citation of federal constitutional cases “were not at all on point[.]” Still, the court said that “[cjonfused arguments or poor lawyering through inapposite federal citations is not the same as. failing to raise an argument at all.” Id.7 Castillo referenced the federal Constitution and cited to federal cases in the context of his argument that admitting the unredacted videotape of his interrogation violated his right to a fair trial. We cannot ask for perfection — this should be enough.8
The majority relies on Johnson and Hiivala. 88 F.3d at 830-31, 195 F.3d at 1106. In Johnson, the petitioner did not specifically reference the United States Constitution or federal case law. 88 F.3d at 830-31. Similarly, in Hiivala, this court held that the petitioner failed to exhaust his claims when he argued to the state court that the evidence was insufficient to support a state law conviction,- but did not refer to the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution, cite the Fourteenth Amendment, nor cite any federal cases involving the legal standard for a federal constitutional, violation. 195 F.3d at 1106-07. Thus, Hiivala and Johnson are clearly distinguishable from this case, where Castillo did all three.
*894II. Habeas Standard
Because I conclude that Castillo did sufficiently raise the federal due process claim in the Arizona state courts, I turn to the application of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”) standard, where the Arizona state courts did not rule upon Castillo’s federal claim. Typically, when presented with an AED-PA-governed habeas petition on appeal, we would review the state court opinion de novo to determine whether that opinion was “contrary to or involved an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d); Lewis v. Lewis, 321 F.3d 824, 829 (9th Cir.2003). Yet the reasoning of the Arizona courts was based entirely on state law — the state courts did not apply federal law at all.
To comply with federal precedent, however, a state court need not be aware of the precedent, let alone cite it. Early v. Packer, 537 U.S. 3, 8, 123 S.Ct. 362, 154 L.Ed.2d 263 (2002). Instead, federal courts are to examine whether the standard actually applied, in this case state harmless error analysis, is contrary to clearly established Supreme Court precedent. Id. at 11, 123 S.Ct. 362. This court has applied Early in two situations — where the state court administers a reasoned opinion, even if it does not address federal law, and where the state court does not issue a reasoned opinion. See Powell v. Galaza, 328 F.3d 558, 562-63 (9th Cir.2003); Greene v. Lambert, 288 F.3d 1081, 1089 (9th Cir.2002). Clearly the former is applicable here. Although the state appellate court did not discuss federal precedent, it did issue a reasoned opinion on the state law question of fundamental error.9 Thus, under Powell, we must independently examine the record and determine whether the result of the case, regardless of the state law reasoning, is contrary to federal precedent. 328 F.3d at 562-63.
III. Merits
On habeas review under AEDPA, the question is whether the state court’s decision that admission of the videotape was harmless error was “contrary to” clearly established law. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d).10 The writ must be granted if the state court’s decision “applies a rule that contradicts the governing law set forth in [Supreme Court] cases” or if it “confronts facts that are materially indistinguishable from a relevant Supreme Court precedent and arrives at [an opposite] result. ...” Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 405, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000). In this case, the question is whether the state court decision based on harmless error was contrary to Supreme Court precedent.
Under Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 637, 113 S.Ct. 1710, 123 L.Ed.2d 353 (1993), a violation of due process under the United States Constitution occurs when there was an error in admitting the evi*895dence and that error had a substantial effect on the jury’s verdict.
First, it seems clear that the videotape was admitted in error, or at the very-least, parts of it were. The trial judge conceded as much and Arizona does not argue to the contrary, claiming instead that any error in admitting the videotape was harmless. Under the Arizona Rules of Evidence, the interview was irrelevant. Ariz. R. Evid. 401-402; see also Aeiz. R. Evid. 403 (even if the interview was determined to be relevant, it likely should have been excluded under Rule 403, which provides that relevant evidence “may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury....”). At least parts of the interview were also hearsay not subject to any hearsay exceptions.11 See ariz. R. Evid. 801-802.
Second, even if a Federal Rule of Evidence was violated, Brecht holds that to establish a due process violation, the petitioner must show that the improper admission of evidence had “a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s verdict.” 507 U.S. at 637, 113 S.Ct. 1710 (quoting Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 776, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946)).12 The Supreme Court applied the Brecht standard in O’Neal v. McAninch, 513 U.S. 432, 115 S.Ct. 992, 130 L.Ed.2d 947 (1995). In that case, the Court held that where “the record is so evenly balanced that a conscientious judge is in grave doubt as to the harmlessness of an error[J” the court must hold that the error substantially influenced the jury’s decision. Id. at 437, 115 S.Ct. 992. The Court specifically adopted this rule and not the opposite rule, which would deny the writ in cases of grave uncertainty, because the latter rule “would tell judges who believe individuals are quite possibly being held ‘in custody in violation of the Constitution’ that they cannot grant relief.” Id. at 442, 115 S.Ct. 992. Such a rule would be “contrary to the writ’s most basic traditions and purposes.” Id.13
To me, this case presents just that situation. There were no witnesses to this crime, no medical evidence to dispute Castillo’s defense that the child’s mother shook the baby in her panic, and no evidence that the child’s other, non-fatal injuries, were caused by Castillo, other than that Castillo often watched the child.14 This was a case that turned entirely on credibility, and Castillo’s credibility was clearly tarnished by his portrayal as a criminal in the improperly admitted videotape. Although the magistrate judge refers to “overwhelming evidence of [Castillo’s] guilt,” even without the videotape, it is unclear what that overwhelming evidence is.
Arizona argues that this circuit’s opinion in Dubria v. Smith, 224 F.3d 995 (9th Cir.2000) (en banc), is instructive. In that case, a woman was killed by chloroform intoxication. Id. at 999. The defendant had been in the company of the vie-*896tim almost nonstop for days preceding her death. Id. He could not explain how the victim was exposed to chloroform. Id. at 1001. The trial judge allowed into evidence a videotape interview of the defendant by police detectives in which the detectives expressed disbelief in the defendant’s story and elaborated on their theory of the crime. Id. at 1000.
Although Dubria was a pre-AEDPA case, it is instructive, albeit for different reasons than Arizona argues. There, we said that “[v]iewed in its entirety ... the tape and transcript show what the state appellate courts quite properly described as an “unremarkable interview” .... There was nothing in [the detective’s] statements that suggested evidence or theories of the case that were not presented at trial.”15 Id. at 1001. It was for that reason that the videotape admission in Dubria did not amount to a violation of due process.
This case is different. This was certainly anything but an unremarkable interview. The medical evidence presented at trial was extensive. Yet no expert set a time-frame on the child’s death that was narrow enough to preclude Castillo’s theory that the child’s mother had caused his fatal injury. The detective, however, clearly represented in the videotape that the medical analysis did provide such concrete evidence. In the face of confusing medical testimony and a clear statement by law enforcement, it is quite likely that the clear statement had a substantial impact on the jury. In contrast to Dubria, precisely because the videotape did suggest evidence not presented at trial, the improper admission in this case quite probably had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s verdict.
In further contrast to Dubria, any curative statement made by the judge was not sufficient to avoid the injurious effect on the verdict. Given the highly inflammatory content of the tape suggesting that the medical evidence was far more conclusive than it actually was, even with a curative instruction, the injurious effect on the jury’s verdict could not have been mitigated. See United States v. Gillespie, 852 F.2d 475, 479 (9th Cir.1988) (finding under the circumstances that “the trial court’s curative instruction to the jury was not sufficient to obviate the prejudice”); cf. Dubria, 224 F.3d at 1002 (“This is not a case in which the statements at issue are so clearly prejudicial that a curative instruction could not mitigate their effect.”).
Castillo has a viable claim that admission of the videotape violated his right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.16 The state court’s harmless error analysis was contrary to clear Supreme Court precedent in O’Neal v. McAninch, 513 U.S. 432, 115 S.Ct. 992, 130 L.Ed.2d 947 (1995). Specifically, the state court’s analysis “contradicts the governing law” set forth in Brecht and applied in O’Neal, that in the face of important trial errors, *897including constitutional violations, a judge facing grave doubt about whether an error affected a jury must determine that the error had a “substantial and injurious effect” on the jury’s verdict. 513 U.S. at 438, 115 S.Ct. 992.
IY. Conclusion
I would grant the writ and remand for a new trial. The evidence that was admitted was so prejudicial that despite the limiting instructions, the evidence still had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s verdict, particularly considering there was scant other evidence presented of Castillo’s alleged guilt. Under AEDPA, the state court decision was therefore contrary to clearly established federal precedent. Therefore, I respectfully DISSENT.

. Castillo does not confess, rather he repeatedly reasserts his innocence.

. Technically, there is a difference between "failure to exhaust” and "procedural default.” If a "defendant merely fails to exhaust, he may still be able to return to state court to present his claims there.” Sandgathe v. Maass, 314 F.3d 371, 376 (9th Cir.2002). Procedural default connotes that the petitioner would not be able to return to state court. Id. Here, it is clear that Castillo would not be able to return to state court, his state court claims being procedurally barred. Therefore, "procedural default” is the correct term, even though it is at times used interchangeably with "failure to exhaust” in the majority opinion and in this dissent.

. We may examine both Castillo’s briefs to the Arizona Court of Appeals and the Arizona Supreme Court because, with the exception of life-sentence or capital cases, "claims of Arizona state prisoners are exhausted for purposes of federal habeas once the Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled on them.” Swoopes v. Sublett, 196 F.3d 1008, 1010 (9th Cir.1999).

. None of the cases specifically applied to the federal due process claim.

. The majority notes that “citation of a relevant federal constitutional provision in relation to some other claim does not satisfy the exhaustion requirement.” But Castillo did not reference violation of his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights in relation to another specific claim, for instance, as a part of either of his other argument sections. Had he done so, of course the state court should not be charged with assuming that the reference applies to the other arguments. Rather, Castillo's brief only required the court to make a slight inferential step to put together his two references — denial of a fair trial in violation of the U.S. Constitution in the context of his videotape argument and violation of the Fourteenth Amendment in the conclusion.

. I concede that under Hiivala, reference to denial of a fair trial, on its own, would not have been sufficient for exhaustion. 195 F.3d at 1106.

. In Sandgathe, the panel ultimately held that the petitioner exhausted his claims because the state appellate court had addressed the federal issues, despite any arguable weaknesses in petitioner's presentation of the federal issues in his briefs to that court. 314 F.3d at 376-378.

. The majority says that Castillo engaged in "drive-by citation.” Our case law requires citation to federal case law and reference to specific provisions of the federal Constitution. Our case law does not require that the petitioner devote a paragraph or a page or an entire argument section to the federal legal issue. There simply must be a reference to federal law sufficient to put the state court on notice of the claim so that the court can address the issue. The state court, in what should have been careful review of the briefs, certainly had enough to address the federal claim.

. Although fundamental error is an Arizona state law concept, the Arizona Supreme Court has noted that fundamental error “usually, if not always, involves the loss of federal constitutional rights." State v. Gendron, 168 Ariz. 153, 812 P.2d 626, 628 (1991). Still, the mere assertion of fundamental error is not equivalent to an assertion of a federal constitutional claim.

. The statute also allows the federal reviewing court to ask whether the state court decision was an “unreasonable application of” Supreme Court precedent. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). This test is not applicable to Castillo's case, however, because a state court decision only involves an unreasonable application if the state court actually identified the correct governing legal principle, but then misapplied it. See Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 413, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000). Here, the state court did not identify any federal principle at all.

. The government asserts that the interview was admitted in evidence to show "interview technique.”

. O’Neal makes clear that despite the burden of proof seemingly being put on the petitioner, the proper question is — "Do I, the judge, think that the error substantially influenced the jury’s decision?” O’Neal, 513 U.S. at 436, 115 S.Ct. 992.

. Although this decision came before the passage of AEDPA, AEDPA does not change . these basic policy considerations.

. Castillo's testimony suggested that the child’s biological father may have harmed the child when the child visited the father and also that some of the injuries may have been caused by rough play between the child and Castillo’s older children.

. The California Court of Appeal had stated:
There is no doubt the officers were accusatory and suggested in a variety of ways they did not believe appellant. The jury would certainly understand this to be the police position and would give to it no more weight than they would the fact appellant was charged by the prosecutor with murder or that the prosecutor clearly also disbelieved appellant.... The officers' comments, however, suggested no more than what the People proposed to prove at trial. There was nothing particularly damning in the officers’ statements or suggestions of evidence or theories that the People did not present or offer at trial.
Dubria, 224 F.3d at 1001 n. 2.

. No state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." U.S. Const. Am. 14.