Court Opinion

ID: 9471879
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:43:11.339677+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:37.290529
License: Public Domain

FLOYD R. GIBSON, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. First, I do not believe that a reasonable juror would have failed to understand that the jury instruction, viewed in its entirety, created a permissive inference rather than a mandatory presumption on intent to kill. Sandstrom recognized that a charge containing a “permissive inference” on intent was constitutional. 442 U.S. at 514, 99 S.Ct. at 2454; see also id. at 527, 99 S.Ct. at 2461 (Rehnquist, J. concurring) Indeed, “[ijnferences and presumptions are a staple of our adversary system of fact finding”. County Court of Ulster v. Allen, 442 U.S. 140, 156, 99 *1397S.Ct. 2213, 2224, 60 L.Ed.2d 777 (1979). In finding that the Sandstrom jury instruction contained an impermissible mandatory presumption, the Supreme Court emphasized: “Sandstrom’s jurors were told that ‘[t]he law presumes that a person intends the ordinary consequences of his voluntary act.’ They were not told that they had a choice, or that they might infer that conclusion; they were told only that the law presumed it.” 442 U.S. at 515, 99 S.Ct. at 2454. By contrast, the charge here was replete with language explaining the permissive or un-mandatory nature of the presumption on intent. In all instances, except one, the objectionable presumption of intent language was qualified by the instruction that the presumption “may be rebutted.” No such rebuttal language was present in Sand-strom. See 442 U.S. at 517, 99 S.Ct. at 2455. Furthermore, the jury in this case was also told that intent “may be inferred from the proven circumstances or by acts and conduct, or it may be presumed when it is the natural and necessary consequences of the act.” (emphasis added). And most significantly, the jury was twice told, once at the end of the entire instruction, that “a person shall not be presumed to act with criminal intention, but that the trier of may find such intention upon consideration of the words, conduct, demeanor and all other circumstances ...” (emphasis added). It seems entirely plausible to assume that this all important charge was repeated at the end of the instruction to clarify the permissive nature of the presumption described.
Though the instruction given here is not identical to any other instruction passed upon by the Eleventh Circuit, I believe that, in view of the permissive and clarifying language used, it is more like those found constitutional in Corn v. Zant, 708 F.2d at 558—59, and Lamb v. Jernigen, 683 F.2d at 1339-40, than the one found unconstitutional in Franklin v. Francis, 720 F.2d at 1210-11. However, I would disagree with Franklin if it is interpreted to mean instructions that a presumption “may be rebutted” and that “a person is not presumed to act with criminal intention” are wholly irrelevant to the determination of whether a reasonable juror would view the overall instruction as containing a permissive as opposed to mandatory presumption on intent. I think a “reasonable juror” would evaluate those instructions right along with other instructions directing that intent “may be”, but not “must be” presumed.
A major difficulty I have with the approach taken by the majority is that it sets such an amorphous standard for what “a reasonable juror” would think as to deprive the term “reasonable” of its well understood meaning. I find it incredible that the “reasonable juror” the majority speaks of would even be able to ascertain the critical distinction between an instruction which “mandates” an inference on intent and one which merely “permits” an inference on intent. See Sandstrom, 442 U.S. at 527-28, 99 S.Ct. at 2461 (Rehnquist, J., concurring). Presumably, the majority would agree that the instruction found objectionable here would have been constitutional had the references to “presume” been preceded by the qualifying term “may”. See Franklin v. Francis, 723 F.2d 770 (11th Cir.1984) (per curiam; denying rehearing en banc). I believe that a juror who could seize the significance of this distinction would also recognize the overriding importance of the last and twice given instruction that “a person shall not be presumed to act with criminal intention, but the trier of facts may find such intention upon consideration of words, conduct, demeanor and other circumstances connected with the act for which the accused is prosecuted”.
However, even assuming that the charge given here shifted to the defendant the burden of persuasion on intent, I would agree with the district court that such defect did not prejudice Patterson’s defense. Unlike the defendant in Franklin, whose sole defense was that he lacked the requisite intent to kill, Patterson’s defense primarily focused on his lack of malice rather than his lack of intent. Indeed, Patterson’s strongest defense presented to the jury appeared to be that the killings, even if done intentionally, were committed in self-defense. See Mason 669 F.2d at 227 (“one can *1398shoot to kill in self-defense.”) My conclusion is buttressed by the fact that the jury had before it rather strong evidence demonstrating intent to kill. Specifically, Officer Young was twice shot at point blank range, once in the head and once in the chest; Officer Haralson was shot three times at point blank range, all three shots hitting him in the abdomen. The majority offers that Patterson’s account about a struggle was not overwhelmingly discredited by the state’s ballistic testimony. However, testimony of a struggle would be perfectly consistent with a self-defense justification for what certainly must have appeared to the jury to have been an intentional killing.
I would also reject Patterson’s second argument for reversal, claiming his fair trial and due process rights were violated because blacks were systematically excluded from the jury pool from which the grand and traverse juries that indicted and tried him were drawn. Both the Georgia Supreme Court and the district court declined to rule on the merits of this claim, finding that Patterson procedurally waived his right to challenge the composition of the 1975 grand and traverse jury panels in Crisp County, Georgia, by failing to produce evidence before or at trial that blacks were underrepresented on the jury wheel. Those courts further determined that Patterson had failed to satisfy the “cause and prejudice” standard for excusing that procedural waiver. Francis v. Henderson, 425 U.S. 536, 542, 96 S.Ct. 1708,1711, 48 L.Ed.2d 149 (1976). Patterson now claims he did not waive his right to challenge the jury array; that his objection was timely made, but the trial court denied him the opportunity to substantiate his claim of black underrepre-sentation by overruling his motion for a 90-day continuance. Presumably, the 90-day continuance was needed to hire a statistician to conduct a jury pool study. Patterson urges that the trial court’s denial of his continuance constituted an abuse of discretion, and was so arbitrary and unfair that it violated principles of due process.
In order for the denial of a motion for continuance to constitute an abuse of discretion, the petitioner must demonstrate he was prejudiced from the denial. United States v. Nickerson, 669 F.2d 1016, 1023 (5th Cir. Unit B 1982). That prejudice must be both specific and substantial. United States v. Wuagneux, 683 F.2d 1343, 1355-56 (11th Cir.1982).
The result of the racial composition study presented at Patterson’s state habeas hearing revealed: the general population of Crisp County was 40% black; the grand and traverse jury lists were 24.4% and 18.7% black, respectively. However 22 of 52 prospective jurors (42.3%) on the petitioner’s traverse jury panel were black, and 6 of 12 jurors who actually tried the petitioner were black (appellee at 35).* Therefore, since Patterson was not deprived of his chance to a racially mixed jury, he cannot meet the specific prejudice requirement for relief. See Huffman v. Wainwright, 651 F.2d 347, 350 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981).
I agree with the district court that Patterson’s remaining claims for reversal lack merit. I would therefore affirm the district court’s judgment denying federal habeas corpus relief.

 The actual percentage of blacks on the defendant’s grand jury was not furnished.