Court Opinion

ID: 9499689
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:55:25.851525+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:40.319067
License: Public Domain

R. GUY COLE, Jr., Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree with the majority’s conclusion that (1) the trial court did not improperly instruct the jury that it had to unanimously find any mitigating factors in sentencing Henley; (2) the prosecutor did not improperly appeal to the jury to “send a message” as a reason for sentencing Henley to death; (3) the prosecutor did not improperly vouch for the testimony of Henley’s accomplice, Terry Flatt; and (4) Henley procedurally defaulted on his claim that Flatt falsely testified in exchange for an assurance of early release from prison. I write separately because I disagree with the majority’s disposition of Henley’s due-process challenge to the selection of his grand-jury foreperson and his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim.
The majority concludes that Henley’s due-process claim, alleging that women were underrepresented in the selection of his grand-jury foreperson, fails because Campbell v. Louisiana, 523 U.S. 392, 118 S.Ct. 1419, 140 L.Ed.2d 551 (1998), announced a new rale of constitutional law. Campbell, however, does not announce a new rule but rather is dictated by the Supreme Court’s prior decisions in Peters v. Kiff, 407 U.S. 493, 92 S.Ct. 2163, 33 L.Ed.2d 83 (1972) (plurality opinion), and Hobby v. United States, 468 U.S. 339, 104 S.Ct. 3093, 82 L.Ed.2d 260 (1984). Moreover, the majority’s conclusion that it was not unreasonable for the Tennessee Supreme Court to conclude that Henley was not prejudiced by his trial counsel’s deficient performance is incorrect. Henley has shown that his trial counsel’s performance was both deficient and prejudicial under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). Accordingly, because I would grant Henley habeas relief on his ineffective-assistanee-of-counsel claim and would grant Henley an evidentiary hearing on his due-process challenge, I respectfully dissent.
A. Due-Process Challenge To The Selection Of Henley’s Grand-Jury Foreperson
Henley asserts a due-process challenge to the systematic exclusion of women, in Jackson County, Tennessee, from the position of grand-jury foreperson. The Ten*392nessee Court of Criminal Appeals determined that Campbell declared a new rule, and the court therefore concluded that Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288, 109 S.Ct. 1060, 103 L.Ed.2d 334 (1989), barred retroactive application of Campbell to Henley’s claim. Both the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and the majority erred in concluding that Campbell declared a new rule.
A conclusion that Campbell is dictated by precedent (and therefore does not announce a new rule of constitutional law) is supported by the Supreme Court’s prior decisions in Peters, Hobby, Rose v. Mitchell, 443 U.S. 545, 99 S.Ct. 2993, 61 L.Ed.2d 739 (1979), and Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 113 L.Ed.2d 411 (1991). In the cases leading up to Campbell, the Supreme Court repeatedly stressed its concern that discrimination, such as the kind complained of by Henley, hurts all defendants regardless of their race or gender and undermines the fair administration of justice.
In Peters, for instance, where a white defendant claimed that his due-process rights were violated because blacks were systematically excluded from both the grand jury that indicted him and the petit jury that convicted him, the Court explained that the exclusion of blacks “from jury service injures not only defendants, but also other members of the excluded class: it denies the class of potential jurors the ‘privilege of participating equally ... in the administration of justice,’ and it stigmatizes the whole class ... by declaring them unfit for jury service and thereby putting ‘a brand upon them, affixed by law, an assertion of their inferiority.’ ” 407 U.S. at 499, 92 S.Ct. 2163 (quoting Strauder v. West Virginia, 100 U.S. 303, 308, 25 L.Ed. 664 (1879)).
The Court’s concern with the integrity of the judicial system was also apparent in its decision in Rose. In Rose, as in Peters, the Court expressed its concern that “[selection of members of a grand jury because they are of one race and not another destroys the appearance of justice and thereby casts doubt on the integrity of the judicial process.” Rose, 443 U.S. at 555-56, 99 S.Ct. 2993. Rose held that two black defendants could bring an equal-protection challenge to their convictions based on racial discrimination in the selection of the Tennessee grand jury and grand-jury foreperson that indicted them for murder. In addressing the harm caused by such discrimination, the Court stated that
[t]he harm [from discrimination] is not only to the accused, indicted as he is by a jury from which a segment of the community is excluded. It is to society as a whole. The injury is not limited to the defendant — there is injury to the jury system, to the law as an institution, to the community at large, and to the democratic ideal reflected in the processes of our courts.
Id. (quoting Ballard v. United States, 329 U.S. 187, 195, 67 S.Ct. 261, 91 L.Ed. 181 (1946)) (internal quotation marks omitted) (emphasis added).
In Powers, the Court held that Powers, a white, male defendant, had standing to raise an equal-protection objection to the prosecutor’s allegedly race-based exercise of peremptory challenges to exclude black prospective jurors. 499 U.S. at 402, 111 S.Ct. 1364. The Court stated that “[t]o bar petitioner’s claim because his race differs from that of the excluded jurors would be to condone the arbitrary exclusion of citizens from the duty, honor, and privilege of jury service.” Id. at 415, 111 S.Ct. 1364. In reaching its conclusion, the Court explained that it was not deviating from past precedent but rather was “once again de-clin[ing] to reverse a course of decisions of long standing directed against racial dis*393crimination in the administration of justice.” Id. (quoting Cassell v. Texas, 339 U.S. 282, 290, 70 S.Ct. 629, 94 L.Ed. 839 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., concurring in judgment)).
In Campbell, the Court reiterated that discrimination based on race “strikes at the fundamental values of our judicial system.” 523 U.S. at 398, 118 S.Ct. 1419 (quoting Rose, 443 U.S. at 556, 99 S.Ct. 2993). The Court in Campbell concluded that a white, male defendant had standing to object to discrimination against blacks in the selection of his grand jury and grand-jury foreperson. In Campbell, the Court again addressed its concern that discrimination in the selection of a grand jury or grand-jury foreperson hinders the fair administration of justice and undermines the integrity of our judicial system — a common thread running through the opinions preceding Campbell.
Further, the decision in Campbell is dictated by the Supreme Court’s decision in Hobby and Peters — the two cases the Court relied on in addressing Campbell’s due-process challenge. In Peters, three justices agreed that a defendant, “whatever his race, ... has standing to challenge the system used to select his grand or petit jury, on the ground that it arbitrarily excludes from service the members of any race, and thereby denies him due process of law.” 407 U.S. at 504, 92 S.Ct. 2163. In Hobby, the Court held that discrimination in the selection of a grand-jury foreperson, when that individual is selected from a properly constituted grand jury, does not violate due process. 468 U.S. at 344, 104 S.Ct. 3093. In Hobby, unlike in Campbell, the duties of the foreperson where only “ministerial.” Id. Although the Court in Hobby assumed without deciding the third-party-standing question 1, the Court in Campbell nonetheless stated that its decision in Hobby “proceeded on the implied assumption that a white defendant had standing to raise a due process objection to discriminatory appointment of a federal grand-jury foreperson.” 523 U.S. at 401, 118 S.Ct. 1419. Thus, the holding in Campbell is nothing more than a logical extension of the Court’s assumption in Hobby, and is consistent with the Court’s prior statements in Rose, Peters, Hobby, and Powers regarding the fair administration of justice. When the Court in Campbell finally concluded that all defendants, regardless of their race or sex, have standing to challenge discrimination against any individual in the selection of their grand or petit jury, the Court did not break new ground. Because Campbell is nothing more than an extension of the Court’s prior precedents, Teague does not bar its retroactive application.
The majority relies on our prior decision in Coe v. Bell, 161 F.3d 320 (6th Cir.1998), to support its conclusion that Campbell was not dictated by precedent. In Coe, however, we did not address whether Campbell declared a new rule because we were not required to do so to dispose of Coe’s due-process claim. Coe’s conviction was final in 1984, before the Supreme Court’s decision in Hobby, Powers, and Campbell. Coe, 161 F.3d at 328. We concluded that Coe did not have third-party standing to bring his due-process claim because we declared that Hobby, decided after Coe’s conviction became final, declared a new rule. Id. at 354. Moreover, statements we made in Coe suggest that Campbell did not announce a new rule. In *394Coe, we stated that “[t]he Campbell Court read Hobby approvingly, as establishing some sort of due-process protection with regard to race.” 161 F.3d at 354. We also stated that “[w]e do not doubt that Hobby and Campbell can be read as extending due-process protection to men challenging the exclusion of women.” Id. These statements support a conclusion that, at a minimum, the Court’s decision in Campbell was dictated by Hobby.
Further support for the conclusion that Campbell does not announce a new rule is found in the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Peterson v. Cain, 302 F.3d 508 (5th Cir.2002) — the only other circuit to have addressed whether Campbell announced a new rule. Carter Paul Peterson’s conviction and sentence became final in 1982. After the Supreme Court’s decision in Campbell, Peterson sought habeas review in federal court, claiming that the selection process for his grand-jury foreperson in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, violated his constitutional due-process and equal-protection rights because the process systematically excluded blacks. The Peterson court concluded that the equal-protection portion of Campbell’s holding was dictated by the Supreme Court’s earlier decisions in Powers and Rose. Id. at 512. According to the Fifth Circuit, “[tjhere is no leap in logic nor a significant difference between Powers and Rose v. Mitchell to Campbell.” Id. at 513. The Peterson court explained that in Campbell
[ojnce again, the Court’s concern is focused on the integrity of the judicial process in the selection of a grand jury foreperson. By applying rules established in prior cases, the Court conducted precisely the same analysis founded in maintaining judicial integrity as in Powers.

Id.

The Fifth Circuit also concluded that the due-process portion of Campbell was dictated by precedent, reasoning that the Court in Campbell only elaborated on the implied assumption the Court made in Hobby. Specifically, the Fifth Circuit noted that in Campbell
the foreperson was selected not merely to conduct ministerial duties, but was also selected to act as a voting member of the grand jury, a vote that directly impacted the defendant. To the extent that such a selection was made discrimi-natorily, it ran afoul of the Hobby implied assumption of due process. The Court’s decision in Campbell was therefore dictated by its opinion in Hobby.
Id. 513-514. In Peterson, the Fifth Circuit did not overlook our decision in Coe. The court noted that this Court “did address the subject [of Campbell ] ... but did not resolve whether Campbell stood for a new rule, under either equal protection or due process prongs.” Id. at 512 n. 3. Further, the Fifth Circuit, in a later unpublished decision, reiterated that the Supreme Court’s decision in Campbell was dictated by the Supreme Court’s earlier decisions in Powers, Rose, Hobby, and Peters. See Crandell v. Warden, Louisiana State Penitentiary, 72 Fed.Appx. 48, 49 (5th Cir. July 11, 2003).
Accordingly, because Campbell did not announce a new rule of constitutional law, but rather was dictated by prior Supreme Court precedent, Campbell can be retroactively applied to Henley’s claim. As a result, the Tennessee Supreme Court’s decision, that Henley lacks standing to bring his due-process claim, is an unreasonable application of Teague. Thus, Henley is entitled to an evidentiary hearing to determine whether his claim, that women where under-represented in the selection of his grand-jury foreperson in Jackson County, Tennessee, from 1974 to 1994, is valid.
*395B. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
The majority also concludes that the Tennessee Supreme Court did not unreasonably apply Strickland when it held that counsel’s alleged errors during the sentencing phase did not prejudice Henley. I disagree and would grant Henley habeas relief on this claim.
I am not alone in my conclusion that Henley’s counsel at sentencing was constitutionally deficient: Three judges on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and two judges on the Tennessee Supreme Court also reached the same conclusion. See Henley v. State, No. 01 C01-9506-CC-00198, 1996 WL 234075, at *10-12, 1996 Tenn.Crim.App. LEXIS 293, at *31-36 (May 9, 1996); Henley v. Tennessee, 960 S.W.2d 572 (Tenn.1997) (Reid, J. & Birch, J., dissenting). At Henley’s post-conviction hearing, Henley presented evidence that although several of his family members would have testified on his behalf at his sentencing hearing, his trial counsel failed to speak to any of them about such a possibility. Henley, 1997 WL 820889, at *11, 1996 Tenn.Crim.App. LEXIS 293, at *32; see also Henley, 960 S.W.2d at 576-77. The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals noted that “[n]o psychological or psychiatric evaluation was done on Henley. ... There is no evidence from [Henley’s attorney’s] file or otherwise that he investigated Henley’s educational background, employment history, or that he spoke with members of the community familiar with Henley.” Henley, 1996 WL 234075, at *12, 1996 Tenn.Crim.App. LEXIS 293, at *35. Further, the evidence that Henley’s attorney did provide at the sentencing hearing was minimal: only Henley and his grandmother, who had already testified at trial, testified in mitigation.
The Supreme Court in Strickland explained that “counsel has a duty to make reasonable investigations or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary.” 466 U.S. at 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052. In a capital case, an attorney has a duty to speak to the defendant’s family about the defendant’s background and about the possibility of them testifying at the sentencing hearing. See Wiggins, 539 U.S. at 524, 123 S.Ct. 2527 (explaining that in a capital case trial counsel must undertake “to discover all reasonably available mitigating evidence and evidence to rebut any aggravating evidence that may be introduced by the prosecutor”) (quoting ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases 11.4.1(C) (1989)); Strickland, 466 U.S. at 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052 (noting that “counsel has a duty to make reasonable investigations”). Moreover, had Henley’s counsel conducted a proper investigation into Henley’s background, it may have revealed other mitigating evidence that could have persuaded just a single juror to sentence Henley to life in prison as opposed to death. Because there is no evidence that Henley’s attorney investigated Henley’s background or spoke to his family members about testifying at Henley’s sentencing hearing, despite their willingness to do so, the performance of Henley’s attorney fell below the standard for “professionally competent assistance” required by Strickland. 466 U.S. at 690, 104 S.Ct. 2052.
Further, trial counsel’s failure to call Henley’s family members to testify coupled with Henley’s mother’s refusal to testify were prejudicial. At Henley’s sentencing hearing, Henley’s trial counsel attempted to call Henley’s mother as a witness. After being called, Mrs. Henley first asked to speak to Henley’s attorney. After a brief recess, Mrs. Henley did not testify and Henley’s attorney instead called Henley’s grandmother to the stand. At his post-conviction hearing, Henley ar*396gued that he was prejudiced because the jurors saw his mother’s refusal to testify. According to Mrs. Henley, she refused to testify at the sentencing hearing because Henley’s attorney had not contacted her about testifying and she did not understand the purpose for her testimony or what she was expected to say. Mrs. Henley did explain that had she been properly prepared she would have testified and her testimony would have been positive. Henley, 960 S.W.2d, at 576. Specifically, Mrs. Henley would have testified “about her son’s life, her love for him, and her belief that he would not have committed the crimes ‘if he was at his right mind.’ ” Id.
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that Henley’s evidence established prejudice resulting from his counsel’s deficient performance: “We do not think it is assuming too much to conclude that a jury is going to be prejudiced against a defendant upon that person’s own mother refusing to testify on his ... behalf.” Henley, 1996 WL 234075, at *11, 1996 Tenn.Crim.App. LEXIS 293, at *32. Because of the special relationship between a mother and child, not having one’s own mother testify on their behalf, when one’s life is at stake, would surely affect a juror’s decision. As to the testimony of Henley’s other family members, the Tennessee Supreme Court concluded that the testimony was weaker than the grandmother’s testimony, because of their limited relationship with Henley, and cumulative of the grandmother’s testimony, because Henley’s other family members would have provided no new insight into Henley’s life. However, having multiple family members plead for a defendant’s life humanizes the defendant and makes it more likely that at least one juror will spare his life. See generally Hardwick v. Crosby, 320 F.3d 1127, 1163 (11th Cir.2003) (explaining that a defendant’s attorney must conduct a proper investigation to “find witnesses to help humanize the defendant, given that a jury has found him guilty of a capital offense”); Mayes v. Gibson, 210 F.3d 1284, 1288 (10th Cir.2000) (noting that “mitigation evidence affords an opportunity to humanize and explain”). In this context, where the defendant is charged with a heinous crime, positive cumulative testimony benefits the defendant because the testimony of several family members all pleading for the defendant’s life has a greater impact on the jury than the testimony of a single individual, regardless of how favorable that person’s testimony is. Thus, had Henley’s trial counsel not been deficient, “there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.” Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Accordingly, because the Tennessee Supreme Court unreasonably applied Strickland, I would grant Henley habeas relief on this claim.

. In Hobby, the Court assumed, but did not decide, that a white, male defendant had standing to challenge discrimination against blacks and women. 468 U.S. at 342, 104 S.Ct. 3093 (explaining that “[i]t is only the narrow question of the remedy that we consider”).