Grayson v. Fitch

1

BLAYDE GRAYSON, PETITIONER v. LYNN FITCH, Attorney General, State of Mississippi, et al. RESPONDENTS

Civil Action No. 1:04-CV-708-CWR

United States District Court, S.D. Mississippi, Southern Division

March 21, 2024

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CARLTON W. REEVES, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This is a capital habeas case. The Petitioner, Blayde Grayson, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in the Circuit Court of George County, Mississippi. He wants this federal court to issue a Writ of Habeas Corpus that vacates his state-court conviction and sentence. In habeas cases, the standard of review is highly deferential, constraining, and even suffocating. It is a difficult standard to meet. As the Court will explain in more detail below, when reviewing the state court's rulings, it does not matter whether the federal court believes the state court's determinations might have been incorrect. Instead, the federal court determines whether the state court's determinations were unreasonable. For the following reasons, the Court denies Grayson's petition and dismisses this case with prejudice.

I. Background

It was not unusual for Ray Pierce to begin his day early. The morning of May 5, 1996, was just another day. Around 5:00 a.m., Pierce took a walk around his George County property. Trial Record Vol. 7 [153-12], at 22. His mother-in-law Minnie Smith, lived in a house nearby. Id. at 20. During the walk, Pierce noticed that one of Smith's windows was open, and the screen was missing. Id. at 22. Otherwise, nothing appeared to be out of order. Id. at 23. He checked her front door, to see if there was any indication that she was awake, but he concluded that she was still asleep and returned home. Id. at 22-23. It was early.

Pierce then stuck to his routine on this Sunday morning. He left home to pick up a newspaper and some breakfast. Id. at 23. When he returned to Smith's home, his typical day turned into a nightmare. There was still no indication that Smith was awake. Id. at 23. Pierce went to Smith's bedroom window and called for her, but she did not answer. Id. at 23-24. He walked around to the back of the house and noticed that the door onto a small back porch - which Smith typically kept latched - was open. Id. at 24. Pierce also noticed that the door which led from the porch into Smith's kitchen was open. Id. That was unusual, as she typically locked that door with a deadbolt. Id.

Pierce entered the house to investigate, and he found Minnie Smith's lifeless body lying on her bed with a bloody quilt over her head. He pulled back the quilt and found that her head was black from an apparent beating, and she had a gash on her neck. Id. at 24-26. She was dead. He and his wife called the authorities.

Elaine Pierce - Smith's daughter - had seen her 78-year-old mother the night before, and she was in generally good health for her age. Trial Record Vol 6 [153-11], at 133-34. On the morning Pierce and her husband discovered that Smith had been murdered, a wheelbarrow had been pushed under the open window on Smith's home, and there were tire tracks leading to the back porch. Id. at 137, 142. They could not find the missing screen. Id. at 138. Elaine Pierce also testified that Smith's purse, a pocket watch that had belonged to her father, a shotgun, a flashlight, a lantern, and a kitchen knife were missing from the house. Id. at 143. A couple of days earlier, Pierce had taken her mother to the bank to cash a social security check, and there was over $200.00 in Smith's purse at the time of the murder. Id. at 150-51.

Paramedics arrived and confirmed that Smith was dead. According to the autopsy report,^[1]Smith suffered thirty stab wounds, six slashing wounds, and blunt force trauma to the head. Trial Record Vol. 8 [153-13], at 123, 138, 140; PCR Record Vol. 1 [154-1], at 58, 66. The medical examiner, Dr. Stephen Hayne, testified that the stab wounds were made by a blade about two inches long, and he confirmed that the kitchen knife which was stolen from Smith's house fit the criteria. Trial Record Vol. 8 [153-13], at 143-44. Hayne testified that Smith's first injury was the blunt force trauma to the head, which caused significant bleeding over the surface of the brain and could have caused her death over time. Id. at 142, 147. Most of the stabbing and slashing wounds were likely inflicted after the head injury, and they were primarily on her face and neck, although there were some defensive wounds to her hands and arms. Id. at 128-131, 135, 147. Hayne testified that two stab wounds to Smith's chest killed her. Id. at 136-37. One cut through her trachea and carotid artery; another cut through her lung and struck her heart. Id. Hayne estimated that the total time of the attack was less than twenty minutes, and that Smith would have been conscious for at least part of that time, given the defensive wounds on her hands and arms. Id. at 131, 136, 147, 149. He said that while she was conscious, she suffered “considerable pain.” Id. at 146, 148.

Local law enforcement officers, assisted by the State Crime Lab, began their investigation. Trial Record Vol. 7 [153-12], at 53. They took blood samples from several locations in the house, including the bathroom. Id. at 114-23. They also took fingerprints, as well as photographs of tire tracks and shoe impressions from outside the house. Id. at 123-29. After interviewing several people in the area, officers settled on the Petitioner, Blayde Grayson, as a suspect. Id. at 65-66, 95.

Grayson grew up about a quarter of a mile from Minnie Smith, where he lived with his mother and stepfather. Trial Record Vol. 10 [153-15], at 52, 57. The Smith and Grayson families were well-acquainted and friendly with each other. Id. at 58; Exhibit 9 to Petition [8-2], at 27, 33-34. Grayson began having disciplinary problems as a teenager. Trial Record Vol. 10 [153-15], at 54. He started using marijuana when he was thirteen or fourteen, and by the time he was seventeen he graduated to using crystal meth and cocaine. Id. at 54; Trial Record Vol. 9 [153-14], at 30, 33-34; Exhibit 35 to Petition [8-2], at 137; Exhibit 37 to Petition [8-2], at 147; Exhibit 51 to Petition [8-2], at 189-90. The drugs made him a different person according to some, Exhibit 35 to Petition [8-2], at 137, and Grayson began breaking into homes while under the influence. Trial Record Vol. 9 [153-14], at 31, 34; Exhibit 36 to Petition [8-2], at 142.

In August 1995 - approximately nine months before the murder - he pleaded guilty to grand larceny and knowingly receiving stolen property and was sentenced to the Pascagoula Restitution Center. Trial Record Vol 9 [153-14], at 31; Exhibit 12 to Petition [8-2], at 66-67.

In January 1996 - before he completed his sentence - he left the Restitution Center and traveled to Florida. A warrant was issued for his arrest. Successive PCR Record Vol. 2 [69-2], at 107; Exhibit 2 to Petition [8-2], at 5-6; Exhibit 37 to Petition [8-2], at 148. While in Florida, Grayson met Jason Kilpatrick and moved in with him near Pensacola. Exhibit 55 to Petition [8-2], at 201-02; Trial Record Vol. 8 [155-13], at 9. From January 1996 to May 1996, Grayson and Kilpatrick were active drug users, and they committed at least three armed robberies together. Exhibit 55 to Petition [8-2], at 201-02; Trial Record Vol. 9 [153-14], at 44; Trial Record Vol. 4 [153-9], at 46. On May 4, 1996 - the night of the murder - Grayson and Kilpatrick traveled to George County, Mississippi, ostensibly to visit Grayson's grandparents. Exhibit 10 to Petition [8-2], at 37, 41.

After their initial investigation led to Grayson as a suspect, law enforcement officers learned that he had been living in Escambia County, Florida. Trial Record Vol. 7 [153-12], at 65-55. They notified law enforcement in that area that they were looking for Grayson in connection with a murder. Id.; Trial Record Vol. 4 [153-9], at 46. On May 17, 1996, Escambia County authorities took Grayson and Kilpatrick into custody after a SWAT team stand-off at Grayson's girlfriend's trailer, and they contacted George County that they had Grayson in custody. Trial Record Vol. 9 [15314], at 40; Trial Record Vol. 4 [153-9], at 60. After the Florida officers questioned Grayson about the series of armed robberies he and Kilpatrick had committed, he expressed a desire to talk about “other crimes going on.” Trial Record Vol. 4 [153-9], at 54. Accordingly, George County Sheriff George Miller traveled to Florida with Al Hillman, a Sheriff's Department investigator, and Houston Dorr, a Mississippi Highway Patrol (“MHP”) investigator. Trial Record Vol. 7 [153-12], at 66; Trial Record Vol. 8 [153-13], at 31.

While the Mississippi officers were in Florida, they recovered a twelve-gauge shotgun, a small knife, a flashlight, and a lantern from Grayson's girlfriend's trailer. These four items were later identified by the Pierces as having been taken from Minnie Smith's house. Trial Record Vol. 8 [153-13], at 31; Trial Record Vol. 7 [15312], at 66-72, 84-85; Trial Record Vol. 6 [153-11], at 145-49. The officers also retrieved the vehicle that Grayson had driven to Mississippi. Trial Record Vol. 7 [153-12], at 72-74. A crime lab technician took impressions of the tire tracks and footprints left at the murder scene, but the State's forensic scientist was unable to make a definitive identification. Id. at 127, 131, 138-143. The technician also took fingerprints from the crime scene, but they did not match Grayson's or Kilpatrick's. Trial Record Vol. 8 [153-13], at 106-07.

When the Mississippi officers arrived in Florida, they attempted to interview Grayson because the Florida officers had said he wanted to talk. Trial Record Vol. 4 [153-9], at 26, 50, 54. The Mississippi officers gave...