Leonard v. Gittere

686 F.Supp.3d 1083

William Bryon LEONARD, Petitioner, v. William GITTERE, et al., Respondents.

Case No. 2:99-cv-00360-MMD-DJA

United States District Court, D. Nevada

Signed August 10, 2023

Megan Hopper-Rebegea, Federal Public Defender, Las Vegas, NV, for Petitioner.

Heather D. Procter, Charles Lawrence Finlayson, Matthew S. Johnson, Nevada Attorney General's Office Bureau of Criminal Justice, Carson City, NV, Katrina Lopez, Nevada Attorney General's Office, Las Vegas, NV, for Respondents Adam Paul Laxalt, William Gittere.

ORDER

MIRANDA M. DU, CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

I. SUMMARY

Petitioner William Bryon Leonard was sentenced in Nevada state court to death after being found guilty of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, battery with the use of a deadly weapon by a prisoner, and possession of a dangerous weapon by a prisoner. (ECF No. 156-1.) This matter is before the Court for adjudication of the merits of the remaining grounds in Leonard's counseled amended petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 ("the Petition"), which allege that Leonard's trial counsel were ineffective at the guilt and penalty phases of his trial, trial counsel had a conflict of interest, there were excessive security measures at his trial, the prosecutor committed misconduct, a penalty phase jury instruction was erroneous, the trial judge was biased, appellate counsel was ineffective, and there were cumulative errors. (ECF No. 138, 184.)¹ For the reasons discussed below, the Court (1) grants the Petition as to grounds 3(a)(2) and 3(f)(3), vacating Leonard's death sentence due to his counsel's ineffectiveness during the penalty phase of the trial, (2) denies the Petition as to the remaining grounds, determining that Leonard is not entitled to a new trial, (3) grants a certificate of appealability for grounds 1(a), 2, and 1(d)(2), and (4) denies a certificate of appealability as to the remaining grounds.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Factual background²

1. Guilt phase

Leonard was found to have killed another inmate, Joseph Wright, at Nevada State Prison in Carson City Nevada.

Correctional Officer ("C/O") Leonard Bascus testified that on the evening of October 22, 1987, he was working as a "shower officer" in Unit 7 of D Wing at Nevada State Prison. (ECF No.154-29 at 14, 17-18, 20, 23.) Joseph Wright, the wing porter, showered first, and then the other inmates showered one-by-one based on a schedule—known to the inmates—that would rotate daily. (Id. at 24-25, 31.) Leonard was the last inmate to shower in D Wing that evening, coming out of his cell at 8:00 p.m. (Id. at 34.)

After C/O Bascus let Leonard out of his cell, C/O Bascus went to C Wing to pick up some cleaning supplies. (Id. at 34-35.) C/O Bascus got stuck in C Wing for approximately 10 to 15 minutes because the control officer, Senior C/O Thomas Edwards, was using the restroom and unable to let C/O Bascus out of C Wing.³ (Id. at 35, 40.) C/O Bascus went back to D Wing to lock Leonard in his cell. (Id. at 40.) C/O Bascus went to the shower, and, not seeing Leonard in the shower area, yelled for Leonard to "lock up." (Id. at 40-42.) Although C/O Bascus did not see Leonard enter his cell, C/O Bascus "walk[ed] out the first door [to] get back by the control box" and shut Leonard's cell door. (Id. at 42-43.) C/O Bascus then unlocked Wright's door from the control box because it was time for him to perform his porter duties. (Id. at 45.)

Hypothesizing that Leonard hid behind a trash can in the wing hallway so that he would not be seen, C/O Bascus testified that he looked through a window and "saw inmate Leonard running towards inmate Wright's cell." (Id. at 46.) Leonard "was running as fast as he could." (Id. at 46.) C/O Bascus tried to close "Wright's door as fast as [he] could," but "Leonard just barely made it in there" before it shut. (Id. at 47.) C/O Bascus never saw Wright out in the hallway and did not see anything in Leonard's hands. (Id. at 48.) C/O Bascus heard "banging around" and "struggling like somebody was fighting in the cell." (Id. at 49-50.)

After "at least a minute or two" and after reopening Wright's door, C/O Bascus saw Wright backing out of his cell with his fists up and blood on his right leg and right arm. (Id. at 51-53.) Leonard rushed out of Wright's cell and tackled Wright in the middle of the hallway. (Id. at 53.) At that point, C/O Bascus ran to his supervisor, Senior C/O Edwards, in the control room to inform him about the fight and the need for a nurse. (Id. at 53.) C/O Bascus then ran back to watch what was happening with Wright and Leonard. (Id. at 54.)

C/O Bascus saw Wright and Leonard on their knees with "their arms around each other's heads." (Id. at 55.) "Wright had his left arm up over inmate Leonard's neck, and . . . inmate Leonard's right arm was underneath inmate Wright's left arm, up over inmate Wright's back and neck." (Id. at 56.) Wright and Leonard where in that position "for about almost a minute," and then "Leonard got up and he went right into his cell." (Id. at 57.) As Leonard was walking back to his cell, C/O Bascus heard him say, " '[w]ell, a little bit longer and I would have killed him.' " (Id. at 58.) Wright was "still on his knees, kind of slouched on his knees." (Id. at 59.) Soon thereafter, Lieutenant Budge and other officers entered the wing, at which point Wright was laying on the floor. (Id. at 59-60.)

C/O Gary Jackson was one of the officers to respond to the wing "and observed [Wright] laying on his side against the door, not moving at all" and Leonard "washing blood off his arms and his hands." (ECF No. 154-29 at 113, 115, 117, 122.) About a half hour after the incident, C/O Jackson made eye contact with Leonard, and Leonard looked "[j]ust like he always does, just normal." (Id. at 122-23.) Associate Warden of Operations of Nevada State Prison, Harry Koon testified that he saw Leonard in his cell after the incident and Leonard "[a]ppeared to be very calm, very relaxed." (ECF No. 154-29 at 134, 139.) Nurse Lula Spencer testified that Leonard had scratches on his arm following the incident. (ECF No. 154-35 at 54-55.)

C/O Anthony Caito testified that he searched the cell of Donald Hill, another inmate who resided in D Wing, after the incident with Leonard and Wright and found two "inmate-made weapons" that were "inside a pair of black shoes." (ECF No. 154-29 at 194, 198.) Hill was also observed "yelling and hollering and singing" after the incident, and Frank Armijo, another inmate who resided in the same wing, "was more or less celebrating" by singing " 'Another One Bites the Dust' and 'Wipeout.' " (Id. at 124-25.) Hill and Armijo were both interviewed following the incident and stated that they did not see the fight, know anything about the fight, or hear the fight. (ECF No. 155-11 at 67-68.)

Leon Leet, a maintenance plumber at Nevada State Prison, testified that less than two days after the incident, on October 24, 1987, he was called to Unit 7 to look for a weapon. (ECF No. 154-29 at 150-52.) Leet was unable to find anything in the toilets and used a snake to see if there was anything in the sewer lines. (Id. at 154-55.) Leet found the following object in a sewer line: "a piece of metal, approximately eight to ten inches long, about an inch wide, and possibly a 16th of an inch thick with a notch in it" that was sharpened to a point and "was bent at a nearly 90-degree angle." (Id. at 165, 168.) Leet testified that the object came from the north side of D Wing or the south side of C Wing, meaning it could have come from 10 cells. (Id. at 167-68.) Correctional Case Worker Specialist James Baca testified that after the incident, he noticed that the legal lockers in the unit had flexible legs that were "not really attached," observing that those locker legs appeared to be the same material as the object found by Leet in the sewer line. (ECF No. 154-35 at 60, 72.)

In his defense, Leonard presented the testimony of Armijo. Armijo testified that Wright had made a homosexual advance at him, and when Armijo turned Wright down, Wright threatened to kill Armijo. (ECF No. 155-7 at 18.) Armijo testified that Leonard knew about Wright's homosexual advances towards Armijo, and Wright threatened that he would kill Leonard if Leonard did not mind his own business. (Id. at 19-20.) On the evening in question, Armijo testified that Leonard was in the wing hallway talking to Hill, and even though he never heard anyone tell Leonard to "lock up," he saw Wright's cell door open. (Id. at 4, 12-13.) Wright came out of his cell holding a shank, and Hill warned Leonard to look out. (Id. at 14.) Wright rushed at Leonard, but Leonard blocked him and pushed him back into his cell. (Id. at 15.) Wright's door then shut. (Id.) Wright and Leonard were in Wright's cell for a minute, and then Leonard came out "and Wright came out after him to try to grab him by the hair and pulled him back in." (Id. at 16.) Wright and Leonard then continued to fight in the hallway. (Id. at 17.) Armijo testified that the shank used in the fight could have been slipped under a cell doorway because there is a small space under the cell doors which the inmates commonly use to slide items back and forth to other inmates. (Id. at 44, 47-48.)

Hill also testified for the defense. Hill testified that he saw Wright take the legal locker into his cell to remove its metal legs and that Wright sold him a shank a month or two before the killing. (ECF No. 155-7 at 55, 58, 63.) Later, a few days before the killing, Wright had jumped Hill on the yard. (Id. at 60.) Hill had warned Leonard to be careful of Wright because Wright was a homosexual, dangerous, and had previously raped another inmate. (Id. at 66-67.)

On the night in question, Hill testified that Leonard was using the remainder of his shower time to talk to Hill outside of Hill's cell door. (Id. at 73.) Leonard's cell door then closed, and Wright's cell door opened. (Id.) Wright came out of his cell with a...