Lewis v. Comm'r of Corr.

975 F.Supp.2d 169

Scott T. LEWIS, Petitioner,

v.COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTION, Respondent.

No. 3:03–CV–196 (CSH).

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

Dec. 16, 2013.

Brett Dignam, Elora Mukherjee, Morningside Heights Legal Services, Inc., Emily Washington, New Orleans, LA, for Petitioner.

Joanne Sulik, Michael A. Gailor, Steven M. Lesko, Office of Chief State's Attorney–Rkyhll, Civil Litigation Bureau, Rocky Hill, CT, for Respondent.

RULING ON PETITION FOR HABEAS CORPUS

HAIGHT, Senior District Judge:

In this habeas corpus action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, Petitioner contends that he is being held in the custody of Respondent Connecticut Commissioner of Corrections in violation of the United States Constitution. Following an evidentiary hearing conducted by this Court, and written and oral submissions by counsel for the parties, the Court enters this Ruling.¹

I. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

In the early morning hours of October 11, 1990, Ricardo Turner and Lamont Fields were shot and killed while inside their apartment on the second floor of a building at 634 Howard Avenue, New Haven, Connecticut. Petitioner Scott Talmadje Lewis and another individual, Stefon Morant, were charged by the State of Connecticut with murder and felony murder in connection with the deaths of Turner and Fields.

Morant and Lewis were tried separately on these charges. Morant was tried first, and on June 8, 1994, following a trial in the Connecticut Superior Court for the Judicial District of New Haven before Judge Hadden and a jury, he was convicted of two felony murder counts in violation of Conn. Gen.Stat. § 53a–54c.² Lewis was convicted in that court on May 10, 1995, following a trial before Judge Ripley and a jury. Lewis was sentenced to 120 years of imprisonment in a Connecticut penal institution, which he is now serving. On direct appeal, the Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed Lewis's convictions for the murders of Turner and Fields, while vacating his felony murder convictions on double jeopardy grounds. See State v. Lewis, 245 Conn. 779, 717 A.2d 1140 (1998). Lewis twice sought habeas corpus relief from the Connecticut courts, without success. See Lewis v. Comm'r of Correction, 73 Conn.App. 597, 808 A.2d 1164 (2002), cert. denied,262 Conn. 938, 815 A.2d 137 (2003); Lewis v. Warden, No. CV064001783S, 2008 WL 544579 (Conn.Super.Ct. Feb. 5, 2008), appeal dismissed,116 Conn.App. 400, 975 A.2d 740 (2009), cert. denied,294 Conn. 908, 982 A.2d 1082 (2009).

Lewis is now before this United States District Court, as a petitioner for habeas corpus relief pursuant to the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Lewis contends that the State denied his constitutional right to a fair trial when, during the trial in New Haven resulting in his conviction, the State violated Lewis's right to due process of law when it suppressed exculpatory and impeachment information that was material to his conviction; sponsored perjurious testimony of a key prosecution witness; and denied Lewis the right to present a defense of third-party culpability. After extensive motion practice and prior Rulings by the Court, familiarity with which is assumed, the Court held an evidentiary hearing which began on June 3 and ended June 12, 2013. Able and energetic counsel for the parties filed compendious post-hearing briefs on August 7, 2013 [Doc. 276 & 277], and presented oral arguments on August 27, 2013. Counsel's oral submissions were neither limited in time by the Court nor restrained in content by counsel. The resulting arguments and colloquies cover 156 pages of the Hearing Transcript.

This Ruling decides the merits of Lewis's federal habeas corpus petition. While this was not a bench trial, which would be governed by Rule 52(a)(1), Fed.R.Civ.P., I will from time to time adopt that Rule's practice and state Findings of Fact separately from Conclusions of Law.

II. LEGAL STANDARDS

A. Substantive Law

Petitioner Lewis invokes the provisions of the AEDPA. Under AEDPA, federal habeas relief is available when a “person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court ... is in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a). A federal habeas court may grant habeas relief “with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings” only if the state decision was “contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States;” or “was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1)-(2).

This substantive limitation § 2254(d) places upon a federal court's power to give habeas relief to a state prisoner is frequently referred to as “AEDPA deference.” See, e.g., Cullen v. Pinholster, ––– U.S. ––––, 131 S.Ct. 1388, 1410–11, 179 L.Ed.2d 557 (2011); Miller–El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 341, 123 S.Ct. 1029, 154 L.Ed.2d 931 (2003). In addition, a federal habeas court must presume all state court factual determinations to be correct, unless the petitioner rebuts the findings by clear and convincing evidence. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1). AEDPA's deferential review applies whenever a state court disposes of a state prisoner's federal claims on the merits, regardless of whether it gives reasons for its determination or refers to federal law in its decision. Harrington v. Richter, ––– U.S. ––––, 131 S.Ct. 770, 785, 178 L.Ed.2d 624 (2011); Sellan v. Kuhlman, 261 F.3d 303, 312 (2d Cir.2001).

The Supreme Court has interpreted the phrase “clearly established [f]ederal law” to mean “the holdings, as opposed to the dicta, of [the Supreme] Court's decisions as of the time of the relevant state-court decision.” Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 412, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000); see also Gilchrist v. O'Keefe, 260 F.3d 87, 93 (2d Cir.2001). A decision is “contrary to” clearly established federal law if “the state court arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by [the Supreme] Court on a question of law or if the state court decides a case differently than [the Supreme] Court has on a set of materially indistinguishable facts.” Williams, 529 U.S. at 413, 120 S.Ct. 1495. A decision is an “unreasonable application” of clearly established federal law if a state court “identifies the correct governing legal principle from [the Supreme] Court's decisions but unreasonably applies that principle to the facts of [a] prisoner's case.” Id. Elaborating on the “unreasonable application” standard, the Supreme Court has held that a habeas court may only “issue the writ in cases where there is no possibility fairminded jurists could disagree that the state court's decision conflicts with [the Supreme] Court's precedents.” Harrington, 131 S.Ct. at 786.

B. Procedural Law

Because Petitioner Lewis is in custody pursuant to the judgment of the State of Connecticut, 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) governs the procedure to be followed in this federal habeas case.

To reiterate: § 2254(d) precludes federal habeas relief with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless Lewis satisfies one of two predicates: a State court decision was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, established federal law, § 2254(d)(1), or was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding, § 2254(d)(2). Only if Lewis establishes one of these predicates is this Court authorized to consider the ultimate question posed by § 2254(a): whether Lewis is in custody in violation of the United States Constitution or laws. Under either § 2254(d) predicate, a determination of a factual issue by a State court is presumed to be correct, and a petitioner has the burden of rebutting the presumption by clear and convincing evidence. Id., § 2254(e)(1).

This Court conducted an evidentiary hearing in this case. Rule 8 of the “Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases” provides that “[i]f the petition is not dismissed,” the district judge must review the record “to determine whether an evidentiary hearing is warranted.” I held that a hearing was warranted in this case, for reasons stated in a prior Ruling and not here repeated.

In consequence, the present record in the case consists of two bodies of evidentiary material: (1) evidence generated during those State court proceedings which gives rise to the habeas claims asserted in the petition; and (2) evidence generated during the federal habeas proceeding. The question therefore arises as to when and how the district court should consider those two bodies of evidence in undertaking the two-stage analysis required by § 2254: first, determining whether a petitioner has established one of the prerequisites under § 2254(d); and second, deciding whether petitioner has shown an entitlement to habeas relief under § 2254(a). Whatever doubt may have surrounded that question was resolved by the Supreme Court's decision in Pinholster, 131 S.Ct. at 1398, which clarified that the Court's “review under § 2254(d)(1) is limited to the record that was before the state court that adjudicated the claim on the merits.”

While Pinholster makes it clear that additional or new evidence adduced at a federal habeas hearing cannot be considered by the federal court in a § 2254(d)(2) analysis, the Court elected not to decide “whether § 2254(e)(2) prohibited the District Court from holding the evidentiary hearing or whether a district court may ever choose to hold an evidentiary hearing before it determines that § 2254(d) has been satisfied.” 131 S.Ct. at 1411 n. 20. Subsequent to Pinholster, in Lopez v. Miller, 906 F.Supp.2d 42 (E.D.N.Y.2012), Judge Garaufis observed in a thoughtful and comprehensive opinion that “no authority prevents this court from holding an evidentiary hearing before making a §...