Patterson v. Burton

GENARO BRANDELL PATTERSON, Petitioner, v. ROBERT BURTON,¹ Respondent.

No. 2:16-cv-0654 DB P

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

November 18, 2020

ORDER AND FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Petitioner is a state prisoner proceeding through counsel with a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Petitioner challenges his convictions imposed by the Sacramento County Superior Court in 2013 for pimping.² Petitioner alleges ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel. For the reasons set forth below, this court will recommend the petition be denied.

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BACKGROUND

I. Facts Established at Trial

The California Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District provided the following factual summary:

On the morning of November 23, 2012, defendant was driving L.C., a woman in her early twenties, and her toddler son from Elk Grove to Richmond. Enroute, a verbal and physical fight broke out in the car between L.C. and M.Y., another woman in her early twenties, who was riding in the front passenger seat. L.C. called 911 and frantically pleaded for help but was unable to report her location. The line remained open throughout the conflict. Eventually, defendant stopped the car at his niece's home in Sacramento, pulled L.C. out of the car, threw her cell phone over a brick fence, and beat her. L.C. escaped, leaving her son behind. During the investigation that followed, police discovered evidence showing that defendant was a pimp and that L.C. and M.Y., along with another woman, A.R., were prostitutes working for him.

People v. Patterson, No. C075287, 2015 WL 2212222, at *1 (Cal. Ct. App. May 11, 2015) (footnote omitted).

Because petitioner did not raise issues regarding the pimping convictions on appeal, the Court of Appeal did not set out the factual basis for those convictions. This court has reviewed the trial transcript and provides the following overview of the evidence regarding those convictions, the only convictions at issue in petitioner's federal habeas petition.

A. Officers' Testimony at Trial

Lacey C. was the woman who made the 911 call from petitioner's car on November 23, 2012. Later that day, she was treated at a hospital in Elk Grove for human bite wounds. Officer Lindsey Goesch testified that she interviewed Lacey C. on November 23 at the hospital. She testified that Lacey C. told her the following. Lacey C. lived with petitioner, Melissa Y., and a woman named Stephanie. Stephanie and Melissa worked as prostitutes and advertised their services on myredbook.com. Lacey C. directed Goesch to that website if she wanted to contact Stephanie or Melissa Y. (3 RT 761-67.³)

Lacey C. also described the events resulting in her injuries to Goesch. Earlier that day, petitioner, Lacey C, Melissa Y., and Lacey C.'s son were returning to Elk Grove in petitioner's car. Petitioner provoked Melissa Y. to fight Lacey C. Melissa Y. then hit, punched, bit, and scratched Lacey C. Petitioner locked the doors and windows so Lacey C. could not get out of the car. Petitioner then drove to his niece's house and pulled Lacey C. from the car in a "headlock" that was so tight she felt she was going to black out. Lacey C. asked Goesch for an emergency restraining order to protect her from petitioner. (3 RT 767-73.)

Goesch interviewed Lacey C. again the following day. Lacey C. told Goesch that she worked as a prostitute for petitioner, who was her pimp. She also described other women working for petitioner as prostitutes. She told Goesch that petitioner kicked her out of the house on the day after Thanksgiving, November 23, when she told him she no longer wanted to work as one of his prostitutes. (3 RT 773-76.)

Based on the information from Lacey C, officers arrested petitioner the night of November 24, 2012. He was initially charged with kidnapping, child endangerment, and assault. By the time of trial, petitioner was charged with pimping three women: Lacey C, Melissa Y., and Alisandra R.; kidnapping; assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury; robbery; malicious dissuasion of a witness; and obstruction of cell phone use to summon law enforcement.

Detective Mark Bearor testified that Melissa Y. was initially contacted by telephone on November 27, 2012. (2 RT 399). While Melissa Y. denied being in the car with petitioner and Lacey C. on November 23, Bearor testified that she told him petitioner was her pimp and that Lacey C. was an "escort." (2 RT 420-21.)

Officer William Hancock testified that officers contacted Melissa Y. through her phone number and her myredbook.com posting. (3 RT 826-27.) In December 2012, officers took Melissa Y. into custody on an outstanding warrant. Hancock questioned her and she told him that the day before Thanksgiving 2012, she, petitioner, Lacey C, and a woman named Stephanie drove to Oakland. Melissa Y. stated that she engaged in prostitution and gave the money she made to petitioner. (3 RT 828-29.) She told Hancock that Lacey C. had rented room #137 at a Motel 6 in Oakland for that purpose. Melissa Y. did the same in Sacramento on Thanksgiving day and left the money in petitioner's car for him. (3 RT 830.) Melissa Y. identified petitionerto Hancock as her pimp and also as Lacey C.'s pimp. (3 RT 831.)

Felicia Paul testified that she worked at a Motel 6 in Oakland. She gave police a receipt showing that Lacey C. rented room # 137 there on November 21, 2012. (4 RT 1089-90.) Paul also identified a picture of Lacey C. as the woman who had rented the room.

Detective Hancock testified that he investigated petitioner's connections to prostitution and pimping. (3 RT 817.) Prior to working on petitioner's case, he was familiar with the website myredbook.com. (3 RT 821.) Using Lacey C.'s phone number, he was able to locate an ad for her in December 2012. (3 RT 822-23.) He located an ad for Alisandra R. in January 2013 by using her phone number. (3 RT 824-26.) Hancock also testified about internet ads posted for Alisandra R., Lacey C, and Stephanie F. in December 2012 and January 2013 that were seen by the user of a computer found in petitioner's home. (4 RT 933-44.)

Hancock conducted a search of petitioner's residence in January 2013. That search recovered, among other things, a book authored by petitioner entitled "Pimp, the Manuscript, The Game is to Be Sold Not Told." (3 RT 840.) Hancock also seized two cell phones that belonged to Alisandra R. and a third cell phone in petitioner's car that had a number of messages referring to prostitution. (3 RT 842.)

Hancock testified he encountered Lacey C. when he was searching a car petitioner had rented that was parked outside the courthouse. He asked Lacey C. if she worked as a prostitute; she first said "no," and then said "it's only a misdemeanor, and that she saves lives with the services she provides." (3 RT 842-43.)

Hancock also testified about a large number of text messages between Lacey C. and petitioner and between petitioner and others, particularly Alisandra R., which indicated the women were engaging in prostitution and petitioner was their pimp. (3 RT 844-862; 4 RT 880-932.) In one message, petitioner identified his occupations as writing books, publishing books, rapping, and pimping. (3 RT 860.)

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B. Trial Testimony of Lacey C. and Melissa Y.

Lacey C. testified at trial that what she told officers when she was interviewed in November 2012 was "a bunch of lies." (2 RT 541-550; 3 RT 606-16.)

Lacey C. testified that she met petitioner in 2010. (2 RT 445.) She admitted working as a prostitute before that time. (2 RT 447, 457.) She also testified that she had advertised as a prostitute on myredbook.com in the past. (2 RT 457.) However, she consistently denied ever working as a prostitute after she met petitioner. (2 RT 513-14.) Lacey C. testified she did not know petitioner had been previously convicted of pimping. (2 RT 512.) She knew he had been to prison but did not know why. (Id.) When confronted with her arrests for prostitution in 2012, she testified that those were "mistakes" because she was working as an escort not a prostitute. (2 RT at 509-11.)

Melissa Y. also testified at trial. At the time Melissa Y. met petitioner, not long before his arrest, she knew him as a "respectable pimp." (2 RT 287.) She testified that after meeting him, she worked as a prostitute and petitioner was her pimp. (2 RT 285, 290-98.) She was taken on at least two trips with petitioner and Lacey C. for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. Melissa Y. testified that she was familiar with the website myredbook.com, which was used to advertise prostitution and which she used herself. (2 RT 312-13.) She testified that petitioner talked with her about changing her photographs on myredbook.com. (2 RT 313.)

The prosecution also presented testimony about prior prostitution activity by Lacey C. and prior pimping by petitioner. (See 4 RT 947-49 (August 2012 investigation showed Lacey C. engaged in prostitution); 4 RT 1036-38 (in September 2012 Lacey C. informed a police officer that she had been a "hooker" and had worked for petitioner); 4 RT 955-64 (testimony regarding petitioner's pimping activity in 2002); 4 RT 1093-1133 (during investigations in 2005, petitioner asked an undercover officer to work for him as a prostitute; several women told officers they worked as prostitutes for petitioner; and petitioner admitted in an interview that he was a pimp for several women and had sent them to other states to work as prostitutes).

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C. Defense Case

Genelle Patterson, petitioner's adult daughter, testified that petitioner spent the day before Thanksgiving 2012 at her house. (4 RT 1161.) Latrice Patterson, petitioner's niece, testified that she saw Lacey C. after the incident in petitioner's car on November 23, 2012. She testified that Lacey C. was frantic and crying. She testified that Lacey C. said petitioner "choose the black girl" and that he had "kidnapped my baby." (4 RT 1174 - 5 RT 1182; 5 RT 1189-90.)...