Carriger v. Lewis

948 F.2d 588, 1991 WL 220636
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedNovember 4, 1991
DocketNos. 87-1549, 90-16013, 90-16016, 91-16334 and 91-70614
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 948 F.2d 588 (Carriger v. Lewis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carriger v. Lewis, 948 F.2d 588, 1991 WL 220636 (9th Cir. 1991).

Opinion

KOZINSKI, Circuit Judge.

Paris Hoyt Carriger is to receive the most severe punishment our society can impose. Having exhausted various avenues of relief in state court, he now seeks a federal writ of habeas corpus.

Facts

On March 13, 1978, Robert Shaw’s jewelry store was robbed. The robber bound Shaw’s hands behind his back and crushed his skull with repeated blows from an iron skillet. Although severely wounded, Shaw survived this onslaught, only to be strangled to death with his own necktie. The perpetrator then departed with the fruits of the crime.

Two days later, Arizona charged Paris Hoyt Carriger with the robbery and the first-degree murder of Robert Shaw. After a two week trial, the jury convicted Carriger on both charges. The judge sentenced Carriger to 99-100 years’ imprisonment for the robbery and to death for the murder.

Carriger dismissed his trial counsel, obtained new counsel and appealed his conviction and sentence. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed. State v. Carriger, 123 Ariz. 335, 599 P.2d 788 (1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1049, 100 S.Ct. 741, 62 L.Ed.2d 736 (1980) (Carriger I). Carriger then filed a petition for post-conviction relief pursuant to Az.R.Crim.P. 32. The Maricopa County Superior Court denied relief, but the Arizona Supreme Court held that Carriger was entitled to a new sentencing hearing on the ground that Carriger’s counsel had rendered inadequate assistance at sentencing. It also reversed as premature the superior court’s dismissal of Carriger’s other claims, holding that the court should “hear and consider such other matters properly raised in defendant’s petition.” State v. Carriger, 132 Ariz. 301, 306, 645 P.2d 816, 820 (1982) (Carriger II).

On remand the superior court reimposed the original sentence. It also conducted a hearing on Carriger’s other claims and denied all relief. Carriger then took his case to the Arizona Supreme Court for the third time. State v. Carriger, 143 Ariz. 142, 692 P.2d 991 (1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1111, 105 S.Ct. 2347, 85 L.Ed.2d 864 (1985) (Carriger III). With one Justice dissenting, the court affirmed Carriger’s conviction and sentence and dismissed his Rule 32 petition.

In 1985, Carriger filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, raising eight separate claims. In late 1986, the district court granted Arizona’s motion for summary judgment on all counts. A few months later, the court denied Carri-ger’s motion to vacate its summary judgment order. Carriger timely appealed.

At Carriger’s request, we stayed his appeal pending the resolution of his second Rule 32 petition in the Arizona state courts. The state superior court eventually dismissed Carriger’s second petition, in which Carriger asserted that he had uncovered new exculpatory evidence, and the Arizona Supreme Court denied review. Carriger then asked us to remand to the district court so he could file a Rule 60(b) motion for relief from judgment on the ground of newly-discovered evidence. We denied Car-riger’s remand motion; consistent with our practice, we requested that Carriger first “show that the district court has indicated a willingness to consider the new evidence.” Order of October 2, 1989, Carriger v. Lewis, No. 87-1549. Carriger was granted leave to renew his motion in the event the district court were to indicate its willingness.

Carriger then returned to the district court, but did not follow the procedure outlined in our order. Instead, he filed a motion for relief from judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(2) and (6), which was denied on the merits on June 5,1990. Both Carriger and Arizona appeal[592]*592ed, Carriger because he was denied relief and Arizona because it believed Carriger’s motion should have been dismissed as untimely. At about the same time, both parties filed motions for reconsideration. Before the district court could reconsider, we consolidated Carriger’s and Arizona’s appeals from the June 5 order with Carriger’s earlier appeal from the grant of summary judgment. On July 25, 1991, the district court entered a new order, this time denying Carriger’s Rule 60(b) motion as both untimely and without merit. Carriger appealed this new order and asked that it be consolidated with the other appeals. He also filed a second petition for a writ of habeas corpus directly with us, raising claims which, he notes, “are all included in the pending appeals.”

Standard of Review

We review the district court’s grant of summary judgment denying a petition for a writ of habeas corpus de novo. Richmond v. Lewis, 948 F.2d 1473, 1479 (9th Cir.1991). We also review the district court’s assertion of jurisdiction over a Rule 60(b) motion de novo. United States v. Kersting, 891 F.2d 1407, 1410 (9th Cir.1989).

Jurisdiction

The district court had jurisdiction over Carriger’s first habeas petition and Carriger timely appealed the court’s summary judgment order and its refusal to vacate the summary judgment order. We therefore have jurisdiction over the claims raised in that appeal (No. 87-1549). Once Carriger filed the notice of appeal, however, the district court lost jurisdiction over Carriger’s habeas petition. Smith v. Lujan, 588 F.2d 1304, 1307 (9th Cir.1979). We informed Carriger of this jurisdictional hurdle and explained the procedure he was required to follow to revest the district court with jurisdiction. Because Carriger did not follow that procedure, the district court lacked jurisdiction to consider Carri-ger’s subsequent Rule 60(b) motions. The district court’s June 5, 1990, and July 25, 1991, orders are therefore vacated (Nos. 90-16013, 90-16016, 91-16334).

The remaining action is Carriger’s second petition for a writ of habeas corpus (No. 91-70614). The petition was addressed directly to this panel. However, a habeas petition may not be made to a panel of circuit judges, but must be made to a specific circuit judge. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a).1 Because we do not have jurisdiction to consider Carriger’s second habeas petition, we dismiss it without prejudice.2

Discussion

Only Carriger’s first appeal is before us. In that appeal, Carriger asserts eight defects in the trial and sentencing hearing that led to his death sentence. We address each in turn.3

I

A. Carriger first argues that he was denied the right to compulsory process because his attorney was limited in his examination of the prosecution’s key witness, Robert Dunbar. Dunbar, the only person who could identify Carriger as the man who robbed and murdered Robert Shaw, was called to testify by the prosecution. Dunbar admitted during direct examination that he made fabrications relating to this case and that he had six prior felony convictions. He also explained that he was motivated to testify against Carriger because he had been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony. During cross-examination, Carriger’s counsel questioned [593]*593Dunbar extensively about various subjects in an attempt to impeach Dunbar and to prove that Dunbar, not Carriger, robbed and killed Shaw. This cross-examination was not limited in any way.

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