David Jarrell v. Charles Balkcom, Warden

735 F.2d 1242, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 21326
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJune 20, 1984
Docket83-8535
StatusPublished
Cited by90 cases

This text of 735 F.2d 1242 (David Jarrell v. Charles Balkcom, Warden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
David Jarrell v. Charles Balkcom, Warden, 735 F.2d 1242, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 21326 (11th Cir. 1984).

Opinion

CLARK, Circuit Judge:

Petitioner is a Georgia prisoner seeking habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. We have jurisdiction. Id. § 2253.

I. BACKGROUND

On Christmas Eve, 1973, Mrs. Mala Still disappeared. She had left work at 1:15 p.m. and was last seen alive buying groceries shortly thereafter in a Lawrenceville shopping center. Mrs. Still’s car was observed parked alongside Georgia Highway 20 at approximately 8:00 p.m., but at that time the police had not been notified of her disappearance. The authorities located the automobile at about midnight.

On December 25, 1973, various articles of Mrs. Still’s apparel and other personal property were found scattered and buried along Tribble Mill Road. On December 26, 1973, the victim’s body was discovered about 15 feet off of Tribble Mill Road; she had been shot with a .45 caliber pistol three times in the head and back. When found, the victim’s body was fully clothed. At the autopsy, however, pine straw, leaves and other particles were found between her clothing and back.

*1246 An investigation ensued, and the authorities interviewed hundreds of possible witnesses. A composite drawing was prepared and published in a local newspaper. The victim’s family and employer offered a reward.

On January 4, 1974, Mrs. Joan Pruitt telephoned the Gwinnett County Police and reported a threatening telephone call she had received. The police advised her to secure her husband’s .45 caliber pistol. When she attempted to retrieve the pistol, she discovered that it was missing. Mrs. Pruitt said that she had last seen the pistol on December 21, 1973 in the petitioner’s possession.

On January 5, 1973, the police interviewed petitioner. After advising petitioner of his rights, the police told him that they wanted to discuss the Still case. Initially, petitioner denied knowledge of the murder, but began to express concern that the victim’s husband might seek revenge on the perpetrator. Petitioner then confessed to the crime. He admitted stealing the gun from the Pruitts, kidnapping Mrs. Still in her car from the shopping center, forcing her to remove her clothes, shooting her, throwing things from the car as he drove away from the scene, cleaning the car with Ajax cleanser and later selling the gun to a Bobby Cannon. Petitioner subsequently reenacted the crimes and identified the place where the holster for the pistol would be found. Sometime between 6:00 and 7:30 p.m., petitioner’s statement was reduced to writing. At about dark, petitioner was verbally advised that he was under arrest for murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and aggravated assault, and a signed warrant for his arrest was obtained from a justice of the peace.

Ballistics tests revealed that the .45 caliber pistol petitioner sold to Cannon was the murder weapon. Petitioner’s fingerprint and palmprint were identified from an item thrown from the victim’s automobile and picked up by a passerby on Tribble Mill Road. Petitioner had also been seen walking between his home and the shopping center at noon on Christmas Eve and in the possession of the victim’s automobile before 5:00 p.m. that afternoon.

At trial, petitioner’s defense was an alibi. Petitioner did not deny making the confession, but stated that he did not remember making it and denied all knowledge of the murder. He testified that he left his residence about 3:30 p.m. on the day of the murder, found the victim’s car with its door half open and the keys in it, drove the car for approximately an hour, and then parked it at or near the place he had found it. Explaining his possession of the pistol, he stated that he had taken the gun from the Pruitts’ residence on Christmas Day, the day after the victim’s death.

On March 8, 1974, petitioner was convicted and received three death penalties and a ten-year sentence. The day of execution was fixed for June 7, 1974. On direct appeal, the Supreme Court of Georgia vacated the death penalty for the armed robbery offense, but affirmed the convictions and remaining sentences. See Jarrell v. State, 234 Ga. 410, 216 S.E.2d 258 (1975). The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. 428 U.S. 910, 96 S.Ct. 3223, 49 L.Ed.2d 1218 (1976). On May 12, 1978, state habeas corpus relief was denied by the Superior Court of Tattnall County, and the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the denial. Jarrell v. Hopper, 242 Ga. 617, 250 S.E.2d 446 (1978).

On March 25, 1979, petitioner’s former counsel instituted a federal habeas corpus petition and a stay of execution was entered. On June 13, 1980, the magistrate recommended denial of relief, but on July 19, 1980 the defendant obtained new counsel and was granted leave to amend the petition. The instant action was then stayed pending exhaustion of state remedies.

On September 26, 1980, petitioner filed a second state habeas petition in the Superior Court of Butts County, which was dismissed as successive. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Georgia found 19 of the 22 allegations for relief to be successive, moot or without merit, but the court addressed the remaining three issues on the merits. *1247 Petitioner’s death sentence for murder was vacated because of an improper jury charge on aggravating circumstances. Jarrell v. Zant, 248 Ga. 492, 284 S.E.2d 17 (1981). Furthermore, the trial court was directed either to resentence defendant or to enter a life sentence. Because the instant pending action challenges petitioner’s convictions, no sentencing trial has been scheduled.

Following petitioner’s exhaustion of state habeas remedies, respondent filed an answer to the amended federal habeas corpus petition. On March 10, 1983, the magistrate recommended that a new trial be granted because of the improper charge to the jury on petitioner’s alibi defense. On June 1, 1983, the district court rejected the recommendation and directed that relief be denied on all grounds. 1 The court granted a certificate of probable cause and leave to proceed in forma pauperis. On July 11, 1983, petitioner timely filed a notice of appeal to this court.

II. OPINION

In this appeal, petitioner raises numerous grounds for relief. Facts will be developed as relevant to the specific issue addressed.

A. The Confession

On Saturday, January 5, 1974, Jarrell was arrested for and confessed to the murder of Mala Still. The relevant facts leading up to the confession commence on that Saturday morning. Jarrell and his friend, Haney, were drinking, smoking marijuana, and driving around in Haney’s automobile. The city police stopped Haney for a traffic violation, and asked Haney and his passenger, Jarrell, to come down to City Hall. Both Haney and Jarrell agreed to go to City Hall, but only Haney was placed under arrest by the city for a traffic violation. (T.T. 441, 462). 2

At about 1 p.m., City Chief of Police Plunkett telephoned Sergeant Blannott of the Gwinnett County Police Department and told him that Jarrell was at City Hall. (T.T. 464, 537).

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Bluebook (online)
735 F.2d 1242, 1984 U.S. App. LEXIS 21326, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/david-jarrell-v-charles-balkcom-warden-ca11-1984.