Erskine v. Pierce

225 F. Supp. 3d 246, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177908, 2016 WL 7411531
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedDecember 21, 2016
DocketCiv. No. 14-1468-SLR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 225 F. Supp. 3d 246 (Erskine v. Pierce) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Erskine v. Pierce, 225 F. Supp. 3d 246, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177908, 2016 WL 7411531 (D. Del. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ROBINSON, District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Petitioner Justin Erskine (“petitioner”) filed a pro se application for a writ of habeas corpus filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (D.I. 1), and then filed two counseled amended applications for a writ of habeas corpus (“application”). (D.I. 9; D.I. 15) For the reasons that follow, the court will dismiss petitioner’s § 2254 application as time-barred by the one-year period of limitations prescribed in 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1).

II. BACKGROUND

The facts leading up to petitioner’s arrest and conviction are as follows:

On June 5, 2006, it rained. The bad weather gave [petitioner] and his coworker, David Hamilton, a day off from their landscaping jobs. They stared drinking, and were planning on driving to Baltimore, but first they stopped at Matt Minker’s house. Minker was Hamilton’s friend, and Minker wanted Hamilton to get him some percocet pills. Hamilton had a few connections, but he did not find anyone who had the pills. Nonetheless, Minker gave Hamilton $300 and asked him to get percocet if he could.
As [petitioner] and Hamilton drove out of Minker’s neighborhood, Hamilton saw two drug dealers—Trevor Moncrief and Raymond Ward. They told Hamilton that they could get the percocet, but that they would have to drive to the source. Hamilton, who was driving, told the two men to get in the back seat. The four men drove around for several hours without finding any drugs. Hamilton eventually dropped the dealers off at [249]*249their house and returned to Minker’s house. At Minker’s house, Hamilton and [petitioner] continued to drink for several- hours. At some point, Hamilton went out to his truck to get something, and he saw Moncrief and Ward standing there. They told Hamilton that they had another connection who could get the perco-cet.
After Hamilton confirmed that Minker still wanted the drugs, he and [petitioner] again started driving around with Moncrief and Ward. At their first stop, Moncrief and Ward spoke to some people and came back with a price that Hamilton found unsatisfactory. While Hamilton was discussing the price, approximately 12 people surrounded the truck, and Hamilton heard someone suggest that they would rob him. Hamilton decided to leave, and Moncrief and Ward returned to the back seat of the truck. They drove to another location, where Hamilton was able to buy 3 per-cocet pills from one of Ward’s relatives. The four men were still driving around when Hamilton’s friend, Jesus Aviles, called to say that he was bored. Hamilton told Aviles what had happened at their first stop, and Aviles insisted that Hamilton pick him up. Aviles got in the passenger side of the front seat, next to [petitioner]. Aviles noticed Minker’s shotgun, which was next to Hamilton, and asked to see it. While the five men were driving on a back road, they started to argue about whether Moncrief and Ward had set up Hamilton and [petitioner]. Aviles suddenly turned and shot Ward in the face. Then he shot Moncrief in the side of his head.
After the shooting, Aviles “freaked out” and demanded that Hamilton take him home. He told Hamilton to “take care of the evidence” and warned both men that he knew where they and their families lived. Hamilton and [petitioner] drove to Hamilton’s sister’s house to consult with her boyfriend, Raymond Gleaser. Hamilton explained that Moncrief and Ward tried to rob him, and that he shot them in self defense. He also commented, in a threatening manner, that there were more shells in the shotgun.
Hamilton and Gleaser decided to bury the bodies in the woods behind Gleaser’s mother’s house in Maryland. While Hamilton, Gleaser and [petitioner] were standing by the truck, getting ready to leave, Hamilton heard a noise and discovered that Moncrief was still breathing. [Petitioner] handed Hamilton his butterfly knife and told Hamilton to finish killing Moncrief. Hamilton cut Mon-criefs throat, but Moncrief did not die. Justin then told Hamilton to stab Mon-crief in the lung. Hamilton did so, and Moncrief died shortly thereafter. The three men then drove to Maryland, dug graves and buried the bodies.
Gleaser returned to his house, and Hamilton and [petitioner] returned to Mink-er’s house. Hamilton gave Minker back his shotgun and told him to clean it. [Petitioner] got fresh clothes at Minker’s house, while Hamilton drove off in the bloody truck. The police took Hamilton into custody later that day, and Hamilton continued to tell the self defense story. [Petitioner’s] first statement to the police, likewise, made no mention of Aviles. Seven months later, after [petitioner] knew that Hamilton had told his attorneys about Aviles, [petitioner] went to the police and identified Aviles as the shooter. [Petitioner] and Aviles were arrested shortly thereafter.
[Petitioner] was charged with first degree murder, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, tampering with physical evidence, and two counts of conspiracy. He refused several plea offers and relied on [250]*250the defense of duress. Dr. Stephen Me-chanick opined that [petitioner] was traumatized by the shootings and that he was afraid for his own life. In his report, Mechanick reviewed all- of the witness’s statements, including [petitioner’s], Mechanick explained that [petitioner] did not want Moncrief to be killed, he “just wanted to be out of the nightmare.” Mechanick’s report concluded that [petitioner’s] conduct was “substantially influenced by the explicit threats and duress that he experienced from Mr. Hamilton, and by his fear. of being harmed or killed by Mr. Aviles and Mr. Hamilton.” Notwithstanding Mechanick’s opinion, the. jury found [petitioner] guilty as charged,

Erskine v. State, 4 A.3d 391, 392-94 (Del. Super. 2014).

Petitioner was arrested on March 21, 2007, and subsequently was indicted on charges of first degree murder, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony (“PDWDCF”), first degree conspiracy, second degree conspiracy, and tampering with physical evidence. (D.I,-17 at 3) In October 2008, a Delaware Superior Court jury convicted petitioner of all charges. He filed a motion for. new trial on February 9, 2009, which the Superior Court denied on June 22, 2009. On that same day, the Superior Court sentenced him to an aggregate non-suspended term of life, plus five years of imprisonment. Petitioner appealed, and-the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and sentence on June 24, 2010. See Erskine, 4 A.3d at 396.

Represented by counsel, petitioner filed his first motion for post-conviction relief pursuant to Delaware Superior Court Criminal Rule 61 (“Rule 61 motion”) on May 25, 2011. Post-conviction counsel moved to withdraw from representing petitioner on September 24, 2012, -and the Superior Court denied the Rule 61 motion on November 20, 2012. (D.I. 17 at 4) The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed that decision on May 7, 2013. See Erskine v. State, 65 A.3d 616 (Table), 2013 WL 1919121 (Del. May 7, 2013).

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Bluebook (online)
225 F. Supp. 3d 246, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177908, 2016 WL 7411531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/erskine-v-pierce-ded-2016.