Grant-Chase v. Commissioner, NH

145 F.3d 431, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 11744
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedJune 5, 1998
Docket19-1680
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 145 F.3d 431 (Grant-Chase v. Commissioner, NH) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grant-Chase v. Commissioner, NH, 145 F.3d 431, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 11744 (1st Cir. 1998).

Opinions

: STAHL, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner Cindy Grant-Chase appeals the ' denial of her application for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Her appeal presents two questions. First, is 1st Cir. R. 22.1(c) (Interim Local Rule) inconsistent with 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1) and Fed. RApp. P. 22(b) (as, these provisions were amended by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”)) insofar as it requires appellants seeking collateral relief under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2254 or 2255 who.already have obtained a certificate of appealability (“COA”) from a district judge as to one or more issues also to obtain a COA on those issues from the court of appeals? Second, if the, merits of this case are properly before us, did the district court err in concluding that the challenged state ruling was neither contrary to, nor involved an unreasonable application of, “clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States”? 28-U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1). [433]*433We conclude that 1st Cir. R. 22.1(c) is inconsistent with 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1) and Fed. R.Ápp. P. 22(b) in requiring a second COA in the circumstances just described, but reject petitioner’s appeal on the merits.

I.

We take the facts directly from State v. Grant-Chase, 140 N.H. 264, 665 A.2d 380 (1995), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1140, 116 S.Ct. 1431, 134 L.Ed.2d 553 (1996).

On December 28, 1990, the [petitioner] and the victim, George Tegelaar, were in a physical struggle that resulted in the [petitioner] shooting and wounding the victim. Both the victim and the [petitioner] were transported to the hospital for treatment of their injuries. Because the [petitioner] was a suspect in the case, Officers Langley and Folini went to the hospital to question the [petitioner], hoping to elicit incriminating statements. The [petitioner] was under constant police watch and was not free to leave. Officer Langley was within three to five feet of her while she was in the emergency room. During that time the [petitioner] asked Officer Langley for her purse and if she could call her lawyer. Once the hospital staff had completed their testing, the [petitioner] telephoned' her lawyer. During the five- to ten-minute telephone call Officer Langley remained present but could not overhear the substance of the conversation. After the [petitioner] ended her phone call, Officers Langley and Folini approached her to initiate questioning. Until this point the police had not subjected the [petitioner] to questioning or its functional equivalent. Officer Folini asked her if it was all right to ask some questions about the incident. The [petitioner] told him that she had talked to her attorney, who advised her to cooperate with the investigation. The officers explained to the [petitioner] her Miranda rights, see Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), which she explicitly waived by signing a waiver form, and elicited incriminating statements.

Id. at 265-66, 665 A.2d 380.

Prior to trial, petitioner moved to suppress the statements she had given to Officers Langley and Folini, arguing that the statements had been obtained in violation of, inter alia, her right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation. See Miranda, 384 U.S. at 469-73, 86 S.Ct. 1602. The state trial court rejected her argument, ruling that petitioner did not “adequately indieate[] to the officers that she sought the assistance of counsel.” Grant-Chase, 140 N.H. at 267, 665 A.2d 380 (summarizing the trial court’s ruling). Thereafter, a jury convicted petitioner of first degree assault.

Petitioner appealed her conviction to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, contending that statements elicited in violation of, inter alia, the rules of Miranda were used to convict her. On December 14,1994, the New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed petitioner’s conviction. Petitioner moved for and was granted reconsideration of this decision. But on October 3, 1995, the court handed down a new opinion that again affirmed petitioner’s conviction.

Disagreeing with the trial court, the New Hampshire Supreme Court first ruled that petitioner’s request to call her lawyer was “an invocation of the right to counsel.” Grant-Chase, 140 N.H. at 267, 665 A.2d 380. The court then opined that, “[h]ad the [petitioner] made her request for counsel after Miranda warnings had been given or after interrogation had begun, there would have been an irrebuttable presumption that the [petitioner] asked for the assistance of counsel for the purpose of having counsel present during any further qúestioning____” Id. (citing Minnick v. Mississippi 498 U.S. 146, 153, 111 S.Ct. 486, 112 L.Ed.2d 489 (1990)). But because the request preceded Miranda warnings and the inception of interrogation, the court declined to indulge such a presumption. Id. (citing Minnick, 498 U.S. at 153, 111 S.Ct. 486). Rather, the court scrutinized the nature of petitioner’s actual invocation, and concluded that it was “ambiguous as to purpose.” Id. at 268. A fair reading of the opinion reveals that the ambiguity detected was whether petitioner “wanted advice from counsel regarding how to handle the imminent questioning, or whether the [petitioner] wanted counsel present for interroga-[434]*434tion____” Id. at 267-68. The police officers therefore were within their rights to “clarify the ambiguity by asking the [petitioner] if ... she wishe[d] to go forward with interrogation.” Id. at 268 (citing Davis v. United States, 512 U.S. 452, 461, 114 S.Ct. 2350, 129 L.Ed.2d 362 (1994)). And given petitioner’s unambiguous affirmative response to this attempt at clarification, the court found petitioner’s subsequent waiver of her Miranda rights to be effective. Id.

Subsequently, petitioner applied for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The application challenged as clearly unconstitutional the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s unwillingness to extend to those in custody and facing imminent interrogation the “irrebuttable presumption” the court appears to have inferred from Min-nick: that any “request for counsel” made during custodial interrogation (as opposed to just prior to interrogation) is for the purpose of invoking the right to counsel’s presence during further questioning. See Grant-Chase, 140 N.H.

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Grant-Chase v. Commissioner, NH
145 F.3d 431 (First Circuit, 1998)

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Bluebook (online)
145 F.3d 431, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 11744, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grant-chase-v-commissioner-nh-ca1-1998.