Grubbs v. Singletary

892 F. Supp. 1484, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9833, 1995 WL 416308
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJuly 11, 1995
DocketNo. 92-1218-Civ-T-17C
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 892 F. Supp. 1484 (Grubbs v. Singletary) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grubbs v. Singletary, 892 F. Supp. 1484, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9833, 1995 WL 416308 (M.D. Fla. 1995).

Opinion

ORDER

KOYACHEYICH, District Judge.

This cause is before the Court on a Report and Recommendation (“R & R”) (Docket No. 37) and Petitioner’s Objections thereto (Docket No. 39). The R & R recommends denial of the petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Petitioner is a state prisoner who filed for habeas relief in this Court pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, Section 2254. This Court, under authority of 28 U.S.C. Section 636(b)(1)(B), Rule 72(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 6.02, Local Rules of the Middle District of Florida, referred the petition to United States Magistrate Judge Elizabeth A. Jenkins for all proceedings up to and including the issuance of an R & R.

Section 636(b)(1) states that any party to an R & R may file written objections to the report’s proposed findings and recommendations. It further states that “a judge shall make a de novo determination of those portions of the specified proposed findings or recommendations to which objection is made.” Gropp v. United Airlines, Inc., 817 F.Supp. 1558, 1560 (M.D.Fla.1993). With respect to those findings of the Magistrate Judge not objected to by the parties, this Court has held that the clearly erroneous standard applies. Id. at 1562.

Facts

Petitioner Ronald K. Grubbs was convicted on or about May 17, 1988, of two counts of committing a lewd and lascivious act on a child and capital sexual battery involving a child under twelve (12) years. The victim, Veronica Rene Daggett (“Rene”), was a friend of Sunny Russ, the daughter of Astrid Russ. Both Astrid and Sunny were living with Grubbs at the time of the alleged offenses.

According to a videotaped statement by the victim, Petitioner carried her into Sunny’s bedroom, where he committed the alleged offenses, after she had fallen asleep next to Sunny on a couch in an adjacent room. At trial, Veronica testified that Petitioner touched her breasts, pulled her underwear down, touched her vagina with his hand and “put his finger in her bottom”. She testified that she then hit Grubbs in the face and ran out of the room. She told Sunny what had happened and told her not to tell anyone. She testified that the offense happened in July or August 1987, and occurred on a conventional single bed with a mattress (T 19-30).

[1486]*1486Prior to trial, defense counsel filed a motion for a statement of particulars and the prosecution responded by stating that the offense occurred in 1987. At trial, pursuant to defense counsel’s request, the court ruled that the state would have to prove that the offense occurred in July or August, 1987. Although July or August, 1987 were the dates specified in the second amended information, the original information had listed July, 1986 as the time of the alleged crime, and investigative documents pertaining to the case had variously listed times between 1985 to 1987.

Given the disparity in dating the crime, defense counsel attempted to prove that a waterbed, rather than a conventional bed as alleged by Rene, was in Sunny’s room when the alleged offense took place.

Sunny Russ testified on both direct and cross-examination that Rene had told her details about the alleged offense. Similarly, Astrid Turner testified concerning what Sunny had revealed to her about her (Sunny’s) conversations with Rene. And Aubrey Turner (Rene’s father) testified about his conversation with Astrid about the same subject.

In its opening statement, defense counsel raised as a theory of the case that Rene’s allegations were prompted by a conversation she had earlier with a girl named Kathleen Briley, a friend of hers and Sunny. Defense counsel elicited the details of this story, that Grubbs had once woken Kathleen when she was staying over at his house and asked her to kiss him, through direct examination of Astrid.

Procedural History

Petitioner Grubbs was tried in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, in and for Manatee County, Florida. He received a sentence of life imprisonment with a twenty-five (25) year minimum mandatory term on the sexual battery charge and a concurrent fifteen (15) year term on the other charges. The trial court denied a motion for a new trial on June 15, 1988.

On November 2, 1988, an assistant public defender, Andrea Steffen, filed an appeals brief pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967). Pursuant to Anders, Steffens requested permission from the Second District Court of Appeals to withdraw as counsel of record on the grounds that there were no reversible errors committed during the trial, but did direct to the court’s attention four arguable grounds for appeal. After the An-ders brief was filed, the State filed an answer, and Grubbs filed a pro se reply brief. In a per curiam decision filed June 28, 1989, the Second District Court of Appeals affirmed Grubbs’ conviction without issuing an opinion.

On September 21, 1989, Grubs filed a pro se Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus in the Second District Court of Appeals, which was denied the same month. On April 6, 1990, he filed pro se his first Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus in this court which dismissed the petition without prejudice for failure to exhaust the issues raised in state court. Thereafter, Grubbs returned to state court, filing a second state court Habeas Petition in the Second District Court of Appeals which was denied January 24, 1991.

On June 26, 1991, this Court dismissed his second federal court Habeas petition, without prejudice, after Grubbs requested permission to withdraw the petition so as to pursue his unexhausted claims in the state courts.

Thereafter, on July 5,1991, Grubbs’ filed a motion for post-conviction relief pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850. This motion was denied by the trial court without an evidentiary hearing, and the denial was affirmed by the Second District Court of Appeals without an opinion.

On August 25, 1992, counsel for Petitioner Grubbs filed a third federal Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, claiming four (4) grounds for relief. Grounds I and II asserted the violation of Grubbs’ sixth amendment right to effective assistance of counsel at the trial level. Grounds III and IV alleged ineffective assistance of appellate counsel and failure to comply with the requirements of Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967), by both Grubbs’ appellate counsel and the state appellate court itself.

A United States Magistrate Judge entered a Report and Recommendation on October [1487]*148715,1993, again recommending dismissal without prejudice, based on the court’s finding that Grubbs had still not exhausted state remedies with respect to Grounds II and IV of his petition. Thereafter, Grubbs filed a motion for reconsideration of the Report and Recommendation and, based on the submissions of the parties, the Report and Recommendation was withdrawn because the parties agreed that Grounds II and IV of the petition had been proeedurally defaulted.

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Related

Grubbs v. Singletary
120 F.3d 1174 (Eleventh Circuit, 1997)

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Bluebook (online)
892 F. Supp. 1484, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9833, 1995 WL 416308, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grubbs-v-singletary-flmd-1995.