In re Bizzard

559 F. Supp. 507, 12 Fed. R. Serv. 1636, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18387
District Court, S.D. Georgia·Decided March 21, 1983·No. Civ. A. No. 482-534·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

ORDER

BOWEN, District Judge.

Errol Ricardo Bizzard has filed in this Court a Motion to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Illegal Sentence by a Person in Federal Custody, Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. The history of this case is somewhat complicated, and should be outlined at this time.

Movant first was convicted in a jury trial conducted before Chief Judge Alaimo of the Southern District of Georgia. That conviction was reversed by the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 1980 because the trial court in its instructions to the jury had fatally amended the indictment. 615 F.2d 1082 (5th Cir.1980). Movant then was retried before another District Judge in the Southern District of Georgia, convicted, and sentenced in 1981. The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed this conviction May 6, 1982. 674 F.2d 1382 (11th Cir.1982).

In the current challenge under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, movant contests his conviction on three grounds he maintains were not addressed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. First, Bizzard claims his constitutional right to confront witnesses against him was violated by the use of prior testimony of a witness ruled unavailable at the second trial. Second, he claims his right of compulsory process was violated when his subpoena of this same witness as a defense witness was not enforced. Third, he claims the government knowingly relied on false testimony in its argument to the jury. These issues will be addressed seriatim.*

Rule 4(b), 28 U.S.C. fol. § 2255, states: If it plainly appears from the face of the motion and any annexed exhibits and the prior proceedings in the case that the movant is not entitled to relief in the district court, the judge shall make an order for its summary dismissal and cause the movant to be notified. Otherwise, the judge shall order the United States Attorney to file an answer or other pleading within the period of time fixed by the Court or to take such other action as the judge deems appropriate.

The three issues presented by movant Bizzard must be dismissed summarily. Plaintiff claims, first, that during the second trial, his right to confront witnesses against him was violated. The grounds for this assertion are founded in the procedural history of the case. During plaintiffs first trial, his accomplice in the armed robbery for which he was convicted testified, making incriminating statements concerning the involvement of Bizzard in the perpetration of the crime. This accomplice, Mr. Middleton, was cross-examined' thoroughly at that time by Mr. Bizzard’s attorney. (Transcript of first trial at 51-59)

During the second trial, Mr. Middleton took the stand but refused to testify, stating that 1) he believed he had fulfilled the requirements of his plea agreement by testifying in the first trial (Transcript of second trial at 34), and 2) that he feared for his life in prison after having testified. Id. at 35. The undersigned Judge then directed that Mr. Middleton be removed from the stand. Id. at 45-47. The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that ruling this witness unavailable was proper in this instance according to the requirements of Rule 804(a)(2), Fed.R.Evid. That Court ruled further that defense counsel had an adequate opportunity to cross-examine the witness at a prior trial, thus concluding that the testimony met the requirements of Rule 804(b)(1), Fed.R.Evid.

In the motion pending, the question movant raises is whether this ruling of unavailability and subsequent use by the prosecution of Middleton’s testimony from the first trial of Bizzard violated movant’s right to confront this witness. The Confrontation Clause of the sixth amendment provides:

[510] “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be confronted with the witnesses against him ... . ” U.S. Const, amend. VI. The claim, then, raises the spectre of that somewhat amorphous line differentiating hearsay and Confrontation Clause analysis.

The United States Supreme Court on several occasions has addressed issues similar to the one posed by movant in this instance. The consensus appears to be that the Clause is not violated by the use of prior testimony where the witness currently is unavailable, as long as the prior testimony was under oath and subject to full cross-examination and the unavailability of the witness is in no way due to a lack of good faith effort on the part of the prosecution to produce the witness. See Barber v. Page, 390 U.S. 719, 88 S.Ct. 1318, 20 L.Ed.2d 255 (1968); California v. Green, 399 U.S. 149, 90 S.Ct. 1930, 26 L.Ed.2d 489 (1969); Mancusi v. Stubbs, 408 U.S. 204, 92 S.Ct. 2308, 33 L.Ed.2d 293 (1972); Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1979).

Moreover, it is of no consequence that the movant’s attorney at his second trial was different from the one who represented him at the first trial. Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. at 72, 100 S.Ct. at 2542. The question in all but the most extraordinary case is not one of the effectiveness of the prior cross-examination. Id. at 73 n. 12, 100 S.Ct. at 2543 n. 12. The question is whether, movant through his counsel having availed himself of the opportunity to cross-examine the witness, “the transcript bore sufficient ‘indicia of reliability’ and afforded ‘ “the trier of fact a satisfactory basis for evaluating the truth of the prior statement.” ’ ” Mancusi v. Stubbs, 408 U.S. at 216, 92 S.Ct. at 2315, quoting Dutton v. Evans, 400 U.S. 74 at 89, 91 S.Ct. 210 at 220, 27 L.Ed.2d 213.

The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in the context of a hearsay rule determination found that this witness was correctly ruled unavailable. United States v. Bizzard, 674 F.2d at 1387. For Confrontation Clause analysis, unavailability requires that the prosecution have made a good-faith effort to obtain the witness’ presence at trial. Barber v. Page, 390 U.S. at 722-25, 88 S.Ct. at 1320-22. In the case sub judice, there is no evidence of any involvement on the part of the prosecution in Middleton’s refusal to testify. Accordingly, this witness was properly deemed unavailable by the trial and appellate courts.

The unavailability of the witness coupled with the indicia of reliability provided by the transcript of prior testimony under oath and subject to cross-examination convinces this Court that the movant’s right to confront witnesses against him was not violated by the admission of the prior testimony of Mr. Middleton. Accordingly, the motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 upon this ground is hereby DENIED.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

In re Bizzard, 559 F. Supp. 507, 12 Fed. R. Serv. 1636, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18387 (S.D. Ga. 1983).

559 F. Supp. 507 (In re Bizzard) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State of West Virginia v. Daniel L. Herbert
767 S.E.2d 471 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 2014)
State v. Acker.
327 P.3d 931 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2014)
United States v. Griffin
Fifth Circuit, 1995