In Re: Derrick Johnson

325 F. App'x 337
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedApril 30, 2009
Docket09-10423
StatusUnpublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 325 F. App'x 337 (In Re: Derrick Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re: Derrick Johnson, 325 F. App'x 337 (5th Cir. 2009).

Opinion

PER CURIAM: *

Petitioner-Appellant Derrick Lamone Johnson filed this last-minute motion for authorization to file a successive habeas petition and for a stay of execution based on a claim that he is mentally retarded and thus ineligible for the death penalty under Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304, 122 S.Ct. 2242, 153 L.Ed.2d 335 (2002).

We are satisfied that this new claim is time-barred, so we deny petitioner’s motion for a stay of execution and deny authorization to file a successive habeas petition.

I.

Johnson was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering LaTausha Curry. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Johnson’s conviction and sentence on January 30, 2002. Johnson v. State, 68 S.W.3d 644 (Tex.Crim.App.2002). Johnson did not petition the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. Concurrent with his direct appeal, Johnson filed an application for habeas relief in the trial court on October 22, 2001. On August 14, 2003, the trial court entered an order adopting the State’s proposed findings recommending that relief on Johnson’s application be de *339 nied. The Court of Criminal Appeals then adopted the trial judge’s recommendation, and denied habeas relief on October 8, 2003.

Next, Johnson filed his habeas petition in federal district court. The lower court denied habeas relief and dismissed his petition with prejudice. Johnson timely appealed and the lower court denied his request for a COA. Johnson petitioned the United States Supreme Court for certiora-ri review on December 20, 2008. The court denied certiorari on March 9, 2009. Johnson v. Quarterman, — U.S. -, 129 S.Ct. 1583, 173 L.Ed.2d 680 (2009).

On April 28, 2009, Johnson filed a subsequent state habeas application with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals raising, for the first time, an assertion that his execution would violate the prohibition against the execution of the mentally retarded as set forth in Atkins, supra. However, the Court of Criminal Appeals found that Johnson failed to make a prima facie case of mental retardation and otherwise failing to meet the requirements of Article 11.071 Sec. 5. Ex parte Johnson, 56,947-02, 2009 WL 1165502 (Tex.Crim. App. April 29, 2009) (unpublished order). The instant motion for authorization to file a successive federal habeas petition followed on April 29, 2009. Petitioner is scheduled to be executed today, April 30, 2009.

The facts of the petitioner’s brutal sexual assault and murder of 25-year-old La-Tausha Curry on January 21, 1999 have been set forth in detail in our earlier opinion and the opinion of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. We will not repeat them here.

Some of the relevant dates have been set forth above. We repeat these dates and others in the timeline set forth below:

November 19, 1999: Johnson sentenced to death.
October 22, 2001: Johnson files state petition for writ of habeas.
January 30, 2002: Tex. Court of Criminal Appeals (“TCCA”) affirms Johnson’s conviction on direct appeal.
June 20, 2002: U.S. Supreme Court issues Atkins.
October 8, 2003: TCCA denies habeas relief.
February 11, 2004: TCCA modifies the “two-forum rule,” which required dismissal of a state writ or successive writ if a federal proceeding was pending, even if that proceeding was stayed. Ex parte Soffar, 143 S.W.3d 804, 804 (Tex.Crim.App.2004).
May 17, 2004: Johnson files first federal writ.
September 18, 2007: Federal writ denied by district court.
December 2, 2007: District court denies motion for new trial.
April 7, 2008: Johnson seeks COA from Fifth Circuit.
October 2, 2008: Fifth Circuit denies COA.
January 16, 2009: Execution date set for April 30, 2009.
March 9, 2009: U.S. Supreme Court denies cert to Johnson’s challenging the Fifth Circuit’s denying his COA.
April 28, 2009: Johnson attempts to file successive writ with TCCA based on Atkins claims.
April 29, 2009: TCCA denies subsequent writ because Johnson failed to make a prima facie case of mental retardation. Johnson files the current motion.

II.

Based on the above timeline, it is clear that petitioner’s motion is barred by the *340 one-year limitation period of the Antiter-rorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d), which provides:

(d)(1) A 1-year period of limitation shall apply to an application for a writ of habeas corpus by a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court. The limitation period shall run from the latest of—
(A) the date on which the judgment became final by the conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time for seeking such review;
(B) the date on which the impediment to filing an application created by State action in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States is removed, if the applicant was prevented from filing by such State action;
(C) the date on which the constitutional right asserted was initially recognized by the Supreme Court, if the right has been newly recognized by the Supreme Court and made retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review; or
(D) the date on which the factual predicate of the claim or claims presented could have been discovered through the exercise of due diligence.
(2) The time during which a properly filed application for State post-conviction or other collateral review with respect to the pertinent judgment or claim is pending shall not be counted toward any period of limitation under this subsection.

28 U.S.C. § 2244(d).

In this case, the one-year limitation period began to run under § 2244(d)(1)(C) on June 20, 2002, the date of the Supreme Court’s decision in Atkins, and expired on June 20, 2003, the one-year anniversary of that decision. In re Hearn, 376 F.3d 447, 456 n. 11 (5th Cir.2004). However, on June 20, 2002, when Atkins was decided, petitioner’s state habeas application was pending and was not decided until October 8, 2003.

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Related

Henderson v. Thaler
626 F.3d 773 (Fifth Circuit, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
325 F. App'x 337, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-derrick-johnson-ca5-2009.