In Re John Paul Minarik

166 F.3d 591, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 1417, 1999 WL 44825
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedFebruary 3, 1999
Docket97-8146
StatusPublished
Cited by55 cases

This text of 166 F.3d 591 (In Re John Paul Minarik) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re John Paul Minarik, 166 F.3d 591, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 1417, 1999 WL 44825 (3d Cir. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

STAPLETON, Circuit Judge:

We have before us John Minarik’s second petition for relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. It was tendered to the District Court after the enactment of the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”) and transferred to this Court pursuant to the provisions of that,act. Minarik’s first § 2254 petition was filed prior to AEDPA’s passage. We must decide whether the gatekeeping provisions made applicable to “second or successive petitions” by 28 U.S.C. § 2244 as amended by AEDPA should be applied in Minarik’s case. We conclude that such application would have no impermissible retroactive effect and, accordingly, that AEDPA’s modified version of § 2244 requires us to deny him permission to proceed with his successive petition.

I.

On February 7, 1971, Minarik killed his former fiancee with an ax. In October 1971, Minarik pleaded guilty to the murder. The Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas convicted Minarik of first degree murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Minarik did not pursue a direct appeal. In 1977, Minarik filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. The Court of Common Pleas granted the motion. That decision, however, was ultimately overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and Minarik was not permitted to withdraw his plea. Commonwealth v. Minarik, 493 Pa. 573, 427 A.2d 623 (Pa.1981).

In 1981, Minarik filed his first federal ha-beas corpus petition alleging two grounds for relief. First, Minarik claimed that he had not knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily entered his guilty plea because (1) the trial court failed to explain the requisite mental state required for first degree murder, and (2) he had no memory of the events surrounding the murder. Second, Minarik claimed that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s reversal of the Court of Common Pleas’ decision allowing Minarik to withdraw his guilty plea violated his due process and equal protection rights. An extensive evi-dentiary hearing was held to examine the circumstances surrounding Minarik’s guilty plea. Two significant sources of testimony highlighted the hearing. First, expert witnesses testified about the possible effects of mixing alcohol and Triavil, an anti-depressant prescription drug that Minarik had been taking at the time of the murder. Second, Minarik’s tidal counsel, Ralph J. Cappy, testified that he had thoroughly discussed all of the elements of, and defenses to, the first degree murder charge with Minarik before he entered his plea. According to Cappy, Minarik insisted upon pleading guilty against his advice. The District Court denied Minar-ik’s petition and this Court affirmed.

*595 On April 24, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”). 110 Stat. 1214. AEDPA substantially revised the law governing federal habeas corpus codified in chapters 153 and 154 of Title 28. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241-66. AEDPA contains “gatekeeping” provisions that establish new procedural and substantive standards governing “second or successive” ha-beas petitions. Id. § 2244. Procedurally, the AEDPA amendments require petitioners to file a motion in the appropriate Court of Appeals requesting an order authorizing the District Court to consider their “second or successive” application. Id. § 2244(b)(3)(A). A three judge panel of the Court of Appeals may grant such a motion only where the petitioner establishes a prima facie case that the application satisfies AEDPA’s new substantive standards regarding “second or successive” petitions. Id. § 2244(b)(3)(C). Notably, the new substantive standards governing the allowance of second or successive applications are more rigorous than the pre-AEDPA standard developed by the courts interpreting the prior version of § 2244. See James S. Liebman & Randy Hertz, Federal Habeas Corpus Practice and Procedure § 28.3a, at 271 (Supp,1997)(“[AEDPA] sharply narrow[ed] the (already extremely narrow) circumstances in which new-claim successive petitions are permitted”).

On October 6, 1997, following another unsuccessful bid for post conviction relief in state court, Minarik filed a second federal habeas corpus petition, the subject of this appeal, stating three. grounds for relief. First, Minarik claims that his trial counsel’s failure to discover the availability of an involuntary intoxication defense deprived him of effective assistance of counsel. Second, Mi-narik repeats his contention that he did not knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily enter his guilty plea. Third, Minarik claims that the state court violated his Fourteenth and Sixth Amendment rights when it refused to hold an evidentiary hearing regarding his claim that trial counsel disregarded his request to file a direct appeal.

Because Minarik had filed a previous habe-as petition in 1981, the District Court transferred Minarik’s second petition to this Court to permit us to perform our new gatekeeping function under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A). Discerning a possible retroactivity problem, we requested that the parties brief the issue of whether 28 U.S.C. § 2244’s “second -or successive” petition provisions, as amended by AEDPA, apply in a case where the first petition was -filed prior to, AEDPA’s enactment.

II.

Two Supreme Court decisions guide our retroactivity analysis in this case. First, we must consider Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244, 114 S.Ct. 1483, 128 L.Ed.2d 229 (1994), the landmark case which establishes the analytical framework governing retroactivity issues. Second, we must consult the Court’s more recent decision in Lindh v. Murphy, 521 U.S. 320, 117 S.Ct. 2059, 138 L.Ed.2d 481 (1997), where it provided additional guidance regarding Land-graf retroactivity analysis in a ease involving AEDPA.

In Landgraf, the Court considered whether provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 that provided expanded rights to recover compensatory and-punitive- damages in Title VII suits, and the right to a jury trial in cases involving - claims for such damages, could be applied to cases pending when the Act took effect. Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 247, 114 S.Ct. 1483. The Court found in its case law a strong historical presumption against the retroactive application of statutes:

[T]he presumption against retroactive legislation is deeply rooted in our jurisprudence, and embodies a legal' doctrine centuries older than our Republic.

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Bluebook (online)
166 F.3d 591, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 1417, 1999 WL 44825, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-john-paul-minarik-ca3-1999.