Johnson v. Coyle

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 12, 2000
Docket97-4092
StatusPublished

This text of Johnson v. Coyle (Johnson v. Coyle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. Coyle, (6th Cir. 2000).

Opinion

RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION Pursuant to Sixth Circuit Rule 206 ELECTRONIC CITATION: 2000 FED App. 0015P (6th Cir.) File Name: 00a0015p.06

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT _________________

;  MICHAEL JEFFREY JOHNSON,  Petitioner-Appellant,   No. 97-4092 v.  > RALPH COYLE, Warden,  Respondent-Appellee. 1

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Akron. No. 96-00771—David D. Dowd, Jr., District Judge. Argued: February 5, 1999 Decided and Filed: January 12, 2000 Before: JONES, NELSON, and BOGGS, Circuit Judges. _________________ COUNSEL ARGUED: Luz V. Lopez-Ortiz, PUBLIC DEFENDER’S OFFICE, OHIO PUBLIC DEFENDER COMMISSION, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellant. Michael L. Collyer, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF OHIO, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Luz V. Lopez-Ortiz, Linda E. Prucha, PUBLIC DEFENDER’S OFFICE, OHIO PUBLIC DEFENDER COMMISSION, Columbus, Ohio, for

1 2 Johnson v. Coyle No. 97-4092 No. 97-4092 Johnson v. Coyle 15

Appellant. Michael L. Collyer, OFFICE OF THE specification at Johnson’s retrial. This determination is ATTORNEY GENERAL OF OHIO, Cleveland, Ohio, for properly made by the Ohio courts, and the parties are free to Appellee. argue the issue in the forthcoming state proceedings. _________________ III OPINION Sufficient evidence was presented at trial for a rational jury, _________________ viewing all the evidence most favorably for the prosecution, to find beyond a reasonable doubt that (1) Johnson killed BOGGS, Circuit Judge. An Ohio state-court jury convicted Brunst, (2) Johnson killed Brunst with prior calculation and Michael Johnson of two counts of aggravated murder, each design, (3) Johnson killed Brunst while raping or attempting with a capital specification, for the death of his sister, Susan to rape Brunst, and (4) assuming that Ohio courts would Brunst. One capital specification alleged that Johnson killed interpret the “restraint of liberty” term of the Ohio kidnapping Brunst with prior calculation and design; the other alleged statute to be satisfied on the facts presented at trial, Johnson that he killed her in the course of a kidnapping or rape. The killed Brunst while kidnapping or attempting to kidnap her. jury convicted Johnson on both counts and recommended a There is no federal constitutional bar to the state’s retrying sentence of death. The state court of appeals affirmed the Johnson for murder or aggravated murder, nor for prosecuting3 conviction and sentence. See State v. Johnson, 1992 WL a capital specification predicated on rape and/or kidnapping. 328492 (Ohio App. Nov. 4, 1992) (unpublished). The state may not prosecute a capital specification based on Johnson’s 1984 Florida conviction. Accordingly, we deny Johnson appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, which Johnson’s habeas petition. reversed his conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. See State v. Johnson, 643 N.E. 2d 1098 (Ohio 1994). The Ohio Supreme Court found that (1) Johnson’s previous Florida conviction for second-degree murder was not a conviction for a specific intent crime and, therefore, cannot be an aggravating circumstance upon which a capital specification can be grounded, id. at 1103–04; (2) the testimony of three of the four witnesses who testified that Brunst told them about Johnson’s previous attempt to rape Brunst was inadmissible hearsay, and admitting it was an abuse of discretion, id. at 1104–05; (3) certain statements that were admitted into evidence constituted inadmissible character evidence, id. at 1105–06; and (4) a graphic and 3 The magistrate judge asserted that Johnson “is no longer facing a crude passage in an otherwise admissible letter from Johnson death penalty” because his state case was not affirmed on appeal, citing to Brunst was unfairly prejudicial, id. at 1106. Ohio Revised Code § 2929.06. J.A. at 21. The district court correctly held that such a conclusion is not based on a federal constitutional issue Johnson sought rehearing, arguing that the evidence and, therefore, such a claim is not cognizable in Johnson’s habeas presented at trial was insufficient to support his conviction proceeding. Id. at 71. Whether § 2929.06 prohibits the death penalty in and that a retrial would thus violate his right against double Johnson’s case is a matter for the Ohio courts, and we make no ruling on that point. We note the issue to bring it to the parties’ attention for the jeopardy. The Ohio Supreme Court denied rehearing. retrial. 14 Johnson v. Coyle No. 97-4092 No. 97-4092 Johnson v. Coyle 3

No evidence was presented that Brunst was killed, Johnson filed a habeas corpus petition in federal district court, terrorized, or physically harmed anywhere other than at her again arguing that he may not be retried. The magistrate apartment. There is no way to know if Brunst was killed in judge recommended denial of the petition. The district court her apartment or removed alive and killed elsewhere. considered Johnson’s objections and denied the writ. The Although a rational jury might find the elements of murder district court issued a certificate of probable cause, limited to and/or aggravated murder without evidence of the exact Johnson’s sufficiency-of-the-evidence claim involving the location of the killing, the same cannot be said for kidnapping and rape charges. We affirm the district court’s kidnapping, which requires that Brunst’s apartment be ruled denial of Johnson’s petition. out as the scene of the murder. There being no evidence for the “purpose” element of kidnapping under either subsection I (2) or (3) of Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2905.01(A), no rational jury could find beyond reasonable doubt that Johnson A. The 1984 Florida Murder committed kidnapping under those subsections. In 1984, Johnson pled guilty to murder in connection with Therefore, to predicate a capital specification on the death of a Florida woman, Denise Hutchinson. There kidnapping, the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt were numerous similarities in the circumstances of the two that Johnson restrained Brunst’s liberty in order to engage in killings. At trial in the case before us, the prosecution argued sexual activity, under subsection (4) of of Ohio Rev. Code that the alleged pattern made it more likely that Johnson Ann. § 2905.01(A). We held above that a rational jury could killed Brunst. find beyond a reasonable doubt that Johnson raped Brunst. At least one Ohio court has held that the physical restraint Johnson lived with Kathy Keller in Pierson, Florida, from incident to rape may constitute the restraint of liberty required 1980 to 1984. Hutchinson was Keller’s friend, whom for kidnapping. See State v. Hatton, 1999 WL 253450, *23 Johnson “treated as a sister” although he was sexually (Ohio Ct. App. April 19, 1999) (unpublished) (holding that attracted to her. After a fight between Johnson and Keller, the defendant’s act of forcing himself on top of the victim Keller moved in with Hutchinson. Johnson felt that constituted a restraint 2of liberty sufficient to support a Hutchinson was responsible for his break-up with Keller. He kidnapping conviction). We are reluctant to consider this the fought with Hutchinson, who forbade him to come to her settled law of Ohio; however, that is a matter for the Ohio mobile home. On December 29, 1984, Florida police found courts. We hold that if the Ohio courts allow a conviction for Hutchinson’s body, nude from the chest down, lying in her kidnapping on these facts, there is no federal constitutional bed. Her face had been struck repeatedly with an iron skillet. bar preventing the state from arguing the kidnapping capital Hutchinson was very drunk when she was killed.

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Johnson v. Coyle, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-coyle-ca6-2000.