IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
_____________________
No. 01-50371 _____________________
DANIEL EARL RENEAU
Petitioner - Appellant
v.
JANIE COCKRELL, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, INSTITUTIONAL DIVISION
Respondent - Appellee
_________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas No. 99-CV-615 _________________________________________________________________ December 5, 2001 Before KING, Chief Judge, and WIENER and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.
KING, Chief Judge:*
Petitioner-Appellant Daniel Earl Reneau, a Texas death-row
inmate, appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a
writ of habeas corpus brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1994 &
* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4. Supp. 2001). Our review is limited to the two issues on which
the district court granted Reneau’s request for a certificate of
appealability: (1) whether Reneau’s constitutional challenges to
the Texas habeas corpus procedure are cognizable on federal
habeas review, and (2) whether the Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals properly determined that its review of the sufficiency of
the evidence for Reneau’s death sentence satisfied the
requirement under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments that
states provide meaningful review of death sentences. For the
following reasons, we AFFIRM the district court’s denial of
habeas relief.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On January 22, 1996, a grand jury indicted Petitioner-
Appellant Daniel Earl Reneau for intentionally causing the death
of Kris Keeran in the course of committing and attempting to
commit robbery. Felony-murder is a capital offense in Texas.
See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 19.03(a)(2) (Vernon 1994).1 Reneau
pleaded not guilty to the charge, and a jury convicted him and
sentenced him to death.
1 Section 19.03(a)(2) provides: “A person commits [capital murder] if he commits murder as defined under Section 19.02(b)(1) [i.e., “intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual”] and . . . intentionally commits the murder in the course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, or obstruction or retaliation.” TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. §§ 19.02(b)(1), 19.03(a)(2) (Vernon 1994).
2 During the guilt-innocence phase of Reneau’s trial, the
state spent one day presenting evidence of the following events.
Over the course of approximately two weeks in December 1995,
Reneau and Jeffrey Wood, who resided together with their
girlfriends, made plans to rob a gas station located near their
home. Initially, Wood and Reneau believed that they had
convinced Kris Keeran and William Bunker, who worked as cashiers
at the gas station, to participate in the robbery. Keeran and
Bunker soon made clear, however, that they would not provide any
assistance. Nevertheless, Wood and Reneau decided to carry out
the robbery on their own.
Early in the morning of January 2, 1996, Reneau entered the
gas station with a gun in his hand while Wood waited outside.
Reneau pointed the gun at Keeran, who was standing behind the
counter, and told Keeran to go into a back office. Keeran did
not move, and Reneau shot him in the head. Proceeding with the
robbery, Reneau went into the back office and took a safe. Wood,
who had entered the gas station after Reneau fired the gun,
removed a box of cash and a videocassette recorder containing a
surveillance tape. They loaded the three items onto the truck
that they had driven to the gas station and left. Keeran died
almost instantaneously.
The jury convicted Reneau of capital murder. At the
punishment phase of Reneau’s trial, the state sought the death
penalty. The state urged the jury that “there is a probability
3 that [Reneau] would commit criminal acts of violence that would
constitute a continuing threat to society,” one of the two
findings that Texas law requires a jury to determine beyond a
reasonable doubt before the state may impose the death penalty on
a defendant convicted of capital murder. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN.
art. 37.071, § 2(b)(1) (Vernon Supp. 2001).2 In support of that
claim, the state relied on the evidence presented at the guilt-
innocence phase of the trial and introduced further evidence of
events occurring before the January 2, 1996 robbery and evidence
of events occurring thereafter. Because Reneau’s second issue
relates to the sufficiency of the evidence for his death
sentence, we set forth that evidence in some detail.
Nadia Mireles, Wood’s girlfriend at the time of the robbery,
testified that she lived with Wood, Reneau, and her sister
(Reneau’s girlfriend) from November 1995 until the January 2,
1996 robbery. She stated that during this time Wood and Reneau
kept several firearms in the house and that Reneau had informed
her that he had stolen two of them, one from a children’s home
and another from a gun store. The state also presented the
testimony of Bennie Skinner and Aaron Toledo, who claimed that
2 If the jury makes this “continuing threat” finding, the jury must then determine “[w]hether, taking into consideration all of the evidence, including the circumstances of the offense, the defendant’s character and background, and the personal moral culpability of the defendant, there is a sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances to warrant that a sentence of life imprisonment rather than a death sentence be imposed.” TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 37.071, § 2(e)(1).
4 they had participated in a total of three burglaries with Reneau
and Wood.3 Both Toledo and Skinner testified that the group
stole firearms during the burglaries. They further stated that
Reneau was armed during the burglaries and that he had conveyed
to them that he was prepared to shoot someone if necessary. The
state also presented evidence connecting Reneau to a robbery of a
convenience store that had taken place approximately one month
before the January 2, 1996 robbery. The investigating officer
read to the jury Reneau’s written confession stating that he and
Wood had perpetrated the convenience store robbery and that
Reneau had been the one who threatened the cashier with a gun.4
The state also presented the testimony of individuals who
had encountered Reneau during his incarceration in county jail
after the January 2, 1996 robbery. Justin Lemond, who was
Reneau’s cellmate for a brief time, testified that Reneau had
conveyed his desire to escape from the jail and had stated that
“he wasn’t afraid to take out a jailer, to take out a law
enforcement official, but he was going to get out, one way or
another.” Lemond further testified that in recounting the events
3 Both Skinner and Toledo testified that they had been involved in the burglary of the children’s home. Skinner also stated that he participated in the burglary of a residence with Reneau and Wood, and Toledo stated that he participated in the robbery of a gun store with Reneau and Wood. 4 The officer took Reneau’s confession while he was incarcerated after being charged and arrested for the January 2, 1996 robbery.
5 of January 2, 1996, Reneau had not expressed any remorse about
Keeran’s death. Two prison officials testified that they
overheard Reneau and Wood talking through the pipe duct that ran
between their adjacent cells about what the officials concluded
were escape plans.
In addition to cross-examining the state’s witnesses, Reneau
sought to show that he was not a continuing threat to society and
to present mitigating evidence by introducing the testimony of
several witnesses. Dr. Michael Arambula, a forensic psychiatrist
who had examined Reneau and reviewed his personal and mental
history, described Reneau’s childhood as “very abusive.” He
testified that when Reneau was six to eight years old, the state
had removed him from his home because he was subjected to severe
physical abuse. Arambula stated that after Reneau was removed
from his home, he “pretty much jumped around from one mental
hospital to another mental hospital” until he was eighteen or
nineteen years of age. Arambula told the jury that he had
diagnosed Reneau with “severe personality disorder,” a treatable
condition. Further, Arambula testified: (1) that he was aware
that Reneau would not be eligible for parole for 40 years if
sentenced to life imprisonment for capital murder, (2) that
individuals afflicted with personality disorders “generally get
better” as they get older, and (3) that in a structured
environment like a prison, individuals with severe personality
disorders present a decreased risk of danger. On cross-
6 examination, Arambula stated that in making his prognosis on
Reneau’s potential for dangerousness, Arambula did not recall
having been aware that Reneau had threatened people with
firearms5 or that Reneau had indicated his willingness to kill
someone in order to escape from jail.
Other witnesses who testified for Reneau gave various
positive accounts of his character. David Warner, who met Reneau
in August 1995, testified that Reneau stayed with Warner and his
four-year-old daughter for approximately six weeks. Warner
testified that his daughter liked Reneau and that Warner had
trusted Reneau enough to let him babysit. Warner further stated
that he had never seen Reneau display violent behavior and that
he was surprised when he learned that Reneau was a suspect in the
January 2, 1996 robbery.
Two women who had met Reneau through Warner testified that
they had never seen Reneau act angrily and that they felt
comfortable when he was around their children. Zabra Pieper, who
had briefly lived in the same apartment complex as Reneau, also
testified that her three-year-old daughter liked Reneau and that
he was “really good with [her].” One of the officers who
accompanied Reneau back and forth between the jail and the
courthouse during the trial testified that the officers had not
5 Skinner and Toledo, who testified about their participation in burglaries with Reneau and Wood, both testified that Reneau had pointed a gun at them while warning them not to tell anyone about the burglaries.
7 had any problems with Reneau. Robert Baudat, who had hired
Reneau to help build log cabins, testified that Reneau was a
satisfactory worker.
The jury answered “yes” to the first special issue ——
whether Reneau would present a continuing threat to society ——
and “no” to the second special issue —— whether there was any
mitigating circumstance warranting a sentence of life
imprisonment rather than a sentence of death.6 On March 20,
1997, the state trial court sentenced Reneau to death.
Reneau’s trial counsel withdrew from representation and new
counsel was appointed to represent him on direct appeal to the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (“TCCA”).7 The TCCA affirmed his
conviction and sentence on January 27, 1999. Reneau then filed a
petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, which was
denied on November 8, 1999.
While his case was pending on direct appeal to the TCCA,
Reneau petitioned for state habeas corpus relief. Another
attorney (i.e., not the attorney representing Reneau in his
direct appeal) was appointed to represent him in his state habeas
proceedings. On April 22, 1999, the state trial court
recommended that Reneau’s habeas petition be denied on all
6 See supra note 2 and accompanying text. 7 Texas law provides that “[t]he judgment of conviction and sentence of death shall be subject to automatic review by the Court of Criminal Appeals.” TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 37.071, § 2(h) (Vernon Supp. 2001).
8 grounds. Determining that the record supported the trial court’s
recommendation, the TCCA entered an order denying Reneau’s state
habeas petition on September 15, 1999.
On March 8, 2000, Reneau filed a petition for a writ of
federal habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, challenging
the constitutionality of his death sentence on several grounds.
The district court assigned Reneau’s petition to a magistrate
judge, who issued a report recommending that the district court
dismiss the petition and grant the state’s motion for summary
judgment. On April 2, 2001, the district court denied all of
Reneau’s objections to the magistrate judge’s report and entered
an order adopting the magistrate judge’s recommendation.
Reneau sought certificates of appealability (“COA”) for two
of the district court’s holdings: (1) that his challenges to the
Texas habeas corpus procedure for capital cases are not
cognizable on federal habeas review, and (2) that the TCCA
properly held that it afforded Reneau meaningful review of his
death sentence as required by the Eighth and Fourteenth
Amendments. The district court granted Reneau a COA on each
holding.
II. FEDERAL HABEAS STANDARD OF REVIEW
In a federal habeas appeal, we review a district court’s
grant of summary judgment de novo, “applying the same standard of
review to the state court’s decision as the district court”
9 applied. Beazley v. Johnson, 242 F.3d 248, 255 (5th Cir. 2001)
(quoting Thompson v. Cain, 161 F.3d 802, 805 (5th Cir. 1998)).
We consider all of the facts in the summary judgment record in
the light most favorable to Reneau, the nonmoving party. See
Williams v. Scott, 35 F.3d 159, 161 (5th Cir. 1994).
Because Reneau filed his petition for federal habeas corpus
after the date of the enactment of the Antiterrorism and
Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-132, 100
Stat. 1214 (codified as amended at 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (1994 & Supp.
2001)) (“AEDPA”), the district court’s federal habeas review was
governed by AEDPA. See Penry v. Johnson, 121 S. Ct. 1910, 1918
(2001).
Under § 2254(d) of AEDPA, habeas relief is not available to
a state prisoner
with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim — (1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or (2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.
28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) (Supp. 2001).
In this case, state court factual determinations are not at
issue, and thus subsection (1) of § 2254(d) provides the
framework for our inquiry. The Supreme Court recently elaborated
10 on the § 2254(d)(1) standards. See Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S.
362 (2000). Applying statutory construction principles, the
Court determined that the phrases “contrary to” and “unreasonable
application” establish “two categories of cases in which a state
prisoner may obtain federal habeas relief with respect to a claim
adjudicated on the merits in state court.” Id. at 404.
According to the Court, a state court decision may be “contrary
to . . . clearly established Federal law, as determined by the
Supreme Court” if: (1) “the state court applies a rule that
contradicts the governing law set forth in [the Supreme Court’s]
cases,” or (2) “the state court confronts a set of facts that are
materially indistinguishable from a decision of [the Supreme]
Court and nevertheless arrives at a result different from
[Supreme Court] precedent.” Id. at 405-06.
As to the second category of cases warranting federal habeas
relief, the Court determined that a state court decision is “an
unreasonable application of clearly established” Supreme Court
precedent if the state court “correctly identifies the governing
legal rule but applies it unreasonably to the facts of a
particular prisoner’s case.” Id. at 407-08. The Court
established two guidelines for ascertaining when an application
of federal law is “unreasonable.” First, the inquiry into
unreasonableness is an objective one. See id. at 409-10.
Second, the Court emphasized that “unreasonable” does not mean
11 merely “incorrect”: an application of clearly established Supreme
Court precedent must be incorrect and unreasonable to warrant
federal habeas relief. See id. at 410-12.
III. COGNIZABILITY OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES TO THE STATE’S HABEAS PROCEDURES
The district court granted Reneau a COA on its determination
that his constitutional challenges to the Texas habeas corpus
procedures are not cognizable on federal habeas review. These
challenges arise out of the Texas Legislature’s significant
revision of the state’s habeas corpus statute in 1995. Before
this revision, all felony defendants had the right to petition
for a writ of habeas corpus in Texas courts after their
convictions and sentences became final, i.e., after the
defendants had unsuccessfully appealed to the TCCA and petitioned
the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC.
ANN. art. 11.07, § 2(a) (Vernon 1977). Under the current habeas
provisions, however, only petitioners “seek[ing] relief from a
felony judgment imposing a penalty other than death” have the
right to petition for state habeas relief after their convictions
and sentences become final. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.07,
§§ 1, 3(a) (Vernon Supp. 2001) (emphasis added). In contrast,
petitioners who have been sentenced to death must now pursue
state habeas relief at the same time that they are pursuing
direct appellate relief, i.e., before their convictions and
12 sentences become final. See id. art. 11.071, §§ 1, 4(a)
(“article 11.071”).
Specifically, article 11.071 requires death-penalty
petitioners to file their state habeas petitions by “the 180th
day after the date the convicting court appoints counsel under
Section 28 or . . . the 45th day after the date the state’s
original brief is filed on direct appeal with the [TCCA],
whichever date is later.” Id. art. 11.071, § 4(a).
Consequently, Reneau was required to file his state habeas
petition while his direct appeal was still pending in the TCCA.
The TCCA entered an order denying Reneau’s state habeas petition
before the Supreme Court denied his petition for certiorari, and
thus before his conviction and sentence became final.
Reneau challenges article 11.071 on three constitutional
grounds. First, Reneau argues that because the simultaneous
appeal/habeas procedure applies only to defendants who have been
sentenced to death, and all other felony defendants may wait
until their convictions and sentences have become final to seek
state habeas relief, article 11.071 deprived him of his
Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection of the law.
Second, Reneau contends that article 11.071 deprived him of due
process by forcing him to petition for a writ of habeas corpus
8 Section 2 of article 11.071 gives death-penalty defendants a right to appointed counsel in habeas proceedings. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 11.071, § 2.
13 before he could have known the legal grounds on which the state
court system based his final conviction and sentence. Finally,
Reneau argues that the filing requirements of article 11.071
deprived him of his right under the Sixth and Fourteenth
Amendments to effective assistance of appellate counsel.
According to Reneau, by including a claim of ineffective
assistance of appellate counsel in his state habeas petition
while he was still being represented by his appellate counsel, he
risked losing the attorney-client privilege because there was a
possibility that an adversarial relationship would develop
between Reneau and his appellate counsel.9 Consequently, Reneau
contends that the habeas “applicant is placed in the position of
[choosing] between losing his attorney/client privilege with his
appellate counsel on the one hand or defaulting his claim of
ineffective assistance of appellate counsel on the other.”
The district court held that it could not reach the merits
of Reneau’s challenges to article 11.071 because such challenges
to state habeas procedures are not cognizable on federal habeas
review. The district court relied on a set of our cases holding
that “infirmities in state habeas proceedings do not constitute
grounds for federal habeas relief.” Duff-Smith v. Collins, 973
9 Reneau based this conclusion on Rule 503 of the Texas Rules of Evidence, which provides that the attorney-client privilege does not apply “[a]s to a communication relevant to an issue of breach of duty by a lawyer to the client or by a client to the lawyer.” TEX. R. CRIM. EVID. 503(d)(3).
14 F.2d 1175, 1182 (5th Cir. 1992) (quoting Vail v. Procunier, 747
F.2d 277, 277 (5th Cir. 1984)); see also Trevino v. Johnson, 168
F.3d 173, 180 (5th Cir. 1999) (noting that “[o]ther circuits have
similarly decided that habeas corpus relief is not available to
correct alleged errors in state habeas proceedings); Hallmark v.
Johnson, 118 F.3d 1073, 1080 (5th Cir. 1997) (“Insofar as [the
petitioner] raises a due process challenge to the state habeas
proceedings, his claim fails because infirmities in state habeas
proceedings do not constitute grounds for relief in federal
court.”).
Acknowledging that his due process and Sixth Amendment
challenges to the state’s habeas procedure may be precluded by
this circuit’s precedent, Reneau argues that his equal protection
challenge is distinguishable and should not be subject to the “no
state habeas infirmities” rule. According to Reneau, in
Montgomery v. Meloy, the Seventh Circuit recognized such a
distinction in stating that “[u]nless state collateral review
violates some independent constitutional right, such as the Equal
Protection Clause, errors in state collateral review cannot form
the basis for federal habeas corpus relief.” 90 F.3d 1200, 1206
(7th Cir. 1996) (citations omitted). Reneau asserts that in
making this distinction, the Seventh Circuit relied on Lane v.
Brown, 372 U.S. 477 (1963), and Smith v. Bennett, 365 U.S. 708
(1961), in which the Supreme Court held that the state post-
conviction proceedings at issue violated the Equal Protection
15 Clause. See Brown, 372 U.S. at 485; Smith, 365 U.S. at 713-14.
Reneau also notes that the First Circuit has relied on Brown in
holding that an equal protection challenge to state post-
conviction proceedings is cognizable on federal habeas review.
See Dickerson v. Walsh, 750 F.2d 150, 152, 154 (1st Cir. 1984)
(stating that in Brown, “[t]he Supreme Court . . . specifically
addressed state post-conviction procedure via habeas petitions”).
Finally, Reneau points out that neither this court nor any of our
sister circuits have applied the “no state habeas infirmities”
rule to an equal protection claim.
Reneau correctly perceives that our cases preclude federal
habeas review of his due process and Sixth Amendment challenges
to the state’s habeas procedure. Our “no state habeas
infirmities” rule is based on one of the jurisdictional
prerequisites of federal habeas review. The statute authorizing
federal habeas review provides:
The Supreme Court, a Justice thereof, a circuit judge, or a district court shall entertain an application for a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court only on the ground that he is in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States.
28 U.S.C. § 2254(a) (1994) (emphasis added). We have explained
that the “no state habeas infirmities” rule is necessary to give
effect to this § 2254(a) jurisdictional prerequisite because a
claim that a state’s post-conviction procedures violate “the
16 Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States” is not a
claim that the petitioner’s custody violates “the Constitution or
laws or treaties of the United States.” See, e.g., Rudd v.
Johnson, 256 F.3d 317, 320 (5th Cir. 2001) (stating that claims
based on “infirmities in state habeas proceedings” are not
cognizable on federal habeas review “because an attack on the
state habeas proceeding is an attack on a proceeding collateral
to the detention and not the detention itself”); Trevino, 168
F.3d at 180 (same). Accordingly, in federal habeas cases, “[w]e
look only to the trial and direct appeal.” Duff-Smith, 973 F.2d
at 1182.
Reneau argues that despite this precedent, we should treat
his equal protection claim differently from his Sixth Amendment
and due process claims and deem his equal protection claim
cognizable on federal habeas review. However, the Supreme Court
authority that he cites does not support this position with the
strength and clarity that would be necessary to justify a
departure from our “no state habeas infirmities” rule. In Smith,
the Supreme Court heard a challenge to state habeas proceedings
on direct review of a state court decision —— not on review of a
district court’s federal habeas decision. See 365 U.S. at 708-
10. Our “no state habeas infirmities” rule is based on the
assumption that federal courts do not have the authority on
federal habeas review to hear challenges to state habeas
procedures. The Smith Court did not exercise such authority.
17 Brown is more relevant to the cognizability issue because in
that case the Court upheld a district court’s grant of federal
habeas relief on the ground that state habeas procedures violated
the Equal Protection Clause. 372 U.S. at 478, 482-83. However,
as the state correctly points out, the Brown Court did not
explicitly address the issue of whether a challenge to state
post-conviction proceedings is a claim that the petitioner’s
custody violates “the Constitution or laws or treaties of the
United States,” and thus is cognizable on federal habeas review.
28 U.S.C. § 2254(a) (full text supra). Reneau does not cite, and
we have not found, a Supreme Court case explicitly addressing the
cognizability issue presented in the instant case. In the
absence of such authority, we cannot justify departing from our
“no state habeas infirmities” cases to carve out an exception for
an equal protection challenge to a state habeas procedure of the
sort that Reneau advances here. Under our precedent, we must
affirm the district court’s dismissal of Reneau’s equal
protection challenge as well as his Sixth Amendment and due
process challenges to the Texas habeas procedure; these claims
are not cognizable on federal habeas review.
IV. MEANINGFUL REVIEW OF THE DEATH SENTENCE
The other issue on which the district court granted a COA is
whether the TCCA properly rejected Reneau’s claim that the TCCA’s
review of his death sentence did not satisfy the requirement
18 under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments that states provide
meaningful review of death sentences (“meaningful-review claim”).
Reneau raised his meaningful-review claim on direct appeal to the
TCCA and again in his habeas petition. However, the state habeas
court did not address the claim, noting that Reneau’s meaningful-
review claim “ha[d] been previously reviewed and rejected by the
[TCCA].”10 Accordingly, the proper inquiry under AEDPA is
whether the TCCA’s decision on direct appeal denying Reneau’s
meaningful-review claim “was contrary to, or involved an
unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as
determined by the Supreme Court of the United States.” 28 U.S.C.
§ 2254(d)(1) (full text supra, Part II).
Pursuant to the Texas death penalty statute, a jury must
make two findings beyond a reasonable doubt before the state may
impose the death penalty on a defendant: (1) that “there is a
probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of
violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society,”
TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 37.071, § 2(b)(1) (Vernon Supp.
2001) (“future danger finding”), and (2) “taking into
consideration all of the evidence, including the circumstances of
10 Texas law limits the remedy of habeas corpus to claims that were not raised on direct appeal. See Ex parte Ramos, 977 S.W.2d 616, 617 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998) (stating that because five of the habeas petitioner’s claims “have already been raised and rejected on the direct appeal from this conviction[, t]hey will not be addressed on habeas corpus”); Ex parte Groves, 571 S.W.2d 888, 890 (Tex. Crim. App. 1978) (“[W]e have consistently held that habeas corpus will not lie as a substitute for an appeal.”).
19 the offense, the defendant’s character and background, and the
personal moral culpability of the defendant, [that] there is
[not] a sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances to
warrant that a sentence of life imprisonment rather than a death
sentence be imposed,” id. art. 37.071, § 2(e)(1) (“mitigation
finding”).11 Because the jury made these two necessary findings
in Reneau’s case, the trial court sentenced him to death. See
id. art. 37.071, § 2(g).12
Reneau contends that the TCCA denied him meaningful review
by (1) refusing to conduct a factual sufficiency review of the
jury’s future danger finding, and (2) refusing to conduct any
review of the jury’s mitigation finding. The TCCA held that its
legal sufficiency review of the jury’s future danger finding
conducted pursuant to Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979),
provided Reneau with meaningful review of his death sentence.
11 “[I]n cases in which the jury charge at the guilt or innocence stage permitted the jury to find the defendant guilty as a party under Sections 7.01 and 7.02 [of the Texas] Penal Code,” the jury must also find that “the defendant actually caused the death of the deceased or did not actually cause the death of the deceased but intended to kill the deceased or another or anticipated that a human life would be taken.” TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 37.071, § 2(b)(2) (Vernon Supp. 2001). 12 Section 2(g) of article 37.071 states that “[i]f the jury returns an affirmative finding on each issue submitted under Subsection (b) of this article and a negative finding on an issue submitted under Subsection (e) of this article, the court shall sentence the defendant to death.” TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 37.071, § 2(g).
20 The Supreme Court has clearly established “that meaningful
appellate review of death sentences is fundamental to the
constitutional application of death penalty statutes.” Martinez
v. Johnson, 255 F.3d 229, 242 n.17 (5th Cir. 2001) (citing Parker
v. Dugger, 498 U.S. 308, 321 (1991) and Clemons v. Mississippi,
494 U.S. 738, 749 (1990)); see also Moore v. Johnson, 225 F.3d
495, 505-06 (5th Cir. 2000) (“The Supreme Court requires that a
jury’s determination that a death sentence should issue must be
guided by standards and reviewed by appellate courts to determine
its propriety and non-arbitrariness.”). In Jackson, the Court
held that in reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence for a
state prisoner’s conviction, “the relevant question is whether,
after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the
prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the
essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” 443
U.S. at 319. We have held that appellate review of the
sufficiency of the evidence for a death sentence is “meaningful”
if conducted under the constitutional standard established by the
Supreme Court in Jackson. See Martinez, 255 F.3d at 242 n.17,
244.
Further, this court has determined that Supreme Court
precedent requires a Jackson review of only the future danger
finding, and not the mitigation finding. In other habeas cases,
we have rejected claims like Reneau’s that challenge the Texas
death penalty scheme on the ground that it prohibits appellate
21 review of the jury’s mitigation finding. For example, in Hughes
v. Johnson, we held that “a state appellate court’s limitation of
its review in capital cases to the constitutional sufficiency of
aggravating factors to support a death sentence, while totally
ignoring compelling and uncontradicted mitigating evidence,” is
consistent with Supreme Court precedent and thus does not violate
the constitutional right to meaningful appellate review of death
sentences. 191 F.3d 607, 621 (5th Cir. 1999) (internal
quotations omitted). Similarly, in Moore, we stated that “[n]o
court could find that” in making jury mitigation findings immune
to appellate review, “Texas had acted contrary to federal law as
explained by the Supreme Court.” 225 F.3d at 507. The TCCA’s
decision that a Jackson review of the jury’s future danger
finding satisfies the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments’
meaningful-review requirement is not “contrary to” clearly
established Supreme Court precedent.
Accordingly, Reneau is entitled to federal habeas relief on
his meaningful-review claim only if the TCCA’s decision involved
an objectively unreasonable application of controlling Supreme
Court law. See Williams, 529 U.S. at 409-10 (discussed supra,
Part II). Reneau argues that the TCCA’s refusal to apply a
factual sufficiency review of the evidence for the future danger
finding was an unreasonable application because Texas law
prevents the jury from considering certain facts that are
constitutionally relevant to determining whether to impose a
22 death sentence. Reneau notes that although the TCCA has held
that the term “society” means “prison society” as well as its
ordinary meaning of “free society,” the TCCA will not permit this
broader definition to be included in the jury charge.
Consequently, Reneau argues, “society” is unconstitutionally
vague: without a definition making clear that “society” includes
“prison society,” the jury did not have the means to give effect
to his evidence that he would not be a continuing threat to
prison society. Reneau further contends that the deleterious
effect of the state’s refusal to define “society” for the jury
was exacerbated by the requirement under Texas law that the jury
charge include an instruction that the jury may not consider the
period of statutory ineligibility for parole (which in Reneau’s
case is 40 years). According to Reneau, because the jury was not
equipped to give effect to his constitutionally-relevant evidence
that he would not present a continuing threat to prison society
(because of the absence of a definition) and was effectively
instructed to disregard such evidence (because of the prohibition
against considering parole ineligibility), the jury did not
determine whether the state had presented factually sufficient
evidence to support a future danger finding. Thus, Reneau claims
that the TCCA was obligated to provide him with a factual
sufficiency review that takes into account his evidence that he
would not represent a threat to prison society.
23 We are not altogether clear on why it is that Reneau
considers a factual sufficiency review by the TCCA to be a proper
substitute for a jury finding based on the charges that Reneau
claims were constitutionally necessary. Indeed, Reneau argued
that he was entitled to such jury findings in his claims
challenging his death sentence on grounds of jury charge error,
claims that he asserted in addition to his meaningful-review
claim in the TCCA on direct review, in state habeas court, and in
federal habeas court. There is no clearly established basis in
Supreme Court precedent for the jury charge facet of Reneau’s
meaningful-review claim. Thus, the TCCA’s decision does not
involve an unreasonable application of clearly established
Supreme Court precedent.
Because the TCCA’s decision that it afforded Reneau
meaningful review of his death sentence by conducting a Jackson
review of the jury’s future danger finding was neither “contrary
to” nor “an unreasonable application of” clearly established
Supreme Court precedent, we affirm the district court’s denial of
federal habeas relief on Reneau’s meaningful-review claim.
V. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the
district court denying Reneau’s petition for a writ of habeas
corpus.