Robert Lemke v. Charles Ryan

719 F.3d 1093, 2013 WL 3027553, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 12524
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJune 19, 2013
Docket11-15960
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 719 F.3d 1093 (Robert Lemke v. Charles Ryan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Robert Lemke v. Charles Ryan, 719 F.3d 1093, 2013 WL 3027553, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 12524 (9th Cir. 2013).

Opinions

OPINION

CANBY, Senior Circuit Judge:

Petitioner Robert D. Lemke appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Lemke contends that subjecting him to retrial for felony murder violated the Double Jeopardy Clause because a jury earlier had impliedly acquitted him of the robbery underlying the felony murder charge. We conclude that the Arizona Court of Appeals’ holding that double jeopardy did not bar Lemke’s retrial was not “contrary to, or ... 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). Accordingly, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

In August 2002, Charles Chance was robbed and shot once in the chest. He died at the scene. Petitioner was then indicted in Arizona state court on three counts stemming from that incident: (1) felony murder predicated on armed robbery; (2) armed robbery; and (3) conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

At trial, the court instructed the jury that the armed robbery charge in Count II included the lesser offense of theft and, similarly, that the charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery in Count III included the lesser charge of conspiracy to commit, theft. In accordance with Arizona law, the trial court also provided a Le-Blcmc instruction, which allowed the jurors to consider a lesser included offense if, after reasonable effort, they could not agree on the greater charged offense. State v. LeBlanc, 186 Ariz. 437, 924 P.2d 441, 442 (1996). The jury was not instructed on any lesser included offense for Count I, felony murder.

After seven days of deliberation, the jury returned guilty verdicts on the lesser included offenses of theft and conspiracy to commit theft. The jury left blank the verdict forms for armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. As to felony murder predicated on armed robbery, the jury reported that it could not [1096]*1096reach a verdict. The court declared a mistrial on the felony murder count and sentenced Lemke to a total of twenty-seven years’ imprisonment for the theft and conspiracy convictions.

The State then sought retrial on the felony murder count. Lemke moved for dismissal, arguing that double jeopardy barred his retrial for felony murder predicated on armed robbery. The trial court denied Lemke’s motion, the Arizona Court of Appeals rejected Lemke’s double jeopardy claim in a reasoned decision, and the Arizona Supreme Court denied review. Thereafter, Lemke pleaded guilty to felony murder in exchange for a concurrent life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

Lemke then filed a pro se 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition in federal district court, reasserting his argument that the Double Jeopardy Clause barred his retrial for felony murder. The district court denied the petition and declined to issue a certificate of appealability. Lemke appealed, and this court granted a certificate of appeala-bility and appointed counsel.

DISCUSSION

We review de novo the district court’s denial of a habeas petition. Ferrizz v. Giurbino, 432 F.3d 990, 992 (9th Cir.2005). Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”), we may grant Lemke’s petition for habeas relief only if the decision of the Arizona Court of Appeals “was contrary to federal law then clearly established in the holdings of [the Supreme] Court; or ... involved an unreasonable application of such law.” Harrington v. Richter, — U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 770, 785, 178 L.Ed.2d 624 (2011) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Because the Arizona Supreme Court denied review in a summary order, we look through that order to the last reasoned state court decision. See Ylst v. Nunnemaker, 501 U.S. 797, 806, 111 S.Ct. 2590, 115 L.Ed.2d 706 (1991).

A. Waiver

As an initial matter, we address two issues of waiver. The first is whether Lemke’s express waiver of appeal in his plea agreement also waived his right to bring this petition for collateral relief. The government does not argue that Lemke’s express waiver of appeal waived his right to bring a collateral attack under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, but the partial dissent here does. Our circuit precedent makes clear, however, that a waiver of collateral attack must be express, and that a plain waiver of appeal does not suffice. See United States v. Benboe, 157 F.3d 1181, 1183 (9th Cir.1998) (“We have held that even where a plea agreement specifies that no appeal will be taken, it does not waive the right to bring a § 2255 motion unless it does so expressly.”); United States v. Pruitt, 32 F.3d 431, 433 (9th Cir.1994) (“A plea agreement does not waive the right to bring a § 2255 motion unless it does so expressly.”).

Lemke’s plea agreement does not expressly waive his right of collateral attack. His plea agreement states:

[T]he Defendant hereby waives and gives up any and all motions, defenses, objections, or requests which he has made or raised, or could assert hereafter, to the court’s entry of judgment against him and the imposition of a sentence upon him consistent with this agreement. By entering this agreement, the Defendant further waives and gives up the right to appeal.

This provision does not mention collateral attack, and its wording is most reasonably read as referring to post-trial activity in the trial court, an interpretation that is bolstered by the addition of a separate sentence waiving Lemke’s right of appeal. [1097]*1097Lemke’s § 2254 petition is not such a contemplated “motion[ ], defense[ ], objection[], or request[].” Indeed, the advice given by the trial judge at the change of plea hearing makes clear that Lemke was not waiving his right of collateral attack in the state court. After informing Lemke that he was waiving his right of appeal, the judge stated:

Under the plea agreement, you have to file what is called a petition for post-conviction relief where if there were any mistakes by your attorneys, by the State, by the Courts or any other irregularity that requires redress with the Courts, you have to file that petition in writing with the sentencing judge within 90 days of your sentence or you might lose that right.

It seems apparent, therefore, that neither the plea agreement nor Lemke’s likely understanding of it waived his right to bring this collateral action under § 2254.

The second waiver issue is whether Lemke, by his plea or in the quoted portion of his plea agreement, waived his claim of double jeopardy as a substantive matter. Because the state courts did not consider this issue, our review is de novo. See Scott v. Schriro, 567 F.3d 573, 584-85 (9th Cir.2009) (noting that AEDPA deference does not apply when “there is no state court decision on this issue to which to accord deference” (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)).

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719 F.3d 1093, 2013 WL 3027553, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 12524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robert-lemke-v-charles-ryan-ca9-2013.