Smith v. Berghuis

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 24, 2008
Docket06-1463
StatusPublished

This text of Smith v. Berghuis (Smith v. Berghuis) 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
Smith v. Berghuis, (6th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION Pursuant to Sixth Circuit Rule 206 File Name: 08a0352p.06

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT _________________

X Petitioner-Appellant, - DIAPOLIS SMITH, - - - No. 06-1463 v. , > MARY BERGHUIS, Warden, - Respondent-Appellee. - N Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids. No. 03-00087—Gordon J. Quist, District Judge. Argued: April 23, 2008 Decided and Filed: September 24, 2008 Before: MOORE and CLAY, Circuit Judges; SCHWARZER, Senior District Judge.* _________________ COUNSEL ARGUED: James Sterling Lawrence, Royal Oak, Michigan, for Appellant. Debra M. Gagliardi, OFFICE OF THE MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL, Lansing, Michigan, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: James Sterling Lawrence, Royal Oak, Michigan, for Appellant. Brian O. Neill, OFFICE OF THE MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL, Lansing, Michigan, for Appellee. _________________ OPINION _________________ CLAY, Circuit Judge. Petitioner, Diapolis Smith, was convicted of second degree murder and felony possession of a firearm and sentenced to life imprisonment in a Michigan state court. After exhausting his state court remedies, Petitioner filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, which was denied. Petitioner now appeals from the order entered by the district court denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Specifically, Petitioner contends that he was denied an impartial jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community in violation of the Sixth Amendment and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and during sentencing. We find that Petitioner has demonstrated a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community and therefore we need not address his ineffective

* The Honorable William W Schwarzer, Senior United States District Judge for the Northern District of California, sitting by designation.

1 No. 06-1463 Smith v. Berghuis Page 2

assistance of counsel claims. For the reasons that follow, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court with respect to Petitioner’s Sixth Amendment claim that his jury was not drawn from a fair cross-section of the community and REMAND the case with instructions that the district court order Smith’s release from state custody unless the state of Michigan commences a new trial within 180 days of this order. BACKGROUND The substantive facts giving rise to Petitioner Diapolis Smith’s conviction were described by the Michigan Court of Appeals as follows: [Smith]’s conviction arises out of a shooting death at So-So’s Lounge in Grand Rapids. Shortly before 1 a.m., the decedent quarreled with another male bar patron identified by some witnesses as [Smith] and by other witnesses as someone else. This quarrel soon escalated into a physical confrontation with both parties participating. The decedent was struck with a glass or beer bottle, hit on the head with a pistol butt, and kicked. As many as five other males joined in the fight and struck the decedent; several witnesses identified [Smith] as one of the men who joined the fight. Although several witnesses testified that [Smith] displayed a handgun during this confrontation, struck the decedent with the butt of the gun and fired between two and six shots, other witnesses testified that someone else fired the fatal shot. The fatal bullet pierced the decedent’s chest, heart, pancreas and large intestine before exiting his back, causing him to bleed to death in three minutes. The bullet also pierced the thigh of a So-So’s bouncer who was attempting to break up the fight. People v. Smith, No. 172558, 1999 WL 33445050, at *1 (Mich. Ct. App.1999). On February 12, 1992, Petitioner was arrested and charged with one count of second-degree murder in violation of Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.317, two counts of possession of a firearm during commission of a felony in violation of Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.227b, and one count of assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder in violation of Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.84. Petitioner, who is African American, was tried by jury in Kent County Circuit Court. In 1990, the United States Census Bureau reported that 7.8 percent of the jury-eligible population in Kent County was African American and the overall percentage of African Americans in Grand Rapids, the largest city in the county, totaled 18.1 percent. Moreover, while Grand Rapids accounted for approximately 37 percent of the overall population of Kent County, it accounted for 85 percent of the African American population of the county. Although the exact number is unclear, between 60 and 100 individuals constituted the venire panel for Petitioner’s trial. At most, three of the prospective jurors were African American. Ultimately, 37 prospective jurors were examined by the parties during voir dire. Each of the 37 individuals examined by the parties was white. After the use of peremptory and for cause challenges by the parties, 14 individuals were seated as jurors in Petitioner’s trial. Prior to the jury being sworn, Petitioner challenged the composition of both the venire panel and the petit jury, alleging that African Americans had been improperly excluded. To remedy the underrepresentation of African Americans on the jury, Petitioner requested additional peremptory challenges. Moreover, Petitioner challenged the overall selection process for the venire panel as violative of his Sixth Amendment right to a jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community. The trial court denied Petitioner’s request, finding that “there’s nothing to indicate to me that . . . the manner of selecting jurors is anything other than impartial and that there’s been any type of subjective selection of jurors to create a problem in terms of representation.” Thereafter, the trial court proceeded to empanel an all white jury. No. 06-1463 Smith v. Berghuis Page 3

After hearing all of the evidence, the jury convicted Petitioner of second degree murder and possession of a firearm during a felony. Petitioner, however, was acquitted of assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder and the second count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Smith, 1999 WL 33335050, at *1. On November 29, 1993, the trial court conducted Petitioner’s sentencing hearing. Thereafter, the trial court sentenced Petitioner to life imprisonment for the second degree murder conviction and a two year term of imprisonment for the felony-firearm conviction. Id. Petitioner’s two year sentence was to be served consecutive to his sentence of life imprisonment. Id. Petitioner appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals, arguing a number of grounds for reversal, including the denial of an impartial jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community in violation of the Sixth Amendment. Id. On May 14, 1997, the court of appeals remanded Petitioner’s case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing “to determine how jury venires were selected at the time of [Smith’s] trial.” Id. Pursuant to the remand from the state court of appeals, an evidentiary hearing took place on February 2, 1998 and April 27, 1998. During the hearing, the trial court considered testimony from a number of witnesses regarding Kent County’s jury selection process. Kim Foster, the Kent County Circuit Court Administrator, testified regarding the procedures utilized to constitute venire panels at the time of Petitioner’s trial.

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Smith v. Berghuis, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-berghuis-ca6-2008.