Spisak v. Hudson

512 F.3d 852, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 495, 2008 WL 104956
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 11, 2008
Docket03-4034
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 512 F.3d 852 (Spisak v. Hudson) 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
Spisak v. Hudson, 512 F.3d 852, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 495, 2008 WL 104956 (6th Cir. 2008).

Opinions

ORDER

On October 20, 2006, this Court issued an opinion partially granting habeas relief to Petitioner, Frank G. Spisak, and ordering a new mitigation phase trial. Spisak v. Mitchell, 465 F.3d 684 (6th Cir.2006). Respondent warden thereafter filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court. On October 9, 2007, the Supreme Court granted certiora-ri, vacated the judgment of this Court, and remanded the case to this Court for further consideration in light of Carey v. Musladin, — U.S. —, 127 S.Ct. 649, 166 L.Ed.2d 482 (2006), and Schriro v. Landrigan, — U.S. —, 127 S.Ct. 1933, 167 L.Ed.2d 836 (2007). After careful review and consideration of Musladin and Landrigan, we find that neither of the cases require reversal of our prior disposition of this case. Accordingly, we reinstate our opinion of October 20, 2006, partially granting habeas relief and ordering a new mitigation phase trial.

In Spisak v. Mitchell, 465 F.3d 684 (6th Cir.2006), this Court found that Petitioner presented a valid claim of ineffective assistance of counsel entitling him to habeas relief. In particular, this Court found that Petitioner was prejudiced by his counsel’s deficient performance at the sentencing plíase of Petitioner’s trial inasmuch as counsel’s closing argument focused almost entirely on the heinous nature of Petitioner’s crimes and his deficient nature as a person. Defense counsel in no way attempted to rehabilitate Petitioner in the eyes of the jurors who would eventually have to decide whether to recommend the death penalty. There is no evidence in the record suggesting that Petitioner in any way contributed or consented to counsel’s outrageous remarks during closing arguments. Relying on Supreme Court precedent applying the standard for ineffective assistance of counsel, this Court reasoned that defense counsel’s conduct was so deficient, prejudicial and indeed, egregious, that it overcame the high bar for habeas relief established by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”);1 consequently, we remanded for a new mitigation phase trial.

Upon review of Musladin and Landri-gan, we find that they are readily distinguishable, and therefore Petitioner remains entitled to habeas relief as a result of the ineffective assistance of counsel at the mitigation phase of his trial.

In Carey v. Musladin, a habeas petitioner sought a writ of habeas corpus contending that he had been denied a fair trial after trial spectators wore buttons to the trial which displayed a picture of the murder victim. 127 S.Ct. at 651. A state court held that the display of buttons picturing the victim did not deny the defendant his right to a fair trial. Id. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, finding that the state court’s decision was [854]*854“contrary to or an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court.” The Ninth Circuit applied Estelle v. Williams, 425 U.S. 501, 96 S.Ct. 1691, 48 L.Ed.2d 126 (1976) (defendant forced to wear prison garb by the state denied right to a fair trial) and Holbrook v. Flynn, 475 U.S. 560, 106 S.Ct. 1340, 89 L.Ed.2d 525 (1986) (finding that the seating of “four uniformed state troopers” in spectators row immediately behind defendant constituted the denial of the right to a fair trial) to find that the spectators’ conduct was so inherently prejudicial that it denied the defendant his right to a fair trial. Id. at 652. The Supreme Court reversed, noting that whether spectator conduct, as opposed to state sponsored courtroom practices, could violate a defendant’s constitutional right to a fair trial was “an open question in our jurisprudence.” Id. at 654. Indeed, at the time Musladin was decided, courts across the country held divergent views on the application of Williams and Flynn to spectator conduct. Id. (collecting cases). Consequently, the failure of the state court to extend Williams and Flynn to spectator conduct was not an “unreasonable application” of “clearly established” federal law. Id.

In our view, Musladin is readily distinguishable from Spisak. First, Musladin is factually inapposite. Musladin involved a habeas petition alleging an infringement on the right to a fair trial based upon spectator conduct whereas Spisak alleged constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel as a result of counsel’s arguments to the jury.

Second, unlike Musladin, our holding in Spisak did not address an undeveloped area of the law; rather, this Court’s holding partially granting habeas relief relied on well-settled Supreme Court precedent regarding ineffective assistance of counsel, i.e., Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984) and Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510, 123 S.Ct. 2527, 156 L.Ed.2d 471 (2003). The Supreme Court has been quite clear in applying precedent regarding ineffective assistance of counsel to the mitigation phase of trials. Federal law regarding ineffective assistance of counsel of the kind addressed in Spisak was therefore “clearly established.”

Third, the fact that the Supreme Court has not squarely addressed a situation involving a counsel’s deficient performance during closing arguments of the mitigation phase of a trial does not preclude this Court’s finding that the state court unreasonably applied federal law as announced in Strickland. Indeed, as the Supreme Court recently noted in Panetti v. Quarterman, 551 U.S. —, 127 S.Ct. 2842, 168 L.Ed.2d 662 (2007), “AEDPA does not ‘require state and federal courts to wait for some nearly identical factual pattern before a legal rule must be applied.’ ” Id. at 2858 (quoting Musladin, 127 S.Ct. at 656 (Kennedy, J., concurring)). Accordingly, we may find the application of a principle of federal law unreasonable despite the “involve[ment of] a set of facts ‘different from those of the case in which the principle was announced.’ ” Id. (quoting Lockyer v. Andrade, 538 U.S. 63, 76, 123 S.Ct. 1166, 155 L.Ed.2d 144 (2003)); see also Smith v. Patrick, 508 F.3d 1256, 1259 (9th Cir.2007) (“Habeas relief is appropriate under the ‘unreasonable application’ prong of section 2254(d)(1) when a state court violates the principle of clearly established federal law that has been determined by the Supreme Court ....”) (emphasis original). Thus, this Court’s holding in Spisak was consistent with the mandate of AEDPA that federal courts are not to disturb state court determinations unless the decision was “contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law as deter[855]*855mined by the Supreme Court of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1).

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Spisak v. Hudson
512 F.3d 852 (Sixth Circuit, 2008)

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512 F.3d 852, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 495, 2008 WL 104956, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spisak-v-hudson-ca6-2008.