Travis Runnels v. Lorie Davis, Director

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedAugust 14, 2018
Docket17-70031
StatusUnpublished

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

Bluebook
Travis Runnels v. Lorie Davis, Director, (5th Cir. 2018).

Opinion

Case: 17-70031 Document: 00514599132 Page: 1 Date Filed: 08/14/2018

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

No. 17-70031 FILED August 14, 2018 Lyle W. Cayce TRAVIS TREVINO RUNNELS, Clerk

Petitioner-Appellant,

v.

LORIE DAVIS, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS DIVISION

Respondent-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas USDC No. 2:12-CV-74

Before GRAVES, HIGGINSON, and COSTA, Circuit Judges. JAMES E. GRAVES, JR., Circuit Judge: * Petitioner Travis Trevino Runnels was convicted of the capital murder of Stanley Wiley and sentenced to death. His direct appeal and state collateral pro- ceedings were unsuccessful, as were his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal district court and his attempt to appeal the district court’s denial of his petition to this court. In lieu of filing a petition for rehear- ing of this court’s decision denying him a certificate of appealability (COA) on

*Pursuant to 5th Cir. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Cir. R. 47.5.4. Case: 17-70031 Document: 00514599132 Page: 2 Date Filed: 08/14/2018

No. 17-70031

the denial of the petition, Runnels filed a motion in the district court under Fed- eral Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b), seeking to vacate the denial. The district court ruled that the motion was, in reality, a second-or-successive habeas petition, and, in the alternative, that Runnels failed to make the requisite showing to justify Rule 60(b) relief. Runnels now applies for a COA to appeal that denial. For the reasons below, we deny the application. I A The following recitation of facts is drawn from this panel’s 2016 decision denying Runnel’s COA application arising from the district court’s denial of his habeas petition: Runnels was charged with the 2003 murder of Stanley Wiley, a ci- vilian supervisor at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s (TDCJ) Clements Unit boot factory. During his work shift as a jan- itor at the boot factory, Runnels approached Wiley from behind, pulled his head back, and slit his throat. Wiley later died from the injury. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (“CCA”) summarizes the facts of the case: Appellant did not enjoy working as a janitor at the pris- on boot factory. On the morning of the day of the murder, he expressed anger at the fact that he had not been trans- ferred to being a barber as he had requested. He told fellow inmate Bud Williams that he was going to be “shipped one way or another” and that “he was going to kill someone.” Appellant said that he would kill Wiley if Wiley said anything to him that morning. Appellant told another inmate, William Gilchrist, that he planned to hold the boot-factory plant manager hostage in the office after the other correctional officers had left. Fi- nally, after appellant had arrived at the boot factory, he told fellow inmate Phillip Yow that he was going to do something. During the first shift at the boot factory, Appellant ap- proached Wiley, raised a knife, tilted Wiley’s head back, and cut his throat. Appellant then wiped the knife with

2 Case: 17-70031 Document: 00514599132 Page: 3 Date Filed: 08/14/2018

a white rag and walked back toward the trimming ta- bles. When Yow later asked appellant why he had at- tacked Wiley, appellant said, “It could have been any offender or inmate, you know, as long as they was white.” In response to Yow’s explanation that appellant could get the death penalty if Wiley died, appellant responded, “[a] dead man can’t talk.” Wiley did die from the injury. It was later determined that the cut was a twenty-three centimeter long neck wound that transected the external carotid artery and the internal jugular vein and extended in depth to the spine. A medical examiner found that the force required to inflict the wound was “moderate to severe.” Appellant was twenty-six years old when he committed the offense. Runnels v. State, 2007 WL 2655682, at *1 (Tex. Crim. App. Sept. 12, 2007). The record shows that Runnels had been convicted of three other felonies before murdering Wiley. In 1993, he had been convicted of second-degree felony burglary. After being placed on probation, he committed (and was convicted for) another burglary resulting in the revocation of his probation. In 1997, he was convicted of first-degree felony aggravated robbery committed with a firearm. In prison, Run- nels committed numerous acts of misconduct including: (1) hitting a guard in the jaw; (2) throwing urine at a guard; (3) and throwing feces at a guard. Though the State Counsel for Offenders was initially appointed to represent Runnels for murdering Wiley, the trial judge granted their motion to withdraw on grounds that they lacked experience and training in death penalty litigation. On May 17, 2004, Jim Durham and Laura Hamilton were appointed as Runnels’ defense counsel. In addition, the court appointed defense investigator, Kathy Garrison; psychiatrist, Lisa Clayton; neuro-psychologist, Richard Fulbright; and attorney, Warren Clark, who acted as capital jury selection consultant. Attorney Robert Hirschhorn helped to prepare the defense’s juror questionnaire. At trial, Runnels entered a guilty plea. He also provided the trial judge with an affidavit stating that he had discussed the strategic and tactical aspects of his guilty plea with counsel and that he vol- untarily entered into his guilty plea. On the day of trial, potential defense witnesses including Runnels’ mother, father, grandmother,

3 Case: 17-70031 Document: 00514599132 Page: 4 Date Filed: 08/14/2018

and brother Darmonica did not make themselves available to testify. Darmonica refused to make the trip to Amarillo. Runnels’ mother, grandmother, and father made the trip, but Runnels’ father re- mained in the courtroom, thus making himself unavailable to tes- tify. Runnels’ mother and grandmother left the courthouse and drove home before they could testify. When Garrison called the family mem- bers who had left, they told her that they could do nothing for Run- nels now and hung up the telephone. With no defense witnesses present, defense counsel James Durham attempted to show that Runnels did not constitute a future danger by eliciting testimony from seven prosecution witnesses who had been in contact with Runnels on the day of the murder. These inmates testified that Runnels was a good and peaceable prisoner who had cooperated with officers after the attack. After the state rested, Durham informed the court that he had a witness who was teaching a class and who could not arrive until later that day. He had a wit- ness whom he wanted to confer with counsel about. He also had sub- poenaed additional out-of-town witnesses for the next day. When the judge asked if Durham could convince his witness who was teach- ing a class to come sooner, Durham said that he would inquire. After a short break, Durham rested without calling any defense witnesses. The next day, he moved for an instructed verdict on the issue of fu- ture dangerousness. The motion was denied. During closing arguments, the prosecution stated that Runnels’ actions demonstrated his future dangerousness despite testimony by the seven inmate witnesses to the contrary. The prosecution also emphasized Runnels’ prior convictions, prison misconduct, and the brutal nature of the attack on Wiley. During his closing argument, defense counsel Durham stated that Runnels’ decision to plead guilty was his “first act of contrition . . . .” He also reemphasized that the State had not carried its burden of proof of future danger- ousness.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Medellin v. Dretke
371 F.3d 270 (Fifth Circuit, 2004)
Slack v. McDaniel
529 U.S. 473 (Supreme Court, 2000)
Miller-El v. Cockrell
537 U.S. 322 (Supreme Court, 2003)
Martinez v. Ryan
132 S. Ct. 1309 (Supreme Court, 2012)
Gonzalez v. Crosby
545 U.S. 524 (Supreme Court, 2005)
Trevino v. Thaler
133 S. Ct. 1911 (Supreme Court, 2013)
Ward v. Norris
577 F.3d 925 (Eighth Circuit, 2009)
Rodney Reed v. William Stephens, Director
739 F.3d 753 (Fifth Circuit, 2014)
Gregory Dickens v. Charles L. Ryan
740 F.3d 1302 (Ninth Circuit, 2014)
Licho Escamilla v. William Stephens, Director
749 F.3d 380 (Fifth Circuit, 2014)
Lisa Coleman v. William Stephens, Director
768 F.3d 367 (Fifth Circuit, 2014)
Adam Ward v. William Stephens, Director
777 F.3d 250 (Fifth Circuit, 2015)
John Matamoros v. William Stephens, Director
783 F.3d 212 (Fifth Circuit, 2015)
Kerry Allen v. William Stephens, Director
805 F.3d 617 (Fifth Circuit, 2015)
Travis Runnels v. Lorie Davis, Director
664 F. App'x 371 (Fifth Circuit, 2016)
Terry Edwards v. Lorie Davis, Director
865 F.3d 197 (Fifth Circuit, 2017)
Buck v. Davis
580 U.S. 100 (Supreme Court, 2017)
Rick Rhoades v. Lorie Davis, Director
852 F.3d 422 (Fifth Circuit, 2017)
Ayestas v. Davis
584 U.S. 28 (Supreme Court, 2018)
Gonzalez v. Thaler
181 L. Ed. 2d 619 (Supreme Court, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Travis Runnels v. Lorie Davis, Director, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/travis-runnels-v-lorie-davis-director-ca5-2018.