Underwood v. Morrison

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedJanuary 27, 2023
Docket3:20-cv-10223
StatusUnknown

This text of Underwood v. Morrison (Underwood v. Morrison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Underwood v. Morrison, (E.D. Mich. 2023).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION ______________________________________________________________________

RASHED ABDULAH UNDERWOOD,

Petitioner,

v. Case No. 20-cv-10223

GARY MINIARD,1

Respondent.

________________________________/

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS AND DENYING A CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY

On January 29, 2020, Petitioner Rashed Abdulah Underwood, an inmate presently confined at the Central Michigan Correctional Facility in St. Louis, Michigan, filed a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. (ECF No. 1.) Petitioner contests his Oakland County Circuit Court plea convictions concerning two counts of assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct (CSC) involving penetration, MICH. COMP. LAWS § 750.520g(1), for which he is serving concurrent prison terms of seven years and nine months to twenty years. (Id; see ECF No. 8.) Petitioner argues that he is entitled to a writ of habeas corpus because his plea was coerced and his attorney was not acting in his best interest. He also challenges the validity of his sentence on numerous grounds. For reasons explained below, the court will deny the petition and refrain from issuing a certificate of appealability.

1 The caption is amended to reflect the name of Petitioner’s current warden. See Rule 2(a) of the Rules Governing § 2254 Cases, 28 U.S.C. foll. § 2254. I. BACKGROUND On August 29, 2016, Petitioner pled guilty to two counts of assault with intent to commit CSC involving penetration in exchange for the dismissal of two counts of third- degree criminal sexual conduct. (Plea Tr., ECF No. 8-2, PageID.88–89, 91–92.) The

week prior, defense counsel and the prosecutor met with the trial judge to discuss the sentencing guideline scores implicated by the plea offer and the anticipated sentencing guideline range. (Id. at PageID.89–90.) The attorneys agreed the guideline range was ten to thirty-four months. (Id. at PageID.89.) At the plea hearing, defense counsel expressed Petitioner’s desire to serve a jail-only sentence, acknowledging that both sex offender-registration and post-sentence probationary supervision would also apply. (Id. at PageID.90–91.) The court reviewed the terms of the plea offer with Petitioner. (ECF No. 8-2, PageID.91.) It twice stated that it “ma[d]e no promises concerning the sentencing.” (Id. at PageID.91–92.) Petitioner affirmed his understanding of that fact and that he was

facing a possible maximum sentence of twenty years. (Id. at PageID.92.) The court then reviewed Petitioner’s trial and related rights that he would waive with his plea, about which Petitioner again expressed his understanding. (Id. at PageID.93–94.) Petitioner’s colloquy with the trial court specifically included the following exchange: THE COURT: Anyone force you, threaten you, or promise you anything to get you to plead, other than this plea bargain? DEFENDANT UNDERWOOD: No, sir. THE COURT: This is your choice? DEFENDANT UNDERWOOD: Yes, sir. (Id. at PageID.94.) When questioned by the prosecutor to establish a factual basis for his plea, Petitioner admitted that he had committed two assaults on the complaining witness and that the assaults included the intent to commit criminal sexual conduct including penetration. (Id. at PageID.95–96.) Petitioner further admitted that his criminal

record contained two prior felony convictions, thereby establishing the applicability of the third-offense habitual offender sentencing enhancement. (Id. at PageID.96.) On November 14, 2016, Petitioner was sentenced. (Sent. Hr’g Tr., ECF No. 8-3.) Instead of the ten- to thirty-four-month sentencing range thought to apply at the time of the plea hearing, Petitioner’s calculated guidelines were thirty-four to one hundred months. (Id. at PageID.104.) Petitioner requested to be sentenced at the bottom of his guidelines, apologizing and expressing remorse for his conduct. (Id. at PageID.106.) He further sought to talk to the judge, and the court recessed briefly. (Id. at PageID.108.) Proceedings reconvened, at which time a sidebar was held between counsel and the judge. (Id.) Defense counsel moved to adjourn the sentencing, citing

“misunderstandings,” and, because Petitioner was shocked by the guideline range, suggested a motion to withdraw his plea might be appropriate. (Id.) Counsel explained Petitioner’s surprise was over the scoring of his prior record variables (PRVs). (Id. at PageID.109.) The court was unsympathetic, as the issue involved Petitioner’s own record, and accordingly denied Petitioner’s motion to adjourn and any motion to withdraw the plea. (Id. at PageID.110.) The court then sentenced Petitioner to concurrent prison terms of seven years and nine months to twenty years. (Id.) Petitioner’s appellate counsel subsequently moved to withdraw his plea, for correction of his pre-sentence investigation report, and for resentencing in the trial court. The court denied the motions to withdraw and to resentence but permitted amendment of the PSI to remove the mention of a polygraph. (See Mich. Ct. App. Rec., ECF No. 8- 5, PageID.157; see also Mot. Hr’g Tr., 6/21/2017, ECF No. 8-4, PageID.114–15.) Petitioner then applied for leave to appeal his plea convictions to the Michigan

Court of Appeals, and later the Michigan Supreme Court, arguing that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective and that he should be permitted to withdraw his plea because his attorney advised him he would only receive county jail time for his guilty plea and she had not acted in his best interest. (Mich. Ct. App. Rec., ECF No. 8-5, PageID.128.) He further argued that the sentencing guidelines were scored incorrectly and that his sentence was unreasonable. (Id.) Both courts denied leave in standard form orders. People v. Underwood, Case No. 339219 (Mich. Ct. App. Dec. 13, 2017), lv. denied, People v. Underwood, 504 Mich. 970, 933 N.W.2d 302 (2019). A timely habeas petition followed, in which Petitioner presented the following two grounds for relief:

I. PETITIONER IS ENTITLED TO HABEAS RELIEF WHERE STATE AND FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED WHEN HE WAS COERCED INTO TAKING A PLEA BECAUSE HIS ATTORNEY WAS NOT ACTING IN HIS BEST INTEREST AND TOLD HIM THAT IF HE PLED HE WOULD BE GIVEN COUNTY TIME AND PROBATION. II. PETITIONER IS ENTITLED TO HABEAS RELIEF AND RESENTENCING WHERE HIS GUIDELINES WERE MISSCORED, WERE SCORED USING JUDICIAL FACT FINDING, HIS SENTENCE IS UNREASONABLE AND THERE WERE NUMEROUS MITIGATING FACTORS SUPPORTING A LOWER SENTENCE AND WHERE TRIAL COUNSEL WAS INEFFECTIVE. (Pet., ECF No. 1, PageID.7–8.) In a response filed December 14, 2020, Respondent countered that Petitioner’s plea was knowing and voluntary and characterized as meritless Petitioner’s claim of trial counsel’s ineffective assistance for promising jail time if he pled. (Ans., ECF No. 7, PageID.48, 59.) Respondent further argued that Petitioner’s sentencing challenge was similarly without merit and was not cognizable on habeas review. (Id. at PageID.65.) On January 27, 2021, Petitioner filed a reply brief. (ECF No. 11.)

II. STANDARD Title 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), as amended by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), Pub. L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214, imposes the following standard of review for habeas cases: An application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court shall not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim —

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