United States v. Stitt

552 F.3d 345, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 26280, 2008 WL 5377687
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedDecember 24, 2008
Docket07-11, 07-12
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 552 F.3d 345 (United States v. Stitt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Stitt, 552 F.3d 345, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 26280, 2008 WL 5377687 (4th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

Affirmed in part; reversed and remanded in part with instructions by published opinion. Chief Judge WILLIAMS wrote the opinion, in which Judge MOTZ and Judge SHEDD joined.

OPINION

WILLIAMS, Chief Judge:

We granted Richard Thomas Stitt, a federal inmate, a certificate of appealability (“COA”) to consider his claim that during the guilt phase of his federal capital proceeding, his trial counsel labored under a conflict of interest that adversely affected his representation. By way of cross-appeal, the Government argues that the district court, after granting Stitt relief under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West Supp. 2008) as to the penalty phase of his trial and vacating his death sentence, erred by concluding that Stitt was no longer eligible for the death penalty because the statute *348 under which Stitt’s death sentence was imposed has since been repealed, see 21 U.S.C.A. § 848(g) (West 1999) (repealed 2006), and by sentencing Stitt to life imprisonment. We agree with the district court that Stitt is not entitled to relief as to his guilt-phase conflict of interest claim, but we conclude that the district court erred by finding that § 848(g) was not saved by the general Savings Statute, 1 U.S.C.A. § 109 (West 2005). Accordingly, we vacate Stitt’s life sentence and remand the case for a new sentencing hearing.

I.

In 1998, a jury sitting in the Eastern District of Virginia convicted Stitt of three counts of murder during a continuing criminal enterprise, in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 848, as well as numerous other federal drug and firearms offenses in Virginia and North Carolina. 1 See United States v. Stitt (“Stitt I”), 250 F.3d 878, 881-82 (4th Cir.2001). Following a penalty phase conducted pursuant to § 848(g), the jury recommended a death sentence for each of the murders, and the district court sentenced Stitt to death plus 780 months imprisonment. We affirmed Stitt’s conviction and sentence on direct appeal. Stitt I, 250 F.3d at 900.

On May 12, 2003, Stitt filed a timely motion under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 to vacate his conviction and sentence. In his § 2255 motion, Stitt raised two claims relevant to the current appeal. First, Stitt contended that his trial counsel, Norman Malinski, labored under a conflict of interest at the guilt phase of Stitt’s trial. Specifically, Stitt claimed that Malinski failed to conduct an investigation or hire appropriate experts to investigate the alleged criminal acts that occurred in North Carolina. Stitt claimed that Malinski failed to do so because, under the fee agreement between him and Malinksi, any expense payments were to come from the retainer paid to Malinski, and Malinski wanted to keep that money. Second, Stitt argued that Malinski was likewise under a conflict of interest during the penalty phase of Stitt’s trial. This claim focused on Malinski’s decision to hire an “expert” on future dangerousness whose only knowledge of federal prisons came from watching a television program. Stitt argued that Malinski hired this “expert” instead of asking the district court to appoint an expert in order to keep the district court from delving into Malin-ski’s fee agreement with Stitt. 2

Following two evidentiary hearings, the district court entered an order denying all of Stitt’s claims except the claim that Stitt had been denied his right to conflict-free counsel during the penalty phase of his trial. Stitt v. United States (“Stitt II”), 369 F.Supp.2d 679 (E.D.Va.2005). Accordingly, the district court vacated Stitt’s death sentence. Both sides appealed. We granted Stitt a COA on a single claim' — whether Malinski had an actual conflict of interest at the guilt phase. We initially affirmed the district court’s denial of relief *349 as to Stitt’s guilt-phase conflict of interest claim and its grant of relief as to his penalty-phase conflict of interest claim. United States v. Stitt (“Stitt III”), 441 F.3d 297 (4th Cir.2006). Prior to the issuance of our mandate, however, we withdrew our opinion in Stitt III, concluding that we lacked jurisdiction to hear the appeal because “there is no final judgment ‘until the prisoners are resentenced.’ ” United States v. Stitt (“Stitt IV”), 459 F.3d 483, 485 (4th Cir.2006) (quoting Andrews v. United States, 373 U.S. 334, 340, 83 S.Ct. 1236,10 L.Ed.2d 383 (1963)). We remanded the ease to the district court with instructions to resentence Stitt.

On remand, the district court sua sponte entered an order requesting the parties to brief the following question:

Although 21 U.S.C. § 848(i)(l) contemplates the impaneling of a new jury for the purpose of a capital resentencing, can this Court exercise its “broad and flexible § 2255 remedial power,” United States v. Hillary, 106 F.3d 1170, 1172 (4th Cir.1997), to “correct the sentence as may appear appropriate,” 28 U.S.C. § 2255, and resentence Petitioner without application of the Death Penalty.

(J.Á. at 1774.)

Following briefing, the district court answered its question in the affirmative and declined to empanel a new sentencing jury for the penalty phase, concluding that Stitt was no longer statutorily eligible for the death penalty. The district court reached this conclusion after finding that § 848(g), which had been repealed during the pen-dency of Stitt’s appeals, could no longer apply to Stitt and that the Federal Death Penalty Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 3591 et seq. (“FDPA”), did not provide a mechanism for empanelling a new sentencing jury. Stitt v. United States (“Stitt V”), 475 F.Supp.2d 571 (E.D.Va.2007). In the alternative, the district court concluded that, even if it had the statutory authority to call a new sentencing jury, it would exercise its discretion under § 2255 and decline to do so. Id. at 576. Accordingly, the district court, from the bench, resentenced Stitt to life imprisonment plus 780 months.

Both Stitt and the Government filed timely appeals. Pursuant to United States v. Hadden, 475 F.3d 652 (4th Cir.2007), 3 Stitt requested a COA from this court on two issues: whether Malinski labored under an actual conflict of interest during the guilt-phase of the trial that adversely affected his representation and whether Stitt was denied his right to learned counsel. By order dated June 12, 2008, we granted Stitt a COA on his conflict of interest claim.

Meanwhile, in its appeal, the Government no longer contests the district court’s decision to grant Stitt relief as to his claim that Malinski labored under a conflict of *350

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Bluebook (online)
552 F.3d 345, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 26280, 2008 WL 5377687, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-stitt-ca4-2008.