Villafuerte v. Lewis

75 F.3d 1330, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 639, 96 Daily Journal DAR 970, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 1166, 1996 WL 39393
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 30, 1996
DocketNo. 93-99015
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 75 F.3d 1330 (Villafuerte v. Lewis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Villafuerte v. Lewis, 75 F.3d 1330, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 639, 96 Daily Journal DAR 970, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 1166, 1996 WL 39393 (9th Cir. 1996).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Jose Roberto Villafuerte appeals the district court’s denial of his first federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus. An Arizona state court sentenced Villafuerte to death after convicting him of felony murder based [1334]*1334on kidnapping. Villafuerte argues that the state trial court erred in several respects at both the guilt and sentencing phases of his trial. He also claims bad faith failure by the state to conduct a thorough investigation and an unlawful arrest that violated his rights to due process. We reverse on one claim, holding that the court erred by failing to instruct the jury on unlawful imprisonment as a lesser included offense to kidnapping. We remand for issuance of the writ unless Villafuerte is retried within a reasonable period of time.

I. BACKGROUND

During the afternoon and evening of February 21,1983, Villafuerte physically assaulted Amelia Schoville, his girlfriend, in the trailer he was renting. Villafuerte then tied Schoville to a bed in the trailer, gagged her, and drove away in her car. Villafuerte claims that he tied her to keep her from calling the police, that he was intoxicated at the time, and that he left instructions with two friends who were allegedly present in the trader to release Schoville after he left.

A day later, on the afternoon of February 22, a deputy sheriff found Villafuerte sleeping in a dry creek bed near Schoville’s ear. Villafuerte smelled of alcohol and seemed to be intoxicated and in a stupor. The deputy took Villafuerte into custody.

On February 23, while being questioned by the police, who at that time knew nothing about Schoville, Villafuerte expressed concern about Schoville, explaining that he had left her tied up in the trailer. When the police investigated, they found Schoville bound, gagged, and dead. Schoville had died of asphyxiation, apparently caused by a gag wrapped around her head and stuffed in her mouth.

A grand jury indicted Villafuerte for theft, A.R.S. § 13-1802, kidnapping, A.R.S. § 13-1304, and first degree murder, A.R.S. § 13-1105(A)(2).1 At trial Villafuerte testified that he was intoxicated throughout the events of February 21. In closing argument, his defense counsel argued that the state could not prove the kidnapping charge because it had presented no evidence that Villafuerte intended to kill, injure, rape, rob, or frighten Schoville.

The trial judge instructed the jury that to find Villafuerte guilty of first degree murder, it had to find that he kidnapped Schoville and in the course of the kidnapping caused her death. He instructed:

The crime of first degree murder requires proof of the following two things: First, the defendant committed or attempted to commit the crime of kidnapping; and, second, in the course of and in furtherance of the crime or immediate flight from the crime, the defendant caused the death of Amelia Schoville.

The judge gave the following kidnapping instructions:

A person commits kidnapping by knowingly restraining another person with the intent to, one, inflict death ..., physical injury ..., a sexual offense on the victim, or to otherwise aid in the commission of a felony; or, two, to place the victim in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury to the victim.

The judge also instructed the jury to. decide whether the kidnapping had been dangerous or nondangerous: “[kjidnapping is a dangerous offense if it involved the use of a dangerous instrument or the intentional or knowing infliction of serious physical injury upon another. Otherwise, it is a nondangerous offense.”

The jury convicted Villafuerte of theft, kidnapping enhanced to dangerous, and felony murder. He was sentenced to death pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-703. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentence, State v. Villafuerte, 142 Ariz. 323, 690 P.2d 42 (1984), and the Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari. Villafuerte v. Arizona, 469 U.S. 1230, 105 S.Ct. 1234, 84 L.Ed.2d 371 (1985).

The trial court dismissed Villafuerte’s first state post-conviction relief petition. Villafuerte did not appeal. Subsequently, Villafuerte commenced a second state post-conviction relief proceeding. In it, Villaf[1335]*1335uerte attacked the trial court’s failure to instruct the jury sua sponte on unlawful imprisonment, A.R.S. § 13-1303, as a lesser included offense to kidnapping. The trial court again denied relief and the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the denial.

Villafuerte next filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the federal district court for Arizona. In it, he alleged 26 grounds for a new trial, including the court’s failure to instruct the jury on unlawful imprisonment. The court granted the state’s motion for summary judgment. Villafuerte appealed.

II.JURISDICTION

The district court had jurisdiction over Villafuerte’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. We have jurisdiction over his appeal under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo a district court’s decision to grant or deny a petition for habeas corpus. Calderon v. Prunty, 59 F.3d 1005, 1008 (9th Cir.1995). A state court’s factual findings are entitled to a presumption of correctness under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Melugin v. Hames, 38 F.3d 1478, 1482 (9th Cir.1994). However, a state court’s determinations of mixed questions of law and fact are reviewed de novo. Powell v. Gomez, 33 F.3d 39, 41 (9th Cir.1994).

IV. PROCEDURAL DEFAULT

As a threshold matter, we examine whether the federal courts have jurisdiction to review Villafuerte’s claim that the state trial court erred in failing to instruct on unlawful imprisonment as a lesser included offense of kidnapping. The state argues, and the district court held, that the claim was procedurally barred because it was not raised until the second state post-conviction relief petition. This holding is erroneous.

The Arizona Superior Court denied this claim in its ruling on Villafuerte’s second post-conviction petition. In doing so, it held:

Defendant starts this section of his brief claiming a right to an instruction on the crime of “unlawful imprisonment” as a lesser included of the crime of “kidnaping”, [sic] as to which he was convicted. It is important to note, no such instruction was requested or given.

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75 F.3d 1330, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 639, 96 Daily Journal DAR 970, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 1166, 1996 WL 39393, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/villafuerte-v-lewis-ca9-1996.