Worden v. McLemore

200 F. Supp. 2d 746, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7220, 2002 WL 654149
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedApril 22, 2002
Docket00-71419
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 200 F. Supp. 2d 746 (Worden v. McLemore) 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
Worden v. McLemore, 200 F. Supp. 2d 746, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7220, 2002 WL 654149 (E.D. Mich. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS AND ORDER GRANTING PARTIAL CERTIFICATE OF AP-PEALABILITY

•COHN, District Judge.

I. Introduction

This is a habeas case under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Petitioner Jeffrey James Worden (Petitioner), is challenging the constitutionality of his 1996 conviction for possession with intent to deliver more than 50 but less than 225 grams of cocaine. Petitioner is currently incarcerated at the Saginaw Correctional Facility in Freeland, Michigan. For the reasons set forth below, the Court will deny the petition.

II. Facts

On September 22, 1994, Petitioner was arrested by the St. Clair County Sheriffs Department on a weapons offense, and was subjected to a custodial interrogation. Petitioner, who at the time he was arrested was the subject of an on-going drug trafficking investigation by the Sheriffs Department, requested an attorney at one point during the interrogation. Despite this request, the deputy continued to question him. As a result of the interrogation, the deputy elicited information regarding Petitioner’s involvement in drug sales. Based upon this information, the Sheriffs Department obtained a search warrant for Petitioner’s van. While executing the warrant, the deputies seized approximately 137 grams of cocaine from the van.

III. Procedural History

Following a jury trial in St. Clair County Circuit Court, Petitioner was convicted of possession with intent to deliver between 50 and 225 grams of cocaine. On February 23, 1996, Petitioner was sentenced to fifteen to forty years imprisonment.

Petitioner filed an appeal of right in the Michigan Court of Appeals, presenting the following claims:

I. The trial court erred in admitting the cocaine into evidence because its discovery was not inevitable.
II. Where the prosecutor presented other evidence to support his theory, the trial judge erred by allowing introduction of Mr. Worden’s uncharged drug activity.

The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed Petitioner’s conviction in an unpublished decision. People v. Worden, No. 193522, 1997 WL 33330867 (Mich.App. Dec. 9, 1997).

*748 Petitioner then filed an application for leave to appeal in the Michigan Supreme Court, presenting the following claims:

I. Where the trial judge found that Mr. Worden’s statement was extracted in violation of his state constitutional and Fifth Amendment right to counsel, he erred by failing to suppress the cocaine which was a “fruit” of the illegal confession.
II. Mr. Worden was deprived of his due process right to a fair trial where the prosecutor was permitted to introduce evidence of his unrelated cocaine transactions in Texas and Ohio. The trial judge violated his duty to control the proceedings by denying the mistrial motion made in response to the admission of the “bad acts” evidence.
III. Where Mr. Worden was charged with possession with intent to deliver cocaine, and he disputed the intent to deliver, the prosecutor violated the discovery order as well as Mr. Street’s constitutional due process and confrontation rights, by failing to disclose evidence that police discovered a cutting agent in the same vehicle where they found the cocaine.
IV. The trial judge deprived Mr. Wor-den of his Sixth Amendment and state constitutional rights to a fair trial by a properly instructed jury where he refused to instruct the jury on cocaine “use.”

The Michigan Supreme Court denied the application for leave to appeal. People v. Worden, No. 111160, 459 Mich. 897, 589 N.W.2d 277 (Mich. Nov. 3, 1998).

Petitioner then filed a petition for certio-rari in the Supreme Court, which was denied on April 19, 1999. Worden v. Michigan, 526 U.S. 1073, 119 S.Ct. 1472, 143 L.Ed.2d 556 (1999).

Thereafter, Petitioner, through counsel, filed the petition for a writ of habeas corpus, presenting the following claims:

I. Where the trial judge found that Mr. Worden’s statement was extracted in violation of his Fifth Amendment right to counsel, his decision to not suppress the cocaine that was a fruit of the illegal confession was contrary to, and an unreasonable application of, United States Supreme Court precedent.
II. Where Mr. Worden was charged with possession with intent to deliver cocaine, and he disputed the intent to deliver, the prosecutor violated the discovery order as well as Mr. Worden’s constitutional due process and confrontation rights, by failing to disclose evidence that police discovered a cutting agent in the same vehicle where they found the cocaine.
III. The trial judge deprived Mr. Wor-den of his Sixth Amendment and state constitutional rights to a fair trial by a properly instructed jury where he refused to instruct the jury on cocaine “use.”

IV.Analysis

A. Standard of Review

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub.L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (“AEDPA”), codified at 28 U.S.C. § 2241, et seq., altered the standard of review a federal court must apply when reviewing an application for a writ of habe-as corpus. The AEDPA applies to all habe-as petitions filed after the effective date of the act, April 24, 1996. Because petitioner’s application was filed after April 24, 1996, the provisions of the AEDPA, including the amended standard of review, apply.

28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) imposes the following standard of review that a federal *749 court must utilize when reviewing applications for a writ of habeas corpus:

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—
(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or
(2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceedings.

28 U.S.C. § 2254(d).

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Related

Worden v. McLemore
110 F. App'x 482 (Sixth Circuit, 2004)
Knuckles v. Brigano
70 F. App'x 830 (Sixth Circuit, 2003)
United States v. Patane
304 F.3d 1013 (Tenth Circuit, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
200 F. Supp. 2d 746, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7220, 2002 WL 654149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/worden-v-mclemore-mied-2002.