Gerald Hand v. Marc Houk
871 F.3d 390
| 6th Cir. | 2017Background
- Gerald Hand was convicted in Ohio state court of aggravated murders of his fourth wife Jill and accomplice Lonnie Welch, sentenced to death; prosecution alleged a long-term insurance-motivated murder scheme implicating Hand in two earlier unsolved wife murders.
- Physical and forensic evidence at Jill’s murder scene linked Hand and Welch (blood spatter, glass fragments, DNA on Hand’s shirt, matching calibers, gunshot residue) and showed Welch had been shot multiple times; evidence also suggested financial motive (large insurance/pension proceeds).
- Hand was indicted on six counts including two aggravated-murder counts with multiple death-penalty specifications, conspiracy counts, and an escape charge; jury convicted on all counts and recommended death for both murders.
- Hand pursued direct appeal, applications to reopen appeals, state post-conviction relief, and certiorari petitions; Ohio courts rejected his claims and the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari; Hand then filed a federal habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254.
- The district court denied habeas relief after an evidentiary hearing; the Sixth Circuit affirmed, holding Hand’s federal claims were either procedurally defaulted under Ohio law (res judicata or contemporaneous-objection rules) or, where adjudicated on the merits, failed under AEDPA deference.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adequacy of voir dire re: pretrial publicity | Hand: voir dire insufficient; juror bias from publicity denied fair trial | State: claim was defaulted under Ohio res judicata; voir dire record was sufficient | Defaulted by Ohio res judicata; federal habeas barred (no cause/prejudice shown) |
| Ineffective assistance of trial counsel (voir dire) | Hand: trial counsel failed to question jurors about publicity | State: claim could have been raised on direct appeal; defaulted; appellate counsel not ineffective to excuse default | Defaulted; appellate counsel’s omission not constitutionally ineffective |
| Ineffective assistance at sentencing (investigation/mitigation/expert testimony) | Hand: counsel failed to present full psychological/mitigation evidence and object to guilt-phase evidence at penalty phase | State: counsel made strategic mitigation choices; claims were either defaulted or denied on merits by state court; AEDPA deference applies | Mixed: some subclaims procedurally defaulted; those adjudicated on merits fail under doubly‑deferential Strickland/AEDPA review |
| Sufficiency of evidence for certain death‑penalty specifications | Hand: appellate counsel should have challenged sufficiency of evidence for specifications (e.g., killing Welch to silence him) | State: record contained evidence (statements, jailhouse informant) supporting specifications | Claim denied; appellate counsel’s failure not shown objectively unreasonable; state denial reasonable under AEDPA |
| Course‑of‑conduct jury instruction narrowing | Hand: instruction failed to narrowly define course-of-conduct, risking arbitrary death sentence | State: Hand waived by failing to object at trial; Ohio enforced contemporaneous‑objection rule | Procedurally defaulted (contemporaneous-objection rule); related ineffective-assistance contention also defaulted |
| Admission of prior‑bad‑acts (Evid. R. 404(b)) | Hand: five instances of prior-bad-acts evidence admitted violated federal constitutional rights | State: presentation in state court framed as state‑law evidence issues; Hand didn’t fairly present federal grounds | Claims not fairly presented to state courts and therefore procedurally defaulted; alternatively meritless |
| Sufficiency of evidence for escape conviction | Hand: insufficient proof he planned/assisted escape | State: record contained testimony and circumstantial evidence linking Hand to planning/lookout role | Denied; Ohio Supreme Court’s Jackson‑style sufficiency ruling reasonable under AEDPA |
Key Cases Cited
- Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two‑prong test for ineffective assistance of counsel: deficient performance and prejudice)
- Harrington v. Richter, 562 U.S. 86 (2011) (AEDPA deference: state-court decisions are presumptively reasonable; habeas relief requires unreasonable application of Supreme Court precedent)
- Cullen v. Pinholster, 563 U.S. 170 (2011) (federal habeas review under AEDPA is limited to the state-court record)
- Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for sufficiency of the evidence: whether any rational trier of fact could have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt)
- Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717 (1961) (juror exposure to pretrial publicity does not alone require new trial; must show juror partiality)
- Skilling v. United States, 561 U.S. 358 (2010) (trial judge’s assessment of juror impartiality entitled to deference due to opportunity to observe demeanor)
- Murray v. Carrier, 477 U.S. 478 (1986) (ineffective assistance of counsel can constitute cause to excuse procedural default)