Kimber Edwards v. Donald Roper
2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 17454
| 8th Cir. | 2012Background
- Edwards convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in Missouri for murder-for-hire of ex-wife Cantrell; direct appeal and postconviction relief denied; habeas petition granted COA on Batson and penalty-phase issues and denied funds for mental evaluation.
- Prosecutor used peremptory strikes against Evans and Burton—Edwards, Black, objected under Batson; trial court denied, Missouri Supreme Court affirmed.
- Edwards alleged Batson violations (race-based strikes) and that the penalty-phase no-adverse-inference instruction and prosecutor’s closing comment on remorse violated due process/self-incrimination protections.
- District court denied Edwards’s petition but granted COA on Batson/penalty-phase issues; Edwards sought funds for a mental examination under 18 U.S.C. § 3599(f), which the district court denied.
- The court reviews under AEDPA deference; state court Batson analysis and harmless-error review applied to penalty-phase claims.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batson violation for Evans strike | Edwards claims state court unreasonably applied Batson | Missouri court properly credited race-neutral reasons | No reasonable application; state court properly upheld Batson analysis |
| Batson violation for Burton strike | Statistical and contextual evidence show pretext | Prosecutor provided race-neutral rationale; no pretext | Not unreasonable; strike upheld at step three |
| Penalty-phase no-adverse-inference instruction | Failure to give instruction violated Fifth Amendment | Harmless error under Chapman, Brecht standard applies | Harmless under Brecht; no substantial influence on verdict |
| Prosecutor's comment on defendant’s failure to testify | Comment violated Griffin/5th Amendment | Not a direct comment; contextual and harmless | Not plainly unreasonable under AEDPA; after review, harmless |
Key Cases Cited
- Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986) (prohibits race-based peremptory challenges; three-step framework)
- Miller-El v. Cockrell (Miller-El I), 537 U.S. 322 (2003) (establishes Batson framework and pretext considerations)
- Miller-El v. Dretke (Miller-El II), 545 U.S. 231 (2005) (pretext and similarly situated comparison; limits on exact-match requirements)
- Stenhouse v. Hobbs, 631 F.3d 888 (8th Cir. 2011) (reiterates standards for evaluating Batson challenges on appeal)
- Rice v. Collins, 546 U.S. 333 (2006) (upholds race-neutral explanations for strikes absent discriminatory purpose)
- Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765 (1995) (prosecutor's stated reason must be race-neutral on its face)
- Taylor v. Roper, 577 F.3d 848 (8th Cir. 2009) (fine-grained, race-neutral distinctions can justify peremptory strikes)
- Carter v. Kentucky, 450 U.S. 288 (1981) (limits on impermissible inference from silence; no automatic inference in penalty phase)
- Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609 (1965) (prohibition on direct prosecutorial comment on defendant’s failure to testify)
- Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619 (1993) (harmless-error standard for habeas corpus)