In re Cary Michael LAMBRIX, Petitioner.
No. 14-15617-P.
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.
Jan. 14, 2015.
776 F.3d 789
Wе AFFIRM the judgment in favor of National Maritime and against Straub.
JORDAN, Circuit Judge.
I join the Court‘s opinion in full. Although there is language in Jackson-Platts v. General Electric Capital Corp., 727 F.3d 1127, 1134–39 (11th Cir.2013), which can be read as cutting against a finding of ancillary jurisdiction here, the case is distinguishable because the plaintiff there, though seeking to void a fraudulent transfer, wanted to hold the new parties liable for the entire underlying judgment. Here, as the Court points out, National Maritime‘s claim against Mr. Straub in the supplementary proceeding was limited to the value of the fraudulently transferred assets. We should not read Jackson-Platts more broadly given that the Supreme Court has twice held that district courts have jurisdiction to entertain ancillary proceedings challenging fraudulent transfers by defendants. See Swift & Co. Packers v. Compania Colombiana Del Caribe, S.A., 339 U.S. 684, 690-95, 70 S.Ct. 861, 94 L.Ed. 1206 (1950) (fraudulent transfer of vessel which had been attached pre-judgment in initial admiralty action); Dewey v. West Fairmont Gas Coal Co., 123 U.S. 329, 332-33, 8 S.Ct. 148, 31 L.Ed. 179 (1887) (pre-judgment fraudulent transfer of assets tо non-diverse defendant).
PER CURIAM:
Pursuant to
I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY
In Florida state court in 1984, Lambrix was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and received two death sentences for his 1983 murders of Clarence Moore and Aleisha Bryant. Our prior decisions regarding Lambrix describe his criminal conduct and his dozens of state and federal petitions and motions. See Lambrix v. Sec‘y, Florida Dep‘t of Corr., 756 F.3d 1246, 1256 (11th Cir.) (“Lambrix III”), cert. denied sub nom., Lambrix v. Crews, — U.S. —, 135 S.Ct. 64, 190 L.Ed.2d 61 (2014); Lambrix v. Singletary, 72 F.3d 1500, 1508 (11th Cir.1996) (“Lambrix I”). For purposes of the instant successive application, we recount some of that history below.
On February 5, 1983, Lambrix brutally killed Moore and Bryant outside of his home by choking and stomping Bryant and hitting Moore over the head with a tire iron. Lambrix III, 756 F.3d at 1250. Lambrix then ate dinner with his girlfriend, Frances Smith; cleaned himself; borrowed a shovel; buried Moore‘s and Bryant‘s bodies in shallow graves; and used Moore‘s car to dispose of the tire iron and his own bloody shirt in a nеarby stream. Id.; In re Lambrix, 624 F.3d 1355, 1358-59 (11th Cir.2010) (“Lambrix II”). Following her arrest on unrelated charges, Smith advised law enforcement authorities about the murders and eventually led them to the buried bodies, the tire iron, and Lambrix‘s bloody shirt. Lambrix II, 624 F.3d at 1359. Smith was the State‘s key witness at Lambrix‘s trial. Id. at 1358. Smith offered the bulk of the damaging evidence against him, and her story was corroborated by the physical evidence. Id. at 1359. Moreover, other witnesses corroborated different parts of Smith‘s testimony, including neighbor John Chezem‘s tеstimony that Lambrix borrowed a shovel. Id. Witnesses Preston Branch and Deborah Hanzel testified that Lambrix told them he killed Moore and Bryant. Id.
Lambrix‘s first trial ended in a mistrial. Id. At Lambrix‘s second trial, a jury convicted him of two counts of first-degree murder, and the state trial court imposed two death sentences. Id. Lambrix‘s convictions and death sentences were affirmed on direct appeal. Lambrix v. State, 494 So.2d 1143 (Fla.1986). Lambrix filed a motion for postconviction relief under
Also in 1988, Lambrix filed a 28-claim
Lambrix also has filed multiple successive state motions for postconviction relief, all of which were denied by the state trial court. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the denial of each of these successive postconviction mоtions. See, e.g., Lambrix v. State, 139 So.3d 298 (Fla.), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 135 S.Ct. 174, 190 L.Ed.2d 124 (2014); Lambrix v. State, 124 So.3d 890 (Fla.2013); Lambrix υ. State, 39 So.3d 260 (Fla.2010); Lambrix v. State, 559 So.2d 1137 (Fla.1990).
In 2010, Lambrix filed pro se with this Court a 145-page application for leave to file a second or successive
And in 2014, this Court recently affirmed the district court‘s denial of Lambrix‘s pro se motion for appointment of counsel to file a successive
For the past thirty years, Lambrix has challenged the judgment of his convictions and two sentences of death entered against him by a Florida court in 1984. The litigation has gone on for too long. He has no viable federal remedies left for overturning his convictions or death sentences.
II. THE INSTANT SUCCESSIVE APPLICATION
In the instant successive application, Lambrix indicates that he wishes to raise eight claims in a second or successive
III. 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)
Further, even where a claim was not presented in a prior federal petition, the claim must satisfy the requirements of
(A) the applicant shows that the сlaim relies on a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable; or
(B)(i) the factual predicate for the claim could not have been discovered previously through the exercise of due diligence; and
(ii) the facts underlying the claim, if proven and viewed in light of the evidence as a wholе, would be sufficient to establish by clear and convincing evidence that, but for constitutional error, no reasonable factfinder would have found the applicant guilty of the underlying offense.
Lambrix does not allege that any of the claims in his current application rely on “a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable.” See
IV. LEGAL PRINCIPLES
Under the law-of-the-case doctrine, “an appellate decision binds all subsequent proceedings in the same case.” United States v. Amedeo, 487 F.3d 823, 829 (11th Cir.2007) (quotation omitted and alteration adopted). Three exceptions apply to the law-of-thе-case doctrine: where “(1) a subsequent trial produces substantially different evidence, (2) controlling authority has since made a contrary decision of law applicable to that issue, or (3) the prior appellate decision was clearly errone-
Additionally, under this Court‘s prior-panel-precedent rule, “a prior panel‘s holding is binding on all subsequent panels unless and until it is overruled or undermined to the point of abrogation by the Supreme Court or by this court sitting en banc.” United States v. Archer, 531 F.3d 1347, 1352 (11th Cir.2008). We have held that “a prior panel precedent cannot be circumvented or ignored on the basis of arguments not made to or considered by the prior panel.” Tippitt v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., 457 F.3d 1227, 1234 (11th Cir.2006); see also Smith v. GTE Corp., 236 F.3d 1292, 1301-04 (11th Cir.2001) (categorically rejecting an “overlooked reason” exception to the prior-panel-precedent rule); Cohen v. Office Depot, Inc., 204 F.3d 1069, 1076 (11th Cir.2000) (explaining that the prior-panel-precedent rule is dependent upon neither “a subsequent panel‘s appraisal of the initial decision‘s correctness” nor “the skill of the attorneys or wisdom of the judges involved with the prior decision—upon what was argued or considered”). In short, we have categorically rejected an overlooked reason or argument exception to the prior-panel-precedent rule.
To be clear, our prior-panel-precedent rule applies with equal force as to prior panel decisions published in the context of applicаtions to file second or successive petitions. In other words, published three-judge orders issued under
In short, a prior panel‘s holding in a published three-judge order issued under
V. LAMBRIX‘S CLAIMS
Turning to the claims raised by Lambrix in the instant application, all of his claims save one—specifically, Claims 1-5 and 7-8—are essentially identical to those we already considered in Lambrix II, our order denying Lambrix‘s 2010 successive application. We determined in our 2010 order that these proposed claims are barred either by
As to Claims 1, 4, 5, 7, and 8, Lambrix claims to have newly discovered evidence in support of these claims. However, as explained below, even if our consideration of these claims were not precluded by Lambrix II under the law of the case because of Lambrix‘s alleged new evidence, an independently adequate alternative reason for denying the applicаtion as to these claims is that they are barred by the prior-panel-precedent rule or the failure to meet the requirements of
As to Claim 1—concerning Smith‘s alleged immunity deal—in Lambrix II, we determined that Lambrix raised this claim in his initial
We must reject Lambrix‘s argument because we are bound by our prior panel precedent in Hill, where we held that new evidence in support of a prior claim is insufficient to create a new claim and avoid
As to Claims 4, 5, and 7—concerning the tire iron, alleged bias on the part of the state trial judge, and the alleged conspiracy between the State and Smith—when Lambrix raised these claims in his 2010 successive application, we concluded as to each claim that Lambrix failed to meet either prong of
As to Claim 8, Lambrix‘s freestanding actual innocence claim, we concluded in our 2010 order that, even assuming that “a freestanding claim of actual innocence exists apart from any claim of constitutional error at trial and [that] such a claim, even if it is cognizable, is the kind of claim that can be brought in a second or successive petition,” Lambrix had not presented evidence sufficient to show his actual innocence. Lambrix II, 624 F.3d at 1367. In the present application, Lambrix repeatedly asserts that he is actually innocent and that, upon consideration of all of his claims and purported newly discovered evidence cumulatively, he is entitled to file a successive habeas petition based upon a “fundamental miscarriage of justice” showing under Schlup. We conclude that, even in light of Lambrix‘s new arguments and alleged new evidence, his attempt to bring a freestanding actual innocence claim is foreclosed by our prior panel precedent in In re Davis, 565 F.3d 810 (11th Cir.2009). Specifically, even if a freestanding actual innocence claim is viable on federal habeas review, we have held that
Alternatively, as we concluded in Lambrix II, even if we were to assume that freestanding actual innocence claims are cognizable and that
Finally, in Claim 6—Lambrix‘s only claim not raised in some fashion in his 2010 successive application—Lambrix asserts that the State knowingly presented
VI. CONCLUSION
For all of these reasons, Lambrix‘s motion for leave to file a second or successive petition for writ of habeas corpus is DENIED.
Santonias BAILEY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TITLEMAX OF GEORGIA, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
No. 14-11747.
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.
Jan. 15, 2015.
