QUINTIN PHILLIPPE JONES v. LORIE DAVIS, DIRECTOR, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS DIVISION
No. 16-70003
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
June 18, 2019
ON PETITION FOR REHEARING AND REHEARING EN BANC June 18, 2019
Before HIGGINBOTHAM, DENNIS, and ELROD, Circuit Judges.
Lyle W. Cayce, Clerk
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Before HIGGINBOTHAM, DENNIS, and ELROD, Circuit Judges.
PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge:
Treating the respondent-appellee‘s petition for rehearing en banc as a petition for panel rehearing, the petition is granted. We withdraw our prior opinion1 and substitute the following. We deny the petitioner-appellant‘s petition for panel rehearing.
Quintin Phillippe Jones was sentenced to death by a Texas court. He now appeals the district court‘s denial of his federal application for post-conviction relief, arguing that evidence was erroneously admitted at sentencing in violation of his Fifth Amendment rights and that the district court improperly denied him further investigative funding. We granted a certificate of appealability, and now affirm the district court‘s judgment and denial of funding.
I
Jones beat his eighty-three-year-old great aunt, Berthena Bryant, to death with a baseball bat after she refused to continue lending him money.2 Fort Worth police
Based on a lead from Jones‘s sister, the police also investigated Jones‘s involvement in the murders of Marc Sanders and Clark Peoples.5 Nine days after Jones confessed to killing Bryant, a Texas Ranger and sheriff‘s deputy interrogated Jones about the Sanders and Peoples murders.6 Jones told them that he murdered Sanders and Peoples with his close friend Ricky “Red” Roosa. He described how Roosa was the primary decision-maker and directed Jones to take steps like restraining the victims and disposing of their bodies.7 Authorities only informed Jones of his Miranda rights after this statement was written down and he was about to sign; he proceeded to sign it.8 While Jones was only tried for Bryant‘s murder and this written statement was not introduced at the guilt phase of his trial, it was introduced in the punishment phase.
A Texas jury convicted Jones of capital murder. At the punishment phase of his trial, the jury was asked to answer Texas‘s two special issues: “1) would appellant probably commit future criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society; and 2) whether, taking into consideration all of the evidence, there are sufficient mitigating circumstances to warrant a life sentence rather than a death sentence.”9 Based on the jury‘s findings that Jones was likely to commit future acts of violence and that there were insufficient mitigating circumstances to warrant a life sentence, the trial court sentenced Jones to death.10 The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, or CCA, affirmed his conviction and sentence,11 and the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari.12 After allowing Jones multiple extensions of time to file his state habeas petition, the CCA denied Jones‘s application in 2005.13
Despite Jones‘s persistent efforts to have substitute or additional counsel appointed for his federal postconviction proceedings, the district court appointed his state habeas attorney, Jack Strickland, in an order that also directed Jones to “timely file his federal petition for writ of habeas corpus” and required “[t]he petition [to] demonstrate that it is timely filed under
Jones filed an amended petition adding claims for relief, and sought additional funding for investigative services. The district court denied Jones‘s investigative funding request, then denied each of Jones‘s six claims for relief. It denied Jones a certificate of appealability on all claims. We granted Jones a certificate of appealability on his claim that the trial court violated his Fifth Amendment rights by admitting an unmirandized confession at the punishment phase,16 and instructed Jones to simultaneously brief his appeal from the district court‘s denial of investigative funding.17
We conclude that Jones is not entitled to relief on his Fifth Amendment claim, and that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying investigative funding. As a result, we do not address the Director‘s argument that the district court erred in equitably tolling the limitations period for Jones‘s federal petition.18
II
We review a district court‘s grant of summary judgment denying federal habeas relief de novo.19 Under AEDPA, we evaluate claims decided on the merits by the state court for whether they were “contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law,” or whether they “resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State
As we have explained, Jones was prosecuted solely for the capital murder of his aunt, but evidence was admitted at the punishment phase as to his role in the murders of Peoples and Sanders. That evidence included a written confession that Jones gave to authorities where he was only informed of his rights immediately before signing the confession. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held on direct appeal that the confession was taken in contravention of Miranda v. Arizona, but that its admission was harmless error under the Supreme Court‘s decision in Chapman v. California.24 Jones argues that this was contrary to clearly established law because a confession to murder can never be harmless, and that at a minimum, the state court unreasonably applied the Chapman standard for harmless error.
A
First, Jones argues that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ harmlessness determination was contrary to clearly established federal law because Miranda violations should not be subject to harmless-error analysis. He relies heavily on Justice White‘s opinion—joined by Justices Marshall, Blackmun, and Stevens—in Arizona v. Fulminante, which he characterizes as a plurality holding that Miranda violations are not subject to harmless error analysis.25 There are several reasons why the state court‘s consideration of harmless error was not contrary to clearly established federal law. Most plainly, Fulminante addressed coerced confessions, not confessions taken in violation of Miranda.26 And the Fulminante “plurality” Jones cites was in fact a dissent on the precise point at issue—Justice White explicitly acknowledged in the relevant section of the opinion that “five Justices have determined that
B
Second, Jones argues that the Court of Criminal Appeals unreasonably applied Chapman in concluding that the admission of the confession was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.29 We disagree, mindful of the Chapman inquiry‘s fact-sensitive nature and the sizable deference we must accord a state court determination on the merits under AEDPA. The Court of Criminal Appeals concluded on direct appeal that given the other evidence introduced at the punishment stage, Jones‘s confession to the Sanders and Peoples murders did not impact—beyond a reasonable doubt—the jury‘s answer to the special issues of whether Jones was likely to commit future acts of violence and whether there were sufficient mitigating circumstances.30 The jury was presented with extensive evidence that Jones murdered Peoples and Sanders. On cross-examination, Jones‘s sister testified that Jones had told her about the murders in detail that substantially mirrored what Jones included in his written confession.31 An expert for the State also testified that when he interviewed Jones, Jones blamed his alter ego James for Bryant‘s death because he “wouldn‘t have killed his aunt if Red hadn‘t made him help kill Sanders and Peoples.”32 Jones‘s written statement confessing to the murders of Peoples and Sanders introduced some details that did not come out through other testimony at trial—most significantly, Jones‘s statement indicated that he and Roosa initially targeted Peoples because Roosa asked him if he knew anyone with money.33 All told, however, the Court of Criminal Appeals determined that Jones‘s participation in the murders and details of the murders were “well established through other witnesses and evidence.”34 Jones did not dispute at trial or on appeal that he participated in the murders.35
The Court of Criminal Appeals also noted the extensive evidence of Jones‘s future dangerousness extending beyond the Sanders and Peoples murders: he brutally beat his aunt to death to steal money for
As for the mitigation special issue, the court concluded that Jones‘s written confession to the Sanders and Peoples murders essentially emphasized that Jones was following Red‘s instructions—reinforcing “the basic defensive theory at the punishment stage that it was Red‘s bad influence that set appellant down the path toward his alter ego‘s murder of his aunt.”40 The confession “by no means belittled [Jones‘s] overall mitigation case“—which rested on evidence of Jones‘s dissociative mental disorder.41 These observations led the court to hold that “had the [written] statement not been erroneously admitted into evidence, there is no reasonable likelihood that the jury might have returned an affirmative answer to the mitigation special issue.”42
The CCA‘s decision on direct appeal, approved of in Jones‘s post-conviction proceedings, did not unreasonably apply Chapman. The court recognized and accounted for the significant impact that a defendant‘s confession has on a jury, and concluded that given the particularities of this trial record, it was confident beyond a reasonable doubt that the admission of the written confession did not affect the jury‘s answers to the special issues. Crucially, Jones never contested that he committed the murders described in the confession, and the information he provided in the confession was largely presented to the jury through other admissible avenues. Under our deferential review of the state court determination, we cannot disturb its conclusion.43
We turn to Jones‘s argument that the district court improperly denied him investigative funding under
In Ayestas v. Davis, the Supreme Court rejected our prior “substantial need” standard for reviewing challenges to denials of § 3599 funding. It held that the “substantial need” requirement was more demanding than the statute‘s requirement that the services sought be “reasonably necessary” to a defendant‘s post-conviction challenge.45 It also made clear, however, that “[a] natural consideration informing the exercise of [the district court‘s] discretion is the likelihood that the contemplated services will help the applicant win relief.”46 Therefore, “[p][roper application of the ‘reasonably necessary’ standard thus requires courts to consider the potential merits of the claims that the applicant wants to pursue, the likelihood that the services will generate useful and admissible evidence, and the prospect that the applicant will be able to clear any procedural hurdles standing in the way.”47
Jones sought investigative funding to develop a potential claim under Wiggins v. Smith48 that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to sufficiently investigate and present mitigation evidence about Jones‘s social history, including his mental health, abusive childhood, and history of substance addiction.49 The district court, writing before the Supreme Court decided Ayestas, offered several reasons for denying Jones § 3599 funding. It observed that “there is no question that [Jones‘s new federal habeas] counsel previously investigated, prepared, and was compensated for an amended petition containing substantially the same issues for which she now seeks funding.” And it found that Jones had not demonstrated “reasonable necessity” for a 400-hour investigation costing $30,000, because Jones had failed to demonstrate sufficient likelihood that his trial defense team inadequately investigated the claims. Most clearly, Jones failed to address the testimony provided by the defense‘s mental health experts at trial—one of whom had interviewed Jones‘s family members and looked at relevant school, hospital, and police records, and the other of whom submitted a report addressing Jones‘s history of drug and alcohol abuse and other factors in his history contributing to emotional disturbance.50 Even
Although the district court denied funding before the Supreme Court‘s decision in Ayestas, the denial did not hinge on our now-rejected requirement that Jones show “substantial need” for the funding. Instead, it viewed Jones‘s request for additional funding as effectively seeking a full retrial of the issues already litigated in the state court. Ayestas did not disturb the long-settled principle that district courts have discretion to separate “fishing expedition[s]” from requests for funding to support plausible defenses.53 Because “the reasons the district court gave for its ruling remain sound after Ayestas,”54 we conclude that remand is unnecessary and affirm the denial of funding.
IV
We affirm the judgment of the district court.
Notes
As the district court explained, this was not an inexplicable error. Typically, the deadline to file a post-conviction petition in Texas state court passes before the case is finalized on direct appeal. Where a petitioner files a state habeas application before the judgment is finalized on direct review, the one-year federal limitations period is instantly tolled when the direct appeal terminates, and only resumes when the state habeas proceedings are finalized. Here, in contrast, the deadline for Jones‘s state habeas petition was tolled because Jones received an extension allowing him to file the state petition after the Supreme Court denied certiorari on direct appeal.