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Rasberry WILLIAMS, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Iowa and Gerardo Acevedo, Appellees
No. 95-2677.
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.
Submitted Dec. 15, 1995.
Filed Jan. 17, 1996.
Before BOWMAN and LOKEN, Circuit Judges, and WOLLE*, District Judge.
PER CURIAM.
Rasberry Williams, an Iowa inmate, appeals from the judgment of the district court1 denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. Seс. 2254 (1988). Williams is serving a sentence of life imprisonment following his conviction for first degree murder and the affirmance of that cоnviction on direct appeal. State v. Williams,
On July 20, 1974, Williams shot and killed Lester Givhan outside George's Pool Hall in Waterloo, Iowa. At trial Williams argued he shot Givhan in self-defense, testifying Givhan displayed a gun inside the pool hall after Williams demanded the return of $30.00 Givhan owed him. Williams went to his car to get his pistol, confronted Givhan again outside the pool hall, and shot him after further argumеnt about the debt and after Givhan again displayed a gun. From the trial testimony, the jury could reasonably have found that Williams deliberately confronted Givhan outside the pool hall and killed him with malice, not in self-defense.
Williams raises three grounds for habеas relief. First, he contends he was denied effective assistance of counsel and due process of law when his trial attorneys failed to object to jury instructions that equated the element of specific intent with the separate еlements of premeditation, deliberation, and willfulness. Second, Williams contends that he was denied due process of lаw, equal protection, and effective assistance of counsel when Iowa courts denied his requests for a psyсhiatric examination at public expense. Finally, Williams argues that the district court erred in denying his request for a psychiatric examination and an evidentiary hearing in this federal habeas action.
I. In ruling against Williams on his first claim of ineffective assistаnce of counsel, the district court adopted the findings of the state courts that held Williams was not prejudiced when his trial counsel failed to object to jury instructions setting forth the elements of the offense. To prevail on claims of ineffeсtive assistance of counsel, petitioners seeking habeas relief are required to show that counsel's performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and that it is reasonably probable the result of the proceeding would have been different without counsel's unprofessional efforts. See Wilson v. Armontrout,
Williams has not shоwn the result of his trial in the Iowa court would have been different if his trial counsel had objected to the marshaling instruction prеsented to the jury. The record contains ample evidence that Williams had acted with premeditation, deliberation, and willfulness. We agree with the Iowa courts and the district court in holding Williams has not satisfied the prejudice requirement of this ineffectiveness claim. It is denied.
II. The Iowa trial court denied Williams' pretrial requests that he be provided a psychiatric еxamination at government expense. His first requests were denied as too conclusory and indefinite. When Williams' counsel renewed the request and submitted medical records regarding a previous head injury, the trial court ordered an examination by a neurologist. Williams contends his trial counsel should have presented more persuasive, fact-supported requеsts to the trial court. Williams also contends denial of his requests for evaluation by a psychiatrist violated due procеss and equal protection.
The district court in this habeas action denied this second claim of ineffectiveness of triаl counsel because Williams' conclusory allegations of mental disorder did not satisfy Ake v. Oklahoma,
III. Before denying Williams' habеas petition, the district court denied Williams' request that he be examined by a psychiatrist at government expense and also denied his request for an evidentiary hearing. In one of the three state postconviction proceedings, the triаl court held a full evidentiary hearing, but Williams failed to develop facts in that proceeding to show that he was entitled tо a psychiatric examination. Williams satisfied neither Ake requirements nor the requirement that a petitioner requesting an еvidentiary hearing show cause for the failure to develop facts in state court and likely prejudice resulting from that failure. Keene v. Tamayo-Reyes, 504 U.S. ---,
We have carefully reviewed the record and the parties, briefs. We affirm the well-reasoned decision and judgment of the district court.
AFFIRMED
Notes
The HONORABLE CHARLES R. WOLLE, Chief United States District Judge for the Southern District of Iowa, sitting by designation
The Honorable Michael J. Melloy, Chief United States District Judge for the Northern District of Iowa
Like the district court we pass the question whether Ake applies retroactively to the state court's denial of a psychiatric evaluation at public expense