Professional Documents
Culture Documents
No. 05-7
Central
Prison,
Respondent - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Raleigh.
Malcolm J. Howard,
District Judge. (CA-99-503-5-H-HC)
Argued:
Decided:
See 28 U.S.C.A.
I.
The facts may be briefly stated.
autopsy testified that West was strangled manually and with a pair
of pantyhose and that the insertion of the telephone receiver
probably occurred post-mortem.
Thomas was charged with, and convicted of, first-degree murder
and first-degree sexual offense. See N.C. Gen. Stat. 14-17, 1427.4 (2005).
and the felony murder rule, with the underlying felony being the
first-degree sexual offense.
S.E.2d 450 (N.C. 1996), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 824 (1997).
Two attorneys were subsequently appointed to represent Thomas
on post-conviction review.
Thereafter,
J.A. 602.
This
New counsel
moved to vacate the order dismissing the MAR and to allow the
filing of a new MAR; this motion was denied.
In August, new
that Thomas MAR had already been denied when discovery under
1415(f) was requested.
The North Carolina Supreme Court granted certiorari review
for the limited purpose of remanding ... for reconsideration ...
in light of this Courts opinion in State v. Bates, 348 N.C. 29,
497 S.E.2d 276 (1998).
1998).
that Bates, which involved only the scope of 1415(f) and the
proper respondent to a discovery motion under the statute, was
inapplicable to the procedural question of whether a request for
discovery could be granted after an MAR had been filed and denied.3
The North Carolina Supreme Court thereafter denied certiorari. See
State v. Thomas, 539 S.E.2d 7 (N.C. 1999).
Thomas
then
filed
this
federal
habeas
petition.
As
is
relevant here, Thomas claimed that the jury charge with respect to
the felony murder count was unconstitutional and that trial counsel
were constitutionally ineffective.
former
found
claim
procedurally
on
the
merits
defaulted.
The
and
district
that
court
the
then
latter
was
granted
II.
We first consider Thomas challenge to his conviction.
Prior
while the victim was alive and thus had a will that could be
overborne.
Otherwise,
Thomas
argued,
the
offense
was
the
murder
conviction.
The
trial
court
refused
this
direct
appeal,
Thomas
argued
that
the
J.A. 324.
evidence
was
Supreme
[b]ecause
the
Court
sexual
rejected
act
was
this
claim,
committed
The North
concluding
during
that
continuous
transaction that began when the victim was alive, we conclude the
evidence was sufficient to support defendants conviction for
first-degree sexual offense.
Enmund v. Florida, 458 U.S. 782, 798 (1982) (holding that the
imposition of the death penalty on a felony murder theory violates
the Eighth Amendment when the defendant was a minor participant in
the underlying felony and did not kill or intend to kill).4
We
may not grant relief on this claim unless the decision of the North
Carolina Supreme Court affirming Thomas felony murder conviction
was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of,
clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme
Court.
28 U.S.C.A. 2254(d)(1).
court
confronts
set
of
facts
that
are
materially
Id. at 413.
Id. at 412.
III.
We now turn to Thomas claim concerning the ineffective
assistance of trial counsel.
claim was defaulted because it was not raised in Thomas first MAR.
See N.C. Gen. Stat. 15A-1419(a)(1) (2005).
See Harris v.
Mueller v.
Angelone, 181 F.3d 557, 584 (4th Cir. 1999) (internal quotation
marks omitted).
period
the
prior
to
time
the
defendant
violated
the
state
See Meadows v.
Legursky, 904 F.2d 903, 907 & n.3 (4th Cir. 1990) (en banc).
Section 1419(a)(1) has repeatedly been held by this court to
be an adequate and independent procedural rule.
Indeed, we have
filing
of
second
MAR
after
counsel
admitted
that
he
of
success
on
certain
claims
and
that
failure
to
situation.
In
Tucker,
counsel
admitted
that
he
raises
two
additional
arguments
to
support
his
See,
e.g., Lee v. Kemna, 534 U.S. 362, 376, 382-85 (2002) (There are
...
exceptional
cases
in
which
exorbitant
application
of
of
federal
question.).
There
is
nothing
See
11
the
to
represent
him
on
post-conviction
review
were
of
his
first
MAR
counsel
should
be
omitted).
Attorney
ineffectiveness
constitutes
cause,
See
id. at 752-53; Mackall v. Angelone, 131 F.3d 442, 449 (4th Cir.
1997) (en banc).
IV.
For the reasons set forth above, we affirm the denial of
habeas relief by the district court.
AFFIRMED
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