Smith v. Baker, No. 14-99003 (9th Cir. 2020)
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The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of petitioner's habeas corpus petition challenging his Nevada convictions for three murders and an attempted murder, as well as his death sentence for one of the murders. The district court issued a certificate of appealability (COA) for petitioner's argument that the procedural default of his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim should be excused in light of Martinez v. Ryan, 566 U.S. 1 (2012).
The panel affirmed the denial of habeas relief and held that, although counsel's performance was deficient at the second penalty-phase hearing, petitioner failed to show that he was prejudiced by counsel's performance. In this case, petitioner failed to show that he was prejudiced by the lack of an evidentiary hearing, and his claim remains procedurally defaulted. Therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion by dismissing the Martinez claim without holding an evidentiary hearing.
The panel certified petitioner's claim alleging violation of the rule set out in Stromberg v. California, 283 U.S. 359 (1931), but ultimately concluded that this claim does not entitle petitioner to habeas relief because the Stromberg error was harmless. The panel declined to certify the remaining claims because they do not raise substantial questions of law and the panel was not persuaded that reasonable jurists would find the district court’s assessment of the constitutional claims debatable or wrong.
Court Description: Habeas Corpus/Death Penalty. The panel affirmed the district court’s judgment dismissing Joseph Weldon Smith’s habeas corpus petition challenging his Nevada convictions for three murders and one attempted murder, and his death sentence for one of the murders. The district court issued a certificate of appealability for Smith’s argument that the procedural default of his ineffective-of-assistance-of-counsel claim should be excused pursuant to Martinez v. Ryan, 566 U.S. 1 (2012). The panel held that Smith did not show that he was prejudiced by the lack of an evidentiary hearing, and that the district court did not abuse its discretion by dismissing the Martinez claim without holding one. Applying Martinez and Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), the panel held that Smith satisfied his burden of demonstrating a substantial argument that the performance of his second penalty-phase counsel was deficient for failing to investigate mental health mitigation evidence, but that Smith did not show that he was prejudiced by counsel’s deficient performance. The panel certified for appeal Smith’s claim that the death verdict violated Stromberg v. California, 283 U.S. 359 (1931). The panel held that Smith demonstrated Stromberg error because it was impossible to tell whether the jury unanimously found mutilation, which was the sole basis to SMITH V. BAKER 3 support the death verdict after the Nevada Supreme Court invalidated the trial court’s depravity-of-mind jury instruction. The panel concluded that the error was harmless because the invalid instruction did not have a substantial and injurious effect on the jury’s verdict. The panel declined to certify Smith’s remaining uncertified claims. Concurring, Judge N.R. Smith would affirm the dismissal of Smith’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim as procedurally barred on a different ground—that counsel’s performance during the second penalty-phase hearing was not deficient, and that the claim is therefore insubstantial.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on December 21, 2020.
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