In Re Walter Hill, 113 F.3d 181, 11th Cir. (1997)

113 F.
3d 181
10 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 875
In re Walter HILL, Petitioner.

No. 97-1156.
United States Court of Appeals,

Eleventh Circuit.
May 1, 1997.
Barry Fisher, Palmer C. Singleton, Atlanta, GA, for Appellant/Petitioner.

Beth Jackson Hughes, Assistant Attorney General, Montgomery, AL, for
Appellee/Respondent.
Application for Leave to File Second or Successive Petition for Writ of
Habeas Corpus.
Before HATCHETT, Chief Judge, and COX and BLACK, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Walter Hill, an Alabama inmate convicted of capital murder and sentenced to

death, seeks permission to file a successive habeas corpus petition in the United
States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. As we conclude the
claim advanced by Hill does not satisfy the criteria set out in 28 U.S.C.
2244(b)(2), we deny the application.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
2
Walter Hill was sentenced to death after an Alabama jury convicted him of
murdering Willie Mae Hammock, John Tatum, and Lois Tatum in January of
1977. In Hill v. Jones, 81 F.3d 1015 (11th Cir.), reh'g and suggestion for reh'g
en banc denied, 92 F.3d 1202 (11th Cir.1996), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117
S.Ct. 967, 136 L.Ed.2d 851 (1997), we affirmed the denial of habeas corpus
relief as to Hill's murder convictions and death sentence. The procedural
history, evidence, and facts in the case are summarized more fully in our prior
opinion.
On February 18, 1997, the United States Supreme Court denied Hill's petition
for a writ of certiorari, which sought review of our decision denying the first
federal habeas corpus petition. Three days later, the State of Alabama moved
the Alabama Supreme Court to set an execution date. On March 31, 1997, the
Alabama Supreme Court determined that Hill would be executed at 12:01 a.m.
on May 2, 1997.
Meanwhile, on March 20, 1997, Hill had filed his third state post-conviction
petition in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County ("trial court") pursuant to Rule
32 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure. The petition filed by Hill
challenged, among other things, the validity of a reasonable doubt instruction
requested by Hill's attorney and given by the court.1 On the following day, the
court summarily denied the petition, citing various procedural bars incorporated
into Rule 32. In a decision issued on April 22, 1997, the Alabama Court of
Criminal Appeals affirmed the trial court's decision. Hill v. State, --- So.2d ----,
No. CR-96-1215 (Ala.Crim.App. Apr. 22, 1997). On April 23, 1997, the Court
of Criminal Appeals denied Hill's petition for rehearing. On May 1, 1997, the
Alabama Supreme Court denied Hill's petition for writ of certiorari, having
denied the stay of execution on April 30, 1997.
DISCUSSION
Applicability of 2244(b)(2)
5Exceptions to the Bar Against Successive Petitions
6
On April 24, 1997, Hill lodged with this Court a motion for permission to file a
second or successive habeas corpus petition. After the Alabama Supreme Court
denied certiorari, the motion was filed in this Court on May 1, 1997. Under the
Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), a second or
successive habeas petition containing new claims may be filed only if:
(A) the applicant shows that the claim 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 whole, 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.

10
28 U.S.C. 2244(b)(2). In the first instance, a three-judge panel of the court of

appeals must assess whether an applicant has made a prima facie showing that
these requirements are satisfied. 28 U.S.C. 2244(b)(3).
11
Hill's application seeks an order from this Court authorizing the district court to
consider a successive petition raising what Hill describes as a claim under Cage
v. Louisiana, 498 U.S. 39, 111 S.Ct. 328, 112 L.Ed.2d 339 (1990).2 In
particular, Hill contends that the Alabama trial court deprived him of due
process by improperly instructing the jury with regard to reasonable doubt
during the capital trial. According to Hill, the instruction repeatedly and
erroneously intimated that the State of Alabama need not prove his guilt beyond
a reasonable doubt. Although Hill did not assert the allegedly flawed jury
instruction as a basis for relief in his first federal habeas petition, he maintains
that his Cage claim is exempt from the successive petition bar because it relies
upon a "new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases on collateral
review by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable." 28 U.S.C.
2244(b)(2)(A). 3
12
The central issue in the present case concerns whether the Cage claim Hill
seeks to raise before the district court was "previously unavailable" within the
meaning of the AEDPA. In general, we have interpreted the term "previously
unavailable" with reference to the availability of the claim at the time the first
federal habeas application was filed. See, e.g., In re Medina, 109 F.3d 1556,
1566 (11th Cir.1997); Felker v. Turpin, 83 F.3d 1303, 1306 (11th Cir.1996).
Hill therefore draws our attention to the fact that he filed his first federal habeas
petition on April 13, 1990, which preceded the Supreme Court's issuance of its
decision in Cage by precisely seven months.
13
As our prior decisions illustrate, however, we have eschewed reliance upon any
mechanistic test when assessing availability. Rather, our precedent establishes
that a petitioner intent upon establishing the "unavailability" of a claim based
upon a new rule of constitutional law may also be required to demonstrate the
infeasibility of amending a habeas petition that was pending when the new rule
was announced. For example, in Felker v. Turpin, we rejected an attempt to
include a Cage claim in a successive habeas petition based, at least in part, upon
Felker's failure to seek amendment of a petition that was pending when the
particular Supreme Court decision relied upon was issued. 83 F.3d at 1306. The
pragmatic approach we have adopted properly recognizes that the liberal
amendment policy applicable to habeas petitions may make claims based upon
new rules of constitutional law "available" to the petitioner during a prior
habeas action, even when the claim would not have been available at the
inception of that prior action. See Felker, 83 F.3d at 1306 (emphasizing that
amendments to habeas petitions are freely permitted).
14
The above principles assume particular significance in the present context

because of the history of Hill's first federal habeas proceeding. As recounted in
Hill v. Jones, 81 F.3d 1015, 1019 (11th Cir.1996), Hill filed his first federal
petition for habeas corpus relief in the United States District Court for the
Northern District of Alabama on April 12, 1990. By order dated April 17,
1990, the district court provided that Hill would be permitted to add any claims
that were submitted within the next thirty days. On May 17, 1990, Hill filed his
amended habeas petition advancing seventeen grounds for relief. Seven months
later, shortly after the Supreme Court issued its decision in Cage, the district
court sua sponte suggested that Hill might want to raise an ineffective
assistance of counsel claim based upon his current attorney's failure to pursue
certain claims in a 1985 coram nobis petition. On August 20, 1991, the district
court again encouraged further filings by ordering the parties to submit briefs
on the procedural default issues. Hill submitted his supplemental brief on
September 20, 1991, nearly one year after Cage was decided. The district court
retained jurisdiction over the case for another two and one-half years until Hill's
petition was finally denied in a lengthy and comprehensive order issued on
April 13, 1994.
15
Apparently, the district court's issuance of the order spurred Hill to action. On
April 28, 1994, fifteen days after the court denied his first federal habeas
petition, Hill filed a "Second Amended Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus." At
the same time, Hill filed motions to alter or amend the judgment and for an
evidentiary hearing. On June 8, 1994, the district court struck the second
amended petition and supplemental evidentiary materials as untimely in light of
its April 17, 1990 order. In support of its decision to strike the amended
petition, the district court specifically noted that Hill had "neither sought nor
obtained permission to amend his petition a second time." In any event, the
court indicated that its examination of the purported amendment revealed
nothing that was not known, or which could not have been discovered through
due diligence, prior to the filing of the original petition in April of 1990.
16
In view of the facts set out above, we must reject Hill's contention that the Cage
claim he seeks to assert in a successive habeas petition was "previously
unavailable" during the pendency of his first federal habeas petition. Although
the Supreme Court had not decided Cage when Hill instituted his first federal
habeas proceeding on April 12, 1990, the decision issued just seven months
later. In fact, from the time the Supreme Court decided Cage, Hill's habeas
petition remained in the district court for another three and one-half years.
Although the district court continued to invite further amendment during that
time period, Hill never displayed the slightest interest in advancing new claims,
whether pursuant to Cage or any other authority. For instance, recall that Hill
declined the district court's December 1990 invitation to add an ineffective
assistance of counsel claim to his petition. In addition, Hill never proposed
amending his petition to state new claims when the district court solicited
supplemental briefing from the parties in August of 1991. Moreover, as the
district court suggested in its June 8, 1994 order, Hill could have moved to
amend his petition pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a) at any
time prior to the denial of the petition on April 13, 1994. See Fed.R.Civ.P.
15(a) (providing that "leave [to amend] shall be freely given when justice so
requires"). Hill did not include the Cage claim in his untimely "Second
Amended Petition."4 Even at that late stage, the district court exhibited a
willingness to consider claims that could not have been raised previously. In
sum, despite ample opportunity during the pendency of this first federal habeas
petition, Hill declined to raise his Cage claim until now, the eve of his
scheduled execution. Accordingly, we find that the circumstances of this case
conclusively refute Hill's contention that his Cage claim was "previously
unavailable" within the meaning 28 U.S.C. 2244(b)(2)(A).
17
In addition, Hill's Cage claim does not satisfy the requirement that any new rule
of constitutional law relied upon must have been "made retroactive to cases on
collateral review by the Supreme Court." 28 U.S.C. 2244(b)(2)(A) (emphasis
added). In Nutter v. White, 39 F.3d 1154, 1157-58 (11th Cir.1994), we
subjected the Cage rule to the analysis prescribed by Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S.
288, 109 S.Ct. 1060, 103 L.Ed.2d 334 (1989). Based upon that analysis, this
Court made Cage retroactive to cases on collateral review. Nutter, 39 F.3d at
1157-58. To proceed under the 2244(b)(2)(A) exception to the bar against
successive petitions, however, more is required. Specifically, the applicant must
establish that the Supreme Court has made the new rule of constitutional law
retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review. The application filed by
Hill does not satisfy this requirement. Consequently, we conclude that Hill's
Cage claim does not qualify for an exception to the bar against successive
petitions.5
CONCLUSION
18
19
In accordance with the foregoing, we deny Hill's application for permission to

file a successive habeas petition in the district court.6
DENIED.
19
1
The State of Alabama argues there is no error in the instruction given, but even
if there were it would be invited error
In light of our disposition, we make no determination whether the claim is truly

a Cage claim
Hill does not, and could not, contend that his successive petition contains a
claim "the factual predicate [of which] could not have been discovered
previously through the exercise of due diligence" within the meaning of
2244(b)(2)(B)(i). The factual predicate of the Cage claim, the jury instructions
delivered by the trial court, has been available on the record since the trial. Nor
does Hill suggest that the facts underlying the claim, if proven, would establish
by clear and convincing evidence that, "but for constitutional error, no
reasonable factfinder would have found [him] guilty of the underlying offense."
28 U.S.C. 2244(b)(2)(B)(ii). Accordingly, to file a successive petition under
AEDPA, Hill is limited to the exception to the successive petition bar contained
in 2244(b)(2)(A)
The State of Alabama declares in its response to the application for a successive
petition that Hill raised the Cage claim for the first time in his "Second
Amended Petition." Response at 3 n. 3, 7. We have thoroughly reviewed that
petition and find neither a reference to Cage nor any attempt to assert such a
claim
The State of Alabama also urges this Court deny the application on the ground
that any Cage claim that Hill attempted to raise in federal court would be
procedurally defaulted. Given our disposition, we find it unnecessary to decide
that issue
As a result, Hill's Motion for a Temporary Stay is also denied

In Re Walter Hill, 113 F.3d 181, 11th Cir. (1997)

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113 F.

In re Walter HILL, Petitioner.

United States Court of Appeals,

Barry Fisher, Palmer C. Singleton, Atlanta, GA, for Appellant/Petitioner.

Walter Hill, an Alabama inmate convicted of capital murder and sentenced to

applicant guilty of the underlying offense.

28 U.S.C. 2244(b)(2). In the first instance, a three-judge panel of the court of

The above principles assume particular significance in the present context

In accordance with the foregoing, we deny Hill's application for permission to

In light of our disposition, we make no determination whether the claim is truly

As a result, Hill's Motion for a Temporary Stay is also denied

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