FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS May 27, 2015
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court
MICHAEL ERICK STACHMUS,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v. No. 14-7092
(D.C. No. 6:11-CV-00027-JHP-KEW)
JAMES RUDEK, Warden, (E.D. Okla.)
Respondent - Appellee.
ORDER
DENYING CERTIFICATE OF APPEALABILITY
Before KELLY, LUCERO, and McHUGH, Circuit Judges.
Petitioner-Appellant Michael Stachmus seeks to appeal from the district
court’s judgment 1 rejecting his challenge to his state court conviction pursuant to
28 U.S.C. § 2254. See Stachmus v. Rudek, No. 11–CV–27–JHP–KEW, 2014 WL
4966157 (E.D. Okla. Sept. 30, 2014) (order). The parties are familiar with the
facts and we need not restate them here. Mr. Stachmus was convicted of first-
degree murder of his spouse and sentenced to life imprisonment without the
1
The district court’s judgment incorrectly recites that Mr. Stachmus was
sentenced to death. Aplt. App. 215. Additionally, the district court did not
address whether a certificate of appealability (COA) should be issued or denied as
required by Rule 11(a) of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases. Counsel has
moved for a COA in the opening brief.
possibility of parole. Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 701.7(A). The Oklahoma Court of
Criminal Appeals (OCCA) affirmed the judgment and sentence on direct appeal.
Stachmus v. State, No. F-2008-413, (May 8, 2009), Aplt. App. 69–78. Mr.
Stachmus sought post-conviction relief; the state district court’s denial was
affirmed. Stachmus v. State, No. PC 2010-1006 (Jan. 19, 2011), Aplt. App.
90–92. On appeal, he challenges the OCCA’s rejection of his (1) sufficiency of
the evidence claim, (2) Confrontation Clause and due process claim related to
admission of a hearsay statement by the victim’s brother, and (3) prosecutorial
misconduct claim, as contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, Supreme
Court precedent, or an unreasonable application of the facts in light of the
evidence. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d).
For this court to grant a COA, Mr. Stachmus must make “a substantial
showing of the denial of a constitutional right,” 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2), such that
“reasonable jurists could debate whether . . . the petition should have been
resolved in a different manner or that the issues presented were adequate to
deserve encouragement to proceed further.” Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473,
484 (2000) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Because the OCCA decided his claims on the merits, Mr. Stachmus must
demonstrate that its resolution either “resulted in a decision that was based on an
unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented” or was
“contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established
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Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States.” 28
U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1)–(2). Under the “contrary to” clause, a federal court may
grant the writ “if the state court decides a case differently than [the Supreme
Court] has on a set of materially indistinguishable facts.” Williams v. Taylor,
529 U.S. 362, 412–13 (2000). Under the “unreasonable application” clause, a
federal court may grant the writ only if “the state court's application of clearly
established federal law was objectively unreasonable.” Id. at 409. We have
examined the OCCA’s resolution of the federal claims, and, like the district court,
we conclude that it is consistent with federal law and based on a reasonable
determination of the facts.
A. Sufficiency of the Evidence
The OCCA rejected Mr. Stachmus’s sufficiency of the evidence challenge.
Aplt. App. 76–77. Mr. Stachmus takes issue with the prosecutor’s theory that Mr.
Stachmus attacked his spouse from behind, pressed her onto a deck, and then held
her throat on the edge of their hot tub until she stopped breathing. Aplt. Br. at 26.
He argues that such a struggle would have resulted in (1) greater disruption of the
scene, (2) blood, and (3) injuries to himself. He also faults the medical
examiner’s testimony (and the OCCA’s reliance upon it), arguing that it was not
based solely on the autopsy, but rather was influenced by the police investigation.
He further contends that the OCCA’s resolution of his sufficiency of the evidence
claim is contrary to the Supreme Court’s decision in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S.
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307 (1979), because the OCCA concluded that evidence of a third-party
perpetrator was unlikely, and that circumstantial evidence in the form of extra-
marital activities and their disclosure were “relevant indicators” suggesting intent.
The legal standard for this claim is “whether, after viewing the evidence in
the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have
found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jackson,
443 U.S. at 319. Though Mr. Stachmus argues that the OCCA relied upon
authority that predated Jackson and did not conduct an elements analysis, what
matters is that the trial evidence support the result reached. Williams v.
Trammell, 782 F.3d 1184, 1197 (10th Cir. 2015). Having reviewed the record
including the trial exhibits, we agree with the district court that it certainly did.
Stachmus, 2014 WL 4966157, at *4–6 (magistrate judge’s analysis adopted by
district court).
Essentially, Mr. Stachmus argues that more direct evidence was required to
support the conviction. But that approach is inconsistent with the standards
developed to review sufficiency of the evidence claims, particularly on collateral
review. Circumstantial evidence may support a criminal conviction, as long as
the proof is beyond a reasonable doubt. Desert Palace, Inc. v. Costa, 539 U.S.
90, 100 (2003). Further, conflicts in the evidence 2 must be resolved in favor of
2
The medical examiner testified the manner of death was homicide with
the cause of death as “asphyxia due to compression of the neck and/or with
drowning.” IV Tr. 93; 1 R.S. State’s Ex. 37. There were two separate incidents
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the prosecution, and there is no requirement that the prosecution negate every
hypothesis except guilt. Jackson, 443 U.S. at 326.
B. Confrontation Clause
Over objection, the victim’s brother testified that the victim told him that if
her husband (Mr. Stachmus) “was having an affair, cheating on her, or sending
flowers or even talking to another woman, that she would leave him.” II Tr.
25–26. Mr. Stachmus argues that this “was the centerpiece of the State’s case for
motive.” Aplt. Br. 40. He further argues that this hearsay evidence was
testimonial in nature and its admission was contrary to the Confrontation Clause,
see Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), due process, and Oklahoma
law.
The OCCA held that the statement was admissible under state law as
exhibiting the victim’s state of mind as it pertained to her husband’s potential
infidelity. Aplt. 71–72. Of course, a federal habeas court does not exist to
correct state law errors absent a showing that the error rendered the trial
fundamentally unfair. Duckett v. Mullin, 306 F.3d 982, 999 (10th Cir. 2002).
The district court’s conclusion that the remark was non-testimonial and fell within
a hearsay exception under state law is not reasonably debatable. And as noted by
of blunt force trauma to the head and those injuries could have contributed to the
victim’s death. IV Tr. at 93, 108. The suggestion that death was accidental or
not the result of a homicide seems unlikely on this record. See Aplt. Br. at 25,
33.
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the OCCA, abundant evidence in the record supported the State’s theory that the
victim was aware of Mr. Stachmus’s extramarital interests which might have
furnished a motive. Aplt. App. 73.
C. Prosecutorial Misconduct
The OCCA declined to find prosecutorial misconduct and concluded that
the trial court’s denial of a mistrial was within its discretion. Aplt. App. 73–76.
The district court’s conclusion that Mr. Stachmus could not demonstrate that the
actions of the prosecutor rendered his trial fundamentally unfair, Stachmus, 2014
WL 4966157, at *8–15, is not reasonably debatable particularly given the facts of
the case. Mr. Stachmus’s counsel frequently objected, often with success. We
note that claims of due process violations based upon prosecutorial misconduct
must be examined based upon the entire proceedings, and it is simply not logical
to think that the give and take of the trial process (much of what this is) resulted
in the jury abandoning its responsibility to render a verdict based upon the
evidence. 3 See Donnelly v. DeChristoforo, 416 U.S. 637, 643–44 (1974).
3
The OCCA rejected Mr. Stachmus’s contention that the prosecutor
essentially shifted the burden of proof to Mr. Stachmus in his closing argument
and the claim of cumulative error. Aplt. App. 76–77. This is not contrary to or
an unreasonable application of federal law, 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), thus a different
standard of review would not be warranted. Aplt. Br. 56.
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We DENY a COA and DISMISS the appeal.
Entered for the Court
Paul J. Kelly, Jr.
Circuit Judge
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