Archie L. Jenkins v. Secretary, Department of Corrections ( 2017 )


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  •            Case: 17-10747   Date Filed: 10/23/2017   Page: 1 of 8
    [DO NOT PUBLISH]
    IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
    __________________________
    No. 17-10747
    Non-Argument Calendar
    __________________________
    D.C. Docket No. 6:15-cv-00093-GKS-DCI
    ARCHIE L. JENKINS,
    Petitioner - Appellant,
    versus
    SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS,
    ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF FLORIDA,
    Respondents - Appellees.
    __________________________
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Middle District of Florida
    __________________________
    (October 23, 2017)
    Before TJOFLAT, MARCUS, and JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judges.
    PER CURIAM:
    Case: 17-10747    Date Filed: 10/23/2017   Page: 2 of 8
    Archie Jenkins appeals the District Court’s denial of his 
    28 U.S.C. § 2254
    petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Jenkins originally pleaded guilty to attempted
    burglary and grand theft and, pursuant to that plea agreement, was sentenced to
    concurrent fifteen and five-year terms of imprisonment. He then had his plea and
    sentence vacated at his behest. Thereafter, he entered into another plea agreement
    and was sentenced to concurrent four-year terms without credit for time served.
    The District Court granted a certificate of appealability (“COA”) as to
    whether the state trial court violated his right against double jeopardy. Relying on
    North Carolina v. Pearce, 
    395 U.S. 711
    , 
    89 S. Ct. 2072
     (1969), Jenkins argues that
    his sentence violated the Double Jeopardy Clause because he did not receive credit
    for time served on the original conviction. He also argues that he never intended to
    waive his credit for time served, and that any waiver resulted from ineffective
    assistance of counsel. We find the former argument unavailing. We need not
    reach the latter.
    I.
    We review de novo a district court’s denial of a habeas petition. Ward v.
    Hall, 
    592 F.3d 1144
    , 1155 (11th Cir. 2010). We review the district court’s
    findings of fact for clear error. Gilliam v. Sec’y for Dep’t of Corr., 
    480 F.3d 1027
    ,
    1032 (11th Cir. 2007). Questions of law and mixed questions of law and fact
    receive de novo review. 
    Id.
    2
    Case: 17-10747     Date Filed: 10/23/2017    Page: 3 of 8
    Our appellate review is limited, however, to the issue or issues specified in
    the COA. Murray v. United States, 
    145 F.3d 1249
    , 1250–51 (1998). The only way
    a petitioner may raise on appeal issues outside those specified in the COA is to
    have this Court expand the COA to include those issues. Tompkins v. Moore, 
    193 F.3d 1327
    , 1332 (1999). “An application to expand the [COA] must be filed
    promptly, well before the opening brief is due.” 
    Id.
     The arguments in a brief that
    address issues not covered in the COA “will not be considered as a timely
    application for expansion of the certificate; those issues simply will not be
    reviewed.” 
    Id.
    Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”),
    federal courts shall not grant habeas relief to claims that state courts adjudicated on
    the merits unless the state court decision (1) was “contrary to, or involved an
    unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the
    Supreme Court,” or (2) “was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts
    in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.” 
    28 U.S.C. § 2254
    (d)(1), (2). A state court’s decision is “contrary to” federal law if “the state
    court arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by [the Supreme Court] on a
    question of law or if the state court decides a case differently than th[e] Court on a
    set of materially indistinguishable facts.” Williams v. Taylor, 
    529 U.S. 362
    , 412–
    13, 
    120 S. Ct. 1495
    , 1523 (2000).
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    Case: 17-10747     Date Filed: 10/23/2017    Page: 4 of 8
    A state court’s decision is an “unreasonable application” of federal law if the
    state court identifies the correct legal standard but unreasonably applies it to the
    facts of the petitioner’s case. Williams, 
    529 U.S. at 413
    , 
    120 S. Ct. at 1523
    . Even
    if the federal court concludes that the state court applied federal law incorrectly,
    habeas relief is appropriate only if that application was “objectively unreasonable.”
    Parker v. Head, 
    244 F.3d 831
    , 836 (11th Cir. 2001). Thus, a state court’s
    determination that a claim lacks merit precludes habeas relief unless “no
    possibility” exists that “fairminded jurists could disagree” that the decision
    conflicts with Supreme Court precedent. Harrington v. Richter, 
    562 U.S. 86
    , 102,
    
    131 S. Ct. 770
    , 787 (2011).
    A state court’s factual determinations are presumed correct, and the
    petitioner retains the burden of rebutting that presumption by clear and convincing
    evidence. 
    28 U.S.C. § 2254
    (e)(1); Parker, 244 F.3d at 835–36. We will not
    question a state court’s application of state law in federal habeas corpus review.
    See Davis v. Jones, 
    506 F.3d 1325
    , 1332 (11th Cir. 2007).
    II.
    The Double Jeopardy Clause “provides that no person shall ‘be subject for
    the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb’” Brown v. Ohio, 
    432 U.S. 161
    , 164, 
    97 S. Ct. 2221
    , 2225 (1977) (quoting U.S. Const. amend. V.). The
    Clause protects against (1) successive prosecution for the same offense after
    4
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    acquittal; (2) successive prosecution for the same offense after conviction; and (3)
    multiple punishments for the same offense. Pearce, 
    395 U.S. at 711
    , 
    89 S. Ct. at 2071
    . 1 This appeal concerns the last protection.
    In Pearce, the defendant 2 pleaded guilty to four charges of burglary and
    received a ten-year prison term. 
    395 U.S. at
    714–16, 
    89 S. Ct. at
    2075–76. His
    convictions were later vacated based on ineffective assistance of counsel. 
    Id.
    After retrial, he was convicted and sentenced to a 25-year prison term. 
    Id.
     He then
    brought a federal habeas proceeding alleging, inter alia, that the state trial court
    erred when it failed to give him credit for time served on his original sentence. 
    Id.
    The Supreme Court agreed, holding that “the constitutional guarantee against
    multiple punishments for the same offense absolutely requires that punishment
    already exacted must be fully ‘credited’ in imposing sentence upon a new
    conviction for the same offense.” 
    Id.
     at 718–19.
    But the Supreme Court has held that, in certain situations, a defendant may
    waive a double jeopardy challenge as part of a plea agreement. Ricketts v.
    Adamson, 
    483 U.S. 1
    , 9–10, 
    107 S. Ct. 2680
    , 2685–86 (1987). The defendant in
    Ricketts entered a plea agreement specifying that, if he refused to testify, the
    1
    The prohibitions of the Double Jeopardy Clause apply to the States via the Fourteenth
    Amendment’s Due Process Clause. Benton v. Maryland, 
    395 U.S. 784
    , 794, 
    89 S. Ct. 2056
    ,
    2062 (1969).
    2
    Pearce involved two defendant-respondents, but only one, defendant Rice, is applicable
    to the issue in this case. See 395 U.S. at 713–14, 89 S. Ct. at 2074–75. All references therefore
    refer to him only, and not to the other Pearce respondent.
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    original charges may be reinstated, and the parties returned to the status quo ante.
    Id. at 3, 9. When he refused to testify the prosecution reinstated the original,
    harsher, charge pursuant to which he was tried, convicted, and sentenced. Id. at 5–
    7. The Supreme Court held that the defendant had waived any double jeopardy
    defense, reasoning that a “[plea] agreement specifying that charges may be
    reinstated given certain circumstances is, at least under the provisions of this plea
    agreement, precisely equivalent to an agreement waiving a double jeopardy
    defense.” Id. at 9–10 (emphasis original). The Supreme Court did not find it
    significant that double jeopardy was not expressly waived in the plea agreement.
    Id. at 9. Breaching the agreement returned the defendant to the status quo, at
    which point he had “no double jeopardy defense to waive.” Id. at 10 (emphasis
    original); see also Dermota v. United States, 
    895 F.2d 1324
    , 1325–26 (11th Cir.
    1990) (holding that defendant waived double jeopardy objection to multiple
    punishments for the same offense by pleading guilty to separate offenses “freely,
    voluntarily, and accompanied by his attorney”), cert. denied, 
    489 U.S. 837
    , 
    111 S. Ct. 107
     (1990).
    Here, the plea agreement explicitly provided that Jenkins would not receive
    credit for time served. 3 Jenkins represented that he had read that agreement,
    3
    Under Florida law, credit for time served can be waived as part of a plea agreement, as
    long as the waiver is clearly shown on the record. Hines v. State, 
    906 So. 2d 1137
    , 1138 (Fla. 3d
    DCA 2005); Render v. State, 
    802 So. 2d 512
    , 513 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001).
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    Case: 17-10747     Date Filed: 10/23/2017   Page: 7 of 8
    discussed it with his attorney, and understood it. He affirmed that his attorney
    answered any and all questions he had regarding the agreement, and that no one
    had coerced or threatened him into entering it. At his plea hearing, both his
    attorney and the Court indicated that Jenkins was not entitled to credit for time
    served; Jenkins did not protest nor express any disagreement. Thus, Jenkins
    knowingly, “freely, voluntarily,” and with the aid of counsel waived any right to
    credit for time served, and by extension his right against double jeopardy. See
    Ricketts, 
    483 U.S. at
    9–10; Dermota, 
    895 F.2d at
    1325–26. The Pearce defendant
    entered no such plea, but was in fact re-tried, convicted, and re-sentenced. 395
    U.S. at 714–18.
    Under these circumstances, we cannot conclude that the state court’s denial
    of this claim was contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established
    federal law. See Ward, 
    592 F.3d at 1155
    ; 
    28 U.S.C. § 2254
    (d)(1), (2). The Double
    Jeopardy Clause “does not relieve” Jenkins “from the consequences of his
    voluntary choice.” United States v. Scott, 
    437 U.S. 82
    , 99, 
    98 S. Ct. 2187
    , 2198
    (1978). The facts here and those in Pearce are materially distinguishable. In light
    of the record, we cannot say the state court’s conclusion—that Jenkins voluntarily
    waived his right to credit for time served—was based on an unreasonable
    determination of the facts. 
    28 U.S.C. § 2254
    (e)(1); Parker, 244 F.3d at 835–36.
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    Finally, we decline to address Jenkins’s argument that his counsel was
    ineffective for failing to advise him that he would not receive credit for time
    served. This issue is outside the scope of the COA granted by the District Court.
    See Murray, 
    145 F.3d at
    1250–51. To the extent Jenkins sought to expand that
    COA, he failed to promptly file an application before filing his opening brief. See
    Tompkins, 
    193 F.3d at 1332
    .
    AFFIRMED.
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