Eric Christopher Miller v. State of Iowa ( 2019 )

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 17-1789
Filed May 15, 2019
ERIC CHRISTOPHER MILLER,
Applicant-Appellant,
vs.
STATE OF IOWA,
Respondent-Appellee.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Paul D. Scott, Judge.
Eric Miller appeals the dismissal of his application for postconviction relief.
AFFIRMED.
Eric C. Miller, Fort Madison, pro se appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Tyler J. Buller, Assistant Attorney
General, for appellee State.
Considered by Mullins, P.J., Bower, J., and Carr, S.J.*
*Senior judge assigned by order pursuant to Iowa Code section 602.9206 (2019).
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CARR, Senior Judge.
Eric Miller appeals the dismissal of his application for postconviction relief
(PCR). He asserts he has raised a proper gateway claim of actual innocence to
survive summary judgment. We affirm the dismissal of his application for PCR.
In November 2007, Miller was convicted of murder in the first degree for the
death of Jamey Brucker. This court affirmed his conviction on direct appeal. State
v. Miller, No. 07-2051, 2009 WL 249646, at *4 (Iowa Ct. App. Feb. 4, 2009). He
filed a first application for PCR, which the district court denied and dismissed, and
we affirmed the district court. Miller v. State, No. 12-0826, 2014 WL 1746572, at
*2 (Iowa Ct. App. Apr. 30, 2014). He filed a second application for PCR, which the
district court again denied and dismissed; he did not appeal this decision.
On March 2, 2017, Miller filed this, his third, application for PCR. He
asserted actual innocence related to new evidence and other claims. The district
court granted summary judgment in favor of the State and dismissed his
application. He now appeals regarding his actual innocence claim.
“We normally review postconviction proceedings for errors at law.” Castro
v. State, 795 N.W.2d 789, 792 (Iowa 2011). “In determining whether summary
judgment is warranted, the moving party has the burden of proving the material
facts are undisputed. We examine the facts in the light most favorable to the
nonmoving party.” Id. (citation omitted).
Miller seeks PCR under a gateway claim of actual innocence. Iowa
recognizes freestanding claims of actual innocence, in which “the applicant must
show by clear and convincing evidence that, despite the evidence of guilt
supporting the conviction, no reasonable fact finder could convict the applicant of
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the crimes for which the sentencing court found the applicant guilty in light of all
the evidence, including the newly discovered evidence.” Schmidt v. State, 909
N.W.2d 778, 797 (Iowa 2018). Under a federally-recognized gateway claim of
actual innocence, the petitioner “must demonstrate that in light of all the evidence,
including the new evidence, ‘it is more likely than not that no reasonable juror would
have found petitioner guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.’” Id. at 791 (quoting
Schlup v. Delo, 513 U.S. 298, 327 (1995)). To assert a gateway claim of actual
innocence, the petitioner must make an initial showing of an underlying
constitutional violation. Id.The Iowa Supreme Court has not adopted gateway claims of actual
innocence, and we decline to do so. Even if we were to analyze Miller’s claim as
a gateway claim of actual innocence, his PCR action would still fail. Federal courts
use a two-part test to review gateway claims of actual innocence. Amrine v.
Bowersox, 238 F.3d 1023, 1029 (8th Cir. 2001). Under the first part, “allegations
of constitutional error must be supported with new reliable evidence.” Id. (citing
Schlup, 513 U.S. at 327–28). However, Miller has not claimed the necessary
constitutional error. Schlup, 513 U.S. at 316 (explaining a petitioner’s “evidence
of innocence need carry less of a burden” in a gateway claim than a freestanding
claim due to the underlying constitutional error at trial); see also Schmidt, 909
N.W.2d at 797. While Miller claims that imprisoning an innocent person is itself a
constitutional violation, a gateway “claim of innocence does not by itself provide a
basis for relief.” Schlup, 513 U.S. at 315. Furthermore, he must introduce “new
reliable evidence” to support his claim of constitutional error. Id. at 324. We note
that under Amrine, “evidence is new only if it was not available at trial and could
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not have been discovered earlier through the exercise of due diligence.” 238 F.3d
at 1028 (quoting Amrine v. Bowersox, 128 F.3d 1222, 1230 (8th Cir. 1997)).
However, most other federal circuits have found evidence is new if it was merely
“not presented at trial.” Reeves v. Fayette SCI, 897 F.3d 154, 161–62 (3d Cir.
2018). For his PCR claim, Miller provided emails from Nicole Tyler, who claims to
know a friend or relative of Brucker. He also provides an affidavit from James
Dixon, who claims he encountered someone matching Brucker’s description a few
months before his death. While Miller clearly did not present this evidence at his
trial, we doubt it satisfies the more demanding “not available at trial” standard
under Amrine, 238 F.3d at 1028.
Even if we presume Miller has claimed constitutional error that is supported
by new reliable evidence, he must also “establish ‘that it is more likely than not that
no reasonable juror would have convicted him in light of the new evidence.’”
Amrine, 238 F.3d at 1029 (quoting Schlup, 513 U.S. at 327). The “Schlup standard
is demanding and permits review only in the ‘extraordinary’ case.” House v. Bell,
547 U.S. 518, 538 (2006) (quoting Schlup, 513 U.S. at 327). This second part of
the test requires consideration of “‘all the evidence,’ old and new, incriminating and
exculpatory, without regard to whether it would necessarily be admitted under
‘rules of admissibility that would govern at trial.’” Id. (quoting Schlup, 513 U.S. at327–28). Tyler’s emails indicate Brucker “was in a dark place” before his death,
and Dixon’s affidavit indicates Brucker “was manic, up and down between happy
and sad” and had “overdosed a lot in the past.” To the extent Miller argues Brucker
wanted to die, Brucker’s allegedly “suicidal intent is no defense” to murder. See
State v. Couser, 567 N.W.2d 657, 661 (Iowa 1997). Dixon’s affidavit also
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describes Brucker aggressively pursuing a sexual encounter with him, which
ended with Dixon “grab[bing] his hand out of my pants and actually kick[ing] him
away.” Miller asserts this affidavit enforces his account that Brucker had
aggressively pursued a sexual encounter with him and “forced his death with an
‘unwanted sexual advance.’” In Miller’s direct appeal, we summarized the
evidence supporting his conviction and the rejection of his self-defense claim.
Miller, 2009 WL 249646, at *4. In addition to the fact “Miller openly admitted to
killing Brucker,” evidence presented at trial showed:
that Miller routinely drove his vehicle while under the influence of
marijuana and alcohol; that he enjoyed firing his shotgun within city
limits, often near the interstate; that he punched Brucker in the face
when Brucker tried to touch him; that he put a bladed martial arts
weapon to Brucker’s throat when Brucker was too loud; that he
fantasized about slitting someone’s throat from ear to ear; that for
several weeks he had craved killing another human being; that he
was not remorseful for killing Brucker; that he had stolen Brucker’s
cash and cell phone; that he had destroyed incriminating evidence
and attempted to flee after the murder, believing he could escape
and possibly kill again; and that he had a dark side and enjoyed
committing destructive acts that provided him with a thrill.
Id. at *3–4. As we noted, “[t]he record overwhelmingly supports the jury’s
conviction of Miller for first-degree murder.” Id. at *3. Even taking the evidence in
the light most favorable to Miller, Dixon’s description of Brucker’s pursuit of a
sexual encounter with him does not make it “more likely than not that no
reasonable juror would have convicted [Miller] in light of the new evidence.” See
Amrine, 238 F.3d at 1029 (quoting Schlup, 513 U.S. at 327).
Iowa does not recognize a gateway claim of actual innocence. Even if we
were to recognize a gateway claim, Miller has not shown a constitutional error at
trial that is supported with new reliable evidence to establish, more likely than not,
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no reasonable juror would have convicted him. Therefore, the district court
properly granted summary judgment in favor of the State, and we affirm the district
court’s dismissal of his application for PCR.
AFFIRMED.