Notable Sixth Circuit panel habeas opion reversing Ohio death sentence in part “due to the trial court judge’s bias and misconduct”
A helpful reader made sure I did not miss the notable panel opinion issued by the Sixth Circuit earlier this week in Jackson v. Cool, No. 21-3207 (6th Cir. Aug. 8, 2024) (available here). The start of the unanimous opinion will highlight why it seems notable:
The Great Writ of Habeas Corpus is an extraordinary remedy that “guard[s] against extreme malfunctions in the state criminal justice systems.” Harrington v. Richter, 562 U.S. 86, 102 (2011) (internal quotation marks omitted). This case is the epitome of such an extreme judicial malfunction.
Petitioner Nathaniel Jackson was convicted of a capital offense and sentenced to death. But Jackson’s sentencing proceeding was blatantly unconstitutional at its core due to the trialcourt judge’s bias and misconduct, as well as his exclusion at sentencing of relevant mitigating evidence. The prejudicial judicial bias and misconduct included numerous ex parte communications between the judge and prosecutor regarding substantive sentencing issues and the ghost writing by the prosecutor of the judge’s opinion sentencing Jackson to death. In state court, when this unethical conduct came to light, the Ohio appellate courts publicly reprimanded the trial judge and ordered him to conduct new sentencing proceedings: the judge was to “personally review and evaluate the appropriateness of the death penalty” and “prepare an entirely new sentencing entry.”
On remand, Jackson moved to present three additional volumes of mitigating evidence. The trial judge denied the motion, and he orally resentenced Jackson based on the stale, ten-yearold mitigation record. A few hours after the resentencing hearing concluded, the judge issued a second opinion sentencing Jackson to death that was functionally identical to the original, corrupted opinion and contrary to the Ohio Court of Appeals’ specific instructions on remand. Nevertheless, the Ohio appellate courts affirmed Jackson’s sentence. Jackson then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court. The district court granted Jackson’s petition on his claim that he was unconstitutionally denied the opportunity to present relevant mitigating evidence at his resentencing proceedings, but it denied Jackson’s other claims, including that the trial judge was unconstitutionally biased. The warden appeals the district court’s habeas grant, and Jackson cross appeals regarding his judicial-bias and ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims.
We affirm the district court in part and reverse in part. We first hold that Ohio’s standard for assessing the potential for judicial bias is contrary to clearly established federal law as defined by the Supreme Court. And on de novo review, Jackson has demonstrated that the trial judge was unconstitutionally biased. Second, the Supreme Court has clearly established that when a trial court is determining whether to impose the death penalty, capital defendants have a right to present any and all relevant mitigating evidence supporting a sentence less than death, including at resentencing proceedings, and Ohio’s failure to provide Jackson that right violated the Eighth Amendment. Therefore, we affirm the district court’s issuance of a writ of habeas corpus on Jackson’s mitigating-evidence claim, reverse the district court’s denial of Jackson’s habeas petition on his judicial-bias claim, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.