Fortini v. Murphy

257 F.3d 39 (1st Cir. 2001)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P lived in a second-floor apartment with his girlfriend, Jacie Hall, and her cousin, Tammy Peckham. Between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. on June 22, Ceasar Monterio came to the apartment on at least three occasions looking for Peckham. P went downstairs and told Monterio that Peckham was not at home. Shortly after Monterio's last appearance, Hall heard the occupants of a car shouting profanities as the vehicle drove past the house and she told P about the incident. At 11:50 p.m., P was awoken by a car horn and a male voice, screaming curses and racial epithets towards the house. P got out of bed, got dressed and proceeded down to his first-floor front porch. After sitting on the porch for a period. P called the police to report the earlier disturbance. The police did not dispatch officers to the house. P then retrieved his shotgun and ammunition and returned to his seat on the downstairs porch. The porch was not lighted. Monterio and a friend returned to the house. P heard two sets of footsteps and a whispered conversation and saw someone start up the stairs moving rapidly to the porch. P then yelled 'hey, get the fuck out of here' and Monterio stared at P and the gun and then lunged towards the weapon. P took one step backward and fired, striking Monterio in the chest and killing him almost instantly. P was charged with murder and argued self-defense. P filed a motion in limine asking to introduce evidence of Monterio's acts only five to seven minutes before he stepped onto P's porch and was killed. Monterio struck or attempted to strike, all four white men playing basketball. After his companion pulled him away, Monterio yelled, 'I'll kill them all. Remember my face, I'm Ceasar Monterio. I'm the baddest motherfucker in town.' Immediately after the confrontation, Monterio and Lopes walked towards P's house. On the way, a police officer heard Monterio again yell, 'I'm bad. I'm the baddest motherfucker in the world.' Monterio arrived at P's house a few minutes later. This showed that Monterio was acting in hot blood and supported P’s self-defense theory. The evidence was excluded. P was convicted and given a life sentence. and eventually filed for habeas corpus. P appealed the decision not to admit the disputed evidence as it was 'relevant, trustworthy, and critical to the defendant's defense,' and was inconsistent with Chambers v. Mississippi and due process of law. The Commonwealth argued that the trial court's ruling was correct as a matter of evidence law, but it did not mention P's constitutional claim, Chambers, or the Fourteenth Amendment. The appeals court held P's 'appearance with a loaded shotgun on the darkened porch, coupled with his decision to eschew any retreat to the safety of his apartment, were deliberate acts of defiance, not defense.' P could not, as a matter of law, show that he acted in self-defense in light of his decision to 'lie in wait' on the porch rather than retreating to the safety of his apartment when given the opportunity. P filed for habeas corpus, and the federal district court dismissed on the grounds that he had not exhausted available state remedies as the statute governing habeas petitions requires. P appealed.