Brown v. Braxton

PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

DEMARCUS M. BROWN, 

Petitioner-Appellant,

v.

 No. 03-6763

DANIEL BRAXTON, Warden, Red

Onion State Prison,

Respondent-Appellee.



Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Western District of Virginia, at Roanoke.

James C. Turk, Senior District Judge.

(CA-02-47-7)

Argued: May 4, 2004

Decided: July 1, 2004

Before WILKINSON, KING, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Wilkinson wrote the opinion,

in which Judge King and Judge Gregory joined.

COUNSEL

ARGUED: Charles E. Luftig, Third Year Law Student, Appellate

Litigation Clinic, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA SCHOOL OF LAW,

Charlottesville, Virginia, for Appellant. Susan Foster Barr, Assistant

Attorney General, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Rich-

mond, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Neal L. Walters, Char-

lottesville, Virginia, for Appellant. Jerry Walter Kilgore, Attorney

General of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.

2 BROWN v. BRAXTON

OPINION

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

DeMarcus M. Brown, an inmate incarcerated at Red Onion State

Prison in Pound, Virginia, was found guilty at a prison disciplinary

hearing of assaulting a fellow inmate, Johnnie Lee Beavers. The offi-

cer in charge of the hearing denied Brown’s request to call Beavers

as a witness, but allowed Brown to submit Beavers’ written statement

in lieu of live testimony. Brown claims that his inability to present

Beavers as a live witness denied him due process of law, but we dis-

agree. Prison officials have the discretion, indeed the duty, to protect

the inmates committed to their care. Among other concerns, prison

authorities justifiably feared reprisal against Beavers in the event that

his testimony was not as Brown hoped, and they were not constitu-

tionally required to expose Beavers to the threat of a second beating.

We therefore affirm the judgment.

I.

The State of Virginia classifies its correctional facilities at six dif-

ferent levels. Level 1 correctional units provide dormitory-style living

for minimum-security inmates convicted of relatively minor offenses.

By contrast, Level 5 and 6 prisons house maximum-security inmates

convicted of much more serious offenses. Red Onion State Prison,

where Brown and Beavers are incarcerated, is Virginia’s only Level

6 facility. It provides maximum-security celled living for inmates who

have severe behavioral problems; who are serving extremely long

sentences; or who present escape risks.

On September 9, 2000, Beavers had completed his duties as an

inmate recreation worker and was returning to his cell. When Correc-

tional Officer Samie Fleming opened Beavers’ cell door, Brown fol-

lowed Beavers inside. Fleming heard slapping and hollering from

inside the cell, so he closed the cell door and reported an emergency

on the cell intercom. Lieutenant James Robinson, Sergeants Gregory

Deel and Dwight Moore, and several other correctional officers

responded immediately to Fleming’s call. According to Lieutenant

Robinson, he saw Brown and Beavers fighting on the bottom bunk of

the cell. When Brown and Beavers ignored repeated orders to stop

BROWN v. BRAXTON 3

fighting, the officers entered the cell and separated the pair. Both

Brown and Beavers were then examined by the prison’s medical staff.

According to Lieutenant Robinson’s Incident Report, signed and

dated the day of the fight, the prison nurses who examined Beavers

found that his left back tooth had been chipped during the altercation

and his left wrist had been cut. Beavers also told the nurses, "I was

hit with an adapter." As for Brown, he sustained a bite mark on his

right forearm and a few small cuts and abrasions. Brown was later

placed in administrative detention, while Lieutenant Kelly Chris

investigated the altercation.

On September 18, 2000, Brown was served with a copy of Lieuten-

ant Chris’s Disciplinary Offense Report, which stated that Brown was

being charged with aggravated assault. Upon being served, Brown

requested that Beavers appear as a witness on his behalf. Then on

September 22, Beavers submitted to prison officials a written state-

ment that said simply: "At no time did inmate D. Brown assault me

with his adapter or in any other way."

On September 25, 2000, Inmate Hearing Officer Brett Edmonds

conducted a disciplinary hearing on Brown’s assault charge. Lieuten-

ant Chris testified about Fleming’s report of the fight, as well as the

nurses’ report on Beavers’ injuries and Beavers’ statement to the

nurses that he had been hit with an adapter. Chris also testified that

during his investigation he had interviewed Beavers. According to

Chris, Beavers said that he and Brown had argued prior to the fight,

and that later Brown had run into Beavers’ cell and attacked Beavers

with an adapter wrapped in a sock. As Chris had noted in his Disci-

plinary Offense Report, an adapter with Brown’s name and inmate

number was found in Beavers’ cell following the fight. Finally, Chris

testified that he had also interviewed Brown, who said that he was in

Beavers’ cell with the permission of Beavers’ cellmate to watch tele-

vision. However, Brown denied making such statements to Chris (and

Beavers’ cellmate denied knowing Brown, much less giving him per-

mission to watch his television).

Edmonds then gave Brown an opportunity to present evidence in

his defense. Brown requested that Beavers be called as a live witness,

but Edmonds denied Brown’s request. Edmonds then read Beavers’

4 BROWN v. BRAXTON

written statement into the record. Accordingly, Brown argued that he

should not be found guilty of assault since Beavers himself denied

being assaulted in any way. When Edmonds asked Brown whether he

had anything else to present, Brown said no; he presented no other

witnesses or arguments.

Edmonds proceeded to find Brown guilty of aggravated assault,

sentencing him to the loss of 180 days of good conduct time. Accord-

ing to Edmonds’ written findings, (1) Brown had been identified by

Officer Fleming as the inmate who had entered Beavers’ cell; (2)

Beavers had sustained injuries consistent with fighting; (3) Beavers

had stated to nurses immediately following the fight that he was

attacked with an adapter; (4) Brown’s adapter was found in Beavers’

cell after the fight; and (5) when Beavers was subsequently inter-

viewed by Lieutenant Chris, Beavers confirmed that Brown had

assaulted him with an adapter.

Brown presented a host of claims in a state habeas petition to the

Supreme Court of Virginia. That court dismissed his petition on

November 8, 2001. Brown then reiterated his claims in a habeas peti-

tion filed in the United States District Court for the Western District

of Virginia, which also dismissed Brown’s petition on March 19,

2003. We issued a certificate of appealability on October 24, 2003 to

consider whether Brown’s right to due process was violated by

Edmonds’ refusal to call Beavers as a witness.

II.

Brown challenges the constitutionality of Virginia Department of

Corrections Division Operating Procedure ("DOP") 861.14(B)(1).

Brown alleges that Edmonds relied on DOP 861.14(B)(1) in denying

his request to call Beavers as a witness. DOP 861.14(B)(1) provides

that in all disciplinary hearings for certain types of charged offenses

[t]he IHO [Inmate Hearing Officer] shall examine each wit-

ness’ statement for relevance and repetitiveness. A witness’

written statement shall not be used in lieu of the witness’

testimony at a Disciplinary Hearing, except at Level 5 and

6 institutions and segregation units; the statement from an

inmate witness is sufficient. Staff witnesses requested by the

BROWN v. BRAXTON 5

inmate should appear at the Disciplinary Hearing at Level

5 and 6 institutions and in segregation units.

DOP 861.14(B)(1) thus regulates the use of witness testimony in

disciplinary hearings, and it draws distinctions based upon the type of

institution at which the accused inmate is housed, the type of witness

sought by the accused inmate, and the type of testimony to be offered

by the witness. Specifically, DOP 861.14(B)(1) allows inmates at all

Virginia correctional institutions an unqualified right to call staff wit-

nesses at disciplinary hearings. However, only inmates at Level 1, 2,

3 and 4 facilities are guaranteed the right to call willing fellow

inmates as live witnesses. Prisoners at Level 5 and 6 facilities who

wish to present testimony from their fellow inmates may be required

to submit written statements in lieu of live testimony.

A.

An analysis of the constitutionality of DOP 861.14(B)(1) must

begin with the Supreme Court’s seminal case on the due process

rights of prisoners, Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539 (1974). In

Wolff, the Supreme Court considered how prison disciplinary hearings

must be structured in order to comport with the demands of the Due

Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court was clear

that inmates retain rights under the Due Process Clause, but that their

rights are "subject to restrictions imposed by the nature of the regime

to which they have been lawfully committed." Wolff, 418 U.S. at 556.

Prison disciplinary hearings, unlike criminal prosecutions or parole

revocation hearings, "take place in a closed, tightly controlled envi-

ronment peopled by those who have chosen to violate the criminal

law. . . ." Id. at 561. In many prisons, the inmates can be dangerous

to each other, and they are confined to a setting that is often rife with

tension between inmates, guards, and prison officials. Id. at 561-62.

As the Court recognized, "[i]t is against this background that disci-

plinary proceedings must be structured by prison authorities; and it is

against this background that we must make our constitutional judg-

ments. . . ." Id. at 562.

In defining the balance between inmates’ due process interests and

prison authorities’ penological needs, the Wolff Court drew some firm

lines. On the one hand, inmates are entitled to advance written notice

6 BROWN v. BRAXTON

of the claimed violation, as well as a written statement concerning the

evidence relied upon and the reasons for the disciplinary action taken.

Id. at 563. On the other hand, inmates are not entitled to confront the

witnesses against them, nor are they guaranteed the right to retained

or appointed counsel. Id. at 567-70; see also Baxter v. Palmigiano,

425 U.S. 308, 315-22 (1976) (discussing limited range of inmate

rights in prison disciplinary proceedings).

But with regard to an inmate’s right to present evidence in his

defense, the Court took a more nuanced view. An inmate facing disci-

plinary proceedings has the qualified right "to call witnesses and pre-

sent documentary evidence in his defense when permitting him to do

so will not be unduly hazardous to institutional safety or correctional

goals." Wolff, 418 U.S. at 566. The purpose of the qualification was

manifest: "Prison officials must have the necessary discretion to keep

the hearing within reasonable limits and to refuse to call witnesses

that may create a risk of reprisal or undermine authority, as well as

to limit access to other inmates to collect statements or to compile

other documentary evidence." Id. Thus after Wolff, it was clearly

established that prison officials had the discretion to deny witness

requests, where legitimate penological interests justified excluding a

witness.

Wolff did leave open an important question that has divided the cir-

cuits: whether prison officials had to consider witness requests on a

case-by-case basis, or whether they could formulate regulations

designed to deal with such requests categorically. Compare Ramer v.

Kerby, 936 F.2d 1102, 1104 (10th Cir. 1991) (Wolff demands an "in-

dividualized determination" whether to grant an inmate’s witness

request); King v. Wells, 760 F.2d 89, 93 (6th Cir. 1985) ("Wolff

requires that officials make an individualized decision on the facts of

each case. . . ."); Dalton v. Hutto, 713 F.2d 75, 78 (4th Cir. 1983)

(Wolff deems "per se proscriptions against the calling of certain cate-

gories of witnesses" violative of due process); Bartholomew v. Wat-

son, 665 F.2d 915, 918 (9th Cir. 1982) (Wolff demands "a case-by-

case analysis of the potential hazards" of calling a particular witness),

with Whitlock v. Johnson, 153 F.3d 380, 386-87 (7th Cir. 1998) (rec-

ognizing room for generalized rules that exclude certain types of wit-

nesses); McGuinness v. Dubois, 75 F.3d 794, 799-800 & n.7 (1st Cir.

1996) (questioning the case-by-case requirement); Powell v.

BROWN v. BRAXTON 7

Coughlin, 953 F.2d 744, 749 (2d Cir. 1991) (upholding policy against

calling prison mental health clinicians in inmates’ presence).* How-

ever, we need not revisit that debate here, because Wolff establishes

beyond doubt all that is necessary to resolve this case: hearing offi-

cers like Edmonds may decide that legitimate penological interests

justify the denial of an individual inmate’s witness request, and their

decisions are not to be lightly second-guessed by courts far removed

from the demands of prison administration.

B.

The parties dispute whether Inmate Hearing Officer Edmonds

applied DOP 861.14(B)(1) as a categorical rule against live testimony

by inmate witnesses at Level 5 and 6 facilities. However, the district

court reviewed the tapes of Brown’s disciplinary hearing and found

as a factual matter that Edmonds had individually considered Brown’s

request. In all events, it is clear that Edmonds acted under the author-

ity of the regulation in declining to call Beavers in person. The simple

question before us is whether we should defer to his decision. For at

least three reasons, we conclude that we must.

1.

Initially, DOP 861.14(B)(1) serves legitimate penological interests.

The regulation is designed above all to prevent inmates from force-

fully coercing testimony out of their fellow prisoners. Simply put, it

protects inmates’ safety. "Retaliation is much more than a theoretical

possibility" for inmates who are called as witnesses in disciplinary

hearings, Wolff, 418 U.S. at 562; it is a "very real danger[ ]," Ponte

*In Ponte v. Real, 471 U.S. 491, 496 (1985), the Supreme Court inti-

mated that broader policies designed to deal with witness requests might

be constitutionally permissible. Accordingly, in Ponte’s wake, there has

been a growing recognition that prisons may develop witness request

policies for sensible reasons. See, e.g., Whitlock, 153 F.3d at 387

(explaining how Ponte "allow[ed] for the possibility that some [blanket]

policies, if sensitively designed and administered, could be constitu-

tional"); Powell, 953 F.2d at 749 (same). In view of the grounds for our

decision here, we need not address the continuing viability of our deci-

sion in Dalton in the face of Ponte and its progeny.

8 BROWN v. BRAXTON

v. Real, 471 U.S. 491, 495 (1985). As the Supreme Court has recog-

nized, prisoners are "subject to the unwritten code that exhorts

inmates not to inform on a fellow prisoner," and they are vulnerable

should they elect to violate that code. Wolff, 418 U.S. at 562. Cer-

tainly inmate witnesses do not always testify under threat of coercion.

Yet the broader concern of reprisal necessitates protection for inmate

witnesses, especially at prisons like Red Onion that are filled with the

State’s most hardened criminals. Virginia has rightly sought to dimin-

ish the risk to maximum security inmates’ safety by allowing them to

testify in writing.

The regulation also attempts to reduce the shuffling of inmates

inside maximum security prisons. Disciplinary hearings have placed

a serious administrative burden on prisons, whose caseloads can

require standing disciplinary boards that convene daily to hear hun-

dreds of cases a week. See, e.g., Whitlock v. Johnson, 153 F.3d 380,

389 (7th Cir. 1998). In this context, it is truer than ever that "the unre-

stricted right to call witnesses from the prison population carries obvi-

ous potential for disruption and for interference with the swift

punishment that in individual cases may be essential to carrying out

the correctional program of the institution." Wolff, 418 U.S. at 566.

Again, DOP 861.14(B)(1) quite reasonably attempts to minimize the

substantial disruption and administrative burden that would flow from

an unrestricted right to live witness testimony.

2.

Secondly, the State has tailored its regulation to meet its penologi-

cal concerns. The twin dangers of retaliation and disruption are pres-

ent to some degree whenever inmates are allowed to call their fellow

prisoners as witnesses in disciplinary proceedings. Yet the Virginia

Department of Corrections has not sought to limit live testimony from

all kinds of witnesses, nor has it sought even to limit live testimony

from inmate witnesses at all kinds of facilities.

Rather, the State has simply vested prison officials like Edmonds

with the discretion to decide whether some relatively few inmates —

those inmates held at maximum security facilities — should testify in

person or in writing. For while both oral and written testimony pre-

sent some danger of retaliation and disruption, the face-to-face, con-

BROWN v. BRAXTON 9

frontational nature of oral testimony creates more serious difficulties

for prison officials. In sum, the State has tailored its regulation to

meet its most pressing needs by placing limits on the live testimony

of its most dangerous inmates — those inmates who pose the severest

threat to personal and institutional safety. The bounds that prison

authorities have placed on live witness testimony thus represent a sen-

sible "mutual accommodation between institutional needs and objec-

tives and the provisions of the Constitution. . . ." Wolff, 418 U.S. at

556.

Indeed, it is the moderateness of Virginia’s regulation that sets it

apart from other witness request policies. For example, in Dalton v.

Hutto, 713 F.2d 75, 77-78 (4th Cir. 1983), this court invalidated a

Virginia prison guideline — in fact, a less artfully crafted predecessor

to DOP 861.14(B)(1) — that denied all inmates the right to call any

witness who would not appear voluntarily. Pursuant to Guideline No.

861, two corrections officers had refused to testify at prisoner James

Dalton’s disciplinary hearing as Dalton had requested. Dalton, 713

F.2d at 76. The court concluded that for an inmate’s due process right

to be meaningful, prison officials could not stand idly by while any

witness refused to testify for any reason or even no reason at all. Id.

at 78.

However, the differences between DOP 861.14(B)(1) and the

guideline at issue in Dalton are stark. Unlike DOP 861.14(B)(1),

Guideline No. 861 made no provision for the submission of written

statements in lieu of live testimony. Thus Dalton and the prison tribu-

nal were wholly without the benefit of Dalton’s desired testimony.

See id. at 77. Guideline No. 861 also made no attempt to distinguish

between inmate, staff, and outside witnesses. In fact, in Dalton it was

two corrections officers who were refusing to testify — witnesses

who would be compelled to testify under DOP 861.14(B)(1), which

accords inmates at all Virginia correctional institutions an unqualified

right to call staff witnesses at disciplinary hearings.

In short, Dalton’s right to call witnesses was essentially eviscer-

ated, which Wolff does not permit; but Brown’s right to call witnesses

was instead qualified, which Wolff expressly sanctions. The distinc-

tion is crucial, because the majority of regulations invalidated by our

sister circuits have been absolute prohibitions on the calling of wit-

10 BROWN v. BRAXTON

nesses or certain categories of witnesses. Those regulations have

applied system-wide to all disciplinary hearings, and they have

resulted in the loss of testimony altogether. See, e.g., Whitlock v.

Johnson, 153 F.3d 380, 388 (7th Cir. 1998) (invalidating "policy of

denying virtually all requests for live witnesses"); Mitchell v. Dupnik,

75 F.3d 517, 525 (9th Cir. 1996) (invalidating "a blanket policy of

prohibiting inmates from calling any witnesses under any circum-

stances to testify at disciplinary hearings"); Forbes v. Trigg, 976 F.2d

308, 318 (7th Cir. 1992) (invalidating policy that allowed inmates and

staff members to refuse to testify at disciplinary hearings); King v.

Wells, 760 F.2d 89, 93 (6th Cir. 1985) (invalidating prison’s "policy

of not permitting witness testimony under any circumstances").

Virginia’s policy suffers no similar infirmity. In truth, it is difficult

to imagine how Virginia could draft a narrower regulation: DOP

861.14(B)(1) permits prison officials to limit only a type of testimony

(live testimony) from a type of witness (an inmate witness) at a type

of facility (a Level 5 or 6 prison). If any regulation dealing with wit-

ness requests at prison disciplinary hearings is to survive constitu-

tional scrutiny — and Ponte suggests some do — surely it is this one.

Invalidating DOP 861.14(B)(1) would preclude virtually any policy

that dealt with inmates’ witness requests, encasing disciplinary pro-

ceedings in the sort of "inflexible constitutional straitjacket" that the

Supreme Court has condemned. Wolff, 418 U.S. at 563. It makes

sense to treat inmate witnesses differently from other types of wit-

nesses, and maximum security inmate witnesses differently still.

3.

Thirdly, the reasonableness of Virginia’s regulation could hardly

be clearer than in its application to the present case. Numerous offi-

cers witnessed the fight between Brown and Beavers; both were

treated for their injuries; physical evidence at the scene substantiated

the officers’ account; and Beavers himself initially said that he had

been attacked by Brown. Why then would Beavers change his story?

As the district court found, Edmonds believed that Beavers feared

what would happen to him in the event that he did not recant. After

all, Beavers had already been assaulted once. Had he informed on

Brown, either in his written statement or in live testimony at the hear-

ing, it was not difficult for him to imagine how Brown would repay

BROWN v. BRAXTON 11

his forthrightness. Granted, Beavers may well have altered his testi-

mony for reasons other than the risk of retaliation, but that makes it

no less reasonable for Edmonds to have taken the risk seriously. If

Wolff and Ponte teach anything, it is that the dictates of due process

do not require prison officials to turn a blind eye to the stubborn reali-

ties of prison life.

Moreover, Brown made no attempt at his disciplinary hearing to

explain the value of calling Beavers as a live witness. Beavers’ single

sentence — "At no time did inmate D. Brown assault me with his

adapter or in any other way" — was the sum and substance of his tes-

timony. This was not a complicated disciplinary hearing: either

Brown had assaulted Beavers, or he had not. Edmonds read Beavers’

statement into the record at the hearing and was well aware that Bea-

vers denied the assault, just as he was well aware of the ample evi-

dence that Beavers’ statement was a post hoc falsification.

While Brown asserts that Beavers would have testified at greater

length than his brief, one-sentence written statement, Brown never

specifies what else Beavers would have said. Thus even if Edmonds

somehow erred in not calling Beavers as a live witness, Brown has

not demonstrated that he was harmed by Beavers’ testifying in writing

rather than in person. See, e.g., Piggie v. Cotton, 344 F.3d 674, 678

(7th Cir. 2003) (holding potential due process violation harmless

where accused inmate could not explain how witness’ live testimony

would have helped him); McGuinness v. Dubois, 75 F.3d 794, 800

(1st Cir. 1996) (holding lack of live testimony harmless where inmate

was able to present defense, supported by witness affidavits); Powell

v. Coughlin, 953 F.2d 744, 751 (2d Cir. 1991) (holding denial of

inmate’s witness request for her psychiatrist harmless, in part because

psychiatrist’s notes were admitted instead).

In fact, as the district court noted, Brown was likely helped — not

harmed — by Beavers’ absence. Had Beavers testified in person, he

would have had to explain his statement to nurses, "I was hit with an

adapter," as well as his similar statement to Lieutenant Chris that he

had been assaulted by Brown. Surely Beavers would have been asked

to account for the flat contradictions in his earlier oral statements and

his subsequent written testimony. And then Beavers would have been

placed squarely on the hot seat that Edmonds was attempting to

12 BROWN v. BRAXTON

avoid: Beavers could have struggled to explain how he was injured

in a fight that never occurred, or he could have informed on Brown

and tempted whatever fate befalls jailhouse snitches. No matter Bea-

vers’ choice, his testimony could not possibly have added anything to

Brown’s defense.

III.

As if Brown’s task were not sufficiently Sisyphean, he asks that we

gainsay Edmonds’ decision within the context of the Antiterrorism

and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), 110 Stat. 1214.

Under AEDPA, we may grant Brown habeas corpus relief only if the

Supreme Court of Virginia’s dismissal of Brown’s petition was "con-

trary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly estab-

lished Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United

States." 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1) (2000). Yet the Supreme Court’s case

law in this area dictates precisely the opposite result from that urged

by Brown.

Again and again, the Supreme Court has cautioned that we should

be hesitant to substitute our judgments for those of prison administra-

tors. See Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 482 (1995) ("[F]ederal

courts ought to afford appropriate deference and flexibility to state

officials trying to manage a volatile environment."); Ponte, 471 U.S.

at 499 ("Given [Wolff’s] significant limitations on an inmate’s right

to call witnesses, and given our further observation in Wolff that ‘[w]e

should not be too ready to exercise oversight and put aside the judg-

ment of prison administrators,’ it may be that a constitutional chal-

lenge to a disciplinary hearing . . . will rarely, if ever, be successful.")

(citation omitted); Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners’ Labor Union,

Inc., 433 U.S. 119, 126 (1977) ("Because the realities of running a

penal institution are complex and difficult, we have also recognized

the wide-ranging deference to be accorded the decisions of prison

administrators."); Wolff, 418 U.S. at 566-67 ("[Prison officials] must

have the necessary discretion [to limit the calling of witnesses] with-

out being subject to unduly crippling constitutional impediments.").

Here, Inmate Hearing Officer Edmonds considered the merits of

Brown’s witness request, but concluded that legitimate penological

interests warranted denying the request. Perhaps chief among those

interests, Edmonds acted to protect one of the inmates whose safety

BROWN v. BRAXTON 13

was entrusted to his care. We cannot say that his effort ran afoul of

the constraints of due process. The judgment of the district court is

therefore

AFFIRMED.