Opinion ID: 1842987
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Application of Precepts to the Case

Text: The scope of the trial judge's duty toward the motion for a new trial based upon the new evidence must be kept in mind. It was not for him to determine the guilt of Brumfield or the innocence of Talbot; it was not for him to weigh the new evidence as though he were a jury, determining what is true and what is false. The judge's duty was the very narrow one of ascertaining whether there was new material fit for a new jury's judgment. If so, will honest minds, capable of dealing with evidence, probably reach a different conclusion, because of the new evidence, from that of the first jury? Do the new facts raise debatable issues? Will another jury, conscious of its oath and conscientiously obedient to it, probably reach a verdict contrary to the one that was reached on a record wholly different from the present, in view of evidence recently discovered and not adducible by the defense at the time of the original trial? Cf. Frankfurter, The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti, p. 103 (1927). Applying the foregoing precepts, we conclude that our trial brother fell into errors of law in failing to consider all of the new and material evidence now available that, notwithstanding the exercise of reasonable diligence by the defendant, was not discovered before or during the trial. It was not within the trial court's discretion to disregard Mrs. Brumfield's testimony or the prior inconsistent statement of Mrs. Griffin in determining whether the new evidence would probably produce an acquittal in the event of retrial. Further, it was a misuse of discretion to exclude the physical evidence found in Brumfield's toolbox from this evaluation. The evidence clearly does not preclude a reasonable hypothesis that Brumfield placed Mrs. Smith's keys there himself. If the trial court had correctly followed the statute by weighing all of the new and material evidence against the trial record, a proper exercise of his discretion would have required him to grant a new trial. It is clear that the testimony of the witnesses and other evidence introduced at the new trial motion hearings was material and controverted the state's evidence upon trial. Mrs. Brumfield's testimony linking her husband to the Smith crimes stands unrefuted and virtually unchallenged. She testified that Brumfield had her stop their car in front of the Smith house the night before the offenses, was gone from their motel room at the time of the crime, and confessed the crime to her. We are inclined to believe the discovery of her testimony alone warrants a new trial and find inexplicable the trial court's disregard of this significant new evidence. On first hearing, we determined that the impeachment of Mrs. Arnetta Griffin's testimony by her prior inconsistent statement, when considered as the only newly discovered evidence, would not have created a reasonable doubt in the jury's mind. Now, however, we must consider this evidence along with all of the other new evidence which has been uncovered. If, as here, the verdict is already of questionable validity, newly discovered evidence of relatively minor importance might be sufficient to create a reasonable doubt. United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 2402, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976). Additionally, in this regard, we find arbitrary the trial court's finding that there was absolutely no competent evidence of any official misconduct which could have influenced Mrs. Griffin's in-court identification of Talbot. Neither Mrs. Cutrer nor Deputy Davidson should have been disqualified as incompetent witnesses. Perhaps Mrs. Cutrer's testimony should have been given little weight due to the courtroom experiment which tended to rebut it. But Deputy Davidson's testimony that two other deputies improperly provided Mrs. Griffin with information to assist in her identification was contradicted essentially only by the two officers he accused of misconduct and Mrs. Griffin. The prosecution's theory that Mrs. Smith's keys were planted in Brumfield's toolbox by someone acting in concert with Talbot is based on less evidence and more speculation than the defendant's hypothesis. It is undisputed evidence that the car keys taken from Mrs. Smith were discovered in Brumfield's toolbox, which was recovered from his father-in-law's house. It is pure speculation that Talbot may have secreted the keys somewhere for many months and arranged for an unknown person to plant them in the toolbox in the Slocum family's house without detection. This theory is not advanced substantially by Mrs. Brumfield's failure to notice the keys in the toolbox when she opened it to get a hammer at a time when she had no reason to recognize their significance. In view of Brumfield's oscillations, we quite agree with the trial judge that he may very well not know the difference between fact and fiction; thus, his recantations and claims that Talbot had the evidence planted do not bolster the prosecution's speculation either. However, the police officers' testimony to Brumfield's uncanny display of knowledge concerning the details of the crime, the Smith house, the neighborhood and the abandonment of the Smith car is another matter. We find it difficult to believe that Talbot possesses the ability to observe and remember most of these details, have a confederate on the outside update his knowledge, and then teach all the pertinent facts to Brumfield while in jail. It is almost as incredible to suppose that Brumfield cased the Smith house the night before the crimes thoroughly enough to know many of these facts and yet did not follow through with his planned burglary. It is also significant that the prosecution has produced no evidence pointing to a particular person as Talbot's necessary outside confederate in carrying out the conspiracy; Brumfield's statements and testimony are curiously devoid of any circumstantiality of detail although he claims to have been a party to the plot. All of the foregoing evidence, of course, must be considered in light of the undisputed facts: At the time of the Smith case, Brumfield, a veteran rapist and burglar, was actively engaged in committing sex-related robberies and burglaries in the Hammond area, using the same modus operandi which was employed against Mrs. Smith. He was in the immediate vicinity at the time of the crime, could have committed it, and had no valid alibi. The assailant of Mrs. Smith moved through the subdivision and gained entrance to her house in the manner of an experienced daytime burglar-rapist. Talbot, on the other hand, who was a twenty year old college student at the time of the crimes, had no prior record of sex offenses, burglaries or armed robberies. His only previous felony offense was possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Unlike the assailant, Talbot was deeply tanned and had the appearance of an outdoor worker at the time of the crimes.