Opinion ID: 206501
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Jewett's Trial, Appeal, and Collateral Attack

Text: Jewett did not testify at trial; his defense was that the victim had died of positional asphyxiation during consensual sex, and that he had disposed of her body in a panic after she died. Id. The defense at trial did not assert that there was anything more than this one sexual encounter between the two. The jury convicted Jewett of rape and first-degree murder by deliberate premeditation, and Jewett received a life sentence. In May 2003, while his direct appeal to the SJC was pending, Jewett filed a motion in state court for a new trial raising, among other claims, three claims that are relevant to the present petition. First, he argued that certain evidence, described in greater detail below and provided to the defense before trial, showed that the sperm found in the victim's vagina was from twenty-four to thirty-six hours before death. This, he asserted, supported a theory that he and the victim had consensual sex. Jewett argued this evidence, which the defense did not use at trial, undermined the prosecution's theory that he committed the murder to cover up his rape of the victim. He argued the prosecution engaged in misconduct by depriving the jury of the evidence and presenting a state-employed chemist's testimony that he claimed the evidence impeached. Second, Jewett made a related argument that his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to develop and present to the jury this evidence that the sperm was deposited twenty-four to thirty-six hours before death. Third, he also argued that the trial court had erred in admitting physician opinion testimony that the victim had been sexually assaulted, an error not objected to at trial. As to Jewett's two claims about the sperm age evidence, the SJC noted the testimony of the chemist, Mary McGilvray, regarding the two sperm samples recovered from the victim's body at about 11:00 P.M. on the day her body was foundone sample from her underwear, and one from her vagina. [2] The samples apparently were taken at least twenty-two hours after the estimated time of death. [McGilvray] testified that none of the sperm cells in the two samples she examined had tails. She explained that an intact sperm cell consists of a head, neck, and tail, and that the tails are quite fragile, the first part of the sperm cell to degrade after it is deposited in the vagina. She testified further that the presence of intact tails indicates that the sperm was deposited more recently as opposed to a longer period of time, but that if no tails are present, she is unable to draw any conclusion about the age of the sperm. McGilvray testified that, in addition to degradation over time, sperm tails can be shed by certain extraction techniques, such as the process used to recover the sperm cells from the victim's underwear. Id. at 457-58 (footnote omitted). The evidence that Jewett argued undermined McGilvray's testimony, thereby supporting his misconduct and ineffective assistance claims, consisted of two handwritten notes and a typed police report, all of which were hearsay. The first hand-written note, which State Trooper Scott Berna testified at a 2008 deposition he wrote after a conversation with McGilvray, [3] reads in relevant part, Fm chemist Mary Lumley [McGilvray's maiden name]sexual contact of victim was approx. 24-30 hours prior to death (NOT LESS Than 24 hrs.). Berna testified that the note recounted what McGilvray said to him. The second note was written by Richard Craig, a detective involved in the case who testified at his own 2008 deposition that he wrote the note based on a conversation with Berna. The note reads, Mary Lumleyold semen(nite before, i.e., may have had sex Thor Fri. afternoon.) Craig testified he never spoke directly with McGilvray about the information in the note. Craig later wrote a typed report, which reads: Last night, Trp. Berna had advised me that he'd learned from the State Police Laboratory that while the post mortem did not reveal that she'd been raped, it did reveal that she'd had sex approximately 36 hours or so before death, because there were small amounts of sperm deep inside her vagina. The lab also confirmed small deposits of `old' sperm on her panties, which indicated she had changed her panties some time after the sexual encounter. The lack of sperm, etc., on her body would be consistent with her having showered, as had been reported to us earlier. Like his note, Craig's report was multiple hearsay, recounting what Berna had said he learned from McGilvray. The SJC assumed arguendo that all of this evidence was admissible. Even so, it held that in the context of the trial as a whole, a rational juror could not have considered it new, material, or helpful in any way, much less potentially `dispositive.' Jewett, 813 N.E.2d at 458. The SJC stated, The three hearsay statements are inconsistent and ambiguous. They differ as to the estimate of the age of the sperm, and it is impossible to determine whether any of the notations concerning the time of sexual intercourse was attributable to McGilvrey [sic] or rather was the mere speculation of the author. Id. at 458. In addition, the SJC reasoned that the notes were not inconsistent with McGilvray's testimony, because they could be interpreted as saying that the sperm was deposited twenty-four to thirty-six hours before recovery from the victim's body, consistent with the prosecution's theory of intercourse near the time of death, see id. at 458 n. 5, even though the notes referred to the age of the sperm at the time of death. Jewett did not take issue with this conclusion by the SJC in his brief to this court, but seized on it at oral argument. It is waived. Further, the SJC reasoned, no other evidence corroborated a theory of consensual sex the day before the victim's death. To the contrary, friends had testified that Jewett and the victim were not romantically involved prior to the night of the party. At trial, defense counsel did not so much as mention the possibility of previous consensual sex between Jewett and the victim. Id. at 458-59. The prosecutorial misconduct claim failed. The SJC found that Jewett's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel related to this evidence consequently failed under its analogue to Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984), Commonwealth v. Saferian, 366 Mass. 89, 315 N.E.2d 878 (1974). As to the question of whether counsel's performance was deficient, the SJC emphasized that trial counsel need not probe every inconsistency in the evidence, particularly where the alleged inconsistency does not pertain to defense counsel's theory of the case and where the evidence is not even arguably dispositive. Jewett, 813 N.E.2d at 458-59. As to the question of prejudice, the SJC found that use of the sperm age evidence at trial would not have made a material difference. The SJC held that, in the absence of any other evidence consistent with a theory of a sexual relationship between Jewett and the victim before the night of her murder, Jewett had presented no plausible alternate theory of the case based on the sperm age evidence. Id. at 459. Addressing Jewett's claims of improper physician testimony, the SJC agreed with Jewett that under state law, experts may not opine on whether a rape has occurred where the jury is equally capable of making that determination on the evidence in the case. Id. at 462. However, the SJC found the admission of the testimony had not created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice, the standard applied to unpreserved claims of error, because there was sufficient other evidence on which a rational jury could base a conviction, including both the state of disarray of the victim's clothing when her body was found and Jewett's jailhouse confession. Id. at 463. It also reasoned that the defendant's conviction for first-degree murder suggested the jury rejected his defense theory of consensual sex, since there was no motive for purposeful killing other than covering up rape. Id. Finally, the SJC found the murder conviction was unaffected by the improperly admitted testimony, because it was based on other categories of evidence. Id. Jewett's appellate counsel filed a petition for rehearing shortly after the SJC opinion was issued, arguing that appellate counsel's own failure on appeal to present a claim that trial counsel was ineffective in failing to object to the physician testimony was ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. The SJC denied rehearing. Jewett filed this petition for habeas corpus in the federal district court, presenting two then-unexhausted claims of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel on direct appeal. [4] The district court stayed proceedings so that Jewett could pursue a second motion for a new trial in state court. In both cases, Jewett first argued that appellate counsel should have appealed the trial court's purported error in refusing to strike a seated juror who, distressed over the possibility of losing her job as a result of being absent for jury duty, asked rhetorically, What if I say I automatically think he's guilty? The trial judge explained that state law prohibited her employer from firing her for serving jury duty, and the juror returned to the jury room seemingly satisfied, but Jewett's trial counsel argued the juror could have been biased against him. Second, Jewett raised a claim based on appellate counsel's initial failure to raise a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel related to the improper physician testimony claim. In his federal petition, Jewett also pursued his claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel related to the sperm age evidence. The state trial court denied the new trial motion without a hearing, and, under the Massachusetts scheme governing review of first-degree murder convictions, a single gatekeeper justice of the SJC denied Jewett leave to appeal the denial to the SJC for the reasons stated in the Commonwealth's opposition to Jewett's motion for leave. The federal district court allowed discovery relating to the sperm age evidence, including depositions of trial counsel, McGilvray, and three law enforcement officers involved in the case. In an unpublished opinion, the district court held that the gatekeeper justice denied Jewett's claim relating to the juror on adequate and independent state procedural grounds. Jewett v. Brady, No. 05-11849, slip op. at 7 (D.Mass. Dec. 23, 2009). The court rejected Jewett's two other ineffective assistance claims on the merits. Id. at 15-18. Jewett requested a certificate of appealability on his three ineffective assistance of counsel claims, which the district court granted.