Opinion ID: 1390030
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Detective Wilson

Text: Detective Timothy Wilson of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department testified that nothing about three men covered in blood had come up in his interviews and investigation into any suspicious men being at the bar the night of the murders, Saturday, June 4, 1983. (8/26/04 HRT 78.) Later, he heard hearsay information. Det. Wilson is not sure where he heard this information, it may have been from any number of hearsay sources such as the newspaper or word on the streets. (8/26/04 HRT 76.) The information did not come from his investigation or interviews with witnesses. (8/26/04 HRT 78.) 2. No Brady Violation Regarding Canyon Corral Bar After reviewing all of the evidence and hearing from the witnesses, the Court concludes that the more credible version of the events at the Canyon Corral Bar the night of the murders comes from the bar employees and patrons interviewed shortly after the murders who also testified at the trial. At the evidentiary hearing, these credible witnesses testified on the night of the murders, there were no bar patrons with blood on them and the police were not at the Canyon Corral Bar. Petitioner argues that the prosecution withheld evidence that a police officer was called to the Canyon Corral bar the night of the murders. The Court disagrees, and the extensive evidentiary hearings do not support Petitioner's claim. For example, Mellon-Wolfe admitted that she had no recollection of seeing a uniformed officer inside the bar, and believed she was confusing the night of the murders with another night at the bar when a uniformed officer came into the bar, and she saw the officer speaking to the woman manager of the bar. (6/28/04 HRT 173, 175.) Slonaker's testimony and declaration similarly have changed. In her declaration, she stated a uniformed officer came into the bar. (Traverse, Ex. 212 ¶ 11.) In her testimony, however, she stated that no uniformed police officer came into the bar the night of the murders. She now claims that as she got up to leave the bar by way of the back door, she looked out the open front door of the bar and saw a uniformed officer outside the bar wearing tan pants and a tan shirt, not the uniform of the Sheriff's officers. (6/28/04 HRT 73-75, 80.) Randy Mansfield testified that he did not call law enforcement. (8/25/04 HRT 97-98.) Since there were slaughterhouses in the local vicinity, Mansfield was not alarmed at seeing a couple of men wearing butcher smocks with blood. (8/25/04 HRT 84-85.) Bartender Edward Lelko, bar manager Shirley Killian, two waitresses, Virginia Mansfield and Kathleen Royals, and several bar patrons, including Lester Land, Linda Paulk and Pamela Smith did not see men with blood on them or see the police at the bar. (6/25/04 HRT 17; 6/28/04 HRT 123-24, 187, 189, 209; 6/29/04 HRT 10, 19, 83, 88, 111, 153-54; see also Answer, Ex. 18 at 1; Answer, Ex. 22 at 1; Answer, Ex. 24 at 2; Answer, Ex. 28 at 1; Answer, Ex. 30.) The seven witnesses who were at the bar that night all confirmed that there was no reason to call the police to the bar and that none placed an officer in the bar that night. (6/25/04 HRT 19, 21; 6/28/04 HRT 209; 6/29/04 HRT 10, 35, 83, 109, 154.) In addition, Respondent also produced the dispatch log from the Sheriff's Department for the night of the murders, and there was no call for assistance from the bar. (Resp't. Evidentiary Hearing Notebook 12, Ex. MMMM; see also 6/29/04 HRT 47, 53-54 (Dep. Rodney Hoops testimony)). Deputy Rodney Hoops, the deputy sheriff patrolling the area that included the bar from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on June 4, 1983, credibly testified that he did not go to the Canyon Corral Bar that night and that he did not hear any broadcast over the radio relating to the bar or its immediate vicinity. (6/29/04 HRT 45, 47.) No other law enforcement agency would respond to the bar unless a mutual aid request was made, and the request would come from the Sheriff's Department and be reflected on the dispatch log. (6/29/04 HRT 47.) [39] Paul Beltz, a SBSD officer, testified that he was in the parking lot of the Canyon Corral Bar when he got the call to the Ryen home on June 5th at approximately 12:48.(8/25/04 HRT 8.) He got the call the morning of June 5th when the bodies were discovered. Beltz was not at the Canyon Corral Bar parking lot on the night of the murders. Also, the law enforcement officer in tan pants Slonaker claimed to have seen outside that bar on the night of the murders does not match the uniform of the San Bernardino Sheriff's deputy. Their uniforms consisted of forest green pants. (6/29/04 HRT 59; see also Resp. Evidentiary Hr'g Ex. TTTT (picture of uniformed San Bernardino Sheriff's Officer); 8/13/04 HRT (testimony of San Bernardino Sheriff's Dispatch Supervisor Debra Holman that Ex. TTTT is the uniform worn by the San Bernardino Sheriffs with green pants).) After conducting an extensive evidentiary hearing, the Court concludes that there was no Brady violation based on the absence of a report form in response to the Canyon Corral Bar the night of the murders. The evidence, including Petitioner's own witnesses disputes Petitioner's claim that a uniformed officer came to the bar the night of the murders. In addition, the employees on duty and the patrons in the bar were aware of what transpired with the three men in question, and the defense had the benefit of that information before trial and elicited testimony during trial of the events at the bar that night. (Answer, Ex. 35.) Therefore, Petitioner's allegations do not present a viable Brady claim. 3. Daily Logs and Dispatch Information Available at Trial to the Defense On August 8, 1983, and January 16, 1984, Petitioner's defense counsel David Negus filed a subpoena duces tecum for materials that included the complete daily logs, dispatch records, tape recordings of dispatch or communications made from June 2, 1983 to July 31, 1983, by the Sheriffs or any deputy of the SBSO concerning the investigation and search for suspects in the deaths occurring at [the Ryen home] and the escape and attempt to apprehend David Trautman, aka: Kevin Cooper, from CIM on June 2, 1983. (I CT 75-76.) Negus' declaration stated in his request: The logs, dispatch records, and tape recordings include actions of officers which may not be memorialized in reports. The actions are relevant to the integrity of physical evidence, other suspects to the crime, and the issue of flight. (I CT 90.) On September 2, 1983, after the state's compliance, defense trial counsel David Negus stated to the court that the daily logs had been received: I can indicate to the court that with respect to the four items in the amended subpoena [ see I CT 75-76], that with respect to Item 1 [complete daily logs, dispatch records, tape recordings of dispatch or communications made from June 2, 1983, to July 31, 1983], all items except the tapes that were requested have been received. (IV RT 6.) Also, John Kochis, one of the prosecuting attorneys at the Petitioner trial, testified that the San Bernardino Sheriff's daily logs from June 4-6, 1983 (Resp't Evidentiary Hr'g Exs. MMMM-PPPP), were subject to a subpoena duces tecum filed by the defense and those documents were released to the defense directly by the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department. (8/13/04 HRT 183.) Petitioner points to the June 5, 1983 daily logs of the San Bernardino County Sheriff, which lists in the incident detail of the Ryen/Hughes murders a description of the suspect vehicle as a Buick station wagon occupied by three young males. ( See Resp't Evidentiary Hr'g, Ex. NNNN at 9; see also Resp't Evidentiary Hr'g, Ex. RRRR (handwritten page by Holman having information on the suspect vehicle); Resp't Evidentiary Hr'g, Ex. SSSS (teletype dispatches regarding the suspect vehicle).) The Court held an evidentiary hearing on August 13, 2004, to address the Sheriff's daily log, where dispatchers Nancy Simendich and Debra Holman testified. (8/13/04 HRT 4, 78.) Both Simendich and Holman were on duty the day the murders were discovered, June 5, 1983. (8/13/04 HRT 10-11, 79-80.) Neither Simendich nor Holman had any independent recollection of the suspect vehicle or who may have conveyed the vehicle/occupant information to the dispatch that was entered into the daily logs and broadcast on the teletype. (8/13/04 HRT 101.) This was not new information as Douglas and Paula Leonard, the couple that made the report, testified to this information at trial at the request of the defense. (102 RT 6586-6604.) The Court also heard testimony from Deputy Paul Beltz, who was dispatched to the murder scene when the crimes were discovered and was the Sheriff who advised dispatch about the suspect vehicle and the three young males. (8/25/04 HRT.) Deputy Beltz credibly testified that he could not recall the source of the suspect vehicle and the description of the three young males. (8/25/04 HRT 24-25.) He stated that it may have been information that he heard on the Sheriff radio or from Robert Howey, the neighbor of the Ryen family that made the initial call to the Sheriffs to report the murders. (8/25/04 HRT 24-25.) Petitioner was aware of the daily logs at trial because they were provided to him during discovery via a subpoena duces tecum. Additionally, the defense elicited the testimony from Douglas and Paula Leonard at trial. (102 RT 6586, 6599.) The daily logs, therefore, cannot be a basis for an actual innocence claim. See Schlup, 513 U.S. at 324, 115 S.Ct. 851; Thompson, 523 U.S. at 559, 118 S.Ct. 1489. 4. T-shirt (Trial Exhibit 169) Petitioner alleges his innocence is shown by the T-shirt discovered less than one half mile [40] from the Ryen home near the Canyon Corral Bar. (Pet. at 19.) Moreover, there is nothing inconsistent with Petitioner's guilt and the T-shirt being left on the side of the road by the bar, inasmuch as Petitioner stole the Ryens' station wagon and would have driven past the Canyon Corral Bar on his way to Long Beach where he abandoned the station wagon. (Answer, Ex. 15.) Petitioner could have tossed the T-shirt out of the window of the Ryen station wagon, just as he tossed the hatchet out the window. (89 RT 3519; 90 RT 3791.) The cigarettes from inside the vehicle contained Petitioner's DNA. (Supplemental DOJ Physical Evidence Exam Report dated Sept. 24, 2002.) Also, since the T-shirt was introduced into evidence at trial by Petitioner in an effort to direct suspicion at the three bar patrons at the Canyon Corral Bar, it does not constitute evidence of actual innocence. See Schlup, 513 U.S. at 324, 115 S.Ct. 851; Thompson, 523 U.S. at 559, 118 S.Ct. 1489. Petitioner also attempts to connect the T-shirt on the side of the road by the bar to Lee Furrow, but Petitioner's DNA was on the T-shirt with the blood of the victims, linking Petitioner to the crime. ( See Supplemental DOJ Physical Evidence Exam Report dated Sept. 24, 2002.) The stories told by Ms. Roper, now deceased, do not establish that Petitioner is innocent. (Answer, Ex. 51.) Ms. Roper's allegations lack credibility. She was on drugs and hallucinating the night she claims she saw Furrow, and Furrow was at a rock concert on the night of the murders. (Answer, Exs. 45 at 1; 54 at 1.) Petitioner also points out that no one identified the T-shirt as having come from the Ryen home, and the owners of the hideout house did not recognize the T-shirt. (Pet. at 20.) Since all of the occupants of the Ryen home except for eight-year-old Josh were dead, the failure to identify the T-shirt as coming from the Ryen home certainly does not exclude the possibility that it did. Also, the owners of the hideout house made it clear that items of clothing were kept at the house for various uses around the ranch. (87 RT 2991, 3044, 3065.) Petitioner admitted taking clothing from the hideout house. (97 RT 5410-12.) Given the presence of both Petitioner's blood and the victims' blood, and that the T-shirt was on the side of the road leading from the Ryen house to the freeway, it is entirely possible Petitioner used the T-shirt following the murders. In any event, what Petitioner claims was known at trial, and cannot serve as a basis for a claim of actual innocence. See Schlup, 513 U.S. at 324, 115 S.Ct. 851; Thompson, 523 U.S. at 559, 118 S.Ct. 1489. To put Petitioner's innocence claim in perspective, the primary newly discovered evidence pertaining to the T-shirt is that it is stained with Petitioner's blood. (Answer, Ex. 88.) Petitioner's claim that blood was planted on the T-shirt ignores that the T-shirt was never used as evidence against him. Moreover, the San Diego County Superior Court made express findings in a recent post-conviction evidentiary hearing rejecting Petitioner's evidence tampering claims, (Answer, Ex. 9 at 10), and Petitioner fails to present clear and convincing evidence to rebut the presumption of correctness that attaches to those findings. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e). Notwithstanding, EDTA preservative testing ordered by this Court fails to show any evidence tampering relating to Petitioner's blood found on the T-shirt. 5. Shoe Evidence Investigators discovered three shoe-print impressions that the prosecution argued linked Petitioner to the murders: a partial sole impression on a spa cover outside the Ryen master bedroom, (88 RT 3363), a bloody shoe print on a bed sheet in the master bedroom, (89 RT 3506-07), and a shoe-print impression in the hideout house. (87 RT 2925.) All three appeared to come from tennis shoes, specifically the Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes. (88 RT 3364-65; 94 RT 4764; 4778.) Petitioner seeks to undermine the shoe-print evidence presented at trial. Petitioner begins by insinuating there is a problem with the bloody shoe print recovered from the sheet in the Ryen master bedroom because Deputy Duffy testified initially that he did not see any shoe impressions in the master bedroom, but later testified to seeing and photographing such an impression. (Pet. at 21.) Duffy testified to this at trial. (89 RT 3457-58, 3497, 3505, 3506.) Petitioner's insinuation was also rejected by his own expert at trial, Dr. Thornton. (105 RT 7560 (no particular quarrel concerning the collection and preservation of the shoe print in blood).) Petitioner may not make a showing of actual innocence based on what was known at the time of trial and presented to the jury. See Schlup, 513 U.S. at 324, 115 S.Ct. 851; Thompson, 523 U.S. at 559, 118 S.Ct. 1489. Petitioner claims that the prosecution withheld information concerning criminalist William Baird's heroin use undermining his conclusion that the tread patterns on the shoeprints matched the tread patterns of the Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes. Petitioner's claim concerning criminalist William Baird was previously adjudicated by this Court, Cooper I, 92-CV-427, Aug. 25, 1997 Order at 69-71. Therefore, his claim regarding Baird is barred. See 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(1). Additionally, at trial, Dewey Newberry, general merchandise manager of Stride Rite, viewed the photographs of the three shoe impressions from the Ryen home and the hideout house and concluded that the shoe impressions were from the Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes. (86 RT 2642.) The Court set an evidentiary hearing to address Petitioner's claim that the tennis shoes used at CIM Chino were common tennis shoes available to the general public through any number of retail and department stores such as Sears. (Pet. at 21-22.) The Court heard from Midge Carroll; Lt. Donald Smith, a former investigator at CIM under Midge Carroll; Don P. Luck, a former executive and sales manager for the Stride Rite Corporation, the company that manufactured the Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes; Sandra Coke, the defense investigator that obtained the declarations from Midge Carroll; James Taylor; and Detective Derek Pacifico of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department. a. Testimony of Former Warden Midge Carroll Petitioner alleges that the prosecution failed to provide information to the defense from the former warden of CIM, Midge Carroll, that the prison-issued Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes that matched the shoe prints from the crime scene were common tennis shoes available to the general public through Sears and Roebuck and other such retail stores. Cooper, 358 F.3d at 1121. The Court finds no material Brady violation. Midge Carroll was known to the defense at the time of trial. There are phone messages from her to defense counsel and notes about securing her testimony in the defense file. (Answer, Ex. 81.) Moreover, in December of 2001, Ms. Carroll permitted Petitioner's defense investigator Paul Ingels to spend a week with her going through her papers. This was two-and-a-half years before she submitted her eleventh-hour declaration to the Ninth Circuit. (6/02/04 HRT 125 (Carroll's testimony); 8/13/04 HRT (Ingels' testimony).) Ms. Carroll even gave a telephonic interview to defense investigator Ingels back in November of 2001. (8/13/04 HRT (Ingels' testimony).) Ms. Carroll testified at the evidentiary hearing that after reading a newspaper article stating that shoe prints found at the Ryen/Hughes murder scene were from a prison made tennis shoe, she commenced an informal inquiry into whether CIM manufactured any special tennis shoes. (6/2/04 HRT 102-06.) In a telephonic interview by Detective Pacifico in 2004, Ms. Carroll explained what alerted her to conduct an inquiry was a newspaper article she read describing the tennis shoes as prison made. (Answer, Ex. 64 at 11.) Ms. Carroll indicated that she did not personally conduct an investigation but rather she asked her staff to look into this special shoe and get back to me. (6/2/04 HRT 102.) These people may have included the CIM business manager, Hal Panner, associate warden Bob Bales, or her executive assistant Regina Stevens. (6/2/04 HRT 103.) Robert Bales was the Associate Warden at CIM, in charge of the minimum facility at the time of Petitioner's escape. Mr. Bales states he was never personally asked to check on any information regarding inmate shoes nor does he recall any conversations with Ms. Carroll about shoes, and no records regarding shoes were exchanged between Mr. Bales and Ms. Carroll. (Answer, Ex. 78 at 1.) Following their investigation, Ms. Carroll's staff reported to her that the tennis shoes available at CIM were not prison-manufactured or specially manufactured tennis shoes but were commonly available at retail stores such as Sears. They allegedly told her CIM had bought the shoes at Sears, but this was incorrect. (6/2/04 HRT 102-06.) The contracts from Stride Rite for the CIM purchase of 1,390 Pro-Keds Dude shoes were admitted into evidence at trial. (Trial.Exs.84-88.) At the evidentiary hearing, Ms. Carroll testified that she had no personal knowledge as to the availability of Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes at CIM: Ms. Wilkens: So you have no personal knowledge whatsoever about the availability of the tennis shoes at CIM. You only know what you heard from your staff. Ms. Carroll: That is correct. (6/2/04 HRT 158.) Ms. Carroll failed to request the relevant purchasing records which were readily available or contact the investigators assigned at CIM for any assistance. She did not review the relevant contracts related to the tennis shoes purchases and only informally asked her staff what was going on with the tennis shoes. (6/2/04 HRT 154.) Her investigative staff worked closely and directly with the SBSD in assisting to provide information about Petitioner. (6/2/04 HRT 154.) Ms. Carroll, without conducting her own direct investigation, relied on incorrect information given to her by her staff. Ms. Carroll was relying on her own incorrect assumptions when she allegedly called to inform law enforcement about the CIM tennis shoes. [41] She had erroneously concluded that: (1) CIM did not purchase the Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes directly from the manufacturer, and (2) the particular brand of shoes was readily available at retailers in southern California such as Sears. Evidence supporting a claim of innocence must be reliable evidence. See Schlup, 513 U.S. at 324, 115 S.Ct. 851; Thompson, 523 U.S. at 559, 118 S.Ct. 1489. Following Petitioner's escape from CIM, Ms. Carroll meticulously began keeping detailed records regarding Petitioner. (6/2/04 HRT 141.) She kept everything, including memos. (6/2/04 HRT 142.) Ms. Carroll testified that, after Petitioner's escape and the murders, she contacted the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department and told them that the shoes given to the inmates at CIM were not manufactured or specially made for the prisons but that they were commonly available to the public through major retailers such as Sears. (6/2/04 HRT 104-06.) Despite her detailed record keeping from this time period, Ms. Carroll did not keep a record of having contacted the Sheriff's office. (6/2/04 HRT 161.) Ms. Carroll's records from that time period are currently in eight three-ring binder notebooks. (NOL filed 4/15/05, CIM Vault Notebooks.) The Court has reviewed the eight notebooks consisting of 2,484 pages of documents concerning Petitioner's escape, changes to security at CIM, newspaper articles, letters to the warden including a copy of the envelope, memoranda, receipts of mail sent, notes regarding phone calls noting date, time and person contacted, phone messages and many other documents concerning anything related to Petitioner. (NOL filed 4/15/05, CIM Vault Notebooks.) Contrary to her testimony, records of telephone conversations were made and retained. ( See NOL filed 4/15/05, CIM Vault Notebooks.) Yet, a memo or notation that a phone call made to a lead investigator with the SBSD is not documented, but an interview with the defense investigator with a witness called by the defense from CIM about the shoes is well documented. ( See NOL filed 4/15/05, CIM Vault, Notebook 6 at 1409-17.) Ms. Carroll thought the information was significant enough to conduct a personal inquiry into the matter, but no documentation is noted despite voluminous notes related to Petitioner. In addition, Detective Pacifico conducted a search of the file for any documents concerning a phone call by Ms. Carroll but nothing was found. ( See 6/3/04 RT 46-47.) Carroll's multiple hearsay information contradicts the records maintained by her own institution, and the information known to persons with whom she purports to have spoken. The evidence at trial that contradicts Carroll's multiple hearsay has been confirmed by an Don Luck, former executive of Stride Rite Corporation with forty-two years of experience with the sale of the Pro-Keds shoe brand. b. Testimony of Stride Rite employees Dewey Newberry and Don Luck At trial, Stride Rite general merchandise manager for the Pro Keds division, Dewey Newberry, testified that CIM had a contract with Stride Rite, and had shipped the Pro-Keds Dude shoes to CIM in 1982 and 1983. (86 RT 2613, 2619.) He explained that Stride Rite kept records of the orders placed by its clients including the quantity, color, and size of a particular shoe that is sold to a client. (86 RT 2619-20.) To Newberry's knowledge, the Pro-Keds Dude shoe was not sold anywhere in California, or elsewhere in the United States on a retail basis. (86 RT 2621, 2624.) Newberry was specifically asked if Stride Rite shipped any of the Dude model tennis shoes to J.C. Penney, Montgomery Ward, Fedco, or Target, and he indicated they did not. (86 RT at 2621.) He was asked if it would be a fair statement that the only place the shoes would have arrived in California is at some type of state facility, and he agreed that would be the case. (86 RT 2622.) He authenticated the sales records showing CIM purchased 1,390 pairs of Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes in 1982.(86 RT 2623; Answer, Ex. 70.) To the best of Newberry's knowledge, the complete list of invoices of all other institutions in and outside of California to which Pro-Keds Dude shoes were shipped from 1982 to 1983, were introduced into evidence. (86 RT 2623-24; Trial Exs. 84-88.) Those invoices reflect sales to the Naval Training Center, (Answer, Ex. 71) and numerous juvenile and correctional facilities and state hospitals. (Answer, Exs.71-74.) The Court heard testimony of Don P. Luck at the evidentiary hearing. Mr. Luck is a former executive with the Stride Rite Corporation with forty-two years of experience selling and managing Pro-Keds and familiar with all sales of the Pro-Keds shoes to major retailers. (6/2/04 HRT 223.) Mr. Luck testified that he knew of all the major sales of Keds during the 1980's and that he was personally responsible for the Sears, J.C. Penney's, and military exchange accounts. (6/2/04 HRT 224, 225, 229-32.) He testified that he is positive that there were no sales of the Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes to Sears or any other large retail companies or chain stores in the western United States. (6/02/04 HRT 225, 231-32, 239-40.) At the hearing, Mr. Luck testified that he has reviewed the trial testimony of Newberry and the records admitted into evidence at trial, and confirms that such testimony and records are consistent with his recollection regarding the sales of Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes. (6/02/04 HRT 224; Answer, Ex. 66 at 1.) Mr. Luck stated that Mr. Newberry was a thorough person with regards to reviewing and checking files. (6/02/04 HRT 232, 233.) Rather, the Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoe was a bid shoe, the low-end shoe of a particular brand, sold to institutions, such as prisons like CIM. (6/2/04 HRT 226-27.) Mr. Luck also stated he knows that the Dude shoe was not available to the public through any major retailer. (6/2/04 HRT 232.) Mr. Luck could not rule out from his own personal knowledge sales to small shoe stores because the Pro-Keds Dude shoe was included in the wholesale shoe catalogue and because such sales would not have crossed his desk or been brought to his attention. (6/2/04 HRT 241.) But as Mr. Luck confirmed in his testimony, Mr. Newberry was the person who reviewed the Stride Rite corporate records and testified at trial based on his search of the records that there were no retail sales of the Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes. (6/2/04 HRT 230, 233, 242.) Mr. Luck did not comment nor dispute the contents of the corporate records or Mr. Newberry's testimony because he did not review those records at the time Mr. Newberry prepared to testify in Petitioner's state court trial. (6/2/04 HRT 230, 233, 242.) So while Mr. Luck cannot rule out sales to small shoe stores from his personal knowledge, nothing in his testimony cast any doubt upon Mr. Newberry's testimony or the corporation records admitted into evidence at Petitioner's trial. (6/2/04 HRT 233, 242, 251.) Mr. Luck stated that Stride Rite kept very complete records and there would be records of sales made to smaller retailers. (6/2/04 HRT 232, 242.) The Court notes that at trial, Petitioner was aware that the Dude shoes were in the Pro-Keds wholesale catalogue. (86 RT 2638.) Newberry testified that the Dude shoes were in the catalogues for the past fifteen years before Petitioner escaped from CIM. (86 RT 2638.) It is not new information that the Dude tennis shoes were available in the company's wholesale catalogue. In addition, Newberry testified that Don Luck, who worked in the national accounts department for sales would be most knowledgeable about the contracts with the State of California for the Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes. (86 RT 2640-41.) Information regarding the presence of the Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes in the wholesale catalogue was presented at trial and available to defense counsel to investigate. Mr. Luck also placed into perspective the number of the Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes manufactured by Stride Rite in 1982 in comparison to other retailers of canvas basketball shoes. (6/2/04 HRT 247, 254-55.) He estimated that Stride Rite sold approximately 80,000 of the Dude tennis shoes, (6/2/04 HRT 247) while its competitor Converse was selling thirty million pairs of the Champion Oxford and eighty million pairs of the loose-lined tennis shoes in 1982.(6/2/04 HRT 253-54.) Although the former warden erroneously believed the Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes were locally available to the public though major retailers such as Sears, credible testimony by Stride Rite employees Mr. Newberry, at trial, and Mr. Luck, at the evidentiary hearing, establish that Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes were not sold to Sears or any comparable retail store in the West coast. Moreover, CIM and Stride Rite Corporation records establish that CIM had a purchase contract with Stride Rite Corporation, the manufacturer of Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes, for the Dude tennis shoes at the relevant time period. In addition, Stride Rite kept accurate records of all its sales and the contracts provided at trial showed that Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes were not sold to retailers in California but sold primarily to state institutions including the sale of 1,390 pairs of Pro-Keds Dude tennis shoes to CIM where Petitioner was incarcerated. c. Testimony of Lieutenant Donald Smith At the evidentiary hearing, the Court also heard from Lieutenant Donald Smith, the officer in charge of Investigative Services for CIM. (6/2/04 HRT 211.) At the hearing, he verified his statements and testimony from pre-trial motions and the trial, that he obtained copies of the purchase contracts between CIM and the Keds Corporation, and provided those to the prosecution. (6/02/04 HRT 212; see 22 PRT 108-109; 85 RT 2487 (Trial Exs. 16, 17); Answer, Ex. 69.) Lt. Smith also testified at the evidentiary hearing that he has no recollection of being asked to investigate the source of the prison tennis shoes. (6/2/04 HRT 212.) Lt. Smith also testified the prisoners frequently played basketball and that they organized their own teams. (6/2/04 HRT 219, 221-22.) d. Testimony of Detective Pacifico In order to determine if any records exist at the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department regarding the alleged phone call from Ms. Carroll regarding the CIM tennis shoes, Detective Derrick Pacifico testified at the evidentiary hearing on June 3, 2004. Detective Pacifico testified that he looked through all of the files at the San Bernardino Sheriff's Office and that he could not find any indication of a contact from Ms. Carroll. (6/3/04 HRT 46-47.) e. Testimony of Inmate James Taylor Petitioner's next effort to challenge the shoe-print evidence rests on the alleged recantation of inmate James Taylor's trial testimony. (Pet. at 21.) Mr. Taylor testified at trial that he gave Petitioner a pair of Pro-Keds that Petitioner never returned. (85 RT 2511, 2546.) Mr. Taylor signed an eleventh-hour declaration penned by a defense investigator, who destroyed her notes of the interview. (6/02/04 HRT 11-12.) The declaration stated the only shoes he ever gave Petitioner were P.F. Flyers, not Pro-Keds. Cooper, 358 F.3d at 1121.