Opinion ID: 2975405
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Subsequent case history

Text: After the Ohio Supreme Court decided Hartman’s direct appeal, he initiated state postconviction proceedings by setting forth 11 grounds for relief. The state trial court, however, denied his petition as to all of them. Hartman filed an appeal from the denial of his postconviction petition, but he missed the filing deadline. To excuse this procedural default, Hartman asserted that he did not receive timely notification that his postconviction petition had been denied, and that he filed his appeal diligently after receiving belated notification. Finding this excuse to be without merit, the Ohio Court of Appeals sua sponte dismissed Hartman’s appeal as untimely. The Ohio Supreme Court then declined jurisdiction to hear his postconviction petition. It also denied Hartman’s subsequent motion to reopen that was based, among other reasons, on the claim that his counsel had been constitutionally ineffective during the penalty phase of his trial. After exhausting his state postconviction remedies, Hartman initiated federal habeas corpus proceedings pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in January of 2003, again asserting 11 grounds for relief. He also argued that DNA testing was necessary because none had been performed during the course of his trial. Although he admitted having vaginal intercourse with Snipes on the morning of the murder, he denied having anal intercourse with her. He therefore asserted that DNA testing on the semen samples taken from the two cavities would exculpate him. The district court granted funds for the DNA testing. Unfortunately for Hartman, the tests ultimately showed that both samples matched his DNA. In August of 2004, the district court denied Hartman’s § 2254 petition in its entirety, but granted a certificate of appealability (COA) on the issue of whether sufficient evidence supported Hartman’s kidnapping capital specification and separate kidnapping conviction. Hartman v. Bagley, 333 F. Supp. 2d 632 (N.D. Ohio 2004). This court expanded Hartman’s COA by adding the issues of whether Hartman’s counsel provided ineffective assistance at the mitigation phase, whether the trial judge gave improper “acquittal-first” jury instructions, and whether certain of the prosecutor’s statements made during the penalty phase amounted to prosecutorial misconduct. We now address each of these four issues. Nos. 04-4138/4185/4243 Hartman v. Bagley Page 7