Opinion ID: 12712
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Alleged Brady Material--The Stillwell Statement

Text: 30 The record reflects that at some point during the week following Davis's murder, Officer Allen Anderson was informed that on the evening of the murder (October 17, 1981), the suspects (Rector, Anthony Miller, and Howard Ray Simon) were looking for a convenience store to rob. Anderson visited all of the convenience stores in the University of Texas area (twenty or so stores) to determine whether anyone had seen the suspects. After speaking with Stillwell, a clerk at a convenience store at Airport Boulevard and 51st Street, Anderson wrote the following report on October 24, 1981: 31 At the U-Tote-M store at E. 51st and Airport, Carolyn Stillwell (Candy) ... who was positive that Charles Rector and Anthony Miller were in her store Saturday night 10/17/81. She stated that she was sure and especially of Miller because he looked a lot [sic ] like a black/male who hasselled [sic ] her previously and she looked at him real good to make sure it was not that same person. She stated that Rector and Miller came in and stood around the back of the store. They got four quarters for a dollar bill and played the video game ... for awhile. She stated a couple of other black/males and a white dude came in at the same time but that they left in a pickup truck with two Latins in the back of the truck. Ms. Stillwell stated that Rector and Miller stayed appx. 30-45 minutes and then left and that she did not see what they left in. She stated that they were in before closing (12 midnight), and left just before closing. She stated they came in about 11:00 p.m. 32 Stillwell did not testify at Rector's trial. However, the State called her as a rebuttal witness in the trial of Rector's co-defendant, Anthony Miller. 6 We find it helpful, indeed illuminating, to recount Stillwell's testimony at Miller's trial because it sheds valuable light on the alleged exculpatory nature of the information possessed by Stillwell. 33 At Miller's trial, Stillwell identified Miller and Rector as two of the three men she saw in the U-Tote-M store after 11 p.m. on the night of Davis's murder. As to the time at which she noticed Rector and Miller, Stillwell testified that [i]t was around closing. Around--It was after 11:00. Around 11:30, 12 o'clock, because we had started the cleanup procedure for closing at midnight. Stillwell also testified that after the three men entered the store, one went back outside and stood by the front door. According to Stillwell, Rector and Miller were in the store for approximately 15-20 minutes. After they left, [t]he gentleman that had been standing outside got in a dark colored pickup with some other people in back of it and left. And the two that were in the store had got in the car they pulled up in and left. And I [Stillwell] did not see which direction they went. The people in the pickup went towards Lamar, up Airport, which would be northwest. 34 On cross examination, Miller's counsel (counsel for Rector in this case) impeached Stillwell regarding inconsistencies between her testimony and Officer Anderson's account of her statement. Stillwell did not recall telling Officer Anderson that Rector and Miller had stayed in the store for thirty to forty-five minutes. In addition, Stillwell stated that the two men had not played the video game that night, although she subsequently testified that she could not remember whether or not they had in fact played the game. Stillwell claimed that Rector and Miller came into the store at 11:30 p.m. (around closing) and left about twenty to thirty minutes before closing (midnight).