Opinion ID: 2974046
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: facts

Text: The following facts were found by the state appellate court on direct review: The victims, Herman Harrison Wallace, a/k/a Mad Dog, and his wife, Jean Lynn Wallace, were street people who camped under the bridges along the Cumberland River. The defendant, Michael Bell, a/k/a Monk, a street person, camped between the Wallaces and Nashville’s Riverfront Park. Ronald Harrington, a street person, met the defendant on the railroad tracks near the camp sites on September 6, at approximately 3:00 p.m. Defendant was shirtless, wearing Levi’s, a pair of shoes or boots and had a gun in his hand. Chained to his belt, was a billfold similar to that carried by truck drivers. The gun was either a .32 or .38 caliber revolver. Defendant appeared to be under the influence and stated that he had been “coking”. [sic] During this exchange the defendant asked Mr. and Mrs. Harrington to take care of his dog if anything happened to him. Edward Stansbury, an admitted alcoholic, testified that he spent the night of September 5, 1986, with friends on the river. The next morning he left but returned to the camp of Gary Hedges in the afternoon. At approximately 4:30 p.m. they noticed a man come up a path with a shiny black dog on a leash. The leash was a choker chain with a leather belt. When the man got to within twenty feet he spoke identifying himself as “Monk” and inquiring if “Mad Dog” and Jean were home. He walked down to the Wallaces’ tent and entered. Up to this point he, Stansbury, had no reason to commit to memory the man’s clothing or facial features. As Stansbury and Hedges continued to sit they heard the sounds of dogs fighting and people arguing in the Wallaces’ camp, then they heard a muffled shot. Jean Wallace ran out of the tent screaming “He has killed my dog, he has killed my dog”. [sic] She turned and re-entered the tent. Stansbury heard a distinctive gun shot and saw Jean Wallace backing out of the tent. As she cleared the entrance she fell and there were two more shots. He was sure he had seen the man fire the last shot. The man had been right behind Mrs. Wallace at the entrance. The man left the tent and left the scene. As the man was leaving he attempted to reload his pistol. Stansbury described the culprit as 6'2 or 6'1, lanky, wearing fairly new blue jeans, a black baseball cap over his eyes, a sleeveless Levi jacket and T-shirt. His arms were tattooed. He had a billfold with a chain which appeared attached to a belt loop. At a line-up conducted near the crime scene in the fading evening light, Stansbury was hesitant to identify the man in the number two spot. He was certain as to the man’s jeans and nearby dog. While testifying he said he was still confused about the man’s beard; he thought the culprit had short dark hair, but everything else about the number two man, the defendant, “fit to a tee”. [sic] Robert Moore, a Metropolitan Police Department homicide officer, arrived at the Wallaces’ camp. He viewed the body of Mrs. Wallace and was directed to four shell casings that were lying on the ground. The soil in the area was fairly loose and the shell casings, covered with a chalky gray substance, were on top of the soil. Upon closer examination he was able to detect the smell of gun powder. No. 04-5523 Bell v. Bell Page 4 Officer Moore was advised that Mr. Wallace had been moved to General Hospital and although he appeared to have been shot as many as three times, only one slug had been found at the hospital. The officers at the crime scene made an extensive search and were able to recover a slug from the bloody mattress within the tent where Mr. Wallace had lain when shot. After talking with Hedges and Stansbury and getting a general description of the suspect, the officers broadcasted a pick-up. Other detectives took the defendant in custody and returned him to an area near the crime scene. Due to the fading light in and around the camp sites and under the bridges, other officers were setting up a line-up of street type people in an open area nearby. Officer Moore explained that facial identification was not that strong at the crime scene, but clothing details and the overall characteristics of the participants were strong in the witnesses’ minds. Officer Mark Wynn and two other officers responded to a call that a man fitting the description of the suspect was believed to be in the area of Fessler’s Lane and Hermitage Avenue. They observed the suspect sitting on the curb and drinking a beer. He had a dog with him. He was taken in custody and found to have six unspent .38 caliber Special Winchester 158 grain bullets in his pants pockets, but no weapon was found. He was concerned about the dog so the officers agreed to transport the dog to the place of the line-up. (A picture of the dog wearing the choke chain and belt leash was shown the jury.) Sergeant Tommy Jacobs testified that shortly after 5:30 p.m., September 6, 1986, he visited the camp site of the defendant and recovered eleven spent .38 caliber shell casings and a Winchester ammunition box that were lying on the ground. A holster was also recovered at the camp site. Later at the police station Sergeant Jacobs read the defendant his Miranda rights. When told he would be charged with murder, the defendant responded that he had not shot anyone, had not shot a gun and had never shot a gun. Officer Darryl Ryan performed a nitric acid test on the defendant’s hands. The swabs were sent to the crime laboratory. Officer Archie Spain was sent to General Hospital. He took possession of a .38 caliber slug that was laying beside Mr. Wallace’s body in the emergency room. The State introduced testimony from three laboratory technicians. The first technician had examined the defendant’s clothing for blood stains but found none. The second technician, a criminalist, had examined the swabs from the defendant’s hands for gunshot residue. This technician testified that “antimonium, barium and lead indicative of gunshot residue was found in significant concentrations on exhibit 5, hand swabs. These results indicate that the subject could have fired or handled a gun.” The third technician was a firearm examiner. He identified the two lead slugs filed earlier as exhibits as being fired from the same firearm. He had disassembled one of the live cartridges taken from the defendant’s pockets to compare the lead to the other lead slugs. He was of the opinion the three were from the same manufacturer. The eleven spent shells taken from defendant’s camp site were compared with the four spent shells recovered at the victims’ camp site. Based upon his microscopic examination he was of the opinion they all had been fired from the same firearm. No. 04-5523 Bell v. Bell Page 5 The medical examiner testified in detail as to two gunshot wounds found upon Jean Wallace’s body. In his opinion either one of these would have caused her death. From his examination of Herman Wallace, he concluded that death was the result of a saddle pulmonary embolus, a blood clot caused by the gunshot wounds which occluded the artery to the lungs. The State rested its case in chief. Defendant’s motion for judgments of acquittal were overruled. Defendant testified that on the morning of September 6, 1986, he went to Riverfront Park. There he met two men with whom he pooled his money for the purchase of a fifth of wine. He and one of the men moved about in that general area of town during which time the man mentioned having a .38 caliber pistol but needed shells. They went to Service Merchandise where this person purchased a box of cartridges upon signing the log and entering an identification number. They returned to Riverfront Park and then to defendant’s camp site where defendant did target practice with the man’s pistol. At noon he went to lunch and returned to the camp. The men were still at his camp. Later defendant walked to Lebanon Road and Fessler’s Lane where he was arrested. He acknowledged being brought back to the Riverfront Park. He testified that he did not know he was in a line-up. When shown a picture of the line-up he identified one participant as the man who purchased the shells that morning. Defendant explained that his statement to Sergeant Jacobs of having never fired a gun had reference to a gun used to murder someone. He was unable to explain why he had first said his dog had been with him all day and changed to say the dog was not with him all day. He denied shooting the Wallaces. The State called Billy Joe Camden as a rebuttal witness. This was the man who had purchased the box of shells at Service Merchandise on lower Broadway. Camden made the purchase at the request of the defendant. While they were together the defendant did not have his dog with him. After the purchase of the ammunition they went their separate ways. He did not go to the defendant’s camp site nor witness him fire a gun. He was taken from Riverfront Park for the line-up. Camden testified that he owned a .22 caliber rifle but never owned a .38 caliber pistol. Following argument of the attorneys and instructions from the court, the jury retired and deliberated. The jury returned to the courtroom and delivered the verdicts [of guilty of first-degree murder and guilty of second-degree murder]. State v. Bell, 1989 WL 86583, at -4. The following facts were presented at the evidentiary hearing conducted by the district court: Dr. Pamela Auble (“Auble”), an expert witness for Petitioner, testified that she conducted a neuropsychological evaluation of Petitioner on November 21, 2001. She reviewed numerous records indicating that Petitioner suffered a history of alcoholism and depression. In her interview with Petitioner, Petitioner stated that he had been drinking heavily for the month prior to the date of the murders, and he had also been drinking heavily on the day of the murders. He stated that he could not remember certain periods of time on the day of the murder. Auble concluded that Petitioner was significantly intoxicated on the day the shootings occurred. She opined that if Petitioner committed the shootings, he did so under significant inebriation and severe depression. No. 04-5523 Bell v. Bell Page 6 Auble was of the belief that Petitioner would have been unable to form a premeditated and deliberate plan to kill the victims. Next, Ross Alderman (“Alderman”), Petitioner’s trial counsel, testified. Alderman testified that he had requested an initial mental health evaluation of Petitioner early on in his representation. The reason for this request was that Petitioner admitted to a lengthy history of substance abuse and that Petitioner did not recall any events on the day of the murders because of blackouts. Alderman stated that he had made an initial investigation into Petitioner’s history of alcohol abuse. Alderman testified that he believed that an intoxication defense was the most effective defense for Petitioner; however, Petitioner insisted on an identity defense, i.e., he was not the shooter. On crossexamination, Alderman testified that a defense of identity and a defense of intoxication would have been inconsistent. Alderman testified that William Davenport (“Davenport”) was a key witness for the prosecution. Davenport testified at trial that he had a conversation with Petitioner while the two men were in custody where Petitioner admitted to shooting the victims. Also, Davenport testified that Petitioner admitted to shooting Mrs. Wallace because she was a witness to the shooting of Mr. Wallace. Alderman stated that the testimony was damaging in two ways: first, it negated the defense of identity; second, it provided a basis for premeditation with respect to the shooting of Mrs. Wallace. Alderman testified that he requested any potentially exculpatory or impeachment evidence from the prosecution, and that the prosecution did not produce any such evidence. Alderman stated that he was aware that Davenport was in custody at the time directly preceding Petitioner’s trial, but he did not know that the government had nolle prosequied2 two counts of grand larceny and two counts of concealing stolen property against Davenport after Davenport contacted the prosecution concerning his conversation with Petitioner. Alderman testified that he was unaware that Davenport had received concurrent sentences for two convictions of concealing stolen property after Davenport contacted the prosecution concerning his conversation with Petitioner. Alderman testified that he was also unaware that the prosecution was going to write a letter to the parole board on behalf of Davenport after Petitioner’s trial terminated. Alderman testified that he was also unaware that Davenport had originally contacted the prosecution to testify against Petitioner for a transfer of facilities or a work release program. On cross-examination, Alderman admitted that he knew that Davenport had an upcoming parole hearing, and that Alderman had argued this point to the jury as impeachment of Davenport. Ross Miller (“Miller”), the prosecutor at Petitioner’s trial, also testified at the evidentiary hearing. Miller testified that he did not promise Davenport anything in exchange for Davenport’s testimony at Petitioner’s trial. Miller testified that while he wrote a letter to the parole board on Davenport’s behalf, he did not promise Davenport that he would do so. Miller admitted that Davenport first approached the prosecution about testifying against Petitioner, and that “[e]verybody wants something, and I’m sure Davenport wanted something.” (J.A. at 476.) Notes taken by Miller at the first meeting between Miller and Davenport indicated that Davenport wanted a transfer of facilities or a work release program. During closing arguments, Miller argued to the jury that he did not have any “say-so” with the parole board in Davenport’s case. At the evidentiary hearing, Miller admitted that he did in fact write a letter to Davenport’s parole board; in that letter Miller wrote that the prosecution did not have a strong case without Davenport’s testimony. Davenport’s testimony was important in that it 2 In other words, the government withdrew its prosecution of these charges. See Black’s Law Dictionary 1070 (7th ed. 1999). No. 04-5523 Bell v. Bell Page 7 provided Petitioner’s motive for the shooting and established what had actually happened at the shooting. Miller admitted that Davenport was the prosecution’s final witness in its case. Miller reiterated that he made no promises to Davenport.