Opinion ID: 78555
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Limitations of DNA Evidence in this Case

Text: Cunningham's case differs in its facts from two recent cases in which we affirmed dismissal of similar § 1983 actions seeking postconviction DNA testing. [12] In Bradley v. King, 556 F.3d 1225 (11th Cir. 2009), dismissal was appropriate because testing had already been performed on some of the physical evidence, and the State had been unable to locate the additional items Bradley sought to test. Id. at 1231. In Grayson v. King, 460 F.3d 1328 (11th Cir.2006), the claimant had been convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death after he and a co-defendant raped and killed an elderly woman during the course of a burglary. Id. at 1330-34. There was no possibility that the DNA testing he sought could have proved that Grayson, who had admitted his involvement in the burglary, was innocent of the capital murder. Id. at 1339. Even if DNA test results did exclude Grayson as the source of the blood and semen evidence, that would have indicated only that an accomplice had committed the actual rape. Id. In this case, by contrast, we cannot say that there is absolutely no possibility that DNA testing of the biological evidence could help Cunningham establish that he was innocent of the rape charge. Although we seriously doubt, for reasons we will explain more fully later, that the testing of any one of the individual items to which Cunningham seeks access could raise questions about his guilt, it is theoretically possible that testing all of them might do so. For example, if the same DNA profile were found on the condom wrapper from the crime scene and on either the pubic hairs from Brown's pubic combings or in the fingernail scrapings (if any exist), and that DNA profile did not match his own, that would be evidence that Cunningham is not the rapist. Other combinations of test results are unlikely to prove innocence. If, for example, DNA were recovered from the pubic hairs that did not match Cunningham or Brown, that would not prove his innocence. The same is true of the fingernail scrapings, if they still exist. A non-match from the hair samples might simply indicate that Brown had consensual sex with someone else near the time of her attack. A non-match from the fingernail scrapings might simply indicate that she had contact, sexual or otherwise, with someone else. The state trial record does not establish whether Brown was sexually active in August 1995. Neither side asked her whether she had sex with another person in the hours leading up to the rape. Without evidence on that point, we cannot say that DNA tests on either the pubic hairs or fingernail scrapings would by themselves establish that Cunningham is innocent. Nor could exculpatory test results from the opened condom wrapper alone ever indicate that Cunningham is innocent. Even if DNA from someone other than Cunningham was on the wrapper, nothing in the record establishes that everyone who handled the condom wrapper took precautions to ensure that their DNA was not left on it by accident. We know for a fact that they did not. The record shows that two witnesses at Cunningham's trial, Officer Joyner and Chief of Police Wilkerson, while they were on the stand, complied with requests to take the condom wrapper out of its evidentiary package so that they could identify it. Any DNA found on the condom wrapper could be from any of a number of people who handled it after Cunningham's arrest, including some who are unknown. See Osborne, 129 S.Ct. at 2327-28 (Alito, J., concurring) (noting the difficulty, even with the most advanced STR technology, of extracting meaningful results from messy crime scene samples that have been exposed to the elements and handled by investigators). Moreover, Officer Joyner found the condom wrapper on the ground at the city park. Although the fact that it was the same brand as the condoms in Cunningham's backpack and wallet and was found near the concession stand where Brown said the rape occurred is circumstantial evidence of his guilt, there is no way of knowing for sure that it is the wrapper left by Brown's rapist instead of litter left by someone else. The point of this discussion is that the possibility that DNA testing could help establish that Cunningham is innocent is not great, and that point is reinforced by the amount of the evidence indicating that Cunningham is in fact guilty. Brown identified Cunningham as her rapist. Although he attempted to undermine the credibility of that identification, testimony established that Brown identified him only about fifteen minutes after the last time she had seen her rapist. Not only that, but Brown also had ample opportunity to view her attacker in broad daylight, when he confronted her with the knife, when she stalled by getting him to sit down and talk to her, when he pulled her toward the woods, when she convinced him to walk with her toward a less secluded area, when he tackled her after she broke loose and ran, when he held her down, when he put on a condom and raped her, and when she tried to avoid further harm by talking to him afterwards. In these circumstances, Brown's eyewitness identification of Cunningham is powerful evidence of his guilt. See Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 114, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 2253, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977) (setting forth factors, including the witness's opportunity to view the suspect and the time that elapsed between the crime and the identification, for consideration in determining whether a suggestive identification was nevertheless reliable (citing Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 199-200, 93 S.Ct. 375, 382, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972))); see also United States v. Burke, 738 F.2d 1225, 1229 (11th Cir.1984) (holding that a suggestive identification was nonetheless reliable where the witness was in the defendant's presence long enough for her to closely observe him, paid attention to [him] because he was one of the few customers in the restaurant, and only two months elapsed between the first meeting and the confrontation); O'Brien v. Wainwright, 738 F.2d 1139, 1141-42 (11th Cir. 1984) (holding that an impermissibly suggestive photo lineup did not taint a later identification where, [a]lthough [the victim] only observed the burglar for a matter of seconds, [he] had a closeup view ... of the burglar's face in a well-lighted room and the time that had elapsed between the crime and the photo lineup was less than one day). And, Brown identified Cunningham as her rapist a second time at trial. There was also strong circumstantial evidence of Cunningham's guilt. Given Brown's testimony that her rapist held her at knifepoint, it is significant that Officer Joyner found a knife lying on the ground in the exact spot on the highway where he had initially stopped Cunningham. Even though the contents of Cunningham's backpack were suppressed before trial, we should consider that evidence in evaluating Cunningham's underlying premise that he is innocent. Cf. Johnson v. Singletary, 938 F.2d 1166, 1184 (11th Cir.1991) (en banc) (noting that the Supreme Court has admonished courts to apply the test for `actual innocence' in light of all probative evidence, including evidence that was admitted (or excluded) as a result of constitutional error (emphasis omitted) (citing Kuhlmann v. Wilson, 477 U.S. 436, 454 n. 17, 106 S.Ct. 2616, 2627 n. 17, 91 L.Ed.2d 364 (1986))). The backpack contained a pair of black jeans, which is important given that Brown described her rapist as wearing black pants. Although there was some inconsistency in the testimony concerning Brown's description of the pants, the evidence nonetheless indicates Cunningham's guilt and undermines his argument that the fact he was wearing blue sweat pants when he was arrested shows he was not the rapist. At the suppression hearing, Brown simply stated that she thought the black pants her attacker was wearing were corduroy. Officer Joyner's testimony at trial described Brown as having told him that her attacker was wearing black jeans. We are not convinced that this inconsistency undermines the strength of the State's case against Cunningham. Finally, the extensive evidence concerning Cunningham's mental health history suggests that he was Brown's attacker. That evidence includes the fact that Cunningham was mentally disturbed about matters of sex. He was so disturbed that one psychologist, who had been practicing for over twenty-five years, testified that some of the bizarre behavior Cunningham had engaged in was so rare that he could remember having observed only three or four episodes like it, and those were by exceedingly disturbed, very psychotic inmates, most of whom were in a penitentiary. (R12: 743, 754). While in a mental institution Cunningham had also physically attacked and fondled the breasts of a female intern, claiming later that he thought she was a mannequin that had stolen his mother's clothes. Cunningham said that he had taken drugs on the day that he attacked that intern, just as he later said that he had smoked marijuana on the day Brown was attacked. And that is not the only similarity between Cunningham's earlier sexual assault and Brown's rape. When he attacked the intern, Cunningham told the young woman that he had a knife and would kill her if she did not submit to him. Similarly, the rapist threatened Brown with a knife. The evidence also shows that Cunningham admitted to another psychologist that he recalled getting off the train near the park on the morning of the rape and remembered seeing Brown there. The psychologist testified that Cunningham was able to supply me a lot of details to this incident and then he became amnesic for the kidnap and rape. (R13: 831). The psychologist did not believe the convenient claim of amnesia, finding it highly unusual that someone could have selective amnesia like that, and concluded that Cunningham was faking amnesia at that point. ( Id. at 831-32). Cunningham's admission to being near the crime scene at the time of the rape, his admission to seeing the victim there before she was raped, and his self-serving, selective amnesia about the actual rape is strong evidence of guilt. Even so, there remains the slim possibility that DNA testing might reveal evidence suggesting that Cunningham is innocent. In this respect the facts of this case resemble those in Osborne, where there was a chance, however improbable in the light of other evidence, that the requested testing might point to someone else as the perpetrator.