Opinion ID: 2763627
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admissibility of Undisclosed Evidence

Text: The state’s primary argument against the materiality of the undisclosed evidence in this case is that much of it is inadmissible hearsay and could not have led to the discovery of admissible evidence. As the Supreme Court and this Court have explained, without some indication of admissibility, such evidence cannot be considered material for purposes of Brady. See Ogden, 685 F.3d at 605. And this indication cannot be merely speculative. Wood, 516 U.S. at 6. The magistrate judge concluded that “[m]uch of the alleged Brady material is nothing more than rumor, hearsay, hearsay upon hearsay, hearsay upon hearsay upon hearsay, or worse. Gumm has not explained how any of that ‘evidence’ would have been rendered admissible in court, or how it would have led to admissible evidence.” Gumm, 2009 WL 7785750, at . The district court did not adopt this portion of the magistrate judge’s report and instead concluded that while it agreed that “much of the undisclosed evidence was itself inadmissible, . . . that does not necessarily mean that it would not lead to admissible evidence or that it was not subject to disclosure.” Gumm, 2011 WL 1237572, at . In Wood, a habeas petitioner alleged that the state had violated Brady by failing to disclose the results of a polygraph examination that could have been used to impeach a witness. 516 U.S. at 5-6. The Ninth Circuit granted the writ, finding that although the polygraph results were themselves inadmissible, their disclosure could have led to admissible evidence or affected defense counsel’s preparation for trial. The Supreme Court reversed, finding that neither the Ninth Circuit nor the petitioner could identify precisely how the trial could have been affected, or admissible evidence discovered, had the admittedly inadmissible polygraph results been disclosed. Id. at 6-7. The Court further reasoned that the results would have had no material effect under Brady because the remainder of the evidence against the petitioner was overwhelming. No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 25 Courts applying Wood have rejected the writ when a single piece of inadmissible evidence such as a polygraph examination or hearsay statement was not disclosed by the state, concluding that the result of the trial could not have been altered by the nondisclosure of only inadmissible evidence. See, e.g., Hutchison v. Bell, 303 F.3d 720, 743 (6th Cir. 2002) (addressing a single hearsay statement). However, this case is not one where a petitioner is complaining about the failure to disclose a single inadmissible statement or polygraph test. On the contrary, Petitioner alleges that the state failed to disclose a small mountain of favorable evidence that he and his counsel would have used to undermine the prosecution’s case. Some of this evidence consists of rumors and double-hearsay statements which would likely have been inadmissible at trial, but much of the evidence could very well have been admitted or clearly led to the discovery of admissible evidence. To prevail on a Brady claim, a petitioner need only show that the undisclosed evidence was “likely admissible under Ohio law.” Wogenstahl, 668 F.3d at 325 n.3. Of course, when subject to AEDPA deference, it must be that any reasonable jurist would believe that the inadmissible evidence would lead to admissible evidence. That is clear in this case. First, Cordray’s various confessions would have come into evidence in some manner had Petitioner known about the statements. Petitioner would have called Cordray to testify and three things could have happened: (1) Cordray could have testified consistent with his prior statements, thereby confessing in court to Aaron’s murder; (2) Cordray could have denied murdering Aaron, in which case, his prior confessions could come in by way of impeachment, as prior inconsistent statements under Ohio Rule of Evidence 613; or, perhaps most likely, (3) Cordray would not have appeared or would have appeared but asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. In this third scenario, Cordray would have been unavailable under Ohio Rule of Evidence 804(A)(1) such that his prior confessions could have come in as statements against interest under Ohio Rule of Evidence 804(B)(3). See State v. Landrum, 559 N.E.2d 710, 719-20 (Ohio 1990). Rule 804(B)(3) permits an unavailable declarant’s statement to be admitted if it “tended to subject the declarant to civil or criminal liability . . . that a reasonable person in the declarant’s position would not have made the statement unless the declarant believed it to be true,” if that statement is accompanied by “corroborating circumstances [which] clearly indicate the trustworthiness of the statement.” In Landrum, the No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 26 Ohio Supreme Court found sufficient corroborating circumstances where the declarant “spontaneously” confessed shortly after a murder and there was additional evidence tying the declarant to the murder. 559 N.E.2d at 720 (citing Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 30001 (1973)). Like in Landrum, Cordray’s confessions were spontaneous: he walked up to the Steeles and told them that he killed “the little kid” and bragged to others in the neighborhood about killing Aaron. Additionally, other reports place Cordray near the scene of the crime and gave him motive for killing Aaron. Therefore, a court would find that there were sufficient corroborating circumstances to render Cordray’s confessions admissible. See Landrum, 559 N.E.2d at 720. Further, the fact that Cordray had a similar palm print to the one left at the scene could have been admitted by calling the forensic investigator, and Petitioner could have called Putteet to testify about witnessing Aaron teasing Cordray on the night in question. Additionally, much of the evidence given to the police was in the form of eyewitness statements from named, identified individuals whose testimony would be admissible at trial. Had Petitioner known of the existence of these witnesses, he could have offered testimony of the following: (1) Roger Cordray was known to sleep in the abandoned building where Aaron’s body was found; (2) a group of people was seen on the night of the murder “messing with” Cordray in a nearby alley; (3) Anthony Steele observed that Cordray’s hands and knuckles were scraped; (4) there were “some similarities” between Cordray’s palm print and the print recovered at the crime scene; (5) Raymond Moore lived in the abandoned building where Aaron’s body was discovered at some point; (6) Moore was seen entering the building several times on the night of the murder; (7) Moore was acting strangely and avoiding Aaron’s mother; (8) Garland Inman, a convicted sex offender, was seen near the crime scene on the night of the murder; (9) Claude Justice was known to use the abandoned buildings for sex; and (10) Luther Hatton had been seen near the abandoned building and mysteriously disappeared around 10:00 p.m. on the night of the murder. None of this was inadmissible as hearsay or for any other reason. Although some of the evidence against the multiple other suspects might have been inadmissible, the fact that police had received reports about multiple other suspects could have been introduced at trial to call into question the thoroughness of the investigation. Therefore, No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 27 contrary to the magistrate judge’s conclusion that much of the evidence was immaterial for Brady purposes, Petitioner has correctly identified a whole slew of undisclosed, material evidence, much of which was admissible or could easily have led to admissible evidence.