Opinion ID: 1390193
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Back to the State Courts

Text: After the completion of the unsuccessful habeas corpus proceedings, Goldblum returned to the state courts, this time filing a petition for post-conviction relief under the Post-Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) on January 12, 1996, wherein he raised a litany of issues, including the discovery of evidence relating to forensic proof of blood spatter, Miller's alleged post-trial confessions, and ineffective assistance of counsel relating to the failure of his trial attorney to investigate evidence pertaining to the blood spatter and present the expert testimony of Dr. Cyril Wecht, [5] a forensic pathologist, who would have testified that based on the physical evidence Goldblum could not have been the assailant. In support of this physical evidence theory, Goldblum filed Dr. Wecht's affidavit in which he concluded to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that Mr. Goldblum was not the individual who inflicted the fatal stab wounds to Mr. Wilhelm. App. at 21. Dr. Wecht based this conclusion substantially on the location of the blood spatter on the dashboard, as well as the lack of blood on Goldblum's clothes. In addition, Goldblum submitted two other expert witnesses' affidavits expressing opinions similar to those of Dr. Wecht. Goldblum subsequently added a claim to his petition that his trial attorney was ineffective for failing to object to the trial court's instruction on accomplice liability. On February 12, 1997, the state court dismissed the petition without holding an evidentiary hearing, finding that all of the claims Goldblum raised either had been litigated previously or were too old to be considered. On Goldblum's appeal, the Superior Court affirmed, concluding that all his claims were waived, previously litigated, or meritless, except the claim that his trial attorney was ineffective for failing to call Dr. Wecht as a witness at the trial. The Superior Court remanded the case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing solely on that issue. The trial court held an evidentiary hearing on October 18, October 19, and December 19, 2000. The first witness was Goldblum's trial attorney, H. David Rothman. Rothman testified that he did not conduct an investigation with respect to the blood spatter evidence because the police did not photograph or preserve the blood spatters that were found on the dashboard of Mr. Wilhelm's car. He had not consulted a pathologist before the trial because he believed, based on the literature he had seen, that the evidence that could be developed would have been unreliable. Therefore, Rothman argued at trial, without the aid of expert testimony, that based on the circumstantial physical evidence showing that the blood spatter went in the direction of Miller, Miller was the killer. Dr. Wecht testified next, and on direct examination, he expounded upon his affidavit. On cross-examination, however, he conceded that there were other possible factual scenarios that would explain the pattern of the blood spattering. [6] The court refused to take testimony from the other forensic experts who would have supported Dr. Wecht's opinion, and also would not take the testimony of an expert in police investigation who was critical of the lack of photographs of the dashboard and an attorney who would have testified as to the actions Goldblum's trial attorney should have taken to investigate this case. The Commonwealth presented a rebuttal witness, Toby Wolson, a forensic biologist employed by the Miami-Dade Florida Police Department, who was testifying independently from that relationship as a forensic consultant. Wolson testified that the limited description of the blood spatter prevented both Dr. Wecht and him from reaching a reliable conclusion as to the identity of the assailant. Detective Ron Freeman had been the only witness at the trial who explained the location of the blood spatter. Freeman testified at the trial that: When I saw there were a small line of blood droplets, and it was not a lot of blood there, but they were discernable droplets and they started on the  toward the driver's side was the largest spot, and then they descended into smaller circles, and each circle has what is called `a tail' and the `tail' was facing toward the passenger side of the automobile and that indicated that blood came from left to right, as I faced it or traveled from the driver's side of the automobile to the passenger's side of the automobile. On August 22, 2001, the state court issued an opinion and order denying Goldblum PCRA relief, holding: [T]his Court is mindful that no photographs or other evidence of the blood stain existed. The testimony of both Dr. Wecht and Mr. Wolson was premised on the fact that Detective Freeman's brief description [at the trial] of the blood stain was accurate. A review of the testimony presented indicated that both experts were hesitant to declare their findings absolute without being able to see the blood stain in question. Although the experts did make tentative findings, their testimony essentially amounted to speculation due to their inability to make conclusive findings. App. at 265-66. The court explained its decision to exclude the other potential witnesses on the basis that the limited scope of the remand did not give it authority to hear that testimony. Goldblum appealed, but on October 24, 2002, the Superior Court affirmed the denial of PCRA relief, concluding that due to the fundamentally inconclusive nature of Dr. Wecht's testimony, the court could not conclude that the outcome of the trial would have been different had Dr. Wecht testified at the trial. Id. at 280. The Superior Court also found that the PCRA court's decision to limit the testimony based on the scope of the remand was proper. Subsequent petitions for an allowance of appeal in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Commonwealth v. Goldblum , 573 Pa. 689, 825 A.2d 637 (2003), and for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court, Goldblum v. Pennsylvania, 540 U.S. 1119, 124 S.Ct. 1067, 157 L.Ed.2d 914 (2004), were denied.