Opinion ID: 3030011
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Kenneth Allen’s Recantation

Text: [2] Kenneth Allen’s later recantation of his trial testimony does not render his earlier testimony false. See Dobbert v. Wainwright, 468 U.S. 1231, 1233 (1984) (Brennan, J., dissenting from denial of certiorari) (“Recantation testimony is ALLEN v. WOODFORD 965 properly viewed with great suspicion.”); see also Carriger v. Stewart, 132 F.3d 463, 483 (9th Cir. 1997) (en banc) (Kozinski, J., dissenting) (“Appellate courts . . . look upon recantations with extreme suspicion.”); 58 Am. Jur., New Trial § 345 (“recantation testimony is generally considered exceedingly unreliable”). Here, Kenneth’s recantation testimony is even more unreliable because his trial testimony implicating Allen is consistent with the other evidence, while his recantation is not. For example, Kenneth now denies that he discussed killing witnesses with Allen during their visit at Folsom Prison on August 15, 1980. At Allen’s trial, however, Kenneth’s estranged wife Kathy, who testified on Allen’s behalf and admitted trying to fabricate evidence to exculpate Allen, testified that she overheard Kenneth and Allen discussing “getting guns for witnesses” at that Folsom Prison meeting. Kenneth now also claims that Allen only sent Hamilton to Kenneth’s house to give Hamilton an opportunity to look for a job. Allen testified at trial, however, that Allen sent Hamilton to Fresno to help Kenneth dispose of a “hot” gun and that Hamilton was only stopping in Fresno on his way to San Diego. Kenneth’s recantation also conflicts with all the other evidence pointing to Allen’s involvement in planning the murders. For example, there are contradictions between Kenneth’s recantation and: (1) Allen’s numerous letters to Kenneth reminding him of Hamilton’s visit to Fresno; (2) the list of witnesses from Allen’s first trial found on Hamilton when he was arrested; and (3) Kenneth’s possession of a mug shot of Hamilton. No reasonable juror could find the current story credible when it is only Kenneth’s trial testimony that makes sense in light of all the other evidence. Moreover, Allen asserts no evidence, even assuming that Kenneth’s trial testimony was false, that the State “knew, or should have known” that it was false. United States v. Geston, 299 F.3d 1130, 1135 (9th Cir. 2002) (“It is a prosecutor’s duty to refrain from knowingly presenting perjured testimony . . . .”) (internal quotation marks omitted). 966 ALLEN v. WOODFORD