Opinion ID: 159136
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Procedural history and background facts

Text: A. Undisputed facts . Petitioner, Walter Barrowman, and Mike Horton (hereinafter “Horton”) were jointly charged with Opela’s kidnapping and murder, but Barrowman and Horton requested and received separate trials. When Barrowman testified at petitioner’s trial, he had plea bargained his testimony against petitioner in exchange for the dropping of robbery charges. He had spent most of his time in jail sharing a cell with Horton. Horton’s first trial ended in a hung jury, and in his second he was acquitted. Without objection from petitioner’s counsel, the prosecution elicited the fact that Barrowman had already been convicted of murder as an accomplice in the case (but had not been sentenced). See R. Vol. VIII, Tab 8 at 1. As presented to the jury, this case was a “swearing match” between petitioner and the State’s two key witnesses, Barrowman and Nancy Rozell. The following facts were undisputed at trial. At the time of the murder, petitioner -4- lived in Prague, Oklahoma. She was married as a matter of convenience to Horton, who had a reputation for violence. Petitioner had a 3½-year-old daughter, Maream, and a baby son from a former marriage, and had asked Horton to protect her and her children from her ex-husband. Barrowman lived in Seminole, Oklahoma, and was Horton’s close friend and drinking buddy. Horton had recently moved in with Linda Swanson (who also lived in Seminole), and had been sexually involved with Nancy Rozell, a friend of petitioner. Melanie Henson was Rozell’s close friend and petitioner’s acquaintance. Theresa Conyer was petitioner’s duplex neighbor. On the night of the murder, Opela, Horton, Barrowman, Rozell, Henson, petitioner, and a few other people were drinking in Conyer’s backyard. Neither Opela, Horton, Barrowman, nor Rozell had a car. Opela, who had just cashed his paycheck and had shown the money to Horton, became extremely drunk. During the evening, Horton became aggressive towards Opela. He held a knife under Opela’s neck and threatened to kill him, spit whiskey in his face, kicked him, threw water on him and made him drink more whiskey, and knocked him out of a chair and onto the ground. After Opela refused to pay a one-dollar bet that Horton made with him, Horton flew into a rage, threatened to kill Opela with a broken whiskey bottle, then went into petitioner’s house and began kicking furniture and breaking things. He stated he wanted to “roll” Opela for his money. -5- Petitioner testified that Horton told Barrowman to go get Opela’s money, see R. Vol. X, Tab 10 at 97, and Rozell testified that she saw Barrowman looking in Opela’s pockets as Opela was lying asleep on the ground in the backyard, see id. Vol. IX, Tab 9 at 12-13. Petitioner and Barrowman carried Opela to petitioner’s car, stating that they were going to take Opela home. Horton also got into petitioner’s car, and told Rozell to take care of petitioner’s children. Henson stayed with Rozell. Petitioner drove to a cemetery in Prague, where everyone got out of the car. She knocked Opela down after he called her a name, and Barrowman took Opela’s money. They left him at the cemetery, but after driving away Horton stated that they were either going to have to give Opela’s money back or kill him. 2 The three returned to petitioner’s house. Petitioner went inside, told Rozell and Henson about the robbery, and asked Rozell to stay with her children while they took Opela to another place. 3 Petitioner, Barrowman, and Horton then drove back to 2 Petitioner’s testimony varies with Barrowman’s as to when Horton made the statement. She testified that Horton did not suggest killing Opela until after they retrieved him from the cemetery. In his first recorded statement to police, Barrowman testified that after they left the cemetery the first time, they “all three got to talking about it, said well, we ought to go get him and give him back his money.” R. Vol. II, Tab 8, Ex. A (attached to Respondent’s Resp. to Pet. for writ of habeas corpus) (first Barrowman statement of July 9, 1987 at 12:39 a.m., Ex. 21 to petitioner’s direct appeal brief). Petitioner’s counsel did not impeach him with this statement. 3 Petitioner testified that she told them she was taking Opela home; Rozell (continued...) -6- the cemetery, picked up Opela, and began driving toward Seminole, which is eighteen miles from Prague. B. Petitioner’s story . At this point, petitioner’s, Barrowman’s, and Rozell’s testimonies diverge. Petitioner testified that, after picking Opela up at the cemetery, Horton directed her to drive towards Seminole and that Barrowman mentioned stopping at his apartment so he could get his work clothes. She testified that Opela began rambling that the three had robbed him and Horton stated that if Opela did not shut up, “he was gonna have to kill him.” R. Vol. X, Tab 10 at 114. She testified that when they got to Seminole, Horton went into Barrowman’s apartment and came back out with a gun, and she became afraid that Horton was really going to harm Opela. She stated that she decided to stop at Doyle’s Quik Stop, south of Seminole, in order to get Horton away from Opela, and she told Barrowman and Horton to go inside and get something to eat while she got gas. Horton took the gun inside the store. Petitioner then drove away without the two men and took Opela back to her house in Prague. She testified that, on the way, she talked Opela into not going to the police about the robbery if she got his money back. Petitioner was not sure whether Henson was still there when she arrived, but she talked to Rozell. See id. at 215. She said she left 3 (...continued) and Henson testified that she told them they were taking him to a remote location to leave him. -7- Opela asleep on her couch and returned to Seminole to pick up the other two men. When petitioner returned to Doyle’s Quik Stop over an hour later, Horton and Barrowman were gone. 4 She looked for them at Barrowman’s apartment and at Linda Swanson’s house, but Swanson had not seen the men. Swanson accompanied her to look for them, and they spotted the two men walking along the highway and picked them up. Petitioner then took Swanson home, stopped by a convenience store to pick up more beer, and stopped by Barrowman’s apartment to pick up his work clothes. According to petitioner, the men agreed to return Opela’s money to him, so she drove them back to her home in Prague. Henson had left, 5 but Rozell was still there. Petitioner testified that Horton refused to give Opela back his money, and when petitioner stated she was taking Opela home, Horton pulled the gun from his boot and said “we were all going for a ride.” Id. at 131. Petitioner testified that 4 The clerk at Doyle’s Quik Stop testified that Doyle’s is about three miles south of Seminole. He stated that Horton and Barrowman came in the store sometime after 12:30 or 1:00 a.m. and stayed there about thirty minutes. Petitioner came in sometime after 3:00 a.m., he thought, and asked him if he had seen them. See R. Vol. VI, Tab 6 at 168-73. Barrowman testified that the men had walked about a mile, stopping occasionally, before petitioner picked them up, see id. , Vol. VIII, Tab 8 at 96-97, and Swanson testified that the men were a mileand-one-half to two miles from Doyle’s when petitioner picked them up, see id. , Vol. VII, Tab 7 at 6. 5 Henson testified that she left at 2:45 a.m.; Rozell said Henson left at 2:00 a.m., just minutes before petitioner, Horton, and Barrowman returned at 2:10
-8- she told Horton she did not want to go, but Horton pointed the gun in her direction and told her to get her children out of bed. She stated that she “knew better than to refuse to go.” Id. at 132. According to petitioner, the five adults and two children then got into petitioner’s car, with the women and children in front and the men in back. Horton directed petitioner to drive back toward Seminole, and they pulled off onto a side road and stopped when Opela said he needed to relieve himself. Petitioner testified that the adults all got out of the car, and Horton shot Opela. After everyone got back in the car, Horton threatened that if petitioner said anything, “it would be me, too.” Id. at 138. They all then returned to petitioner’s home in Prague. C. Barrowman’s story . Barrowman testified that, after they picked up Opela at the cemetery, they drove to Seminole and petitioner stated she needed to use the bathroom at his apartment. He stated that she went into the locked apartment alone without using a key, as his apartment door could be opened when locked by bumping it, but that he did not see her come out with anything. She then drove to Doyle’s Quik Stop, told him and Horton to go inside, and said that she would be back in a minute. After waiting for about thirty minutes, the two men decided to walk back towards Seminole, and had walked a mile or so when petitioner and Swanson picked them up. They took Swanson home, went by a convenience store to buy some beer, and then dropped by Barrowman’s apartment -9- to get his work clothes. Barrowman testified that he kept his pistols in the bottom part of a gun cabinet next to his bed. He testified that he went up to his apartment alone, and he was getting his clothes when petitioner walked in and told him “she put it back.” R. Vol. VIII, Tab 8 at 27. When he asked what she was talking about, she told him she had put back his gun, and when he asked her what she was doing with it, she said, “I thought I might need it.” Id. at 28. Barrowman testified that they returned to Prague, and after Horton went to bed, petitioner said, “I shot him,” and that she had fired the gun four times. Id. at 31, 33. He stated he was sure Rozell heard petitioner confess because Rozell was in the same room, and petitioner and Rozell sat down and began talking about the specifics of the murder. He testified that petitioner told him not to tell Horton that she had shot Opela. Barrowman testified that the next day he went to his apartment and checked his gun, which was in his gun cabinet, and found four empty shells. He threw the shells away in three different places. Later that day he told Horton only that he thought his gun had been fired. See id. at 43. He testified that Horton suggested that Barrowman give the gun to Swanson to keep, and Horton put it in Swanson’s purse. On cross examination, petitioner’s counsel asked if Barrowman had told police that petitioner had told him she put the gun under his pillow. Barrowman -10- said he could not recall, but that sometimes he kept a gun under his pillow. On redirect, Barrowman changed his testimony to state that he found the gun under his pillow or blankets, instead of in the gun cabinet. In response to the prosecutor’s leading question, he also changed his testimony about Horton’s statement about killing Opela to “ you’re gonna have to give his money back or kill him” see id. at 133 (emphasis added), instead of “ we’re going to have to give his money back or kill him,” see id. at 16 (emphasis added). Barrowman testified that he was “staggering drunk” the night of the murder, id. at 140, and that several times during the course of events he had either blacked out or fallen asleep. D. Rozell’s story . Rozell testified that after petitioner, Horton, and Barrowman returned to petitioner’s house the second time, Horton immediately went to bed. Petitioner and Barrowman stayed up, whispering and laughing, but Rozell didn’t know what they were talking about or what they had done with Opela. She testified that she got up around ten or eleven o’clock the next morning, woke up petitioner, and that while they were cooking breakfast, petitioner told her she had killed Opela. She said petitioner told her she had shot Opela three times but had fired the gun four times. She also testified that petitioner told her she had dropped Barrowman and Horton off at Doyle’s Quik Stop before she went to Barrowman’s apartment and to get his gun. Rozell gave a -11- very detailed description of Opela’s death, including the specifics that petitioner stopped the car on the second curve of the road because Opela had to relieve himself, that petitioner left the car running while she killed Opela, and the exact words both petitioner and Opela allegedly said before petitioner murdered him. She testified that petitioner told her that Barrowman knew about her killing Opela, but not to tell Horton or the police. Rozell testified that on the afternoon of July 5, petitioner took her and petitioner’s children out to where Opela’s body was lying, and again told her not to tell Horton or the police. On July 7, Rozell went to the police, told them that petitioner had killed Opela, and took the police to the location of Opela’s body. At first, Rozell stated that she lied to police the first two times they interviewed her because she thought she “was gonna get in trouble for something I didn’t do” and because petitioner had taken her to the police station and was waiting for her. R. Vol. IX, Tab 9 at 40. On cross-examination, she said she lied because she was afraid of petitioner.