Opinion ID: 1059186
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: casel lucas

Text: Before Lucas testified at trial, Eastman and Walker provided Lovitt's defense counsel with a report detailing Lucas' extensive criminal record. However, neither Eastman nor Walker disclosed to defense counsel that Lucas had provided information to various police departments in four previous criminal cases. The circuit court found that before the trial, the prosecutors in Lovitt's case were unaware that Casel Lucas had provided information regarding any other case. The evidence at the habeas hearing showed that in 1998, Lucas testified in Alexandria against Steven Evans, who had been charged with robbery. In exchange for his testimony, Lucas received a total recommended sentence of 20 years' imprisonment for various pending criminal charges, including robbery, abduction with the intent to defile, and attempted rape. Walker testified that although Lucas told her about his cooperation with the police in the Evans case, she did not tell either Rucker or Janell Wolfe, Lovitt's co-counsel at trial, about Lucas' role in that prosecution. However, Walker stated that Lucas' sentence in the Evans case was included in his criminal record that the prosecution provided to defense counsel before Lucas testified. When Wolfe interviewed Lucas prior to his testifying, Lucas told her of his involvement in the Evans case. However, Lucas did not inform Wolfe that he had cooperated with the police in any other cases. Wolfe testified that had she received such information, she and Rucker would have used it to impeach Lucas' credibility at trial. At Lovitt's trial, Rucker cross-examined Lucas concerning his cooperation with the police in the Evans case. In 1996, Lucas provided information to the police concerning a jailhouse confession made by Edward Young, who had been charged with rape in Arlington County. Walker served as the prosecutor during the sentencing in the Young case and Wolfe served as Young's counsel. However, neither Walker nor Wolfe was aware of Lucas' involvement in the Young case because the case did not proceed to trial and the defendant's plea agreement did not mention Lucas. Lucas did not receive any benefit in exchange for the information that he provided in the Young case. In 1997, Lucas provided information to detectives in the District of Columbia concerning the Starbucks triple homicide case. One of the detectives sent a letter to the judges of the Circuit Court of the City of Alexandria informing them of Lucas' cooperation in the Starbucks case. There was no evidence that Lucas received any benefit resulting from his cooperation with the police in that case. Further, prior to Lovitt's trial, the Arlington prosecutors did not have any information about Lovitt's cooperation in the Starbucks case. In 1998, Lucas provided Alexandria authorities with a statement detailing a defendant's jailhouse confession in the Eddie Lee case. Lucas did not receive any benefit as a result of his cooperation in that case, and the Arlington prosecutors were not aware of Lucas' involvement in the Lee case prior to Lovitt's trial. In June 1999, before Lovitt's trial, Lucas sent a letter to Judge Paul F. Sheridan of the Arlington County Circuit Court requesting reconsideration of one of his sentences. In the letter, Lucas stated that he had cooperated with the police in previous matters but did not mention Lovitt's case. The letter was sent directly to Judge Sheridan's chambers and a copy of the letter apparently was not placed in Lucas' file until after Lovitt's trial. Lucas' request for reconsideration was denied. The prosecutors in Lovitt's case were not aware of Lucas' letter at the time of Lovitt's trial.
At the habeas hearing, the court considered an affidavit handwritten by Lovitt's habeas counsel and signed by Lucas in September 2001. The affidavit, which was prepared after Lovitt's trial, contained several statements that conflicted with Lucas' trial testimony. For example, in the affidavit, Lucas stated that he initially informed the prosecutors that Lovitt had stated he used a gun to shoot Dicks, that Lovitt had discarded the weapon in a drain, and that Warren Grant had driven Lovitt from the pool hall to Grant's house. These statements contradicted Lucas' trial testimony that Lovitt stated he used a knife or other object to stab Dicks, and that he discarded the weapon while walking from the pool hall to Grant's house. In the affidavit, Lucas also stated that he received a reduced sentence for his cooperation in the Young case, and that he learned about the details of Dicks' murder from Crime Stoppers and the Washington Post. At habeas counsel's request, Lucas had initialed each paragraph of the affidavit. Lucas testified that the inconsistent statements contained in the affidavit were not accurate and that his testimony during Lovitt's trial was truthful. Lucas stated that on the day he signed the affidavit, he was confused after answering three hours' worth of questions posed by Lovitt's habeas counsel. Lucas also stated that he did not feel too good that day because he had undergone a tooth extraction and was waiting to receive some medication. Lucas further testified that he did not thoroughly read the affidavit, but merely glimpsed through it and glanced over it, not paying attention to its content. He also testified that he was mistaken when he had stated that he received a sentence reduction in exchange for his cooperation in the Young case. Additionally, Lucas stated that Lovitt was his sole source of information concerning the testimony he gave at Lovitt's trial. Eastman testified that Lucas' trial testimony was consistent with the statements he had made before Lovitt's trial. She stated that Lucas' description of Lovitt's initial story was consistent with a statement that Lovitt had given to the police shortly after his arrest. Included in Lovitt's initial story to Lucas were assertions that Lovitt was in the pool hall restroom during Dicks' murder, and that he took the cash register drawer after an allegedly unknown assailant had killed Dicks. [2] The circuit court found that Lucas had disavowed the affidavit written by Lovitt's habeas counsel that had set forth the inconsistent statements Lucas allegedly had made before trial. The court also found that Lucas did not make any statements before trial that were inconsistent with his trial testimony.