Opinion ID: 1791
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Prosecutor's Testimony

Text: The prosecuting attorney at trial, Kenneth Frazee, also testified at the evidentiary hearing regarding the alleged threats made by Ceruti to witnesses. Frazee testified that Lamont had been threatened by Ceruti as early as a day or two after the April 28 assault took place. He also testified about the threats made to Whitehouse, claiming that they did not occur until after the opening statements in the trial were made. Frazee said that he was not told about the threats until the day Whitehouse was scheduled to testify, and that Frazee told Escobedo about the alleged threats as soon as he was made aware of them himself. Frazee also testified that, had Ceruti testified at trial, he would have brought up these issues during cross-examination in order to impeach her. Frazee did admit, however, that no charges were ever filed against English or Ceruti for the alleged witness tampering. B. District Court Decision On December 9, 2008, the district court conditionally granted English's petition for habeas relief. English v. Romanowski, 589 F.Supp.2d 893 (E.D.Mich.2008). The court found that English's attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the Sixth Amendment both by failing to call Ceruti as a witness and by failing to investigate and prepare the case properly. With respect to counsel's failure to call Ceruti, the court noted that Ceruti's testimony was not cumulative because she was the only person who would have corroborated English's version of the events. Id. at 899. Moreover, the court rejected the state court's finding that this was a sound trial strategy. According to the district court, defense counsel was deficient in allowing the damaging testimony regarding Ceruti into evidence without calling Ceruti as a witness to refute it. Id. at 900. The court also found that the unreasonableness of counsel's failure call Ceruti was exacerbated by the fact that he promised Ceruti's testimony to the jury in his opening statement. Id. at 901. After finding deficiency in Escobedo's performance, the court then found that the performance prejudiced English because Ceruti's testimony (or, in the alternative, Escobedo's unfulfilled promise) likely could have tipped the scales for at least one juror. Id. at 902. With respect to Escobedo's alleged failure to investigate, the district court found that the final state court decision considered this claim as merely a restatement of English's claim that counsel was ineffective for failing to call Ceruti as a witness. Id. at 903. The district court then found that habeas relief was warranted for this claim for the same reasons as those stated above. Id. The court also noted that if Escobedo had fully investigated the case beforehand, he would have been able to properly evaluate Ceruti as a witness before promising her testimony to the jury. Id. The court denied English's other claims for relief. English does not cross-appeal those rulings.