Opinion ID: 2581123
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: dunlap's testimony

Text: {23} During the habeas hearing, Dunlap testified that while he was in custody, he initially told the police that he did not have any knowledge about the events leading to Mitchell's death. He was then given a polygraph test and was told by the police that he failed the test. He was jailed for six months with charges pending against him for Mitchell's rape and murder. Despite having told the police that he did not know anything about the events, he decided he needed to make a deal because other witnesses were lying. He scripted his testimony from untruthful testimony he heard at his bail hearing and from the police questioning. Once he memorized the script, he destroyed it and notified the district attorney that he would take an offer of immunity in return for his testimony. Prior to the murder trial, he spoke with the prosecutor for a few minutes, and at trial told the story he had prepared in jail. During the habeas hearing, Dunlap conceded on cross-examination that he never told any of the police, the prosecutors, or his lawyer that he was lying at trial, nor was he ever told to lie. However, he testified that all of his testimony implicating Case was untruthful. {24} During the murder trial, Dunlap testified that he had been granted immunity from prosecution for Mitchell's rape and murder after serving six months in a juvenile detention center. He said that he had initially given a false statement to the police on March 10, 1982. When asked to tell the jury the truth about what happened on January 1, 1982, he stated that he had been at a party near Six Mile Dam and he had gotten a ride in a car driven by Worley. Others in the car included Brown, Autry, Case, Worley, and Mitchell. They drove for a while, then Worley stopped the car and all of the boys got out. When Dunlap started to get back in the car, Worley pulled Mitchell out of the car and hit her in the face, knocking her down. Brown and Case were then holding her on the ground trying to get her shirt off. At that time Dunlap said that lights started to come up the road, so he walked toward the lights. Knight got out of her truck and started to walk toward the people near the car. Dunlap told her to leave because she should not be there. While he was talking to Knight, Mitchell was screaming, but he did not hear her call out for Knight. Case then approached Knight, and after talking with her, Knight left. Dunlap returned to the car, and by then the boys had gotten Mitchell back in the car. When Case returned to the car, he told Dunlap that he had better keep his mouth shut. Brown and Worley then got Mitchell out of the car, put her on the ground, and took off the rest of her clothes. After Brown and Worley got her pants off, Worley pulled his pants off, and Worley, Case, and Brown took turns rolling around on the ground with her. They next put her clothes back on her, and Worley and Case carried her off by the arms, with Joe following them. They were gone for about fifteen minutes, and when they returned without Mitchell, the boys drove back into town with Dunlap. Dunlap was not sure where Autry went when all of this started, but he did not see Autry again. Dunlap also testified that he did not tell anyone what had happened because he was too scared and because Case had threatened him. {25} During cross-examination at the habeas hearing, Dunlap recounted how he had first been questioned by the police for about twelve hours with them getting angry, getting right up in his face, calling him a liar, and threatening him with a murder charge. The officers did not, however, tell him what the other witnesses were saying. Throughout the statement, he told the police he was not at the party on January 1, 1982, but he admitted that he lied to the police. Dunlap also acknowledged that he had heard testimony from Autry and Knight at his transfer hearing on April 12, 1982, months before he decided to give the police the statement that gave him immunity. He also denied seeing Case or anyone other than Worley strike Mitchell, and he said that he did not see anyone strike her with an object.