Opinion ID: 223395
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Abdur'Rahman's Head Banging upon Arrest

Text: Abdur'Rahman's second Brady claim concerns Detective Garafola's report detailing his conduct upon arrest. On February 19, 1986, when Abdur'Rahman was arrested for murdering Daniels, Detective Garafola authored a report that read, in part: When we returned to our office Det Elmore and myself attempted to interview [Abdur'Rahman]. He was in an interview room and when we entered the room [Abdur'Rahman] was crying. He would not respond to our questions. The only statement he made was I only killed one man in my life and that was because he was trying to fuck me. He then started to hit his head on the table and then he jumped up still handcuffed to the chair and banged his head up against the wall. We got him under control and then took him to the booking room. In the booking room he started to bang his head on the wall again. Det Elmore was able to control him. We took Polaroid pictures of him and also mug shots with his glasses on and off. The government concedes that this portion of Detective Garafola's report was redacted and not shown to Abdur'Rahman at trial or before sentencing. Abdur'Rahman argues that this report could have been used to show that he was seriously mentally ill when he was arrested and that he had been mentally ill for decades. He also argues this evidence would have demonstrated that he was particularly susceptible to manipulation by the SEGM, disproving the prosecution's characterization of him as a depraved killer. The mitigative effect of Detective Garafola's report, he argues, would have caused one or more jurors to vote in favor of a life sentence. As an initial matter, we are not convinced that, at the time of the sentencing phase, Abdur'Rahman did not know the essential facts of the behavior described in Detective Garafola's report. Although it is possible that Abdur'Rahman was not personally aware of his own head-banging, his trial counsel indicated that something happened at the time [Abdur'Rahman] was arrested and he might have been put in a padded cell if he maybe lost his temper or something of that nature. Trial counsel interviewed Detective Garafola and talked about what happened at the point of arrest. Moreover, a Davidson County Sheriff's Department incident report indicated that, four hours after his interview with Detective Garafola, [Abdur'Rahman] started beating his head against the floor. Abdur'Rahman has never claimed that this report was suppressed; apparently, however, his trial counsel apparently never took steps to obtain it. If Abdur'Rahman's counsel did not know the essential facts of Abdur'Rahman's head-banging as described by Detective Garafola, he likely should have discovered them through further investigation. Because the prosecution's suppression of this part of Detective Garafola's report does not undermine our confidence in Abdur'Rahman's sentence, the district court did not err in rejecting the second Brady claim. A failure to disclose evidence favorable to the defense is `material,' and therefore `prejudicial,' only `if there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different.' Apanovitch, 466 F.3d at 475 (quoting Strickler, 527 U.S. at 280, 119 S.Ct. 1936). This reasonable probability exists when the government's suppression of evidence undermines confidence in the outcome of the trial. Id. (citing Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 434, 115 S.Ct. 1555, 131 L.Ed.2d 490 (1995)). Here, because Tennessee's capital sentencing law requires a unanimous jury vote to impose a death sentence, see Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-2-203(h) (1983), the relevant inquiry is whether there is a reasonable probability that the withheld evidence would have altered at least one juror's assessment of the appropriate penalty for [Abdur'Rahman's] crime, Cone v. Bell, 556 U.S. ___, ___, 129 S.Ct. 1769, 1773, 173 L.Ed.2d 701 (2009). To determine whether the nondisclosure of Detective Garafola's report was material, Abdur'Rahman urges us to also consider the prejudice arising from his first Brady claim along with that arising from the prosecutor's further misconductin particular, the presentation of his prejudicial indictments at sentencing and the suppression of a transcript from his 1972 murder trial. His request is overbroad. When granting a COA in this case, we permitted [Abdur'Rahman] to make cumulative-effect arguments with respect to the subclaims on which [the COA was granted], even it if involves referring to the factual allegations that underpin prosecutorial-misconduct subclaims on which [the COA was denied]. In so stating, we merely acknowledged the well-established rule that, when considering the materiality of alleged Brady evidence, we consider the cumulative effect of all of the undisclosed evidence, rather than each item in isolation. See Doan v. Carter, 548 F.3d 449, 460 (6th Cir.2008) (citing Kyles, 514 U.S. at 436, 115 S.Ct. 1555). Accordingly, our cumulative effect analysis looks only to other evidence that was both suppressed and exculpatory. Cf. Smith v. Sec'y, Dep't of Corr., 572 F.3d 1327, 1348 (11th Cir. 2009) (cumulating the effect of only those Brady claims that do involve favorable evidence that was actually suppressed ) (emphasis added). Because Brady does not apply to Miller's pre-trial statements, as they were not undisclosed, we will not consider their potential impact when determining the materiality of the redacted portion of Detective Garafola's report. Given that we did not grant a COA on Abdur'Rahman's other claims, and therefore do not review the merits of those claims here, the only evidence that we may consider for cumulative effect is the 1972 murder trial transcript. See Abdur'Rahman, 999 F.Supp. at 1089-90 (holding that 1972 murder trial transcript was suppressed and exculpatory, but not material). In analyzing materiality, we begin by looking at any prejudice arising from the suppression of part of Detective Garafola's report. Had it been admitted in its entirety, it would have done little to establish Abdur'Rahman's mental illness at the time of the offense or before. Abdur'Rahman was evaluated at the time of trial and found not to be incompetent or insane. As evidence of mental illness, Detective Garafola's report is far from conclusive. Head banging like Abdur'Rahman's could be a manifestation of many things (including frustration, anger, sadness, or mental illness) and therefore, in and of itself, is hardly dispositive of mental illness. Placing Abdur'Rahman in a padded cell is no more conclusive, and only represents the decision of law enforcement, not a mental health expert, that Abdur'Rahman was a potential danger to himself. The only other corroborating evidence of mental illness that Abdur'Rahman presented at sentencing was the testimony of himself and his wife. The addition of Detective Garafola's report adds little to Abdur'Rahman's narrative that he was mentally ill, and had it been presented, the prosecution could have rebutted it with considerable expert testimony to the contrary. Nor would admission of Detective Garafola's report have disproved the prosecution's narrative characterizing Abdur'Rahman as a depraved killer. Abdur'Rahman's head banging, under the circumstances described above, does not contradict the prosecution's description of Abdur'Rahman as not someone suffering from several emotional disturbance. Further, because Abdur'Rahman testified to the contrary at his sentencing phase, Detective Garafola's report does little to establish that Abdur'Rahman was susceptible to manipulation by the SEGM. Abdur'Rahman testified that the SEGM did not turn him into a murderer, and that Beard and Boyd were not involved in the crime. Abdur'Rahman, 2009 WL 211133, at . It is not likely that Detective Garafola's report would have changed the jury's impression of Abdur'Rahman. In fact, based on Detective Garafola's report alone, the jury could just as easily have viewed Abdur'Rahman's head banging as evidence of his culpability rather than as mitigation. Abdur'Rahman had already been convicted of a prior murder at the time of his arrest and was now accused of stabbing another man to death. Once in custody, Abdur'Rahman surely knew that he faced either a death sentence or life in prison. Rather than mental illness, then, the jury could have viewed Abdur'Rahman's head banging as evidence of guilt, distress or frustration that under-scored the danger he posed to himself and to others. As a result, while the redacted portion of Detective Garafola's report might have been favorable to Abdur'Rahman, it is highly unlikely that its admission at sentencing would have caused any juror to alter his assessment that Abdur'Rahman deserved the death penalty. Our conclusion remains unchanged, even when considering materiality in light of any prejudice arising from the suppression of the 1972 murder trial transcript. As the district court noted in an earlier phase of Abdur'Rahman's habeas proceedings, any prejudice arising from the suppression of that evidence was immaterial. See Abdur'Rahman, 999 F.Supp. at 1089-90. When that item is considered together with the redacted portions of Detective Garafola's report, the prospect of prejudice is no more convincing. Although both items allegedly relate to Abdur'Rahman's mental health history, neither is especially strong evidence, and the combined effect of them by no means tends to put the whole case in a different light as to undermine confidence in the verdict. See Cone, 129 S.Ct. at 1783 (internal quotation marks omitted); cf. Poindexter v. Mitchell, 454 F.3d 564, 573 (6th Cir.2006) ([W]here one is left with pure speculation on whether the outcome of the trial could have been any different, there is an insufficient showing of prejudice[.] (internal quotation marks, citation, and alteration in original omitted)). AFFIRMED.