Opinion ID: 2633199
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Witnesses a Reasonable Investigation Would Have Yielded

Text: According to the referee, of the witnesses upon whose testimony Thomas now relies, Chaffee knew or could have discovered the existence of four: Claus von Wendel, Jong Cheol Cho, Lee Andersen, and Randy Turley. Of these, Chaffee contacted only von Wendel. In contrast, the referee found that Chaffee could not reasonably have learned of the existence of the following potential witnesses before trial: Daniel Adams, Megan Barry, James Berney Royster, David Kohn, Robert Herbert, Toma Cauffield, and Mel Vapour. Furthermore, the referee concluded that Chaffee knew of, but could not have located, potential witness Lee Andersen. Though Thomas objects to these findings, we conclude they are supported by substantial evidence, as discussed post, and we adopt them. Contrary to the referee's findings, Thomas contends that in addition to Cho, Andersen and Turley, Chaffee could easily have located Adams, Barry, Royster, Kohn, Herbert, and Cauffield. [6] The dissent implies the same. (Dis. opn. post, 39 Cal. Rptr.3d at p. 859, 129 P.3d at p. 61.) In evaluating this assertion, we are mindful that the issue is not whether Thomas's habeas corpus counsel in fact located these witnesses during postconviction investigation, but whether Chaffee could have been expected to locate each one in the limited time available before trial. [7] Daniel Adams: Adams was a traveling Deadhead. At the evidentiary hearing, Adams recounted witnessing, in the days before the murders, a discussion between Gioia and a man he knew as Bo in which Bo seemed controlling and Gioia appeared very upset. He also reported hearing Bo say, Sometimes a man's got to do what must be done the morning after the murders, then saw him pack up and leave Rainbow Village in a hurried fashion. Thomas argues that Chaffee could have found Adams based on a photograph of him appearing in a story in the San Francisco Chronicle. He dismisses as immaterial that Adams falsely identified himself as Dan Reynolds. Adams's false identification of himself underlines the referee's finding that any investigation would have been complicated by the fact members of the Grateful Dead community frequently used only nicknames or aliases. It was not unreasonable for the referee to conclude that, given Adams's use of a false name, Chaffee would not have been able to track him down in advance of trial or learn he had relevant information. Megan Barry: Barry was a Deadhead, living principally in Chico. Barry believed Gioia was Bo's girlfriend, but had no personal knowledge of this fact and could not identify the source of the information; the referee concluded this belief was speculative. Barry disliked Bo immensely and speculated that Bo and/or fellow Deadhead Weston Sudduth might have killed Gioia and Kniffin over a drug transaction. Thomas asserts that Barry was well known in the Deadhead community and that in a routine investigation her name would have come up frequently as someone to interview. However, as Thomas concedes and the referee found, Barry left Rainbow Village before the murders. Consequently, Barry had no personal or firsthand knowledge concerning the murders nor, for that matter, did she know Bo's real name at the time of the murders. Although Barry testified she met Gioia three months before Gioia died, the referee found this testimony of doubtful credibility, contradicted by testimony from Gioia's sister indicating that Gioia left for California for the first time in July 1985, the month before she died. Thus, even if Barry's name had come up in interviews of fellow Deadheads, nothing would have revealed that she had relevant information about the murders, Bo, Gioia, or Kniffin or that she should be sought out any more than dozens of other Deadheads. James Berney Royster: Royster was a Deadhead and Rainbow Village resident. Royster was asleep in Rainbow Village the night of the murders; his personal knowledge was limited to confirming that a man he knew as Bo was in Rainbow Village at the time of the murders, and relating his perception that Bo's appearances at Dead shows dwindled between the murders and Thomas's conviction. After the murders, Royster was afraid to stay in Rainbow Village and stayed with a friend elsewhere. Royster subsequently left the area to tour with the band. He never contacted the police and contacted a defense investigator only after the guilt phase of trial was over. At oral argument, Thomas suggested Royster was among many witnesses Chaffee could have found by first contacting Deadhead Randy Turley. Indeed, Turley provided the lead that allowed habeas corpus counsel to locate Royster. Habeas corpus investigator James Barnes testified that he found Royster by tracking down Turley in Chico, who gave him Megan Barry's name; talking to Barry, who was in Connecticut and who gave him Marie Marino's name; locating Marie Marino in New York; from Marino, learning the whereabouts of Royster's parents; and from that, finding Royster. As noted ante, the referee found Chaffee could have traced Turley. It is also undisputed Turley was generally knowledgeable about the Deadhead community. The difficulty, however, is that Turley was not in Rainbow Village at the time of the murders and could not know who might have specific useful information. Thus, at most he could have provided Chaffee only with a long list of names or nicknames of members of the community, with no indication which of those on the list might have actual information about the murders. The numerous steps needed to locate Royster demonstrate the cost of such a further investigation. Indeed, considering only these steps significantly overstates the benefit and underestimates the cost, because Royster was one of the handful of witnesses habeas corpus counsel felt had evidence worth presenting. Thomas offers no evidence that defense counsel could or should have known in advance that Royster had any relevant information and should be sought out in particular. We cannot tell how much time was spent tracking down and interviewing other equally likely potential witnesses based on names provided by Turley, only to determine that they had nothing of use to say or were unwilling to cooperate. The example of Royster thus illustrates the general problem with one of Thomas's main arguments, that tracking down Deadhead Turley would have given Chaffee an entry into the Deadhead community and should have allowed him to find witnesses such as Barry, Royster, and others. It is one thing to conduct such an investigation, turning over every conceivable stone, in the context of a habeas corpus proceeding. It is another to argue that counsel, provided with a lengthy cold calltype list and a few months to prepare, would be constitutionally deficient for failing to have an investigator run through every name on that list, sifting through dross in the hopes of finding a few nuggets of gold, given what little fruit a witness such as Royster could yield. [8] The referee's conclusion that Royster could not reasonably have been located is supported by substantial evidence. David Kohn: Kohn first came to California four months after the murders, in December 1985, for a Grateful Dead show. He eventually shared an apartment in Chico with James Bowen and others. On a trip to and from a Dead show, Bowen told him he had once killed his brother over a woman. Kohn did not know what the statement meant. Thomas asserts that if one could have found Bowen, one could have found his close companion, Kohn, who could have testified to Bowen's statement. However, as Thomas concedes, this claim depends on an investigation's first making the connection that Bo, the unknown blond man Cercy saw, was James Bowen, a flesh-and-blood person who left for Chico in the month after the murders. As the referee found, the other witnesses a reasonable investigation could have identified did not know that Bo was James Bowen; thus, the referee concluded there was no evidence proving that Chaffee could have established at the time of trial that someone known as Bo was named James Bowen. If an investigation could not make the leap from seeking Bo to seeking and finding James Bowen, it likely would not turn up Kohn. Robert Herbert and Toma Cauffield: Herbert and Cauffield came to California from New Jersey in 1985, attending a few Grateful Dead concerts along the way, and moved into an apartment in Chico. They were roommates of James Bowen for a month or so in September 1985. They witnessed a discussion at their apartment between Bo and another Deadhead, Weston Sudduth, who said words to the effect, How could you do it? How can you sleep with yourself at night? They did not know to what this referred. Herbert and Cauffield were never in Rainbow Village. As with Kohn, Thomas's assertion that they could have been located depends on trial counsel's making the Bo-Bowen connection. Moreover, unless counsel made that connection during the brief period immediately after the murders when Bowen was living with Herbert and Cauffield, Herbert and Cauffield could not have been located without an investigator's working backward to identify and visit every place the (apparently transient) Bowen had stayed since the murders. [9] Thomas has not shown a competent investigation would have revealed Herbert's and Cauffield's identities. Lee Andersen: In 1985, Andersen was a Deadhead and an ex-Rainbow Village resident. He was living on the streets of Berkeley, having been expelled from the village for excessive drinking and noise. Andersen was a potential second eyewitness to one part of the events reportedly seen by Cercy. He was sleeping near Rainbow Village on the night of the murders and testified at the evidentiary hearing that he saw a tall, thin man in a pea coat or trench coat approach Cercy's car and speak with her twice. However, the referee found Andersen's testimony generally lacking in credibility and further concluded that his testimony did more to impeach than to corroborate Cercy (notably, although Andersen was in the same area all night, he heard no gunshots). Thomas asserts that Chaffee could have found Andersen based on information Thomas's girlfriend, Lenise Christy Allen, had about his whereabouts. But Chaffee actually spoke with Allen, obtained this information, and set up a meeting with Andersen, a meeting Andersen failed to attend. Thus, the failure to locate Andersen did not result from Chaffee's failing to explore a lead and was not a consequence of ineffective assistance. In sum, what Chaffee would have found 20 years ago with a competent investigation is difficult to know. Perhaps he might have found some but not all of these witnesses; if so, which of these or other potential witnesses would have been uncovered is even more difficult to determine. Thomas bears the burden of demonstrating that reasonably effective counsel would have located each witness; on balance, he has not done so. We find supported by substantial evidence the referee's conclusions that a reasonable investigation would not have turned up Adams, Barry, Royster, Kohn, Herbert, Cauffield, Andersen, or Mel Vapour. [10] Thus, the failure to locate and obtain testimony from these witnesses was not a prejudicial consequence of the inadequate investigation.