Opinion ID: 2763627
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Flagrancy of the Prosecution’s Conduct

Text: Having found that the prosecutor’s remarks were improper, we move on to determine whether the remarks were so flagrant as to warrant reversal, considering the four factors set forth in Francis, supra, and Bowling, supra. The only thing given AEDPA deference in this instance is the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision that the prosecutor’s conduct with respect to the psychiatric reports does not constitute prosecutorial misconduct. What the Ohio Supreme Court did not address, however, is whether the prosecutor’s elicitation and use of Thacker’s and Baker’s testimony in isolation constitute prosecutorial misconduct or whether the cumulative effect of those statements and the prosecutor’s arguments regarding those statements amounts to prosecutorial misconduct. In fact, on de novo review, this Court’s test directs us to consider a series of statements and actions to determine the flagrancy of the prosecutor’s conduct. In this case, we are not left to guess whether the prosecutor’s egregious acts, viewed in the context of the rest of the evidence presented at trial, were flagrant and whether habeas is therefore an appropriate form of relief. In the instant case, the prosecutor relentlessly pressed the witnesses to obtain specific testimony, testimony which was highly inflammatory and unreliable. The prosecutor then used the inflammatory information contained in Thacker and Baker’s testimony in the rebuttal closing arguments to the jury to argue that Petitioner is a sexual deviant who likely committed the crimes: Sex is the motive in this particular case, and it fits the profile. . . . Darryl likes to shoot pool, and he likes to have sex. It’s probably a strange hobby, but it fits. Sex is a hobby, and he likes to have it every day: Sex with a woman; sex with a man, which he’s had on fifteen to twenty occasions according to the evidence; sex with animals, according to Phyllis Thacker; and sex with little boys. (J.A. at 315 (emphasis added).) It is clear that the prosecutor’s misconduct was flagrant and severe. Like the misconduct in Bordenkircher and Hofbauer, the prosecutor intended to mislead the jury and prejudice the defendant by using highly inflammatory and prejudicial evidence, much of which was known to be of questionable reliability, to assert that Petitioner had a propensity to commit the acts in No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 45 question. Particularly, with regard to Thacker’s testimony, the statement that Petitioner had mentioned having had sex with a horse was unreliable due to the fact that in that same conversation with Thacker, Petitioner also stated that the horse had spoken to him. The prosecutor then reminded the jury of this evidence by arguing its truth in his rebuttal closing argument, which also included reference to the subject of Baker’s testimony. The prosecutor intended to prejudice the jury against Petitioner by portraying him as a sexual deviant whose character aligned with the crimes in this case. These statements were neither isolated nor innocently placed before the jury. In Bordenkircher, although this Court found that the prosecutor’s conduct was improper, the Court concluded that the conduct was not so flagrant as to require reversal. The Court found particularly compelling the fact that the prosecutor’s improper arguments were made in response to arguments first asserted by defense counsel, “diminish[ing] the allegations made concerning a due process violation.” Bordenkircher, 602 F.2d at 121. In this case, on the other hand, the prosecutor’s elicitation of prejudicial testimony and propensity arguments were part of a series of deliberate and improper statements that were used at multiple points throughout the trial to convince the jury that Petitioner had a propensity to commit the alleged crimes. The prosecution’s propensity-driven argument was deliberate and was not made in response to defense counsel’s arguments. It was “part of a calculated effort used to evoke strong . . . emotions” against Petitioner. United States v. Payne, 2 F.3d 706, 715 (6th Cir. 1993). Thacker’s damaging testimony was one of the first things heard by the jury in this case and one of the last things argued to the jury in the prosecution’s rebuttal. It is clear from the prosecutor’s line of questioning that he had interviewed Thacker before trial and knew which stories from her interview he wished to place before the jury. From the beginning, the prosecutor intended to infect Petitioner’s trial with prejudicial and unreliable evidence. When Thacker was uncomfortable using the harsh and damaging language sought by the prosecutor, he continued to push. He pushed Thacker until she reluctantly stated to the jury that Petitioner told her that he “fucked the horse.” Although the prosecutor moved on from that subject after obtaining the language he was searching for, he pressed Baker in a similar manner, even putting words on the record that she denied ever having heard Petitioner say. The discussion of irrelevant prior bad acts did not end there, however. The prosecution’s rebuttal closing argument included an No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 46 express reference to Thacker’s testimony and indirect references to the subject of Baker’s testimony. The prosecution did not simply move on from the damaging testimony; he reminded the jurors of it through his propensity argument just before they left for deliberations. Additionally, as explained above, the other evidence against Petitioner was weak. This Court’s cases granting and denying prosecutorial misconduct claims seem to be distinguishable largely on one ground: the total strength of the evidence against the accused. In Bordenkircher, for example, this Court found particularly important the fact that “proof of guilt was overwhelming. The petitioner was effectively caught red handed.” 602 F.2d at 120. In Cristini, too, although this Court found that “some of the prosecutor’s opening and closing argument went beyond the bounds of the ruling that permitted other acts evidence to establish Defendant’s identity,” it concluded that any error in connection with the misuse of that evidence was harmless because the rest of the evidence was so strong against the defendant that “the prior bad acts evidence and the propensity arguments did not have a substantial or injurious effect on the jury’s verdict. 526 F.3d at 900. In the instant case, on the other hand, there was no physical evidence linking Petitioner to the crime. There were no eyewitnesses to the murder. In fact, the only evidence outside of the challenged improper bad acts testimony was Petitioner’s confession, non-probative statements by Petitioner’s former female housemates that he began acting strange, looked at them in awkward ways, frequently talked about sex with women, and became hateful when he drank alcohol, and the psychiatric reports argued as fact in the prosecutor’s closing argument. Although we must find under the stringent requirements of AEDPA that the prosecutor’s argument regarding the psychiatric reports did not constitute prosecutorial misconduct, that does not prevent us from viewing the hearsay statements to determine the credibility, reliability, and strength of this evidence against Petitioner under the fourth factor of our test. The evidence contained in these reports had little to no reliability due to the many layers of hearsay. For example, Charles Bray relayed a story to a social worker about Petitioner having tried to convince a relative to “suck him.” However, Bray could not provide additional information because he did not himself observe the incident and was only told about the purported behavior by another individual. Bray also recalled hearing a story from his wife about Petitioner throwing a raccoon into a bucket of No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 47 paint. The report, however, does not indicate whether Bray’s wife observed the incident herself or heard about it from another party. Without more information and adequate indicia of reliability, these hearsay statements provided very little support for the prosecution’s case. Additionally, most of the information contained in the reports, such as the prejudicial stories of cruelty to animals, is unrelated to the crimes in this case. Even if the stories were accompanied by an adequate indicia of reliability, Petitioner’s cruelty to animals is unrelated to the attempted rape and murder of a ten-year-old boy. As a result, the psychiatric reports do not provide strong support for the prosecution’s case. Finally, the strongest evidence in the record supporting Petitioner’s conviction is his taped confession. However, as explained above, Petitioner’s confession is not reliable and cannot be given great weight in this case. In Berger, 295 U.S. at 89, the Supreme Court was confronted with a situation in which the conduct of the prosecuting attorney was not “slight or confined to a single instance, but one where such misconduct was pronounced and persistent, with a probable cumulative effect upon the jury which cannot be disregarded as inconsequential.” The Court concluded that “[i]f the case . . . had been strong, or . . . the evidence of his guilt overwhelming, a different conclusion might be reached.” Id. However, finding that the case against the petitioner was weak, the Court granted habeas relief. Here, unlike Cristini and Bordenkircher, the case against Petitioner was so weak and the prosecutor’s misconduct so “pronounced and persistent” that it too had a “probable cumulative effect upon the jury which cannot be disregarded as inconsequential.” Id. It is difficult for this Court not to conclude under de novo review that the prosecutor’s conduct in this case was “calculated to incite the passion and prejudices of the jurors” and “so infected the trial with unfairness as to make the resulting conviction a denial of due process.” Broom v. Mitchell, 441 F.3d 392, 412 (6th Cir. 2006) (internal quotation marks omitted). Therefore, habeas relief is proper on Petitioner’s prosecutorial misconduct claim. III.