Opinion ID: 2801073
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Barton’s Brady Claim

Text: At Barton’s trial, the sole witness against him—Gary Henson—“testified that he had previously committed staged burglaries for hire. The state maintained that the burglary of [Barton’s] residence appeared to have been staged as well.” R. 11-2 (Ohio Ct. of Appeals Op. Affirming Decision to Den. Def.’s Pet. For Post-Conviction Relief 6) (Page ID #741). Prior to trial, “the state provided [Barton’s] counsel with a police report documenting a burglary committed at the Lebanon residence of James and Ann Kelly in 1993. The Kelly burglary was suspected to have been staged due to the fact that items of personal property were placed on the floor and the house was not ransacked.” Id. At no point during Barton’s prosecution did the State inform him that it had re-opened its investigation into the Kelly case after Henson implicated Barton in Vicki’s homicide. When officers questioned Jim Kelly in 2004, shortly before Barton’s trial, Kelly vehemently denied hiring Henson to stage a burglary in order to scare his family into moving to the city. See, e.g., R. 11-2 (Ann Kelly Affidavit at 1) (Page ID #578). He reiterated these denials in the face of police threats to charge him with obstruction of justice should he decide not to testify against Barton. Id. at 2 (Page ID #579). Eventually, officials decided to drop the matter, filing the original police report as Brady material and handing it over to Barton’s counsel. Still, “[n]othing in th[is] police report provided to [Barton] connected Henson to the Kelly burglary”—the police simply turned over the report without further explanation. R. 11-2 (Ohio Ct. of Appeals Op. Affirming Decision to Den. Def.’s Pet. For Post-Conviction Relief 6) (Page ID #741). Barton did not learn of the State’s conversations with Kelly until after his trial, by dint of his own investigation. C. State Court Post-Conviction Proceedings and Federal Habeas Proceedings Barton first raised his Brady claim while seeking post-conviction relief in the Ohio Court of Common Pleas. See, e.g., R. 44 (Magistrate Judge’s Report and Rec. at 21) (Page ID #2415). He specifically challenged the State’s failure to inform him (1) that Henson had told police that James Kelly had hired Henson to stage a burglary at the Kelly residence; (2) that the police had asked James Kelly whether he had hired Henson to stage such a burglary and threatened to charge Kelly with obstruction of justice if he did not testify against Barton; (3) that James Kelly No. 12-4003 Barton v. Warden, Southern Ohio Corr. Facility Page 6 had denied hiring Henson to stage a burglary, even in the face of these threats; and (4) that Henson had attributed a nearly identical motive to Kelly regarding why he wanted a burglary staged at his rural home—to scare his family into moving to the city. The Court of Common Pleas denied Barton’s claim. Its reasoning follows in its entirety: Lastly, the third ground for relief is that the State failed to provide the defendant with Brady material. As the State points out a post-conviction relief petition is not a substitute for a direct appeal. By not raising any Brady issues on direct appeal, the defendant is barred from raising this issue here. Strowmatt v. State, (2002), 779 NE 2d 971 and State v. Reynolds, (1997), 79 Ohio St.3d 158. Henson admitted during his testimony that he had participated with his brother, William Phelp [sic], in committing other staged burglaries, which the crime here appeared to be. The Kelley [sic] burglary being a collateral matter the Court has strong reservations as to what limited relevant evidence would have been admitted had the defense attempted to raise the matter at trial. Again, the defense invites the Court to speculate that a different result might have occurred had this information been presented. Both burglaries are similar in the respect that Henson claimed he and his half-brother were hired to scare the owner’s wife and daughter into moving from the home. Just because Mr. Kelley [sic] denies any part in such a plot, does not mean that the jury here would have believed him or that the jury would not have found a ring of truth in the similarity between the two stories. Again, trial counsel was faced with myriad of options as to how to proceed in impeaching Gary Henson’s testimony. To the extent that some strategies were pursued while others were ignored or rejected, the Court has no way of knowing and will not speculate on. R. 11-2 (Ohio Ct. of Common Pleas Decision and Entry Den. Def.’s Pet. For Post-Conviction Relief 3–4) (Page ID #614–15) (emphasis added). The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed the state trial court’s judgment. Its reasoning, again in its entirety, follows: We note that appellant did not raise any Brady issues on direct appeal. “Under the doctrine of res judicata, a final judgment of conviction bars a convicted defendant who was represented by counsel from raising and litigating in any proceeding except an appeal from that judgment, any defense or any claimed lack of due process that was raised or could have been raised by the defendant at the trial, which resulted in that judgment of conviction, or an appeal from that judgment.” State v. Perry (1967), 10 Ohio St.2d 175, paragraph nine of the syllabus. Consequently, appellant is barred from raising any Brady issues in this postconviction relief proceeding. No. 12-4003 Barton v. Warden, Southern Ohio Corr. Facility Page 7 R. 11-2 (Ohio Ct. of Appeals Op. Affirming Decision to Den. Def.’s Pet. For Post-Conviction Relief 6) (Page ID #741) (emphasis added). Further appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court was denied. R 11-2 (Ohio Supreme Ct. Decision to Den. Def’s Leave to Appeal 1) (Page ID #790) (“[T]he Court denies leave to appeal and dismisses the appeal as not involving any substantial constitutional question.”). In reviewing Barton’s subsequent federal habeas petition, the federal magistrate judge concluded, on the merits, that no Brady violation had occurred because Barton could have discovered Kelly’s denial of Henson’s allegation prior to trial. R. 44 (Magistrate Judge’s Report and Rec. at 25) (Page ID #2419). The police report that Barton’s counsel received from the State contained Becky Kelly’s (James’s daughter’s) name and address. Id. at 24 (Page ID #2418). And, in a statement that is entirely unsupported by the record, the magistrate judge concluded that Barton was aware that police suspected the 1993 burglary of the Kelly residence to have been staged and that the crime had not yet been solved. Id.; see also R. 11-2 (Kelly Police Report at 2–6) (Page ID #677–81) (copy of police report making no mention that crime had been staged or that crime remained unsolved). Thus, according to the magistrate judge, Barton had the opportunity to interview the Kellys before his trial, and could have obtained the information in the statements that Ann and Becky Kelly gave to police during the 2004 re-investigation. R. 44 (Magistrate Judge’s Report and Rec. at 24) (Page ID #2418). In his supplemental report, the magistrate judge also concluded that Barton failed to demonstrate that the state trial court’s conclusions concerning the potential impact on the jury of the statements at issue were “contrary to or an unreasonable application of United States Supreme Court law.” See R. 49 (Magistrate Judge’s Supplemental Report and Rec. at 6) (Page ID #2493); see 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1); Awkal v. Mitchell, 613 F.3d 629, 638 (6th Cir. 2010). The district court affirmed and adopted the magistrate judge’s recommendations in full and denied Barton’s habeas petition. R. 52 (Dist. Ct. Op. and Order at 9) (Page ID #2526). Barton timely appealed.