Opinion ID: 4505731
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Comparison to Our Prior Case Law

Text: We disagree with the Commonwealth’s argument that our prior cases compel a harmless error finding here. The Commonwealth relies heavily on Johnson v. Lamas, 850 F.3d 119 (3d Cir. 2017), but there the prosecution presented two eyewitnesses whose identifications corroborated each other. We also applied a different standard of review in Lamas. There, we applied AEDPA deference to the state court’s ruling, and ultimately determined that the error was harmless “even if we might decide the case differently were we to undertake de novo review.” Id. at 134. Here we review the undecided issue of harmless error de novo, and the record shows that Dion and Taylor contradicted each other with respect to Johnson’s motive. We also do not find, as we did in Bond v. Beard, that the prosecution presented “such extensive evidence of [the petitioner’s] guilt that the error could not have had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s verdict.” 539 F.3d 256, 276 (3d Cir. 2008). In Bond, we held that the error “added little to this compelling evidence against 7 As in Washington, we are also cognizant of Wright’s “inherent incentive to minimize his own culpability as a participant in the events he described.” 801 F.3d at 171. 26 [the petitioner]” where the prosecution presented two eyewitnesses and the defendant had confessed to the police. Id. Here, Johnson never confessed to the crime, the Commonwealth’s sole eyewitness had substantial flaws, other witnesses painted a picture different from that portrayed by Dion, and the jury deliberations suggest that this was a close case. Indeed, “most of the ‘overwhelming’ evidence the State points to concerns the [crime] itself,” Adamson v. Cathel, 633 F.3d 248, 260 (3d Cir. 2011), and how Donnie was shot, rather than evidence of who shot him. A far cry from the overwhelming evidence against the defendant presented in Bond, we do not find that the evidence rendered Wright’s confession “of little moment.” Adamson, 633 F.3d at 261.