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

Heading: Impeachment of the State’s Witnesses

Text: The state offered the testimony of Aaron’s brother, Dallas Hayes, but did not disclose that he had failed a polygraph examination and that the polygraph operator believed that Dallas “was lying on all questions that had to do with Aaron’s death.” (J.A. at 177.) However, as the district No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 23 court found, Ohio has long prohibited the admission of polygraph evidence unless both the prosecutor and defendant agree to admission and numerous safeguards are observed by the trial judge. See State v. Souel, 372 N.E.2d 1318, 1321-23 (Ohio 1978). Therefore, it is unlikely that the polygraph evidence would have been admissible, even if the State had disclosed its existence to Petitioner. A Crime Stoppers tip sheet showed that an anonymous tipster believed the police should look into Hayes because he had been playing in the abandoned building where Aaron’s body was found only five days before the murder. Additionally, Petitioner asserts that he is entitled to access to a statement by one of Hayes’ friends, who stated that Hayes wanted more freedom and wished that his mother would spend more time with him. However, in that same statement, the friend stated that Hayes loved his brother and would not let anything happen to him. c. Evidence Undermining the State’s Theory of the Case Petitioner also points to undisclosed evidence that Aaron had been seen in the abandoned building in the past, which contradicts the state’s argument at trial that Aaron was afraid of the dark and would not have entered the building unless coerced by another person. Although the question of how Aaron entered the building appears largely irrelevant to Petitioner’s guilt or innocence, it potentially undermines the state’s narrative of the crime and contradicts details provided in Petitioner’s statements to the police. Next, Petitioner argues that the state’s timeline of events is contradicted by undisclosed evidence. Specifically, Petitioner identifies numerous witness statements placing Aaron at a local ice cream stand as late as midnight on the night of the murder. This information was garnered by the police from firsthand accounts of named, identified people in the neighborhood. Although the state never definitively established a timeline of Aaron’s movements on the night of the murder and the medical examiner could not determine a time of death, the state did present evidence that Petitioner and Bies were last seen in the park adjacent to the abandoned building around 7:00 p.m., and Aaron’s brother Hayes testified that he last saw Aaron in the evening before it became dark outside. By suppressing evidence that numerous witnesses had seen Aaron later that evening, the state likely reinforced its case against Petitioner by suggesting that he and Aaron were last seen at approximately the same time. Therefore, this undisclosed No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 24 contradictory evidence could have been used by the defense to disrupt the state’s narrative of the crime.