Opinion ID: 2809703
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ronnie A. Hunt, Jr.

Text: Following a jury trial spanning several days in September of 1991, Ronnie A. Hunt, Jr. (“Hunt”) was convicted on 25 September 1991 in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City of first-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence. The jury found that Hunt, along with his co-defendant, Harry Johnson, III, on 10 April 1991 shot to death Sheldene Simon on the front lawn of the victim’s home in Baltimore during a gunfight involving multiple shooters. Hunt was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, plus a consecutive twenty years for the handgun offense. Hunt’s convictions were affirmed in 1993 by the Court of Special Appeals on direct appeal in an unreported opinion. Hunt filed on 8 April 1997 a Petition for Post-Conviction Relief, which was denied by the Circuit Court on 19 August 1997. Hunt filed on 22 September 1997 an Application for Leave to Appeal, which was denied by the Court of Special Appeals on 23 January 1998. Hunt filed pro se on 31 January 2011 an Amended Petition for Writ of Actual Innocence (the “Hunt Amended Petition” or “Hunt’s Amended Petition”) in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City.5 In the Amended Petition he set out the procedural history of his case and claimed that his federal Constitutional Rights to due process and equal protection of the law afforded under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments were 5 On 30 September 2010 Hunt filed initially a petition. Hunt filed his Amended Petition before the State responded to the original petition and before the Circuit Court took any action. 3 denied him “based on false evidence.” Hunt alleged the following, under a heading titled “NEWLY DISCOVERED EVIDENCE”: In 2007 it was unveiled by the Office of the Public Defender Innocence Project and the Maryland State Police that Joseph Kopera, reportedly an expert in ballistics, had in fact testified and lied under oath about his academic credentials for years, and probably falsified evidence as well. At the time of Kopera’s reported death as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, he was employed with the Maryland State Police, after being employed with the Baltimore City Police Department for approximately 21 years. Kopera was the lynchpin in the State’s case, in which [Hunt] was convicted based solely on the testimony of Kopera, who has since become known as a liar and fraud. (minor alterations added). Later, in a section of Hunt’s Amended Petition titled “STATEMENT OF FACTS,” Hunt alleged the following: A number of inconsistencies in Kopera’s trial testimony in several or more cases regarding his academic credentials prompted an investigation or background check on Kopera by Ms. Michele Nethercott, chief attorney, out of the Office of the Public Defender Innocence Project. That also led to a subsequent investigation by the Maryland State Police, which unveiled some very troubling facts, that Kopera had been “lying” about his academic credentials for years, all while testifying under oath in countless court rooms in Baltimore City, the State of Maryland, and perhaps, state and federal courts in Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. It has been proven that Kopera wasn’t only a liar, but a fraud as well. . . . (minor alterations added). Hunt argued that Kopera’s testimony in his capacity as the State’s ballistics expert was the State’s “only evidence” against him and “the lynch [sic] pin in the State’s case.” Hunt reproduced a portion of the trial transcript in his case where Kopera discussed his 4 (fraudulent) qualifications.6 He reproduced then portions of the trial transcript where Kopera discussed a bullet specimen recovered from Simon’s body, a semiautomatic pistol, and Kopera’s process of “match[ing]” the two. Hunt noted that the State had not produced any DNA, fingerprints, or eye witnesses who placed him at the scene of the murder, and so, “without the false testimony of [Kopera], regarding both credentials and the murder weapon, it is highly unlikely that the State would have proven their case against [Hunt] beyond a reasonable doubt.” Hunt surmised penultimately: Every factual finding made by the jury hinged upon a determination that Kopera testified credibly. If Kopera’s fake credentials and/or false testimony had been known, however, it is reasonably probable that the outcome of the trial would have been different[,] because his testimony probably would not have been as credible. Hunt concluded by requesting, among other things, “a reversal of his conviction and unconditional release, otherwise, a new trial” and that “a prompt hearing be set in this matter.” The Circuit Court denied Hunt’s Amended Petition, without a hearing, on 15 February 2011 because the petition “fail[ed] to state a claim or assert grounds for which relief may be granted pursuant to [§ 8-301(a)].” Hunt filed then a motion for reconsideration on 3 March 2011, which was denied by the Circuit Court on 7 March 2011. 6 See supra note 1. In Hunt’s trial, Kopera testified that he held a degree in “mechanical engineering” from the University of Maryland and also “an engineering degree” from RIT. 5