Opinion ID: 2763627
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Evidence Withheld

Text: Petitioner identifies several categories of evidence that the state failed to turn over prior to his trial. This includes evidence regarding other suspects, some of whom confessed to having committed the crime, evidence regarding the prosecutor’s implied timeline of the crime, and impeachment evidence.
The state failed to disclose a substantial collection of tips, leads, and witness statements relating to other individuals who had been investigated for the murder of Aaron Raines. On its face, the nondisclosure of the identities of these suspects—two of whom were reported to have No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 19 confessed to the murder—is an egregious breach of the state’s Brady obligations. See D’Ambrosio v. Bagley, 527 F.3d 489, 498-99 (6th Cir. 2008); Jamison v. Collins, 291 F.3d 380, 390-91 (6th Cir. 2002). Prosecutors are not necessarily required to disclose every stray lead and anonymous tip, but they must disclose the existence of “legitimate suspect[s],” D’Ambrosio, 527 F.3d at 499, especially when such information has been specifically requested by the defendant, as it was in this case. “Withholding knowledge of a second suspect conflicts with the Supreme Court’s directive that ‘the criminal trial, as distinct from the prosecutor’s private deliberations, [be preserved] as the chosen forum for ascertaining the truth about criminal accusations.’” United States v. Jernigan, 492 F.3d 1050, 1056-57 (9th Cir. 2007) (en banc) (quoting Kyles, 514 U.S. at 440).
Police investigators amassed a number of reports that Cordray had confessed to the murder of Aaron Raines, and witnesses told police that Cordray was known to sleep in the abandoned building where Aaron’s body was found. One witness, George Putteet, told police that he had seen Aaron in the vicinity of the abandoned building around 10:30 p.m. on the night of the murder. Putteet further stated that a group of unidentified individuals “were messing with drunks in the alley,” including Cordray, and were “calling him names & getting him to chase them.” (J.A. at 55.) Although many of the witnesses’ statements were second-hand, it was widely believed that Cordray had admitted to numerous people that he was guilty of the crime, and indeed that he had bragged about it and was “glad Aaron was dead.” One witness reported that another man “beat up” Cordray after he said that he and a friend had killed Aaron. Cordray allegedly threatened a woman named Christine Robertson that he would harm her if she told anyone about a coat belonging to him that was discovered in the abandoned building. Anthony Steele and Theresa Wright-Steele told police that Cordray had approached them and said, “I did it. I killed the little kid.” (Id. at 39.) They further reported that Cordray’s hands and knuckles were “all scraped up,” and although Cordray was drunk and high on Valium at the time, they believed him when he confessed to killing Aaron. (Id.) Police investigated Cordray further, but they could not match his shoes to the footprints found at the crime scene. There were “some similarities” between the ridge pattern of Cordray’s palm print and the prints found at the No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 20 scene, but the police were unable to make a positive identification. (Id. at 41.) Cordray denied any involvement in Aaron’s murder when speaking with the police, and there was no further investigation because the investigating officer drafting the report thought Cordray was being truthful. The magistrate judge described the overwhelming evidence pertaining to Cordray as follows: The “Crime-Stoppers” tips include information that an individual by the name of Roger was known to sleep in the building where Aaron’s body was found. Roger also frequently drank in the building next door. Another tip came from Barb Desborough, who indicated that Roger Cordray confessed to the murder. Desborough also informed police that Vivian Stimetz might know who heard Roger confess, but the tip sheet stated that Vivian had not been located as of May 18, 1992. Barb Desborough reported hearing from people who attended Aaron’s funeral that Roger Cordray was bragging that he had killed Aaron, and that he was glad Aaron was dead. The police eventually found Vivian Stimetz, who was Aaron’s aunt, and interviewed her. She stated that Betty Gumm, Petitioner’s sister, communicated a rumor to Stimetz that Cordray was bragging about how he had beaten Aaron. Stimetz also repeated the rumor that Cordray lived in the abandoned building where Aaron’s body was found, but stated that she had never seen him anywhere but on the street. There is a reference to Cordray’s having been taken away by the paramedics after he said this, but the context of that comment is unclear. The police also interviewed Christine Robertson, who said that supposedly there was a coat belonging to Cordray found in the building where Aaron’s body was discovered. Robertson stated that she had been threatened by Cordray not to say anything about the coat or he would harm her. Anthony Steele told the police that Roger Cordray had confessed to him that he had killed the little kid. Steele noticed that Cordray’s hands and knuckles were scraped up, too. Steele also stated that Cordray had confided to him that Cordray was a suspect in the murder, but that he could never do that because he loves kids. In an investigative summary, a police officer described a meeting with Anthony and Theresa Steele, who stated they were near the murder scene with Cordray on an unspecified date when Cordray told them he had killed the little kid. Although both Anthony and Theresa were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time, both believed Cordray was being honest with them. The officers returned to the Steele home to talk with Anthony and Theresa again. The Steeles repeated their story with somewhat more detail during the second conversation. The officers eventually located Cordray and took pictures of his shoes and fingerprinted him. Cordray described his activities on the night of the murder and denied knowing Aaron Raines or seeing him the night of the murder, and stated No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 21 he would never do anything to hurt a child. In addition, the tread on Cordray’s shoes did not match from the crime scene. A comparison of Cordray’s palm print to one found at the scene revealed similarities, but no points upon which an identification of the found print as Cordray’s might be made. The author of the investigative summary expressed his belief that Cordray was being truthful, and skepticism that Cordray was involved in Aaron’s murder. In notes from an interview of Betty Gumm, Petitioner’s sister, it stated that Donna Jones heard Roger Cordray state that he killed Aaron. There is also a note indicating that Paul Worthington heard Cordray “bragging to the cops + priest that he had done the killing.” Talk around the neighborhood was that Cordray had committed the murder. Another investigative summary basically repeats the information gathered from Barb Desborough. A conversation with Roberta Shinkle indicated that William O’Malley beat Cordray because Cordray said he and a friend had killed Aaron. One story that traveled through several people before reaching the police involved Rick Baker’s desire to have a pair of very bloody jeans washed. Baker explained the blood on his jeans by stating that after Cordray was beaten, he helped Cordray, getting Cordray’s blood on his jeans in the process. An unidentified individual stated that he or she saw Aaron the night he was murdered, and that he or she saw Cordray with two other men sitting on some steps in the vicinity that same night. Gumm v. Mitchell, No. 1:98–cv–838, 2009 WL 7785750, at -21 (S.D. Ohio Sept. 28, 2009).
Police received numerous reports potentially implicating Raymond Moore, who had apparently previously lived in the abandoned building where Aaron’s body was found. The police records include a statement from a witness who saw Moore enter the abandoned building around 7:00 p.m. on the night of the murder, which is around the same time that Petitioner and Michael Bies were seen in the adjacent park. Moore stated that he knew Aaron and he had looked for him for several hours after being asked to help search by a police officer around 9:00 p.m.; however, Aaron had not been reported missing until 11:00 p.m. Aaron’s uncle, William Raines, told police that following Aaron’s murder, he noticed Moore acting strangely and that he seemed to be avoiding Aaron’s mother. A police officer “looked at it and he said he didn’t feel that [Moore’s palm print] matched what he had from the crime scene.” (Id. at 116.) After speaking with Moore, the police determined that they “kind of” believed him and effectively eliminated him as a suspect, particularly after Moore admitted that he had a “shot” memory and his shoes did not match the prints found at the crime scene. (Id. at 118–19.) No. 11-3363 Gumm v. Mitchell Page 22
Although Roger Cordray and Raymond Moore were the most notable and talked-about alternative suspects, the undisclosed police files are replete with references to other individuals who may have had some involvement in Aaron’s murder. For example, a boy named Larry Peters told the police that Reggie Hetsler approached him at a bus stop in Cincinnati and told him that he killed and raped the little boy along with his brother, Steve Pence. Several undisclosed documents concerned Garland Inman, an individual who had previously been adjudicated a juvenile delinquent for the sexual assault of several family members. Inman had recently been released from juvenile detention, was seen by a named, identified witness near the scene of the crime on the night of the murder, and a number of individuals believed he might have been involved in the crime. Another suspect was Claude Justice, who was the subject of a “crime-stoppers” tip. An anonymous caller reported that Justice is a homosexual man who often propositioned young boys for sex. The tipster stated that he had seen Justice on prior occasions emerge from the building where Aaron was found, often followed by a boy. Several witnesses, including Aaron’s uncle Clayton Raines, believed that a man named Luther Hatton had been involved in Aaron’s murder because he had a violent criminal history, had been seen near the abandoned building, and mysteriously disappeared after a night of drinking around 10:00 p.m. on the night of the murder. Additionally, according to an ex-convict, word around a local prison was that Hatton had killed Aaron. An anonymous tipster referenced Cody Duffey acting strangely, harassing “neighborhood kids,” and carrying a crowbar. The tipster said that Duffey had approached her after Aaron’s murder and asked her what she thought she might do if someone had killed her child. Duffey’s cold demeanor led her to believe that Duffey knew something about the murder. Raines also mentioned a man named Carl Miller to the police. Raines believed Miller might have been involved because he wanted to get out of town quickly on the night Aaron was murdered.
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.