Opinion ID: 5826
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Tangible evidence

Text: While the eyewitness identifications are convincing, Kyles is also faced with the great deal of incriminating evidence found in the apartment where he usually resided. The defense must also discount much of this evidence as coincidental. The remainder, however, Kyles attributes to Beanie's alleged effort to frame him. Kyles maintains that the nondisclosure of the transcript also weakened his ability to establish Beanie's motives for framing him. The transcript assertedly contains three statements that may do so. First, in describing the trip to retrieve Kyles' car from the Schwegmann's parking lot, Beanie referred to the part of the lot where the murder had taken place. Kyles would infer from this statement Beanie's knowledge of, and hence involvement in, the murder. Second, Beanie described driving around New Orleans in the stolen LTD and his concern that he might be arrested because of this possession. These statements, Kyles argues, lead to one motive: that Beanie framed Kyles in order to escape prosecution himself for murder, complicity in murder, or dealing in stolen goods. Finally, the transcript reveals that Beanie requested $400 as reimbursement for the amount he paid Kyles for the stolen LTD. Kyles translates this statement into another motive by arguing that Beanie framed him to get a monetary reward. 18 At trial, Kyles elicited testimony supporting these two motives, as well as a third: that Beanie framed Kyles so that Beanie could pursue his romantic interest in Pinkie Burns. The principal thrust of the defense case was that Beanie committed the murder. During cross-examination, Detective Dillman testified that Beanie possessed Mrs. Dye's LTD. Defense witnesses testified that Beanie fit the gunman's description. The presence of the murder weapon was attributed to Beanie's visit to Kyles' apartment. We are not persuaded that Beanie's reference to the scene of the murder adds significant weight. The transcript also reveals that Beanie followed news accounts of the crime after they alerted him to the connection between the LTD and the murder. As to a pecuniary motive, Detective Dillman told the jury that Beanie received $400 after giving his tip. Beanie's request for the money on the transcript would have been cumulative, at best. As further support for the defense theory, Kyles elicited testimony from the police that stolen license plates were on the LTD when it was found. Johnny Burns testified that he saw Beanie change the plates. The defense maintains that this evidence dispels any notion that Beanie was the unwitting bona fide purchaser of a stolen car. Once more, Kyles claims that the jury would have attached more significance to this evidence if the State had disclosed the transcript. It is true that on the transcript Beanie did not deny placing stolen plates on the LTD, even as officers made statements to that effect, but the state never urged and no prosecution witness ever stated that Beanie was an innocent 19 buyer. The State did not call Beanie as a witness, nor inform the jury of the contents of his initial tip to police. Thus, the character or credibility of the informant was not presented to the jury by the prosecution.9 Beanie's tip served only to explain why police showed Kyles' photograph to the eyewitnesses. The defense established that Beanie had possession of the LTD and that it bore stolen plates. A witness testified that Beanie placed them on the car. Thus, Kyles did lay the foundation for inferring that Beanie was not an unwitting buyer of stolen goods, but rather a knowing possessor who might have been the robber. On the other hand, proof that Beanie changed the plates is not inconsistent with Kyles' guilt. Ultimately, this evidence is at best cumulative on a factual point not rebutted by the State. The nondisclosure of this much of the transcript was insignificant. Kyles also complains that the failure to disclose the transcript, and two other documents containing statements by Beanie, impaired his defense by preventing him from showing inconsistencies among those statements. After the recorded conversation shown by the transcript, Beanie went to police headquarters and signed a typewritten statement in the early morning hours of Sunday, September 23. Sometime later, before Kyles' trial and conviction, prosecuting attorney Cliff Strider interviewed Beanie and wrote several pages of notes regarding Beanie's statements at that time. Neither Beanie's written statement nor Strider's notes were disclosed to the defense before 9 This factor is discussed further infra, section III.B. 20 trial. Kyles claims that the defense could have furthered its case by informing the jury of inconsistencies, principally between the first two statements and Strider's notes. In the first two statements, Beanie described this sequence of events: on Friday evening, September 21, Kyles sold the LTD to Beanie. Beanie then saw Kyles unload Schwegmann's grocery sacks and a purse from the LTD and place them in his apartment at 2313 Desire Street. After 9:00 p.m., Beanie accompanied Kyles and others to the Schwegmann's parking lot, where they retrieved Kyles' own car. Prosecutor Strider's notes generally reflect the same events, but the dates, sequence, and some details changed. According to the notes, Beanie and Kyles retrieved Kyles' car from Schwegmann's on Thursday, at 7:45 p.m., rather than Friday after 9:00 p.m. Then, Beanie saw Schwegmann's sacks and a purse taken, not from the LTD, but from an apartment, whence they were taken to Kyles' apartment. The notes then state that Beanie purchased the LTD after the events, on Friday morning, rather than Friday evening. The date of Strider's interview and notes is not disclosed by the record. Thus, the time span between the first two statements and this interview is unknown and the relative weight of the discrepancies is difficult to gauge. This is but one problem. More importantly, evidence that Beanie lacked credibility would have had little impact on this case. The prosecution did not call Beanie as a witness, nor vouch for the reliability of the tip that he gave police. Instead, the State mentioned this tip in passing, 21 to explain why it focused on Kyles as a suspect and discovered evidence conclusively linking him to the murder. While the defense portrayed Beanie as framing Kyles, it did not call Beanie as a defense witness. As we will explain in Section III.B., that decision was sound.10 Calling Beanie as a witness threatened to do Kyles more harm than good, even if the defense could show that details of Beanie's claims were not consistently stated. Since Beanie did not testify, and there was no constitutional compulsion that he should have been, the failure to possess impeachment evidence material could not, in reasonable probability, have affected the outcome of the trial. Kyles has not shown on this basis that the three statements were material. Detective Lambert testified during cross-examination that he picked up Kyles' garbage bags from the curb without apparent detection. Kyles' residence was not under police surveillance until after sunrise the following morning. The defense counsel used this cross-examination to establish that someone could just as easily have placed bags in that location, or put Mrs. Dye's purse into bags already there. The defense maintained that Beanie did so. Kyles now asserts that he could have argued this point more powerfully with two pieces of alleged Brady material. One was a police memorandum directing officers to pick up Kyles' garbage. 10 As the dissent maintains, the Brady and Strickland claims are related, at least in part. In Section III.B., we conclude that defense counsel was not deficient in deciding not to call Beanie to testify. Beanie did not testify and impeachment material did not affect the trial. Our Strickland holding thus supports our Brady decision. 22 The memo stated, [w]e have reason to believe the victim's personal papers and the Schwegmann's bags will be in the trash. According to Kyles, Beanie was the person who gave the police reason to believe that this evidence would be found. Kyles supports also this assertion with the transcript. In it, a police officer refers to Beanie having stated that if Kyles were smart, he would throw the items from the LTD into his garbage. Kyles argues that these documents would have strengthened his theory that Beanie planted the purse in Kyles' garbage and directed the police to find it there.11 Even without these documents, Kyles made a credible case that Beanie could have planted this evidence. It was undisputed at trial that anyone could have had access to garbage bags sitting on the curb and that Beanie was attempting to incriminate Kyles. Kyles was able to argue that Beanie had one or more motives and an opportunity to plant this evidence where the police found it. Nonetheless, the jury rejected this argument. These documents might have offered some assistance to Kyles. In light of the entire record, however, we cannot conclude that they would, in reasonable probability, have moved the jury to embrace the theory it otherwise discounted. To explain the murder weapon and holster, the defense depended upon testimony that Beanie had attended a gathering at Kyles' 11 Kyles also argues that knowledge of these statements would have led defense counsel to call and cross-examine Beanie regarding the garbage bags. For reasons stated infra, section III.B., we fail to see how Beanie's testimony would have assisted Kyles. 23 apartment on Sunday night, September 23. Several defense witnesses stated that Beanie was present at 2313 Desire that evening, and had dinner with Kyles and others. Johnny Burns stated that as many as 18 people attended the gathering, while Cathy Brown remembered six being present. The State questioned the credibility of these witnesses, given inconsistencies among their statements, but presented no testimony that this gathering did not occur. Asserting yet another Brady violation, Kyles points to the notes of prosecutor Cliff Strider's interview with Beanie. These notes refer to Beanie's presence at Kyles' apartment for Sunday dinner. Corroborating Beanie's presence, however, adds little credibility to an assertion that Beanie smuggled evidence in and hid it about the apartment on that occasion. Johnny Burns claimed that he came upon Beanie alone in the kitchen, stooping next to the stove under which the murder weapon was found. During the state post-conviction hearing, the same trial court judge who presided over Kyles' trial found that Johnny Burns' testimony was not credible. This Court, having had the opportunity to view Mr. Burns on the witness stand and to hear his testimony, has chosen to totally disregard everything that he has said.12 This trial court finding of fact is fairly supported by the record and must be presumed to be correct. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Even aside from § 2254, appellate courts must give due 12 Between the time of Kyles' conviction and the postconviction hearing, the same trial court judge presided over the trial and conviction of Johnny Burns for the 1986 shooting death of Joseph Beanie Wallace. See State v. Burnes, 533 So. 2d 1029 (La. Ct. App. 1988). 24 regard to the credibility determinations of trial judges, who enjoy the advantage of observing demeanor. See Amadeo v. Zant, 486 U.S. 214, 108 S. Ct. 1771 (1988). Given that Johnny Burns' testimony lacked credibility, it is unlikely that the jury attached much weight to his claims. Kyles testified that Beanie offered to sell him a pistol with tape wrapped around it that evening. The murder weapon, however, showed no signs of having been wrapped in tape. This testimony added nothing to the theory that Beanie planted the evidence. If Beanie was present at Kyles' apartment on Sunday, this opportunity to plant evidence came after Beanie had contacted the police and implicated Kyles. If Beanie had been bent on framing Kyles, it was risky indeed to direct officers to the residence on Desire Street before he planted the evidence. Beanie did not know when the police might move. Indeed, he did not plant the gun until the night of the day following his disclosure to the police. The defense theory attributes cleverness to Beanie in every detail except this one. Once again, we conclude that the undisclosed documents would have been essentially cumulative on a point that the prosecution questioned, but did not rebut. We are not persuaded that these notes were material. Kyles complains that he did not receive a computer printout containing a list of automobile license plates. This printout listed cars that were in Schwegmann's parking lot at 9:15 p.m. on the day of the murder, September 20. The list does not include Kyles' automobile. Beanie's initial statements to the police 25 indicated that Kyles had retrieved his car from Schwegmann's on Friday. Using a photograph of the crime scene taken Thursday afternoon, the prosecution argued that Kyles car was visible at a distant edge of the lot. Kyles argues that the undisclosed printout would have rebutted this evidence, showing the jury that his car was not present at the crime scene. During post-conviction proceedings, Detective John Miller testified that not all vehicles were included in the canvas and license check that produced the printout. Thus, the printout did not disprove that Kyles' car was present at 9:15 p.m. Moreover, a list of cars found at 9:15 p.m. could not disprove that Kyles' automobile is the one visible in the photograph taken at the crime scene roughly six hours earlier.13 Although the prosecution used the photograph to establish how Kyles arrived at Schwegmann's, before departing in the stolen LTD, no witness stated that Kyles' car remained there overnight. Thus, the printout was not inconsistent with the State's proof of guilt. More importantly, of course, we are not persuaded that it would, in reasonable probability, have induced reasonable doubt where the jury did not find it. The evidence of guilt was otherwise so overwhelming that the rebuttal of the photograph would have made no difference. Finally, in assessing the probable effect of nondisclosure on Kyles' trial, we must consider evidence of guilt that is untouched 13 As Kyles has seized upon in these proceedings, prosecuting attorney Strider's notes reflect that Beanie and Kyles retrieved Kyles' car from the Schwegmann's parking lot at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday. 26 by the alleged Brady violations. First, we consider the ammunition found in his apartment. Kyles claimed that Beanie gave him the two boxes of ammunition along with a .22 caliber rifle as security for a loan. He had loaded .22 caliber rounds into the rifle and left the other assorted ammunition in the boxes. He testified that Beanie often had guns, accounting for the other calibers, including the large number of .32 caliber rounds. While the evidence seized included mixed caliber rounds in one box, another box contained only .32 caliber cartridges. It makes sense that Beanie would have given Kyles a container holding .22 ammunition, along with other rounds, at the same time that he gave Kyles a .22 rifle. It is not clear, however, why someone would also have given Kyles a box containing only .32 caliber rounds if Kyles did not own a .32 caliber firearm. The more likely inference, apparently chosen by the jury, is that Kyles possessed .32 caliber ammunition because he possessed a .32 caliber firearm. As noted, these rounds were the same brand as those found loaded in the murder weapon found in Kyles' residence. It must not be forgotten that Kyles had to explain his possession of every piece of the incriminating evidence. Yet, no undisclosed document lessens the impact of the evidence regarding pet food from Schwegmann's. Kyles tried to account for its presence, but likely did his cause more harm than good. Kyles testified that he purchased at Schwegmann's the pet food found in his apartment. He must dismiss as coincidence the fact that Mrs. Dye usually purchased the same brands that he claimed to have 27 chosen on one occasion because they were on sale. In the first place, the weight of his explanation was undermined by his inability to explain what pets he planned to feed. He claimed to have kept a dog in the backyard, although it was sometimes kept in the country. Kyles stated that he had brought it home shortly before the murder. Police, however, found no sign of this pet. A friend of Kyles, Donald Powell, had not seen the dog for six months. When asked to explain why he purchased different brands of cat food, Kyles claimed that one was for his son's cat, the other for strays. He did not explain any reason, such as a lower price for the latter, for making this distinction.14 Most importantly, Kyles' explanation for the choice and quantity suffered a devastating attack from the State when it called Schwegmann's director of advertising. The brands found in Kyles' residence were not on sale in September 1984.15 During post-conviction proceedings, the state trial court cited this rebuttal evidence in concluding that Kyles had perjured himself at trial, and opined that the jury was moved to disregard the defense's theory when Kyles' testimony was thus discredited. 14 In contrast, the victim's husband explained that their finicky cats would not eat the same brands, causing them to purchase a variety. 15 The effort to recast Kyles' explanation as meaning for sale rather than on sale makes no sense in context. All brands of pet food were for sale, so that interpretation cannot explain why Kyles choose Kal-Kan and Nine Lives. Nor would it explain why he brought home more than a dozen cans at one time for two family pets. The common meaning of on sale--marked down--would provide such explanations, but was contradicted by the Schwegmann's employee. 28 As the state trial court found, in post-conviction proceedings: the Defense was given ample opportunity, and successfully placed before the jury through credible evidence, the basic premise of the Defense's case, that Joseph [Beanie] Wallace was in fact that killer of Mrs. Dye and that Joseph Wallace framed the defendant for this killing. . . . The jury was more than adequately exposed to the possibility that Joseph Wallace was in fact the killer. The jury, however, refused to believe this testimony or to infer even reasonable doubt from it. Kyles received a fair trial, one whose outcome is reliable. Kyles failed to undermine the overwhelming evidence of guilt at trial, and we are not persuaded that it is reasonably probable that the jury would have found in Kyles' favor if exposed to any or all of the undisclosed materials. Often cumulative and generally inconclusive, the facts therein simply do not add enough to his case.16 Finally, we note that Brady claims are subject to harmless error review. See United States v. Garcia, 917 F.2d 1370, 1375 (5th Cir. 1990). Since Kyles has failed to show that it is reasonably probable that the nondisclosure of documents affected the outcome of his trial, we will not address whether he can show 16 Judge King attaches significance to the fact that Kyles' first trial resulted in a mistrial. The first jury deadlocked in this capital case in just four hours. We can only speculate as to the reason. While some jurors may have seen the prosecution's case as weak, it is also possible that a juror's concerns about capital punishment promptly caused the intractable disagreement. We attach little significance to an event whose cause is unknowable, and rely instead upon our review of the record, as informed by the judgments of the state trial court and district court. Whatever the proof offered in that trial, this transcript contains overwhelming evidence of guilt. 29 the actual prejudice of a substantial and injurious effect on the verdict. See Brecht v. Abrahamson, 113 S. Ct. 1710, 1722 (1993).