Opinion ID: 2978403
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Post-Conviction Relief in Federal Court

Text: Having exhausted his available means for post-conviction relief in state court, Montgomery filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in Federal District Court. This time, he alleged forty-eight grounds for relief. After a comprehensive review of the matter, the District Court denied all of Montgomery’s claims except the alleged Brady violation arising out of the State’s withholding of the aforementioned police report. In pertinent part, the police report read as follows: [David Ingram] stated that he and several friends were at the Oak Hill apartments on Hill when they saw a Blue Ford Escort with Debbie Ogle driving around the complex. Later they again saw her as a passenger in the same auto. Debbie Ogle waved to them as they knew her from Rogers High School. She was with a white male with long sideburns. She did not appear distressed. J.A. at 2985. Nos. 07-3882/3893 Montgomery v. Bagley Page 7 The report was exculpatory in nature and important because the sighting of Ogle took place at 1:20 A.M. on Wednesday, March 12, 1986, four days after the State had argued that Montgomery murdered her. Id. at 2984. The District Court not only concluded that the report was exculpatory but also found that there was no doubt that the State had refused to disclose the report — indeed, it only emerged after a formal request for police records some six years after Montgomery’s trial. Id. at 2867. Finally, the District Court considered whether the report was material under Brady, that is, whether there was a “reasonable probability” that the outcome of Montgomery’s trial would have been different had he been privy to the police report. Finding that the police report met this standard, the District Court issued the writ. After the District Court issued the writ, a Toledo newspaper ran a story about the case and noted that the District Court’s decision was based on the withholding of the 1986 police report. The news soon reached three of the people responsible for the police report, including David Ingram, the man who called in the report shortly after seeing a woman he and his friends said was Debra Ogle. Upon hearing the news, each of the witnesses telephoned the Toledo Police Department to retract their earlier statement. They claimed that the woman they had seen turned out to be Dianna Ogle, the victim’s younger sister, a claim they had not made at the time of trial or subsequently. At the behest of the police, the witnesses quickly signed sworn affidavits to this effect. The State then filed the affidavits in the District Court along with a Rule 59(e) motion to reconsider the writ based on this new evidence. Without passing on the materiality of the police report in light of the late-filed affidavits, the District Court denied the Rule 59(e) motion. It held that the affidavits were not properly before the court because they did not qualify as newly discovered evidence under Rule 59, and therefore the court could not justify altering or amending a final judgment on the merits. There are two distinct questions before our court. First, was the District Court correct to grant the habeas petition? And second, was the District Court correct in refusing to consider the late-filed affidavits under Rule 59(e)? We answer both in the affirmative. Nos. 07-3882/3893 Montgomery v. Bagley Page 8