Opinion ID: 2756443
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Ayers’s criminal trial and conviction

Text: A jury was empaneled on November 22, 2000 after discovery delays caused in significant part by the government’s untimely disclosure of evidence. Five days later, the prosecution disclosed for the first time that it intended to call Donald Hutchinson, an inmate who had been assigned to the same jail pod as Ayers. Hutchinson told Cipo and Kovach on November 25, 2000 that Ayers had recently confessed to the murder, and indicated Hutchinson’s willingness to testify at Ayers’s trial. But Cipo and Kovach’s report of the meeting specifically noted Hutchinson’s failure to include details about the murder weapon and the amount of money taken from Brown’s apartment. They informed Hutchinson that the prosecutor would likely contact him shortly, after which they returned Hutchinson to his jail pod. A short time later, Hutchinson directly questioned Ayers about both details, at which point Ayers allegedly confessed to using a No. 13-3413 Ayers v. City of Cleveland, et al. Page 5 small, black iron to kill Brown and to stealing $700 from her. The next day, Hutchinson called his wife to ask her to contact the police on his behalf, after which he was placed into protective custody. The state trial court denied Ayers’s motion to suppress Hutchinson’s testimony regarding the purported confession. The jury, after initially being deadlocked, eventually returned a guilty verdict against Ayers on all counts. According to this court’s subsequent habeas decision, Ayers’s conviction was “[b]ased largely on Hutchinson’s testimony and Smith’s written statement.” Ayers v. Hudson, 623 F.3d 301, 306 (6th Cir. 2010). The Ohio Court of Appeals, on direct appeal, issued a divided decision to affirm Ayers’s convictions but to remand for resentencing. On remand, Ayers was again sentenced to life in prison. The Ohio Supreme Court denied leave to appeal.