Opinion ID: 1161616
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Facts disclosed after the filing of the instant petition

Text: Mazzan filed his instant petition seeking habeas relief in the district court in November 1996 and a supplement to his petition in May 1997. Mazzan's primary claim, briefly put, was the following. Upon receiving the police file on his case in 1996, he discovered that after Minor was murdered, police investigators uncovered information that Minor had been dealing drugs with Harry Douglas Warmbier and Mark Siffin. Minor had grown up with Warmbier in the Midwest. Warmbier and Siffin did extensive drug trafficking and were under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) at the time. Warmbier was enrolled at Indiana University but had actually hired an associate, Robert Carmichael, to impersonate him and attend classes for him. There was evidence that Warmbier and Siffin might have been in Reno at the time of Minor's murder. Through his attorney, Warmbier claimed to have an alibi and refused to be interviewed by Reno detectives. Siffin could not be contacted at all because he had dropped out of sight since the time of Minor's murder. Mills Lane, the initial prosecutor in this case, asked Warmbier's attorney to send documentation to back up the alibi. The documents sent in response were of questionable reliability, including unsworn statements by Warmbier's girlfriend, Dorothy Nyland, and by Carmichael's girlfriend. Carmichael not only impersonated Warmbier at college but was linked to Warmbier's drug activities. The following sets forth in more detail the information which the prosecution possessed. Reno Police Detectives Teglia and Penegor were the lead investigators in the Minor homicide. A report by Penegor in January 1979 included the following information. Three days after the murder, Penegor telephoned Nola Minor, the victim's mother, in Ohio. She stated that Minor had called her on November 26, 1978 (about four weeks before his murder), from San Francisco. He told her that he was with two other people, apparently Doug Warmbier and a Mark whose last name she did not know. She knew that Doug and Mark had come to Reno, and the three had driven to San Francisco in Minor's van. The report noted, Mark could be a Mark Siffin. Nola Minor also received a call from Minor on December 2, 1978. He was in Hawaii, apparently with Warmbier and Mark. On December 8, 1978, she called and spoke to her son in Reno. According to the report, he told her that after he returned to Reno, April Barber had left him and was not at the residence. He was concerned because she had a car and a door key to his residence. Upon returning to the residence he found a burnt $20 bill that April had left for him, unknown what significance this was at this time. Nola Minor later learned from Tim Beck, a friend of her son's and Warmbier's, that Warmbier was supposed to be in the Reno area on December 20 or 21, 1978, to contact her son. (The murder occurred early in the morning on Thursday, December 21, 1978.) Warmbier was enrolled at Indiana University (IU). Reno police asked IU police to contact Warmbier and received an IU police officer's report with the following information. On January 18, 1979, the officer tried to interview Warmbier and discovered that a person was impersonating Warmbier. The person identified himself as Robert Carmichael, admitted that he was paid to attend classes for Warmbier, and telephoned Warmbier's attorney, Ira Zinman. The next day the officer met with Zinman, Warmbier, and Nyland, Warmbier's girlfriend. Warmbier admitted that he knew Minor but tried to give the impression that they were not good friends. Warmbier stated that he had learned of Minor's death on the morning of December 22, 1978, when Nyland called Minor's residence and police answered. Warmbier also stated that he last visited Reno about three weeks before Christmas, and he and Minor flew from San Francisco to Hawaii. Minor had just broken up with Barber, whom Minor described as a hooker, prostitute, and extortionist. Warmbier said that he knew several people named Mark, but only he and Minor had gone to Hawaii. Warmbier said that he was in Bloomington, Indiana, from December 8 until just before Christmas 1978. Police in Reno also obtained DEA investigative reports. One report covered suspected drug smuggling and trafficking in Bloomington, Indiana, in July 1978. Among other things, it noted suspicious activities by Siffin and Carmichael at an airport, carrying items to and from an airplane, and vehicular traffic between Siffin's residence and that of Nyland and Warmbier. Another DEA report stated that Siffin is suspected of being a major cocaine trafficker. Reno Police Detective Captain Ken Pulver spoke to reporters on January 25, 1979. The Nevada State Journal reported that Pulver said drug trafficking was a factor in Minor's murder and he would send officers to San Francisco, Ohio, Indiana and perhaps Hawaii to interview persons on the unsolved crime. The Reno Evening Gazette carried a similar article. The next day, prosecutor Mills Lane addressed a letter to Capt. Pulver, stating: [T]he Mazzan case is a tough one at best. We're going to use all the facts and investigation to our best advantage, of course, keeping sound ethics and good police conduct in mind. I do not want any of our investigation or any of the facts that we have develop[e]d released to the press unless the same is discussed with me. The more the defense knows about our case, the more they are going to be able to try and work around it. In Nevada we do not have to give out police reports, and if the press knows what's in those reports it's the same as turning them over to the defense. Reno Police Sergeant Rodney Stock, who was an initial investigator of the murder, submitted a report on February 5, 1979, noting among other things the following. In the original investigation it was learned that Harry Douglas Warmbier and a man named Mark were coming to Reno someti[me] around the twenty-first or twenty-second of December to meet [Minor] and possibly go on to Hawaii. Mark Siffin apparently went underground sometime prior to the Christmas holidays and has not been seen since according to the Monroe County [Indiana] Sheriff's Department, IU Police, and apparently the DEA Task Force working this particular case. On February 2, 1979, after Mazzan had been in custody for more than five weeks, an interoffice memo by Det. Teglia stated that investigators had information which indicates that there is a direct connection between Minor's death and certain persons/activities in the Midwest. Certain of Minor's activities immediately prior to his death have involved people from the Cincinnati and Bloomington, Ind. area. Also, numerous phone calls made by Minor to associates in these two cities and in adjacent areas seem to lend credence to information received from DEA that Minor and his associates were in fact involved in a major narcotics distribution ring. It is believed that Minor's death, and the presumed death of April Barber are directly connected to these narcotics activities. It is also believed that direct contact with the other persons believed to be involved will provide information which will assist in establishing motive, and information vital to the prosecution. About a week later, Dets. Teglia and Penegor traveled to the Midwest to investigate leads there. The detectives interviewed Michele Cameron Abshire in Ohio, who told them that she and Minor had known each other for about seven years and at one time planned on marrying. Minor had worked for Warmbier, transporting marijuana. Minor dealt in only small amounts on consignment. A month or two before his death, Minor told Abshire that he and April Barber, who had money, planned to make cash deals. Once Mark Siffin had slipped some cocaine on Minor without his knowing, and Minor was highly upset because of it. Abshire heard, apparently from Warmbier, Tim Beck, and Glenn Peterson (a Reno friend of Minor's), that Warmbier and someone else were supposed to meet Minor in Reno on Thursday (the day of the murder), but Minor failed to meet them at the airport; they may have gone to Minor's residence, found his body, and left. Abshire suspected that Barber and Minor were killed because Barber was extorting money from someone. (Barber was missing at the time; her body was discovered later.) Another police report shows that the detectives also contacted Warmbier's attorney, Zinman, in Indiana and asked to interview Warmbier. Zinman would not allow an interview but suggested a polygraph examination based on questions made up by Zinman. This was unacceptable to the detectives. They telephoned Warmbier, but he refused to be interviewed. Another report summarizes the detectives' interview in Ohio of Tim Beck, Minor's friend since childhood. The day before the murder, Minor telephoned and told Beck that after Minor had returned from Hawaii in early December, he found that Barber was gone from his residence but her clothing and personal belongings were still there. Minor also found a burnt twenty-dollar bill, the significance of which he did not understand. After the murder, Warmbier told Beck that Warmbier flew into Reno early on Thursday, December 21, 1978. Minor failed to pick Warmbier up at the airport so Warmbier took a taxi and arrived at Minor's after police had discovered the body. The report states that Warmbier may have been accompanied by Mark Siffin. It also notes that police did not discover Minor's body until December 22, 1978, not December 21 as Warmbier said to Beck. Also, the time that Warmbier said he arrived in Reno did not correspond to flight schedules from the east, but could correspond to flights out of San Francisco or central California. Meanwhile, investigators in Reno interviewed Glenn Peterson, a friend of Minor's. Peterson said that Minor had talked about his drug connections from back east but never mentioned names. Minor intended to meet the boys from back east on Thursday, December 21 (the day of the murder) about the purchase of Thai sticks (a potent form of marijuana). Either they would come to Reno, or Minor would go to San Francisco. Minor was close to April Barber, but Peterson had bad vibes about her. She had a lot of money and cocaine, and Minor seemed to change after he met her and seemed on edge after she left. James Shallman, who had worked with Minor, was also interviewed in Reno. Shallman told an investigator that Minor had said he had a big shipment of Thai sticks coming in and that he was leaving Wednesday, Thursday or Friday driving the van, and this guy was coming out or already here. This guy supposedly knew how to handle Hawaiian agricultural inspections by switching suitcases. Richard Minor had stated that he had been burned by this guy but respected him and thought that he was an asshole. .... [M]ost of the money Richard Minor had belonged to the guy. [Shallman] then used the phrase Mr. Big stating that this Mr. Big had made lots of money traffic[k]ing narcotics.... Minor said cops in Bloomington [Indiana] had come down hard and affected Mr. Big. During the fall of 1978, Minor apparently owed this person about $6,000.00 for fronting drugs to him; Shallman did not know if or when Minor had paid the debt. Investigators also learned that Minor had told his sister, Patti Ison, about a debt. Sometime after Minor's death, Ison wrote her father that [f]ive or six months ago he [Minor] asked me if I could loan him some money, he owed it to someone and had to pay them back. On February 22, 1979, after returning from the Midwest, Dets. Teglia and Penegor wrote an interoffice memo to their captain. They stated that they had gathered information that Warmbier was in Reno around the time Minor's body was discovered, that Minor was heavily involved in drug trafficking, and that direct contact with Mr. Warmbier was of extreme importance in resolving this portion of the investigation. They detailed how Warmbier and his attorney had prevented such contact. Since they did not have enough information to formally charge Mr. Warmbier as a princip[al] or accessory in the murder, this aspect of the investigation could not be pursued any further. They advised DEA and Indiana investigators of the situation, and one investigator indicated that he would continue to investigate Warmbier and Siffin to try to obtain information useful to the murder investigation. Teglia and Penegor stated that earlier the investigation had reached a complete standstill, but on their Midwest trip a number of new areas were opened up which are assisting investigators in establishing a more viable case for the prosecution. The same day that the detectives reported how Warmbier's attorney, Zinman, had thwarted their efforts to contact Warmbier, prosecutor Mills Lane wrote Zinman to thank him for agreeing to furnish us with certain information to alibi your client, Mr. Warmbier. Two months later, on May 1, 1979, Zinman wrote to Lane and sent him two receipts and two handwritten letters. A letter by Dorothy Nyland stated that she was with Warmbier in Bloomington, Indiana, on the 20th and 21st and that she had verified this with shopping receipts. Debra Russell's letter stated that Warmbier had borrowed the car of her roommate, R. Carmichael, on December 20 and returned it about 6:30 that evening. It appears that Lane did not know that Nyland was Warmbier's girlfriend or that Robert Carmichael was the person that Warmbier paid to impersonate him at Indiana University. In a letter dated May 4, 1979, Lane told Zinman that defense counsel McNabney has advised me that he would not contest the fact that your client was in Bloomington if I could provide documentation to that. Because of the documents provided by Zinman, Lane did not believe that he would need to subpoena anyone regarding Warmbier's alibi. On February 14, 1979, Mazzan's trial counsel, McNabney, had moved for discovery of any material which the state knew or might learn of which is exculpatory in nature or favorable to the accused or which may lead to exculpatory material. In March 1979, he moved for discovery of the state's witnesses' statements. Lane opposed the motion, and it was denied. Mazzan was tried and convicted in October 1979. Almost seventeen years later, in July 1996, Michael Hodge, an investigator for the Nevada State Public Defender, subpoenaed the police file in Mazzan's case. The Reno City Attorney's Office eventually approved release of the file, containing 500 to 700 documents, but Hodge was told that he would not receive any confidential reports; to obtain those, he had to contact the District Attorney's Office. Nevertheless, Hodge's inspection of the file uncovered the police reports discussed above, some of them marked confidential. After Mazzan filed his instant petition for habeas relief, he moved the district court to bifurcate the issues raised in the petition, to consider first his claim that he was not provided with exculpatory evidence and, if necessary, to consider his other claims later. The state did not object. During a deposition in May 1997, former police sergeant Stock testified as follows. Stock was a supervisor in the detective division of the Reno Police Department and worked on the investigation of Minor's murder for about three weeks in early 1979. He believed that the investigation had not eliminated all possible suspects. Teglia's and Penegor's investigation of Warmbier and Siffin as suspects in Minor's murder had been frustrated. I still think to this day that somebody back there [in the Midwest] has withheld information. Mazzan could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He also might have been an accessory, but we may have more people involved in the actual murder. When the state asked if it was true that the police department in Reno had a man in custody and simply left it at that, Stock replied, Yeah. It's probably true. But then again, it's up to the District Attorney's Office, which the police have no control over. In a capital case, Stock felt that you would have to follow up, do everything you could to attempt to find [someone like Warmbier] and interview him or whatever, try and get additional evidence like, say, a plane ticket or passenger list or whatever to verify if he was here or not. Stock thought the police did as much as they could under the circumstances.... [Y]ou're talking time, manpower, and money. On May 28 and 30, 1997, the district court held an evidentiary hearing, and a number of witnesses testified. Former detective Teglia testified that Warmbier was initially a suspect in Minor's murder, but eventually the investigation focused solely on Mazzan. Mazzan's counsel asked Teglia if he had specific evidence that eliminated Mr. Warmbier and Mr. Siffin as suspects, and Teglia replied, We had specific lack of evidence that allowed for the possibility of anybody else but Mr. Mazzan being in the residence at the time the homicide occurred. Evidence showed that other people were involved after the fact, but this was not relevant to who committed the killing. The police never determined whether or not Warmbier or Siffin was in Reno around the time of the murder. Mills Lane, the initial prosecutor, testified. Lane usually did not allow defense attorneys to look at his case file, and if he did not trust an attorney, he gave the attorney nothing more than was required by law. He did not copy reports for defense attorneys; he would give a synopsis of any Brady material. Lane remembered talking to McNabney about Warmbier, but McNabney said that he was not going to claim that Warmbier committed the murder. After that, Lane did not consider Warmbier pertinent. He saw no nexus between Warmbier and the murder. When asked about the fact that Warmbier may have been here in Reno on or about the day of the murder, Lane responded, On or about doesn't do very much for me. If you say he was in Mr. Minor's house the night he was killed, that would be something different. Mazzan's counsel showed Lane the alibi documents, and Lane agreed that the two Dorothy Nyland signatures (one on a letter and the other on a receipt) slanted in different directions. He also conceded that it would bother him if he found out that Warmbier now admitted that he had been in Reno, contrary to the alibi. Lane was not sure if he told McNabney that the DEA was investigating Warmbier and Siffin. Lane did not remember information that Warmbier and a man named Mark were coming to Reno to meet Minor at the time of the murder, but he was satisfied that he would have given such information to McNabney. Cal Dunlap, the trial prosecutor, testified. Dunlap was not sure if he provided McNabney with an open file, and he did not recall giving any specific documents to McNabney. Whether he gave McNabney documents or just spoke with him, he knew that McNabney knew a lot of that information that's in the [police reports]. McNabney didn't seem the least bit interested in following up on these because ... he didn't believe that there was any real substance and any need to pursue these leads. When asked if he told McNabney that at least one witness said that Mr. Warmbier was in town on the day of the murder, Dunlap answered that he had no specific recollection, but [i]f I knew, I probably did. Dunlap answered similarly regarding whether he shared other specific facts. When Mazzan's post-trial attorney, [1] Patrick Flanagan, specifically requested any written reports on Minor's drug transactions, Dunlap claimed that he refused to provide the documents because he thought that Mazzan was involved in April Barber's murder and defense counsel simply wanted discovery for that case. Dunlap admitted that at trial he had been convinced that other people were involved in Minor's murder. Mazzan's counsel asked Dunlap how he could tell the jury at trial that no evidence supported Mazzan's defense when his file contained such evidence. Dunlap said that he simply based his argument on the record before the jury and that other evidence was not relevant. Mazzan called as witnesses his trial attorney, McNabney; his trial investigator, Richard Terry Gilmartin; his post-trial attorney, Flanagan; his appellate attorney, Jane McKenna; and his post-conviction attorney, Don Evans. In representing Mazzan, none had seen any of the police reports at issue. McNabney testified. Before trial, McNabney became aware through the District Attorney's Office that Warmbier was involved in drug trafficking with Minor. [I]t was related to me that there may have been a possibility [Warmbier] was here in Reno ... on the day of the murder.... In discussions with the prosecutor at some point in time I was satisfied in my own mind that Douglas Warmbier's alibi was solid and he wasn't in fact in Reno, and I didn't pursue the matter further. McNabney also telephoned Zinman, Warmbier's attorney, regarding the alibi. McNabney did not recall ever being told that one person had placed Warmbier in Reno around the time of the murder. This information would have been helpful to Mazzan's defense, but the representations McNabney received indicated that [Warmbier] wasn't in fact here, that he had an alibi, and that's all I knew. Flanagan testified. He initially represented Mazzan after his conviction and moved for a new trial. In April 1981, he moved to inspect and copy any records the state had of Minor's drug dealings. Dunlap opposed the motion and asserted that the evidence regarding Minor's drug dealings contained nothing exculpatory. At the hearing, Mazzan also attempted to present evidence he had uncovered after obtaining the police reports. He offered it to show that the reports contained material information which could have led to further exculpatory information. The district court ruled that the evidence was not relevant because it had not been in the possession of the state. Testimony by Michael Hodge and an affidavit by Dean Taylor Brymer were therefore not considered by the court, but were submitted as offers of proof. According to Brymer's affidavit, in December 1978, less than two weeks before the murder, Brymer broke into Minor's residence and stole a large amount of marijuana and $6,000.00 in cash. Hodge, the investigator for the State Public Defender, provided an affidavit and notes. Hodge interviewed Dorothy Nyland in Indiana in April 1997. When shown the alibi letter over her name, Nyland did not remember writing it and did not think the signature was hers. Nyland said that Warmbier had called her from Reno on December 22, 1978, the day that Minor's body was discovered. Hodge also interviewed Warmbier, who was in a hospital after a serious accident. Warmbier admitted being in Reno on the day of the murder. He said that he and Minor had worked for Siffin, who had been the brains and money behind the drug operation. Minor stole some drugs from Siffin, but Warmbier did not know the quantity; Siffin was capable of killing Minor, but Warmbier would have killed Siffin if he even thought Siffin did it. Warmbier did not recall seeing or authorizing the alibi letters. In response, the state submitted an affidavit by its own investigator. That affidavit stated in part that the investigator spoke to Warmbier, that Warmbier said he spoke to someone about Minor's murder while he was heavily medicated and did not recall what he said, and that Warmbier denied being in Reno at the time of the murder. On August 18, 1997, the district court entered an order denying the habeas petition. The court concluded that although the police reports had exculpatory value and were probably not provided to Mazzan, prosecutors had told McNabney orally any information required by Brady. McNabney was fully apprised of Mr. Warmbier and his alleged activity in Reno but chose not to pursue a defense involving Warmbier, believing it to be frivolous. The court further concluded that any evidence pertaining to Siffin was not Brady material because it did not sufficiently show that Mr. Siffin was ever in Reno at or near the time of the murder, or that his involvement somehow exculpates Mr. Mazzan. The court did not rule on any other issues.