Opinion ID: 2478526
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Information on Williams and Gabbard

Text: {¶ 30} First, Ketterer argues that the panel erred when it refused to order that the prosecution provide all information concerning other individuals who were possibly involved in Sanders's homicide. Ketterer asserts that Williams and Gabbard were persons of interest during the investigation but that their involvement in the homicide was never disclosed. Ketterer relies on his own February 28 police statement, made two days after his confession, in which he implicated Williams and Gabbard in the murder. In that statement, Ketterer claimed that Williams drove him to Sanders's residence and Gabbard accompanied him inside Sanders's house, where Ketterer killed Sanders. Ketterer claimed that Gabbard helped him look for property inside Sanders's house and that she accompanied him when he stole Sanders's car. {¶ 31} Before trial, the state provided the defense with the pretrial statements of Williams and Gabbard. Williams's and Gabbard's statements corroborated Ketterer's version of events in his initial confession but provided no evidence that either one of them accompanied Ketterer to the Sanders residence. The state did not provide any additional information concerning the involvement of Williams and Gabbard in Sanders's murder, because there was none. {¶ 32} Nevertheless, Ketterer claims that the court should have disclosed (1) all information relating to the commission of illegal activities at Williams's business at 706 East Avenue, (2) all documents relating to prior illegal activities of Williams and Gabbard, (3) all documents relating to crimes with which Ketterer was charged in which Williams and Gabbard are mentioned, (4) whether they were working as informants and their history of working with law-enforcement agencies, (5) the potential charges they faced for the raid at 706 East Avenue, and (6) any consideration they received in return for their cooperation. These Brady requests lack merit because the information about Williams's and Gabbard's activities and their criminal record is not material to Ketterer's resentencing. {¶ 33} However, Ketterer argues that the involvement of other individuals in the offenses was a mitigating or exculpatory factor during his resentencing. In making this argument, Ketterer cites Lockett v. Ohio (1978), 438 U.S. 586, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973, and other capital cases that govern the admissibility of mitigating evidence during a court's consideration of whether to impose the death penalty. However, the statutory mitigating factors set forth in R.C. 2929.04(B)(1) through (B)(7) are not applicable to Ketterer's resentencing for his noncapital offenses. {¶ 34} The state cites United States v. Ruiz (2002), 536 U.S. 622, 122 S.Ct. 2450, 153 L.Ed.2d 586, in arguing that disclosure of the requested material to Ketterer was rendered unnecessary by his guilty pleas. In Ruiz, the Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not require the Government to disclose material impeachment evidence prior to entering a plea agreement with a criminal defendant. (Emphasis added.) Id. at 633. The court reasoned that when a defendant pleads guilty he or she forgoes not only a fair trial but also other accompanying constitutional guarantees. Id. at 628-629. Ruiz stated that impeachment information is special, as it is more closely related to the fairness of a trial than to the voluntariness of the plea. (Emphasis sic.) Id. at 633. {¶ 35} Ruiz supports the state's argument as it pertains to the disclosure of impeachment evidence. Information about Gabbard's and Williams's activities at 706 East Avenue related to possible impeachment evidence. Nothing in the record indicates that such evidence would lead to the disclosure of exculpatory evidence as to the noncapital offenses. {¶ 36} Even assuming that Ketterer was entitled to such information, Ketterer knew about most of this information before his resentencing hearing. See State v. LaMar, 95 Ohio St.3d 181, 2002-Ohio-2128, 767 N.E.2d 166, ¶ 28, fn. 2 (no Brady violation occurs where a defendant knows of essential facts permitting him to take advantage of exculpatory information or where evidence is available from another source), citing United States v. Clark (C.A.6, 1991), 928 F.2d 733, 738; see also State v. Iacona (2001), 93 Ohio St.3d 83, 100, 752 N.E.2d 937, quoting United States v. Smith Grading & Paving, Inc. (C.A.4, 1985), 760 F.2d 527, 532 (`No due process violation occurs as long as Brady material is disclosed to a defendant in time for its effective use at trial'). {¶ 37} Ketterer was aware of illegal activities at 706 East Avenue, although no link to these activities was ever established with Sanders's murder. At a hearing to determine support for Ketterer's guilty plea, Gabbard testified that she and Williams were arrested during a drug raid at 706 East Avenue on February 7, 2003, for selling cocaine. Gabbard also admitted that she used and sold cocaine, fenced property, and committed prostitution while staying at 706 East Avenue. The defense was also aware of Gabbard's extensive criminal history. {¶ 38} In addition, Ketterer knew before pleading guilty that Williams was a confidential police informant and provided information to police that led to Ketterer's arrest for Sanders's murder. The defense was also aware of Williams's prior criminal history and that he had received consideration in exchange for information that he provided to the police. {¶ 39} Ketterer invokes Banks v. Dretke (2004), 540 U.S. 668, 124 S.Ct. 1256, 157 L.Ed.2d 1166, to argue that the state's failure to disclose exculpatory evidence applies to his resentencing. In Banks, the state had failed to disclose that an essential prosecution witness was a paid police informant. Id. at 675. The state also failed to disclose interviews with another witness, who falsely stated that his testimony was entirely unrehearsed. Id. Based on these facts, the Supreme Court concluded that Banks had established prejudice from the violation and cause for failing to present his claims in state court because the defendant had reasonably relied on the prosecutor's open-file policy and assertions that everything known to the government had been disclosed. Id. at 698. {¶ 40} Banks is readily distinguishable. Unlike the prosecution in Banks, the state disclosed that Williams was an informant who provided police with information that led to Ketterer's arrest. Moreover, Ketterer has not presented any evidence of prosecutorial concealment or that he relied on false statements by the prosecutor.