Opinion ID: 476303
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Probative Value of the Tape Recording

Text: 12 The factual findings of a state court challenged in a habeas proceeding are presumed correct under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254(d). Sumner v. Mata, 449 U.S. 539, 547, 101 S.Ct. 764, 769, 66 L.Ed.2d 722 (1981); Austad v. Risley, 761 F.2d 1348, 1350 (9th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 163, 88 L.Ed.2d 135 (1985). The burden is on the petitioner, Kealohapauole here, to establish certain defects to overcome this presumption. Id. 13 The Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals found, and the district court relied on that finding, that the videotape recording was probative on the issue of the cause of the victim's death. The victim's body was apparently badly decomposed when discovered, and since Kealohapauole refused to stipulate that the victim's death was caused by blows to the victim's head, the state sought to introduce the only evidence available to show the absence of any other known cause of death. The Hawaii court stated [i]t was impossible, because of the condition of the body, for the state to establish whether or not there were also possibly fatal wounds to the nonskeletal parts of the victim's anatomy. State v. Ahlo, et al., 2 Hawaii Ct.App. at 467, 634 P.2d at 425. One of the two pathologists in the case, Dr. Woo, testified that the videotape recording was the best type of available evidence to aid in explaining his testimony to the jury that the cause of the victim's death was a blow to the head with a blunt instrument. Dr. Woo stated that the videotape best illustrated the discoloration and fracture of the victim's skull, which led to Dr. Woo's conclusion that trauma in the skull had occurred as the result of a blow to the head with a blunt instrument. Although the skull was introduced into evidence, the videotape better illustrated the discoloration as Dr. Woo stated that the stain on the skull had faded significantly since the autopsy. Dr. Woo also testified that the videotape would demonstrate the thoroughness of the pathologist's examination of the victim.