Court Opinion

ID: 9472153
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:51:27.760782+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:46.741043
License: Public Domain

McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I am not convinced that the missing testimony of the defense character witness was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. In my opinion, the missing testimony would have been material and favorable to the defense, the “unavailability” of the defense character witness should not be attributed to the defense, and there is a reasonable likelihood that the character evidence could have affected the judgment of the jury. For those reasons, I would reverse the order of the district court denying the petition and remand to the district court with directions to grant the petition unless the state retries petitioners within a reasonable time.
As a preliminary matter, I would reject the state’s argument that habeas corpus relief is precluded by Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 97 S.Ct. 2497, 53 L.Ed.2d 594 (1977). The state argues that petitioners waived the witness intimidation claim because counsel did not enforce the subpoena to compel Marts to testify and because there was no offer of proof made about Marts' testimony. I do not think that the present case is an appropriate one for waiver. The failure by defense counsel to enforce the subpoena is not critical; there is a significant difference between the free and open testimony of a voluntary witness and the guarded and possibly hostile testimony of a reluctant witness whose presence has been compelled by judicial process. See United States v. Thomas, 488 F.2d 334, 336 (6th Cir.1973) (per curiam). Nor do I think that the failure to make an offer of proof can be held to constitute a waiver under these circumstances. Defense counsel did not know during trial that Marts was reluctant to testify because he had been intimidated by Dunn. At that time defense counsel understood only that the witness was unable to testify, presumably for legitimate reasons. As noted in the majority opinion, defense counsel raised the witness intimidation claim for the first time in the motion for new trial. The correct procedure requires an offer of proof; however, in view of the somewhat standard content of the testimony of character witnesses, which often consists of little more than a statement of the length and nature of the witness’ acquaintance with the defendant and the witness’ opinion about the defendant’s character, there is no reason to believe that the substance of their witness intimidation claim was concealed from the state courts. Moreover, procedural defaults may be excused, notwithstanding the bar of Wainwright v. Sykes, where the state court reaches the merits of the constitutional claim despite a procedural default. See County Court v. Allen, 442 U.S. 140, 99 S.Ct. 2213, 60 L.Ed.2d 777 (1979); *383Thompson v. Estelle, 642 F.2d 996 (5th Cir.1981). But see Phillips v. Smith, 717 F.2d 44, 47-52 (2d Cir.1983), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 104 S.Ct. 1287, 79 L.Ed.2d 689 (1984). Here, the state appellate court noted petitioners’ failure to make an offer of proof but then reached the merits of the claim. State v. Peeler, 604 S.W.2d 662, 664-65 (Mo.App.1980). The court noted that there was no evidence that the state encouraged or condoned the intimidation of Marts and that Marts’ testimony could not have changed the outcome of the trial. Id.
It is undisputed that Marts was intimidated by Dunn and as a result did not testify for the defense as a character witness. The state argues that the actions taken by Dunn, a governmental officer who was not involved in the investigation or prosecution of the charges against petitioners, should not be attributable or chargeable to the prosecution because the prosecutor knew nothing about and did not condone or participate in the intimidation. As noted in the memorandum of the magistrate, the police department investigator assigned to the prosecutor called Dunn to inform him of Marts’ continued attendance at the trial and thus “set in motion” the events in question. Thus, there was a connection between the investigator, Dunn and Marts.
I do not in any way question the prosecutor’s good faith or lack of knowledge about the incident. I simply do not think the fact that the prosecutor knew nothing about the incident is relevant. Due process violations have been found in cases where the governmental interference was unknown to the prosecutor and conducted by persons not associated with the particular prosecutor’s office. See Webb v. Texas, 409 U.S. 95, 97, 93 S.Ct. 351, 353, 34 L.Ed.2d 330 (1972) (defense witness intimidated by lengthy remarks of trial judge about penalties for perjury); United States v. Goodwin, 625 F.2d 693, 702-03 (5th Cir.1980) (prisoner defense witnesses allegedly intimidated by prison officials). I would draw an analogy to cases involving the suppression of exculpatory evidence, in which the Supreme Court has rejected the good faith or bad faith of the prosecutor as the controlling factor. See United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 110, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 2401, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976) (“If the suppression of evidence results in constitutional error, it is because of the character of the evidence, not the character of the prosecutor.”); Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 1196, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963) (“[Sjuppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.”).
Nonetheless, the typical witness intimidation case involves misconduct by a governmental official who, unlike the chief of police in the present case, is involved either in the prosecution or investigation of the case, or who acts as “an arm of the prosecution.” See, e.g., Wedra v. Thomas, 671 F.2d 713, 717-18 n. 1 (2d Cir.) (investigating detectives), cert. denied, 458 U.S. 1109, 102 S.Ct. 3491, 73 L.Ed.2d 1372 (1982); United States v. Goodwin, 625 F.2d at 702-03 (prosecutor); United States v. Hammond, 598 F.2d 1008, 1012-13 (5th Cir.1979) (investigating FBI agent); Ray v. United States, 588 F.2d 601, 602-03 (8th Cir.1978) (investigating FBI agents); United States v. Henricksen, 564 F.2d 197, 198 (5th Cir.1977) (per curiam) (intimidation by terms of plea bargain); United States v. Sutton, 542 F.2d 1239, 1241-42 (4th Cir.1976) (investigating FBI agent); United States v. Morrison, 535 F.2d 223, 225-28 (3d Cir.1976) (actions and remarks of prosecutor); United States v. Thomas, 488 F.2d at 335 (investigating secret service agent); cf. Freeman v. Georgia, 599 F.2d 65, 69 (5th Cir.) (investigating homicide detective conceals eyewitness for wholly personal reasons), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1013, 100 S.Ct. 661, 62 L.Ed.2d 641 (1979). In the present case Dunn was a governmental officer but was not involved in the investigation or prosecution of petitioners’ case. In my opinion Dunn’s status as a governmental officer is the controlling factor. Intimidation of witnesses by anyone is intolerable *384and may be actionable in a separate proceeding, depending upon the circumstances, see, e.g., Chahal v. Paine Webber, Inc., 725 F.2d 20 (2d Cir.1984) (civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1985(2) which prohibits conspiracies to deter witnesses from attending or testifying freely to any matter pending in federal court); substantial governmental interference with witnesses is to be doubly condemned. Such governmental interference with defense witnesses not only violates the due process right of defendants to “present [their] own witnesses to establish a defense,” Washington v. Texas, 388 U.S. 14, 19, 87 S.Ct. 1920, 1923, 18 L.Ed.2d 1019 (1967), but also “involve[s the government] in corruption of the truth-seeking function of the trial process,” Ray v. United States, 588 F.2d at 602.
Marts would have been petitioners’ only character witness: the other defense witnesses were eyewitnesses, medical records custodians, an investigator hired by defense counsel, and petitioners themselves. Marts would have testified about petitioners’ reputations for peacefulness and honesty and as law-abiding citizens.
Evidence of a person’s character or of a trait of his character is admissible if it is evidence of a pertinent trait in light of the elements of the offense charged. Fed.R.Evid. 404(a). It has long been recognized that a defendant may introduce character testimony to the effect that “the general estimate of his character is so favorable that the jury may infer that he would not be likely to commit the offense charged.”
United States v. Darland, 626 F.2d 1235, 1237-38 (5th Cir.1980) (citing Michelson v. United States, 335 U.S. 469, 476, 69 S.Ct. 213, 218, 93 L.Ed. 168 (1948)), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1157, 102 S.Ct. 1032, 71 L.Ed.2d 315 (1982). Accord State v. Allen, 641 S.W.2d 471, 473 (Mo.App.1982) (character evidence is admissible and relevant to show the improbability of the defendant’s committing the crime charged and in substantive proof of his innocence) (citing State v. Demaree, 362 S.W.2d 500, 506 (Mo.1962) (banc) (self-defense)). This character evidence was admissible and relevant. Evidence that petitioners were law-abiding citizens would have made it less likely that they would have violated the law. In addition, character evidence would have required the state trial court to give the jury an appropriate instruction on character evidence. See, e.g., State v. Underwood, 530 S.W.2d 261, 262 (Mo.App.1975); see also 1 Mo. Approved Instructions 2d-Crim. 2.50 (1979). Cf. Michelson v. United States, 335 U.S. at 476, 69 S.Ct. at 218 (in federal court character evidence alone may be enough to raise reasonable doubt of the guilt of the accused and may entitle the accused to an appropriate jury instruction to that effect).
Having concluded that this character evidence should have been admitted, I further conclude that this evidence could have affected the judgment of the jury and that its exclusion was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. This analysis does not follow the per se rule adopted by the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Hammond, 598 F.2d at 1012-13, by the Third Circuit in United States v. Morrison, 535 F.2d at 227-28, and by the Fourth Circuit in United States v. Thomas, 488 F.2d at 335-36. As noted in the majority opinion, the harmless error analysis is consistent with the recent Supreme Court decisions, United States v. Hasting, 461 U.S. 499, 103 S.Ct. 1974, 1979-80, 76 L.Ed.2d 96 (1983), and United States v. Valenzuela-Bernal, 458 U.S. 858, 102 S.Ct. 3440, 73 L.Ed.2d 1193 (1982), and this court’s decision in Thomas v. Wyrick, 687 F.2d 235, 241 (8th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1175, 103 S.Ct. 824, 74 L.Ed.2d 1020 (1983). I have reviewed the record and agree with the majority opinion’s description of the crime; petitioners stand convicted of a brutal assault and murder. Their theory of defense was self-defense; evidence tending to show that petitioners were peaceable and law-abiding citizens would have been particularly relevant to their theory of defense. Even given the substantial evidence of guilt in the record, which I admit persuades me that petitioners are probably guilty of the offenses charged, I cannot conclude that the *385exclusion of this character evidence was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Cf. United States v. Angelini, 678 F.2d 380, 382 (1st Cir.1982) (direct appeal; not harmless error); United States v. Watson, 669 F.2d 1374, 1383 (11th Cir.1982) (similar); United States v. Hewitt, 634 F.2d 277, 280 (5th Cir.1981) (similar); United States v. Darland, 626 F.2d at 1238 (similar); State v. Allen, 641 S.W.2d at 473 (reversible error; very strong evidence).
I would reverse the order of the district court and remand with directions.