Court Opinion

ID: 9461531
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:16:22.61822+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:06.221420
License: Public Domain

LAY, HEANEY, and BRIGHT, Circuit Judges,
dissenting on order.
We dissent from the order denying a rehearing en banc. The prosecutor has presented no evidence that appellantCunha committed any act which aided or facilitated the crimes (murder and robbery with aggravation) for which he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Although all of the other participants in the crimes for which Cunha was convicted were identified by eye witnesses, no one identified Cunha or even placed him in Algona at the time .of the robbery and murder.
Rather, the prosecutor presented a massive parade of evidence of 12 crimes, unrelated to the robbery and murder committed by the jail escapees. But even as to these other crimes, the testimony did not implicate Cunha in all of them. To a substantial degree, this conviction seems to rest on a principle of guilt by association. We believe the petition for writ of habeas corpus raises a due process issue of sufficient importance to justify a rehearing by the full court.