Boss v. Pierce

• Decision Date: 31 August 2001
• Docket Number: No. 98-3665,PETITIONERS-APPELLANTS,RESPONDENTS-APPELLEES,98-3665
• Citation: 263 F.3d 734
• Parties: (7th Cir. 2001) RANDY BOSS AND REVELL BOSS,, v. GUY PIERCE AND MARK A. PIERSON, <A HREF="#fr1-*" name="fn1-*">*
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 734

263 F.3d 734 (7th Cir. 2001)

RANDY BOSS AND REVELL BOSS, PETITIONERS-APPELLANTS, v. GUY PIERCE AND MARK A. PIERSON,^* RESPONDENTS-APPELLEES.

No. 98-3665

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT

Argued April 18, 2000

August 31, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 97 C 2874--James B. Moran, Judge. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before Flaum, Chief Judge, and Ripple, and Williams, Circuit Judges.

Williams, Circuit Judge

Randy and Revell Boss¹ seek writs of habeas corpus overturning their state robbery and murder convictions. They argue that during their trial prosecutors unconstitutionally withheld from them material evidence favorable to their defense, in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963). The district court concluded that this argument did not warrant habeas corpus relief. Because we believe the Bosses have adequately established the elements of a Brady violation, we reverse.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Facts

At the Bosses' joint trial, the state sought to prove that the Bosses, along with two co-defendants who were tried separately, Nikia Harris and Corey Carter, robbed and beat to death Eugene Oliver, a 52-year-old neighborhood resident. Robert McAfee, a teenager at the time of the attack, was the only witness the government called to testify about the robbery and murder.² His direct testimony is summarized below.

McAfee was riding his bicycle home from Garfield Park in Chicago on September 6, 1993, at approximately 10:45 p.m. He stopped at the corner of Franklin and Drake and talked to a girl who was leaning out of a window. After about a minute, the conversation ended, and McAfee saw four men and a woman standing across the street outside the senior citizens' home, drinking beer. Although he did not recognize the woman, he recognized the four men--Randy, Revell (identified as "Vell"), Keater, and Corey.³

While still looking across the street, McAfee saw Eugene Oliver leave the senior citizens' home and walk toward Franklin. Randy, Vell, Keater, and Corey followed Oliver. As they walked to the corner of Franklin and Drake, Randy approached McAfee and asked if he could use his bicycle. After McAfee refused, Randy simply took the bicycle and rode off. McAfee gave chase.

Meanwhile, Oliver had turned left onto Franklin and walked to Central Park. On McAfee's bicycle, Randy caught up with Oliver and threw the bicycle at Oliver's legs, which caused Oliver to fall to the ground. Although McAfee could not remember where they came from, Vell, Keater, and Corey had by this point made their way to Central Park. All four began to beat Oliver. They repeatedly kicked Oliver in the face and on his side. Randy picked up the bicycle and threw it on Oliver's head three times. The beating lasted about a minute, and left Oliver motionless on the ground. Afterwards, Randy reached into Oliver's pocket and removed something.

As Randy, Vell, Keater, and Corey left the scene of the attack, they walked past McAfee, who had seen the attack from across the street. Randy told McAfee, "Don't say nothing, don't tell nobody." McAfee also noticed that Randy had a $20 bill in his hand, and he heard Randy talking about purchasing some beer.

Once they were gone, McAfee retrieved his bicycle from the park.⁴ The crank was so bent he had to push the bicycle home. Because of Randy's threat, McAfee kept quiet about Oliver's beating until he was questioned by the police.

At trial, during cross-examination, defense counsel questioned McAfee about a juvenile manslaughter adjudication that arose out of his accidental shooting of a friend, for which he was still on probation. McAfee admitted that he first lied to the police regarding his role in his friend's death because he was scared. With respect to the Oliver beating, he admitted that he was scared when the police brought him in for questioning. Defense counsel also elicited testimony from McAfee suggesting that the police may have initially suspected him as having been involved in the attack on Oliver.⁵

The four witnesses called by the defense told a different story. Antonio Shanklin testified that he saw four or five boys who he had never seen before beating Oliver. He identified McAfee as the one who picked up a bicycle and hit Oliver with it. Afterwards, McAfee fixed the chain on the bicycle and rode off, joining the other boys who had begun to flee the scene. As they fled, they went past Shanklin, and he had a good chance to look at them.

Shanklin also testified that he had known the Bosses for about three years, and he was certain they were not among the group of boys fleeing the scene. In fact, he stated that he saw Revell on the east side of Central Park while Oliver was being beaten on the west side of the park. On cross-examination, Shanklin admitted that he came forward to testify at the request of the Bosses' family.⁶

Contina Hill, Randy's girlfriend and his child's mother, stated that on the day of the crime, Randy was with her at the apartment she shares with her mother and other family members, enjoying a Labor Day barbeque. He left the apartment only twice. Sometime in the afternoon, he went downstairs to the apartment of Corey Carter's cousin, Gregory Carter. That night, he went out with Gregory and two other men and returned a short time later with beer. Randy left for good much later that night. Sometime late that night Revell came by and spent some time at the Hills' apartment. Janice Hill, Contina's sister, corroborated her sister's testimony and added that when Randy left the apartment the second time, he was gone approximately 15 minutes.

Tonya Gist, a neighbor of the Hills, testified that on the night of the crime, near Central Park, she saw McAfee fighting with an older man from the senior citizens' home. She went home, and when she arrived, she saw Randy sitting on the back porch she shared with the Hills. He was still there when she locked the gate later that evening. Also, at some point during the evening, Gist saw Revell on the porch.

On the last day of the Bosses' two-day trial, the state gave the Bosses an investigative report summarizing an interview of Janice Hill conducted four days before the trial began. This report revealed that Janice told the state investigator information unknown to defense counsel: (1) that McAfee had been bragging to people about what he and his friends had done to Oliver; and (2) that McAfee had told Richard Mitchell that he had only implicated Randy, Revell, and the other defendants in the Oliver attack so that he would not get in trouble. Based on this information, defense counsel moved for a continuance so that they could locate Richard Mitchell. The trial judge denied the motion.

The trial went forward, and the jury found Randy and Revell guilty of both first-degree murder and robbery. After the trial, but before sentencing, new defense counsel followed up on the Janice Hill information. Counsel located and talked to Richard Mitchell. According to Mitchell, McAfee admitted that he, not the defendants, had committed the offense. Counsel also collected written statements from Marcus Fowler and Ricky Boss to the same effect. Based on this material, counsel filed a motion for a new trial,⁷ but the trial judge denied the motion. The trial judge then sentenced Randy to concurrent prison terms of fifty years for murder and seven years for robbery, and sentenced Revell to concurrent prison terms of forty years for murder and seven years for robbery.

B. Post-Conviction Proceedings

The Bosses appealed their convictions to the Illinois Appellate Court, claiming, among other things, that the State's Attorneys prosecuting their case violated Brady v. Maryland, supra, by withholding the investigative report summarizing Janice Hill's interview with the state investigator. The Appellate Court affirmed their convictions. In rejecting the Bosses' Brady claim, the Appellate Court concluded that the Bosses could satisfy none of the requirements for a Brady claim, as the investigative report was not suppressed by the state, favorable to the defense, or material, under Brady. The Bosses sought review in the Illinois Supreme Court, but their petition was denied without an opinion.

The Bosses then turned to federal court and filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, raising the same claims. Concluding that the information in the investigative report was not suppressed by the state, the district court denied the writ. The district court granted them a certificate of appealability, and the Bosses filed this appeal with respect to their Brady claim.⁸

II. ANALYSIS

A. Habeas Corpus and 28 U.S.C. sec. 2254(d)(1)

In considering a habeas corpus petition filed by a state prisoner that challenges the prisoner's conviction or sentence on legal grounds, federal courts employ the standards set forth in 28 U.S.C. sec. 2254(d)(1). Under this provision, a federal court may grant a writ of habeas corpus only if the adjudication of the prisoner's claims in state court resulted in a decision that "was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States." As the Supreme Court explained in Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (2000), section 2254(d)(1) establishes two independent grounds on which a federal court can grant habeas corpus relief: (1) if a state court decision is contrary to clearly established federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court, or (2) if a state court decision involves an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court. Id. at 404-05; see also Washington v. Smith, 219 F.3d 620, 627-28 (7th Cir. 2000).

The "contrary to" standard requires a state court decision to be "substantially different from the relevant...