Hayes v. Brown, 99-99030.

CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)
Citation399 F.3d 972
Docket NumberNo. 99-99030.,99-99030.
PartiesBlufford HAYES, Jr., Petitioner-Appellant, v. Jill BROWN, Warden of the California State Prison at San Quentin,<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL> Respondent-Appellee.
Decision Date07 March 2005

David A. Senior, McBreen & Senior, Los Angeles, CA, argued the cause for the petitioner-appellant; Kathleen T. Saenz, McBreen & Senior, Los Angeles, CA, was on the briefs.

Mathew Chan, Deputy Attorney General, Sacramento, CA, argued the cause for the respondent-appellee; Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Jo Graves, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Arnold O. Overoye, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Ward A. Campbell, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Carlos A. Martinez, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, were on the brief.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California; David F. Levi, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-92-00603-GGH P.

Before: SCHROEDER, Chief Judge, and KLEINFELD, THOMAS, GRABER, WARDLAW, W. FLETCHER, FISHER, GOULD, PAEZ, TALLMAN, and BYBEE, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge THOMAS; Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge TALLMAN.

THOMAS, Circuit Judge:

In this case, we consider whether a prosecutor's knowing presentation of false evidence and failure to correct the record violate a criminal defendant's due process rights. We conclude that such actions violate due process, and we therefore reverse the district court's denial of the petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

I

This case concerns the 1980 murder of Vinod "Pete" Patel by Blufford Hayes, Jr. Patel was the resident hotel manager of the Rice Motel in Stockton, California. Hayes was staying in Room 15 of the motel with his sister, Barbara Lord. Hayes once resided at the motel himself, but had been evicted when he stopped paying rent. Several days before Patel's death, Patel had asked the police to arrest Hayes for trespassing because he had broken into his former room. Officers found Hayes in his former room with fresh needle marks on his arm; he admitted to breaking in, but said he intended to pay rent as soon as he could. The police arrested him for trespassing and for being under the influence of a controlled substance.

Hayes returned to the Rice Motel on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1979, to visit his sister in her room. Hayes testified that, as of New Year's Eve, he had been awake for three days, had injected heroin and Ritalin, and had consumed a large amount of brandy. On the morning of New Year's Day, Lord left for work, leaving Hayes alone in the motel room. At trial, Lord testified that her bathroom sink had been leaking for some time. She had told Patel about the leak, but he had not fixed it. Lord testified that she saw Patel as she left for work on the morning of New Year's Day, and that she may have mentioned the leak to him again.

At around 9:30 a.m., Bearla Mae Wyatt, who lived next door to Lord in Room 16, went to the motel's office to get some fresh towels. In the office, Wyatt encountered Hayes and Patel. Hayes was telling Patel that there was a problem with the bathroom sink in Room 15 and that he wanted Patel to come and fix it. Patel did not understand Hayes's explanation and invited Hayes to demonstrate what he meant in Patel's own living quarters, which adjoined the office. Because Patel was occupied, Wyatt left; when she returned 10 to 15 minutes later, Hayes and Patel were coming out of Patel's bathroom area. Wyatt heard Patel tell Hayes that he would "be down at the room later on."

Hayes testified that, after his discussion with Patel at the motel office, Hayes returned to Room 15, went to a store to buy a bottle of wine, returned to the motel room, drank some wine, and went to sleep. According to Hayes, the next thing he recalled was being awakened by someone slapping him and saying something that he could not understand. He claimed that he struck back and thereafter realized it was Patel. Hayes testified that, as he was getting off the bed, he noticed that Patel had a knife. Hayes said he struggled with Patel, forced Patel to drop the knife, and then picked the knife up himself.

Hayes testified that he thereafter tried to stop the manager from grabbing a butcher knife that was on top of the dresser, and ended up stabbing Patel on the arm and chest. According to Hayes, Patel backed away into the bathroom and made a loud noise. Patel then walked out and collapsed on the floor. Hayes said he then picked up the butcher knife from the floor and put it in a dresser drawer to put it outside Patel's reach. He also picked up a bottle of wine and placed it into the same drawer. Hayes righted a chair that had been knocked over and picked up a pouch and vest from the floor and put them on the bed. He then unwound two wire coat hangers and bound Patel's hands and feet while Patel was still alive. Hayes explained that he did not want to have to hurt Patel anymore and was afraid of what Patel might do if he got up.

A short time later, Hayes went to the motel room shared by Andrew "A.J." James and his girlfriend, Michele Gebert. Hayes had known both James and Gebert for many years. Hayes told them he wanted James to give him a ride. Hayes testified that he told James that he had had to "down" someone. James said that he did not believe Hayes, and left the room to see for himself. Gebert testified that she commented to Hayes about the possibility of Patel calling the police, and Hayes allegedly replied that "[Patel] would not say anything to anybody." Hayes testified that he looked out the door of James and Gebert's apartment and saw James, not in Hayes's room, but at the motel office. According to his testimony, Hayes then went to the office, where he saw James taking cartons of cigarettes. Hayes testified that, at James's request, he also carried two boxes himself. Hayes and James left together in James's car.

Wyatt testified that, about thirty minutes after she saw Hayes and Patel in the motel office, by which time she had returned to her room, she looked out her window and saw Hayes carrying a box across the motel parking lot to a car. She noticed that James was standing at the side of the car. A few moments later, she looked out the window again and saw James carrying something out of his room. She could not recall what James was carrying, but it "seemed like he was moving out" because there was a lot of movement back and forth.

According to James, when Hayes arrived at James's room, James woke up, went to the bathroom, and left with Hayes. James testified that the two went to James's car. There, James noticed that two boxes of cigarettes, each containing thirty cartons, were in the car. The location of the boxes is unclear. At one point, James testified that the boxes of cigarettes were in the trunk. At other times, James testified that the boxes were in the back seat. According to James, Hayes asked James if he knew where to get rid of the cigarettes, but James said he did not. James kept one carton for himself, however.

James testified that Hayes told him in the car that Hayes had "offed" the motel manager. When James expressed his disbelief, Hayes explained that the manager had awakened him and had "swung on him" so Hayes "did the do with him." James also testified that Hayes further advised James that he "tore" up the office looking for money. James drove Hayes to Hayes's mother's house, helped unload the cigarettes, and then drove straight back to the motel, where he noticed that the door of the motel's office was open. He left in the car with Gebert, and they drove around for several hours discussing what to do. James was afraid to go to the police because he "had cases at the time." Gebert eventually called the police, and Gebert and James later went to the police station to be interviewed.

When Lord returned to Room 15 that afternoon, she found Patel's dead body lying on the floor. His hands and feet were bound with coat hangers. Patel had suffered at least twenty-two cutting and stabbing wounds, including eight stab wounds to the front of his chest. Six stab wounds penetrated the chest cavity, any one of which could have been fatal. The wounds to Patel's left hand and forearm were determined to be "defensive wounds," which the coroner defined as "wounds incurred by the victim as he is trying to ward off the attacker."

At the crime scene, the police located a butcher's knife inside a dresser drawer. Inside the bathroom, the police found "splattered" blood on "quite a few spots." There were also signs of struggle inside the bathroom, as reflected by a toppled plastic trash can and damage to the door frame of the shower. Outside the bathroom, the only blood observed was a pool under Patel's body, and stains on some items on the bed. There was no overturned furniture in the room, according to a police officer who viewed the scene. The police also discovered a light blue, long-sleeved shirt and a dark blue vest, both stained with blood. Hayes and Patel had the same blood type, and the blood on the clothing was consistent with this type. The motel's office and Patel's adjoining living quarters appeared to have been ransacked. The office cash box, which generally held $40 to $50, was found empty.

Hayes was arrested in Oregon, and tried before a San Joaquin County, California, jury. The prosecution flew James, who had left California, back from Florida for the trial, with the promise that he could return to Florida after testifying. James had a criminal history, having been convicted of petty theft, grand theft, and receiving stolen property. At the time he testified, he also had pending in California three charges of felony theft with a prior conviction,...

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