People v. Cress

• Decision Date: 09 July 2003
• Docket Number: Docket No. 121189, Calendar No. 6.
• Citation: 664 N.W.2d 174,468 Mich. 678
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Thomas David CRESS, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

664 N.W.2d 174

468 Mich. 678

PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Thomas David CRESS, Defendant-Appellee.

Docket No. 121189, Calendar No. 6.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Argued March 12, 2003.

Decided July 9, 2003.

Michael A. Cox, Attorney General, Thomas L. Casey, Solicitor General, John A. Hallacy, Prosecuting Attorney, and Nancy Mullett and Jennifer Kay Clark, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys Battle Creek, MI, for the people.

State Appellate Defender (by David A. Moran), Detroit, MI, for the defendant-appellee.

David L. Morse, President, James J. Gregart, Prosecuting Attorney, and Judith B. Ketchum, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Kalamazoo, MI, for the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan.

Bridget M. McCormack, Ann Arbor, MI, for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan.

Opinion

CORRIGAN, C.J.

We granted leave to appeal to consider whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying defendant's motion for relief from judgment on the basis of a new, third-party confession. We hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it concluded that the third-party confessor was not credible and that the confession, therefore, did not make a different result probable on retrial. The trial court's decision necessarily hinged on determinations of credibility and was supported by the evidence. The Court of Appeals impermissibly substituted its judicial opinion for that of the trial court. We thus reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and reinstate the trial court's order denying relief from judgment.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In 1985, a jury convicted defendant of first-degree felony murder, M.C.L. § 750.316, in the death of seventeen-year-old Patty Rosansky. The victim's body had been found in a ravine covered by a refrigerator door. Two pieces of tree limbs were found in her throat, and the autopsy revealed that the cause of death was a brain injury resulting from one or more blows to the head with a club-like object. The victim had defensive wounds on her hands and extensive bruising on her legs. She was clothed from the waist up, but was naked from the waist down, with her underwear around her feet. There was evidence of forced anal penetration.

No physical evidence connected defendant to the murder and no eyewitnesses were identified. Rather, the case against defendant consisted primarily of the testimony of several witnesses to whom defendant had admitted murdering the victim.¹ Defendant took the stand and denied that he killed the victim or that he had told anyone that he did so. He stated that he was delivering papers on February 3, 1983, and presented an alibi witness, Doug Moore. Defendant also presented the testimony of people who claimed to have seen the victim with a man other than defendant after the date she disappeared.

The Court of Appeals affirmed defendant's conviction on direct review. Unpublished opinion per curiam, issued February 4, 1988 (Docket No. 86748). This Court denied leave to appeal. 431 Mich. 856 (1988).

In 1997, defendant filed a motion for a new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence. Although defendant presented three separate arguments in support of his motion, the only argument at issue in this case is that Michael Ronning, an inmate in an Arkansas prison, had admitted murdering the victim.

Battle Creek Police Detective Dennis Mullen² first discovered Ronning's potential involvement while investigating another crime, an August 1982 murder. Ronning was initially reluctant to cooperate, but then agreed to confess to multiple murders in exchange for a transfer to a Michigan prison so he could be closer to his family. Ronning passed a polygraph test in which he admitted committing three homicides in Michigan. During the polygraph test, however, no questions were asked specifically about the murder in this case. In addition to taking the polygraph test, Ronning confessed to the murder in this case. In his confessions, Ronning claimed: (1) Rosansky, the victim, calmly got into Ronning's car without a struggle and crouched down on the floor while he drove her to Fort Custer; (2) once at the woods, Ronning had Rosansky remove all her clothes except her socks, and they smoked a joint; (3) Rosansky was not distressed,but was rather "quite comfortable" with him, even laughing and giggling; (4) he tried to have sex with Rosansky in the car, but specifically remembered that he did not and could not have sex because he "was too loaded up on drugs"; (5) he may have penetrated Rosansky's vagina with his fingers, but did not penetrate her rectum; (6) when they got out of the car, he followed Rosansky as she walked, holding on to her hair; (7) he strangled Rosansky with his left arm in a headlock-type hold for approximately four minutes; (8) Rosansky did not fight back or struggle in any way; and (9) after he thought Rosansky was dead, he stood over her and threw a rock at her head one time. Ronning also accompanied police on two unsuccessful attempts to locate the scene of the crime. Ronning later signed an affidavit attesting that he alone had murdered Rosansky.

The trial court originally granted defendant's request for a new trial on the basis of Ronning's confession. The court held:

It is important to note some observations concerning the trial testimony. There were no eyewitnesses to the murder of Patricia Rosansky.... There was absolutely no physical evidence linking the Defendant, Mr. Cress, to this crime. The only evidence connecting him to the crime was the testimony of several witnesses... all of whom testified that Mr. Cress had admitted to each of them his involvement in Ms. Rosansky's murder.

* * *

This Court has had the opportunity to review the videotaped statements of Michael Ronning in which he confesses to the murder of Patricia Rosansky. Parts of his statements agree with the established facts in this case, and parts of his statements may not agree with the established facts.

* * *

It appears to this Court that to deny the Motion for a New Trial in this case, one must be able to conclude that Mr. Ronning's confession is incredible, unbelievable, or simply unsubstantiated by the established facts. This I cannot do for several reasons.

First, there are portions of Mr. Ronning's statements which do conform to the established facts in this case. Second, although there are parts of his statements which may not be in conformity with the established facts, it must be noted that we are dealing with events which occurred 14 years ago. Given that lapse of time, it is possible that one's memory of some of the specific details may be sketchy. And finally, there is the testimony at the hearing of Battle Creek Police Detective Dennis Mullen.

Detective Mullen testified that he has been working on this murder case and two others since the 1980s. He stated under oath at the Hearing that he encouraged the Prosecutor's office to issue an arrest warrant against Michael Ronning for the murder of Patricia Rosansky. The testimony clearly indicates that Detective Mullen, based upon his knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Patricia Rosansky's murder and his subsequent investigation, believes Mr. Ronning's confession is true.

It is obvious that Detective Mullen and the Prosecutor's Office have a difference of opinion concerning the believability of Michael Ronning's confession. That difference simply indicates to this Court that the Ronning confession cannot be summarily dismissed. Ultimately, at a new trial, the jury may believe Mr. Ronning and acquit Thomas Cress. On the other hand, the jury may totally reject Ronning's confession and convict Mr. Cress of Murder.

Considering the fact that at Mr. Cress' trial, there was no physical evidence connecting him to the crime; that his conviction was based solely upon the statements attributed to him by several prosecution witnesses; that some of those witnesses may have recanted their trial testimony; and that Mr. Ronning's confession cannot be deemed incredible or unbelievable, I believe that the Defendant has met his burden of establishing the four factors ... required for granting a new trial....

It will be up to a new jury to weigh all the evidence presented, including Mr. Ronning's confession, and then determine whether there is evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Thomas Cress committed the murder of Patricia Rosansky.

The prosecutor applied for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals. Defendant then filed a motion in the trial court "for evidentiary hearing and dismissal of the charges," claiming bad-faith destruction of evidence.

The Court of Appeals denied the prosecutor's application for leave to appeal and stated that the trial court had not abused its discretion in granting defendant a new trial. Referring to evidentiary materials developed after the trial court's ruling, however, the Court noted that "denial of leave to appeal does not preclude a party from asking the trial court to revisit the merits of its order ... based on information developed subsequent to such order," including evidence derived from the forensic testing of the decedent's remains following exhumation.

The prosecutor moved in the trial court to reopen the proofs regarding defendant's motion for a new trial. The prosecutor sought to present new evidence attacking the veracity of Ronning's confession and more evidence regarding the allegedly recanting prosecution witnesses. The trial court granted the prosecutor's motion. At the hearing, several prosecution witnesses testified that Ronning had told them that he falsely confessed to the victim's murder. Ronning testified that he killed Rosansky, but refused to answer any questions about the circumstances of the murder, claiming that to do so would somehow violate his agreement with the government. As a result, Ronning's confessions to the murder of Rosansky have never...