Hanrahan v. Thieret
| Decision Date | 12 August 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-3292,90-3292 |
| Citation | 933 F.2d 1328 |
| Parties | Homer E. HANRAHAN, Petitioner-Appellee, v. James H. THIERET, Warden, Respondent-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Cynthia Grant Bowman, Northwestern University Legal Clinic, Chicago, Ill., for petitioner-appellee.
Marcia L. Friedl, Asst. Atty. Gen., Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Bradley P. Halloran, Office of the Atty. Gen., and Terence M. Madsen, Asst. Atty. Gen., Office of the Atty. Gen., Crim. Appeals Div., Chicago, Ill., for respondent-appellant.
Before WOOD, Jr., and POSNER, Circuit Judges, and FAIRCHILD, Senior Circuit Judge.
Sometime near midnight on November 21, 1974, Mary Ellen Hanrahan, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Homer Hanrahan, went to the Niles police station. Her mother was gone, she told police officers, and she was worried. Her report led to the arrest of her nineteen-year-old brother, Michael Hanrahan. It also led to the arrest of her father and the discovery of her mother's dead body in the trunk of his car. Both men were charged with murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated battery, and conspiracy. After a joint trial, a jury convicted Homer on all counts and Michael on all counts but murder.
Homer thereafter began a lengthy process of challenging his convictions on direct appeal 1 as well as collaterally. 2 This court first addressed these efforts in Hanrahan v. Greer, 896 F.2d 241 (7th Cir.1990), where we upheld the district court's conclusion that Homer's constitutional rights had been violated by the admission of incriminating statements by his son and nontestifying codefendant, Michael. We remanded the case, however, so that the district court could determine whether the admission of Michael's statements collectively constituted harmless error. That determination having been made in favor of Homer, see United States ex. rel. Hanrahan v. Thieret, 748 F.Supp. 603 (N.D.Ill.1990), we have occasion to revisit his petition on this appeal by his prosecutor.
Familiarity with the previous opinions addressing Homer's efforts is assumed, but the nature of our inquiry demands a factual presentation. Crudely, but necessarily, summarized, the relevant testimony falls within four major categories: (1) Mary Ellen's testimony; (2) physical evidence; (3) Homer's statements and testimony at trial; and (4) Michael's statements. 3
Mary Ellen testified that she arrived at her home in Niles, Illinois, at approximately 9:30 p.m. on November 20, 1974. She was met by her father, which she thought unusual for two reasons. First, her father and mother were in the process of getting divorced and he no longer resided in the family home. Second, blood covered his right forearm, which he attributed to having cut himself.
At her father's behest, Mary Ellen went upstairs to her room. Once there, she was startled when she heard her mother, Marian Hanrahan, scream. Homer soon came upstairs and explained that Michael and Marian were fighting, but this explanation failed to satisfy Mary Ellen's curiosity. After her father left, she eavesdropped at an air vent that led to the basement. She heard her mother moan and also heard her mother say, "It hurts, it hurts."
The results of her eavesdropping prompted Mary Ellen to go downstairs to the kitchen. Homer soon came up from the basement and again told her that Michael and Marian were arguing downstairs. Things had gotten out of hand, he said, but they were okay now. Mary Ellen went back to her bedroom but continued to hear her mother moaning.
When Mary Ellen's uncle brought her brother Steven back home from a birthday party, she went downstairs and saw Michael greet the uncle at the front door wearing only his undershorts. After the uncle departed, she asked Michael what was wrong. He replied that their mother had gone "crazy" and that he had hit her in the face after she came at him with a knife. Michael then refused to allow Mary Ellen to go down to the basement to see their mother.
After her encounter with Michael, Mary Ellen returned to her bedroom. She was not to remain there, however; she later came back downstairs to the kitchen and once again encountered her father. They had a conversation in which Homer asked her how she would feel about the possibility of his reconciliation with her mother.
Mary Ellen thereafter returned to her bedroom, fell asleep, and did not awaken until roughly 7:00 a.m., when she heard Michael leaving for school. After her father came into her room and told her to get ready for school, Mary Ellen asked to see her mother. Homer refused. He assured her, however, that everything was alright and that her mother was still sleeping.
When Mary Ellen returned from school around 2:15 p.m., she found a note from her father stating that he and her mother had gone on a trip and would return in a few days. She thought it unusual that her mother would leave without saying goodbye. She also thought it unusual that her mother would go anywhere with her father. Acting on her concerns, she went to the police and told them what had happened.
After Mary Ellen related these events, police officers accompanied her to the family home. In the basement, they discovered blood and observed that the floor had been freshly mopped. They also found a blood-stained mattress pad on Marian's bed and noticed that the sheets and covers were missing. After checking her mother's closet, Mary Ellen found that none of her mother's clothes were missing.
Michael was arrested for battery later that morning, November 22, 1974. That evening, police officers arrested Homer at the home of Roberta Stiles, his girlfriend. When they opened the trunk of his car, they found Marian's naked dead body inside. They also found Marian's purse, some hypodermic syringes, various drugs, a drug salesperson's sample kit with empty slots, a bottle labelled chloroform, a paper towel shaped into a cup, a suitcase that contained a hunting knife, boxes with medication labels, and a vibrator. In addition to the contents of the trunk, the state was also successful in admitting into evidence two handguns that were in Stiles's home, one of which had traces of blood on the butt; sheets, towels, and blankets from the family home that were discovered in Stiles's basement; an attache case from the back seat of Homer's car; and blood-stained clothing belonging to Michael and Homer.
In relaying the results of his initial examination, the pathologist described the bruises that were evident on the side, shoulder, and head of Marian's body. He testified that a bruise on Marian's forehead, which had caused internal bleeding, was consistent with a blow to the head. That blow could have caused external bleeding from her nose, head, ears, or mouth, but the pathologist did not observe any signs of external bleeding from those areas. He also described Marian's anus as dilated and indicated that her buttocks evidenced multiple puncture wounds that were consistent with needle injections.
On the basis of this initial examination, the pathologist determined that Marian's numerous bruises had caused her death. When he received the toxicologist's report, however, he revised that determination. Marian, he told the jury, died of acute morphine intoxication; the external wounds were at most a contributing cause of death. She had died twenty-four to forty-eight hours prior to her autopsy on the morning of November 23, and she had eaten approximately four to six hours before her death.
The toxicologist's analysis of Marian's blood, urine, and bile revealed a toxic level of morphine; nonlethal doses of a tranquilizer and barbiturates; a negligible amount of alcohol; and a trace amount of chloroform. Of the drugs that the police recovered, only one could have been the source of the morphine that killed Marian--the cough medicine Phenargan, which contained codeine. If that were the only source, however, Marian would have had to ingest five to ten of the little sample bottles that the police discovered.
Homer's first and only statement came several hours after his arrest. 4 He revealed the location of two guns and also revealed the location of the blankets, towels, bandages, drugs, hypodermic needles, and Marian's clothing. 5 He admitted that he had attempted to administer Sparine, a tranquilizer, into his wife's anus and that he had successfully injected it into her buttocks. He also identified chloroform as another substance used, and admitted a familiarity with drugs as a result of his former employment as a salesperson for a pharmaceutical company.
Homer's statement also included references to Michael's participation. He told the assistant state's attorney that Michael struck Marian in the head with a gun after she displayed a serrated knife. He also stated that Michael administered chloroform to Marian. In seeming contrast to these statements, however, Homer told his interviewer, "Blame it all on me, I did it, my son was not involved." The interview terminated after he requested an attorney. 6
Homer also testified at trial. He told the jury that on November 20, 1974, he met Michael for dinner at Jake's Restaurant prior to a prearranged meeting with Marian to work out some of the details in their pending divorce. During his dinner with Michael, Homer expressed a desire to settle the matter that evening. If a quick settlement was not possible, however, then Homer indicated that he would like to get Marian "away from the influence of her family for a few days" in order to facilitate settlement. 7 The two men, who were both gun enthusiasts, also discussed a broken gun that Homer had left behind in the basement of the family home. Homer told Michael that he would give him the gun later that evening because Michael had an idea as...
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