Arnold v. McNeil

• Decision Date: 31 March 2009
• Docket Number: Case No. 3:01-cv-1412-J-32HTS.
• Citation: 622 F.Supp.2d 1294
• Parties: Darryl ARNOLD, Petitioner, v. Walter A. McNEIL,<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL> et al., Respondents.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida

622 F.Supp.2d 1294

Darryl ARNOLD, Petitioner, v. Walter A. McNEIL,¹ et al., Respondents.

Case No. 3:01-cv-1412-J-32HTS.

United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Jacksonville Division.

March 31, 2009.

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David D. Burns, Tanner Bishop, Kelly L. Degance, Holland & Knight, LLP, Thomas Edward Bishop, Tanner Bishop, Jacksonville, FL, Gregory Williamson, Fidelity National Information Services, Green Cove Springs, FL, for Petitioner.

Charles R. McCoy, Office of the Attorney General, Kelly L. Degance, Holland & Knight, LLP, Tallahassee, FL, for Respondents.

ORDER

TIMOTHY J. CORRIGAN, District Judge.

At the very same time a corrupt police officer was committing multiple felonies, including selling drugs, robbery and facilitating a murder, he was also serving as a principal investigator and witness for the State against Petitioner Darryl Arnold in a drug prosecution. The corrupt officer's illegal activities were not known to the prosecutor at the time but were, of course, known by the officer himself. In these circumstances, has the State failed to disclose to the defense material information concerning the officer's crimes such that Arnold's due process rights under Brady v. Maryland have been violated? On the facts of this case, the answer is "yes"; the jury's verdict against Arnold was unworthy of confidence and he is entitled to habeas relief.

I. Status

Petitioner Darryl Arnold, an inmate of the Florida penal system, initiated this action by filing a pro se Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Doc. # 1) with an Appendix of Authorities (Doc. # 2) and Memorandum of Law (Doc. # 3) under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 on December 11, 2001, pursuant to the mailbox rule.² On September 15, 2003, this Court appointed counsel to represent Arnold. See Order (Doc. # 17). On January 14, 2004, this Court granted Arnold's Motion to Hold Proceedings in Abeyance and stayed this case to permit Arnold to complete exhaustion in state court. See Order (Doc. # 23).

On December 14, 2005, this Court granted Arnold's Unopposed Motion to Reopen Proceedings and lifted the stay of the case. See Order (Doc. # 25). On January 13, 2006, Arnold, through counsel, filed an Amended Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (Doc. # 26) (hereinafter Amended Petition) with exhibits (hereinafter Petitioner's Ex.) and a Memorandum of Law in Support (Doc. # 26-2) (hereinafter Petitioner's Memorandum of Law). In the Amended Petition, Arnold challenges his 1998 state court (Duval County, Florida) conviction for sale or delivery of cocaine on one ground: the prosecution, in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), failed to disclose favorable evidence to Arnold.

On January 30, 2006, Respondents filed a Response to Amended Petition for Habeas Corpus (Doc. #27) (hereinafter Response).³ Following discovery, on May 1, 2008, the Court conducted an evidentiary hearing, and both parties submitted exhibits. See Transcript of the Evidentiary Hearing (Doc. # 50) (hereinafter EH Tr.); Evidentiary Exhibits (Doc. # 49) (hereinafter EH Ex.); Deposition Transcripts (Doc. # 48). Before the hearing, the parties filed memoranda and also stipulated to certain facts. See Stipulation (Doc. #45); Respondents' Hearing Memorandum of Facts and Law (Doc. #46) (hereinafter Respondents' EH Memorandum); Arnold's Evidentiary Hearing Memorandum (Doc. #47) (hereinafter Arnold's EH Memorandum). This case is now ripe for decision.

II. Procedural History

On June 17, 1998, Arnold was arrested and accused of selling crack cocaine following an earlier undercover investigation by Detectives Aric Sinclair and Laval Thomas of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office ("JSO"). On July 7, 1998, Arnold was charged with one count of the unlawful sale or delivery of cocaine. Respondents' Appendix A, Information.

On October 8, 1998, Arnold was tried by a jury in state court in Duval County. Stipulation at 3; Respondents' Appendix O, Transcript of the Jury Trial Proceedings (hereinafter Tr.). Both Detectives Sinclair and Thomas testified for the prosecution, as did a Florida Department of Law Enforcement senior crime lab analyst. Arnold and his mother testified for the defense. On October 9, 1998, the jury found Arnold guilty and the trial court subsequently adjudged Arnold guilty of the sale or delivery of cocaine and sentenced him as a habitual felony offender⁴ to twenty-six years of imprisonment. Stipulation at 3.

Arnold, through counsel, appealed his conviction and sentence to the First District Court of Appeal, raising the following claims: (1) the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial when Detective Sinclair, contrary to the trial court's prior order, testified concerning the typical behavior patterns of drug dealers; and (2) Arnold was denied a fair trial by improper prejudicial arguments made by the prosecutor during closing arguments. Respondents' Appendix E, Initial Brief. The State filed an Answer Brief, and Arnold filed a Reply Brief. Respondents' Appendices F and G. On October 1, 1999, the First District Court of Appeal per curiam affirmed without issuing a written opinion. Arnold v. State, 743 So.2d 1078 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999). The mandate was issued on October 19, 1999. Respondents' Appendix I.

On or about April 4, 2000, Arnold filed a pro se motion for post conviction relief pursuant to Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.850, raising two issues: (1) ineffective assistance of counsel for his trial counsel's failure to call Arnold's witnesses (Robert Hill and Tamika Jones), and to advise him of all plausible defenses; and (2) deficiencies in the identification evidence used to convict Arnold. Respondents' Appendix J. The trial court did not conduct an evidentiary hearing.

On October 11, 2000, the trial court denied the Rule 3.850 motion, stating in pertinent part:

In the instant Motion, Defendant alleges two grounds for relief. In Defendant's first ground for relief, he alleges that counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to "call Defendant witnesses, and advise Defendant of all plausible defences [sic] in his case." Specifically, Defendant alleges that counsel should have called Robert Hill and Tamika Jones to testify that "defendant has never attended Andrew Jackson High School, did not finish High School, nor played any sporting events with said Det./Officer and that Officer does not know his family on a personal basis."

. . . .

Detective Sinclair testified that he "knew [Defendant] from the neighborhood, growing up as teenageers [sic], we played in the same park," and that they attended Andrew Jackson High School at the same time despite Defendant being "a couple of years ahead" of the detective. Detective Sinclair also testified that since he had become a police officer he has observed Defendant "frequently in the neighborhood." Finally, Detective Sinclair testified that he was familiar with Defendant's family because of growing up together. (Exhibit "C," pages 210-214.)

Initially, this Court will note that both Defendant and his mother, Willie Mae Arnold, testified at trial concerning the exact issues that Defendant now suggests the additional witnesses should have testified to. Defendant testified that despite knowing Detective Sinclair and the detective knowing some people in his family, Defendant never attended Jackson High School nor had he ever seen Detective Sinclair in the park. (Exhibit "C," pages 271-273.) Defendant's mother testified that the detective grew up in the neighborhood with Defendant and that she knew the detective's parents. But she testified that Defendant never attended Andrew Jackson High School and that he did not play much basketball in the park and that she had never observed Detective Sinclair playing basketball with her son. (Exhibit "C," pages 295-297.) Therefore, any further testimony concerning this information would have been cumulative.

Finally, even assuming, arguendo, that counsel was in fact able to impeach Detective Sinclair as Defendant alleges, Detective Thomas also testified that Defendant was involved in the drug transaction. Detective Thomas identified Defendant as the person who sold him cocaine while the detective was operating in an undercover capacity. Detective Thomas also identified Defendant as the culprit the day after the incident by looking at a photograph of Defendant. (Exhibit "C," pages 151-152, 168-169.) Therefore, Defendant has failed to demonstrate prejudice.

. . . .

It appears that Defendant is alleging that counsel failed, contrary to Defendant's request to present a defense of misidentification. Defendant's assertion is belied by the record. First, Defendant testified that he did not commit the offense. Defendant maintained that he was with his former girlfriend when the offense occurred. (Exhibit "C," pages 274-275.) Second, Defendant's mother testified that there was an individual in the neighborhood who resembled defendant. (Exhibit "C," pages 297-298.) Finally, during closing argument[,] counsel argued the following:

Whether it was Mr. Arnold's double or someone else, it was not Mr. Arnold. There are a couple of other things that you can look at to know that Mr. Arnold is not the person who sold cocaine on that day. First of all, Detective Thomas said the seller removed the cocaine with his right hand from his right pocket and if you've been watching Mr. Arnold, he's been writing during this trial some. He's left handed. Mr. Arnold-well, the other thing that we don't have is the money. Where is the money? The marked money that was given. I don't want to use a cliche, but show me the money. We don't have it.

(Exhibit "C," page 362);

They're out there trying to clean up the streets and maybe they are doing it, but the thing is that old saying all is fair in love and war should not apply here because the war should not be won at all costs, it should not be won at the cost of convicting innocent people and Mr. Arnold is...