Caffey v. Butler

• Citation: 802 F.3d 884
• Decision Date: 22 September 2015
• Docket Number: No. 13–3454.,13–3454.
• Parties: Fedell CAFFEY, Petitioner–Appellant, v. Kim BUTLER, Warden, Respondent–Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

802 F.3d 884

Fedell CAFFEY, Petitioner–Appellant

v.Kim BUTLER, Warden, Respondent–Appellee.

No. 13–3454.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued Oct. 29, 2014.

Decided Sept. 22, 2015.

Patricia G. Mysza, Attorney, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Chicago, IL, Alan Michael Freedman, Attorney, Evanston, IL, for Petitioner–Appellant.

Leah Myers Bendik, Katherine M. Doersch, Attorneys, Office of the Attorney General, Chicago, IL, for Respondent–Appellee.

Before RIPPLE, KANNE, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Opinion

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

Fedell Caffey is serving a life sentence in Illinois on triple-murder and aggravated kidnapping convictions. Caffey maintains he is innocent. He petitioned the district court for a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that his trial and post-conviction proceedings in state court were marred by numerous violations of his constitutional rights. The district court held an evidentiary hearing, thoroughly reviewed the record, and issued a detailed opinion denying Caffey's petition. We affirm the district court's denial of Caffey's habeas corpus petition.

I. Background

On the night of November 16, 1995, Debra Evans was fatally shot and stabbed in her apartment in Addison, Illinois. She was nine months pregnant. The assailants cut open her womb and removed the unborn baby inside, whom Debra had named Elijah. Debra also had three older children—Samantha (age 10), Joshua (age 7), and Jordan (age 2). Samantha was killed in the apartment along with her mother. Elijah and Joshua were taken from the scene. Two-year-old Jordan was left behind, alive, with his dead mother and sister. The next day, police found Joshua's lifeless body in an alley in Maywood, Illinois.

Police arrested Debra's former boyfriend Laverne Ward, who was the father of Jordan and Elijah—the only children who survived. Police also arrested Ward's cousin Jacqueline Annette Williams and her live-in boyfriend Fedell Caffey, the defendant-petitioner in this case. A grand jury indicted Ward, Williams, and Caffey on multiple counts of first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping. Each defendant was tried separately.

In 1999, a jury found Caffey guilty of the first-degree murder of Debra, Samantha, and Joshua, as well as the aggravated kidnapping of Joshua. Caffey received a sentence of death on the murder convictions and a consecutive thirty-year prison term on the aggravated kidnapping conviction. In 2003, Illinois Governor George Ryan commuted Caffey's death sentence to life without parole.

Caffey claims in this appeal that his trial was fundamentally unfair because certain evidence was excluded or otherwise not presented to the jury. In order to assess his claims, we first have to take stock of the evidence that was presented—a lengthy endeavor given the voluminous trial record. In doing so, we walk on well-trodden ground: the state court decisions under review and the district court decision below already provide detailed summaries of the evidence. We assume familiarity with those opinions and highlight only the most relevant facts here. We presume that the state courts' account of the facts is accurate, unless the petitioner rebuts this presumption “by clear and convincing evidence.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1) ; see also Etherly v. Davis, 619 F.3d 654, 660 (7th Cir.2010).

A. The Case against Caffey

The State's theory at trial was that Williams faked a pregnancy with Caffey's knowledge, and that Williams, Caffey, and Ward planned to kill Debra Evans, steal her unborn child, and pass the child off as Williams and Caffey's. Williams and Caffey were unable to conceive their own child naturally because Williams had had tubal ligation years earlier in connection with a caesarian birth. And Ward was driven to act, according to the State, because he was angry at Debra for preventing him from seeing his son Jordan.

The State's evidence at trial tended to show the following. James Edwards, who lived with Debra and her children in Addison, left for work around 5:30 p.m. on November 16. When he returned at 2:30 a.m. the next morning, two-year-old Jordan greeted him at the door. Edwards found Debra's and Samantha's bodies and immediately called 911. Several items were missing from the apartment, including Edwards's Grambling State University Tigers Starter jacket.

1. The Testimony of Scott and Pruitt

Williams's friend Patrice Scott and her boyfriend Dwight Pruitt testified that Williams showed up at their apartment in Villa Park, Illinois, around 1 a.m. on November 17 accompanied by a young boy, who turned out to be Joshua Evans. Williams was wearing a Starter jacket and a white sweater spotted with blood. Joshua was wearing a T-shirt, coat, and boots, but no pants or socks. Scott noticed a gray car parked outside. Williams told Scott that the boy's mother had been shot and asked whether he could spend the night at Scott and Pruitt's home. Scott agreed. Williams said she would pick Joshua up in the morning. She also claimed to have just given birth to a baby. (A month earlier, she had told Scott she was pregnant.)

Scott heard Joshua crying during the night. Joshua was still crying in the early morning, when he told Scott that he needed to go home because his younger brother Jordan was there alone, and because Edwards would not know where he (Joshua) was. Joshua explained that four burglars had entered his home and cut his mother and sister. Scott asked who they were, and Joshua answered: “Annette, Levern, and Fedell,” and someone Joshua called “Boo Boo.” Joshua repeated this statement more than three times. He explained that he was hiding but came out as the burglars left, ran outside, and then bumped into Williams.

Pruitt overheard Joshua's comments from the bedroom, where Pruitt was watching television with the volume lowered. He testified that Joshua said: “Annette”; “Vern”; a name that sounded like “Vedelle”, “Adelle”, or “Ladelle”; and a fourth name Pruitt could not make out.

Around 9 a.m. on November 17, Williams returned, driving the same gray car that Scott had seen the night before. Scott told Williams what Joshua had said. Williams became angry, cursed at Joshua, and accused him of lying. Joshua insisted he was telling the truth. Williams told Joshua to take his medicine, but he said he did not take any medicine. Williams led him to the kitchen; the boy soon emerged gagging, went to the bathroom, and vomited. Police later found an empty iodine bottle in the kitchen garbage can.

Williams asked Scott to accompany her to the townhouse where Williams and Caffey lived in Schaumburg, Illinois. Williams explained that she wanted to check on her newborn baby, and that she also had some gifts for Scott's infant daughter Alexis. Scott agreed to go along. She, Williams, and Joshua left the apartment. Scott asked Pruitt to watch Alexis, but he refused, so Scott brought Alexis with her.

While they were gone, Pruitt saw a television report on the Evans murders and recognized Joshua's picture. Pruitt left the apartment looking for a telephone but could not find one that worked. Unsuccessful, he returned home.

When Scott arrived at Williams and Caffey's home, she went upstairs with Williams while Joshua watched Alexis in the living room. Scott testified that she saw Caffey lying on a bed with a “really pale” baby who had “tape across his navel.” Scott went back downstairs to feed Alexis. Later, Williams called Scott down to the lower level, where the garage and laundry room were located. Williams asked Scott to bring Joshua downstairs, which she did.

Waiting in the lower-level laundry room were Caffey, Williams, and an unidentified man, who soon left. Scott testified that she heard Caffey ask Williams why she had not taken Joshua “to the projects” as he instructed. Williams explained that Joshua “talked too much” and knew their names. Caffey and Williams then began to strangle Joshua with a white cord. Scott screamed and pushed Williams, forcing her to release her end of the cord. Williams left and returned with a knife. Scott screamed again and asked Williams to take them home. Scott took Joshua upstairs and tried to leave, but the door was locked. Scott went back down to the laundry room with Joshua and Alexis. Caffey warned Scott not to say anything or else he would “get me and my daughters.”

Caffey then instructed Williams to take Scott home. They all went to the garage and got into the gray car. Scott was in the front passenger seat with Alexis. Joshua was behind her in the back seat, and Caffey was sitting next to him. Williams was standing along the driver's side and appeared to be holding Joshua. Scott testified that she saw Caffey repeatedly stab Joshua, causing him to gasp and kick the front seat.

Williams then climbed into the driver's seat and drove to Maywood, where she and Caffey took Joshua out of the car, took him to the back of a building, and then returned without him. Williams left Caffey in Maywood and took Scott back to her apartment. They arrived around 12:15 p.m. At Williams's request, Scott gave her cleaning supplies.

Pruitt observed that Scott seemed to be “trying to get rid of [Williams].” Pruitt told Scott to lock the door while he went to call the police. On his way out, he saw Williams cleaning her car. Pruitt called the police from a nearby hair salon. Scott subsequently led them to the location in Maywood where Williams and Caffey had taken Joshua. Police recovered Joshua's dead body in a nearby alley. They then drove to Williams and Caffey's home and arrested them. At the time of arrest, Williams was carrying Elijah, who had a bloody piece of gauze taped over his navel. Caffey was wearing Edwards's Starter jacket, which had blood stains on the right cuff.

2. Physical and Forensic Evidence

The State presented the following physical and forensic evidence. In the Evans apartment, investigators found Williams's bloody fingerprint on a piece of paper. On the sidewalk in front of the apartment, they found a pair of poultry shears...