Capano v. Carroll
| Decision Date | 15 April 2008 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 06-58. |
| Citation | 547 F.Supp.2d 378 |
| Parties | Thomas J. CAPANO v. Thomas L. CARROLL, et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Delaware |
Joseph M. Bernstein, Joseph M. Bernstein, Esq., Wilmington, DE, for Thomas J. Capano.
Elizabeth Roberts McFarlan, Department of Justice, Wilmington, DE, for Warden Thomas L. Carroll, et al.
Before the court is the petition of Thomas J. Capano for habeas corpus relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He alleges that he is in state custody in violation of the Constitution of the United States.
Capano, a prominent Delaware lawyer, was convicted in the Superior Court in and for New Castle County of murder in the first degree of Anne Marie Fahey, the scheduling secretary of the State's then Governor, Thomas R. Carper. Judge William Swain Lee sentenced Capano to death upon recommendation of the jury. State v. Capano, Cr.A. No. 97-11-0720, 1999 DeLSuper. LEXIS 541 (Del.Super.Ct. Mar. 16, 1999). The Supreme Court of Delaware affirmed on direct appeal, and the United States Supreme Court denied Capano's petition for a writ of certiorari. Capano v. State, 781 A.2d 556 (Del.2001), cert, denied, Capano v. Delaware, 536 U.S. 958, 122 S.Ct. 2660, 153 L.Ed.2d 835 (2002). In a subsequent post-conviction proceeding, the state Supreme Court overturned his death sentence and remanded for a new penalty trial. Capano v. State, 889 A.2d 968 (Del.2006). When the State elected not to proceed with that second trial, Capano was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Anne Marie Fahey, age 30, was last seen in public on Thursday evening, June 27, 1996, while dining at a Philadelphia restaurant with Capano, age 46, who was then separated from his wife Kay. Capano was the managing partner of the Wilmington office of a large Philadelphia-based law firm and a frequent participant in the civic and political life of Wilmington and the State of Delaware. Previously he had served as a state prosecutor, City Solicitor for the City of Wilmington, and Legal Counsel to former Governor Michael N. Castle.
Fahey's absence from her office on Friday, June 28 did not cause concern because she was not scheduled to work that day. It was not until she failed to appear at a family function on Saturday evening, June 29 that police to report her missing. Almost immediately, the police directed their attention toward Capano. Around 3 a.m. on Sunday, June 30, they visited Capano at his home on Grant Avenue in Wilmington.1 He stated in response to their inquiries that he had not seen or heard from Fahey since dropping her off at her Wilmington apartment after an uneventful evening on the previous Thursday, June 27. The police returned on Sunday afternoon, and Capano permitted them a "walkthrough" of his home. They saw nothing suspicious. However, they continued to focus on Capano as a suspect when they learned he had been involved in a discreet, on-again-off-again affair with Fahey since late 1994. By mid-July, 1996, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") had begun to assist the State and local authorities. Despite intensive efforts, the investigation proceeded slowly for over a year without the discovery of Fahey, her body, or any murder weapon.
The turning point came in October, 1997 when federal agents raided the Wilmington home of Capano's brother Gerry and found illegal drugs and guns. The next month, Gerry, facing federal charges, became a cooperating witness. He told authorities that he had helped Capano dispose of a body in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, June 28, 1996 and provided them with other incriminating evidence. In November, 1997, Louis Capano, another brother, began his cooperation with the prosecution as part of a plea agreement. In February, 1998, Deborah Maclntyre, a long-time paramour of Capano, similarly signed a plea agreement and disclosed to the State significant helpful information.2
Capano was arrested on November 12, 1997 and was indicted by the State of Delaware on a single charge of first-degree murder. In October, 1998, Capano went to trial before Judge Lee and a jury in the New Castle County Superior Court. The trial lasted three and a half months. The State presented a case grounded largely upon circumstantial evidence without the body of Fahey or the murder weapon ever having been found. The prosecutors presented evidence that Capano, as a rejected lover, had a clear motive to kill Fahey, that he had formulated a plan to do so, and that his actions on June 27, 1996 and thereafter reflected a consciousness of guilt.
The evidence at trial revealed that Fahey had begun dating Capano in March, 1994 and that it soon turned into an intimate relationship. Capano, who came from an affluent family and was sixteen years older than Fahey, constantly showered her with expensive gifts. Fahey had had a traumatic childhood and lived from paycheck to paycheck. For several years she had also been suffering from an eating disorder.
Fahey kept the nature of this relationship secret from all but her closest friends, largely because she felt enormous guilt as Capano was married with four daughters. In late 1995, Fahey started dating Michael Scan Ian, a young accountant. She began to fall in love with Scanlan and became more and more concerned that he would discover her relationship with Capano. Fahey worried that Capano would disclose her eating disorder to her new boyfriend.
In early 1996, Fahey tried to break off her relationship with Capano even as he continued to pronounce his love for her. Several of Fahey's closest friends testified that between February and April, Fahey frequently complained about his controlling, obsessive nature and his overbearing behavior. Also during this period, Fahey revealed her troubled and strained relationship with Capano to her psychiatrist and to her two psychologists who had been professionally treating her. On April 7, 1996, Fahey wrote in her diary that, "I have finally brought closure to Tom Capano ... what a controlling, manipulative, insecure jealous maniac." By mid-to-late April, Fahey had ended their romantic relationship. From that point on, although she and Capano continued to see each other, she considered him at most to be a friend.
The State introduced circumstantial evidence to prove that by early 1996 Capano had begun to plot Fahey's death. Two of his brothers, Gerry and Joe, testified that in February, 1996, he told them a story about being threatened by one or more unidentified extortionists. Gerry related that in connection with the supposed extortion, he loaned Capano $8,000 and a handgun, both of which Capano returned to him by May, 1996. Significantly, Gerry testified that at some time between February and May, 1996, Capano asked if he could borrow Gerry's boat if he needed to dispose of a body.
The State established that on April 20, 1996, shortly after Fahey had made clear to Capano that she no longer wanted a romantic relationship, he purchased a large marine cooler even though he did not own a boat or have any knowledge of or interest in fishing. Deborah Maclntyre, Capano's mistress of seventeen years, provided further crucial evidence. She testified that on May 13, 1996, he drove her to Miller's Gun Center in Wilmington where at his request she purchased for him a handgun and ammunition while he waited in the car outside. She said she returned to the car, gave him the purchases, and never saw the gun or ammunition again.
After presenting its case as to both motive and premeditation, the State introduced evidence that on Thursday, June 27, 1996 and afterward, Capano behaved in a manner consistent with a consciousness of guilt. On that Thursday, the day of her disappearance, Fahey left work in the Governor's Office at about 4:30 p.m. and met with her psychiatrist, Dr. Neil Kaye. Sometime thereafter, she and Capano traveled to a restaurant in Philadelphia for dinner. Their server at the restaurant, who was called as a witness, stated that they "didn't speak to each other at all" and that Fahey looked "haggard and gaunt" and had a "somber" demeanor.
Capano did not appear at his law office on Friday, June 28 and had cancelled a golf game he had planned with a friend for that day. According to Gerry, early that Friday morning between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m., Capano, without prearrangement, drove his Jeep Cherokee into the driveway of Gerry's house in Wilmington. Capano requested to borrow Gerry's boat. Gerry immediately assumed Capano needed to do so because he had killed his supposed extortionist. Gerry asked him, "Did you do it?" Capano nodded affirmatively. Gerry then agreed that Capano could use the boat but only if Gerry accompanied him since Capano had no nautical expertise. Capano reluctantly agreed. Because Gerry first had some business matters to take care of, the two planned to meet at Capano's home in Wilmington later that morning.
By the time Gerry arrived at Capano's home at about 8:30 a.m., Capano had exchanged his Jeep Cherokee for his estranged wife's Suburban, which was larger than the Jeep Cherokee. Gerry entered Capano's garage where he saw a large marine cooler covered by a chain and lock. Although Gerry did not look inside the cooler, he instructed Capano to remove the chain and lock to lessen the likelihood of suspicion in the event that they were stopped by the police. The two then placed the cooler into the back of the Suburban.
Capano, accompanied by Gerry, drove the Suburban at a high rate of speed to Gerry's beach house in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. There, the two transferred the cooler to Gerry's boat, locked it again using the lock and chain, and took the boat with its cargo to a nearby marina where Capano paid a large sum in cash to fill the boat's gas tank. Gerry then piloted the boat some 60 miles off shore to a location where the ocean was almost 200 feet deep. At that point, Capano pushed the cooler with its contents...
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