Channer v. Brooks
| Decision Date | 13 February 2003 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 01-2093. |
| Citation | 320 F.3d 188 |
| Parties | Claudious W. CHANNER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Warden Leslie E. BROOKS, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
David N. Rosen, Rosen & Dolan, P.C., New Haven, CT, for Petitioner-Appellant.
Carolyn K. Longstreth, Senior Assistant State's Attorney (Richard F. Jacobson, Special Assistant State's Attorney, on the brief), Office of the Chief State's Attorney, Rocky Hill, CT, for Respondent-Appellee.
Before: WINTER, McLAUGHLIN, and CABRANES, Circuit Judges.
Claudious Channer appeals from the denial by the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Alvin W. Thompson, Judge) of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. In that petition, Channer asserted that the Connecticut Superior Court made unreasonable determinations of fact and left certain key facts undeveloped during a post-conviction hearing at which the Court declined to order a new trial after both of the state's eyewitnesses recanted their trial testimony. Channer presently seeks either a new trial or a remand to the District Court for an evidentiary hearing.
The Connecticut Appellate Court, in an earlier proceeding, provided an account of the facts relevant to the instant petition, which sets the stage for this federal habeas claim:
On June 12, 1988, Delroy Lewis and his fiancee, Dawn Jones, were riding in Lewis' car in Hartford. At a traffic light, a car with two men in it pulled up to the passenger side of Lewis' car, and Jones saw a gun pointed at her from the vehicle. The car swerved several times in front of and near Lewis' car. At another traffic light, the driver of the second car exited his vehicle and told Lewis he was going to shoot him.
Lewis drove away, but the car followed and again swerved into his path. Lewis stopped his car and Jones got out. The other driver again got out of the car with a gun and threatened to kill Lewis. After again attempting to drive away from the two men, Lewis eventually got out of his car and was punched in the face by the other driver. The petitioner [Channer] got out of the other car with a gun and Lewis fled. The petitioner then drove Lewis' car from the scene.
After a jury trial, the petitioner was convicted of one count of robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-134(a)(4), and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-48(a) and 53a-134(a)(4). At the criminal trial, the state offered testimony by Jones and Lewis identifying the petitioner as the perpetrator. Jones testified that on the day of the robbery she and Lewis went to the police station and were shown approximately ten photographs from which she selected the petitioner as the passenger of the other car involved in the incident. During the criminal trial, Jones made an in-court identification of the petitioner. During cross-examination, Jones reiterated that she had identified the petitioner as the passenger in the car.
At trial, Lewis testified that he was within six feet of the passenger of the vehicle at the time of the incident. He testified that he was shown a photographic array at the police station on the day of the incident, and that he selected the petitioner as the passenger who drove away with his vehicle. Lewis also made an in-court identification of the petitioner at trial.
During cross-examination, Lewis denied that he had ever been approached by anyone after the incident who suggested that the petitioner was involved in the crime. After being questioned about his brother, Lewis denied that he had a brother named "Trey" or "Tred." Lewis also denied having been shown any photographs of individuals allegedly involved in the incident other than those shown to him by police.
On February 21, 1991, the petitioner was sentenced to twenty years['] imprisonment to be served consecutive to a federal sentence the petitioner already was serving. [The Connecticut Appellate Court] affirmed the judgment of conviction. State v. Channer, 28 Conn. App. 161, 612 A.2d 95, cert. denied, 223 Conn. 921, 614 A.2d 826 (1992). On October 21, 1991, the petitioner filed a petition for a new trial. The trial court conducted a hearing on the petition on February 27 and April 9, 1997. The petitioner acted pro se at the hearing....
...
At the hearing on the petition for a new trial, Jones testified that she no longer believed that the petitioner was one of the perpetrators. She declined to give her address when sworn in as a witness, and stated that she still had fears about the incident and was still afraid of the petitioner. Jones testified that some time after the criminal trial, she received a letter from the petitioner at her mother's home address. Jones responded by sending him a letter that she wrote after the trial, but prior to his sentencing. In the letter, Jones said that she felt bad for the petitioner and no longer thought he was one of the perpetrators. Subsequently, Jones signed an affidavit stating that she did not believe that the petitioner was one of the people involved in the robbery. Jones testified at the hearing that prior to the criminal trial she was shown some photographs, and she recalled that one of them depicted two people she believed were the perpetrators. Jones further noted that one of the men in the photograph looked like the petitioner.
At the hearing, Lewis testified, contrary to his earlier testimony, that prior to the criminal trial he had been shown a photograph of two men that he recognized to be the men who stole his car. He testified that these photographs were shown to him by his brother, Denzel Stewart, who is also known a[s] "Trey." Lewis explained at the hearing that he conveyed that information to someone at the petitioner's criminal trial before he testified, and he further asserted that he told that person that he wanted to drop the case against the petitioner. Although Lewis testified that he did not recall who that person was, it was his recollection that the person was in a responsible position in regard to the criminal prosecution. Further, Lewis testified that in 1994 he signed a statement in which he stated that he had misidentified the petitioner at trial and that he was willing to testify to that extent.
Lewis testified that he lied at the criminal trial when he stated that he did not have a brother named Trey. He also claimed that he told police prior to his testimony that the petitioner was not one of the perpetrators. Lewis claimed that police threatened him by saying that if he did not testify that the petitioner was the perpetrator, they would instead charge him with the crime.
James Looby, an inspector assigned to the state's attorney's office during the investigation, testified that he met separately with Jones and Lewis prior to the criminal trial, and that both said they had been contacted by an individual who wanted to know if they were interested in "settling" the case for money. After the criminal trial, Looby again met with Jones. Looby testified that Jones told him about the letter she received from the petitioner and said that she was fearful that the petitioner or one of his friends might do something to her or a member of her family. Looby also testified that Jones was angry that the petitioner had obtained her mother's address. Further, Jones told Looby that the petitioner had sent her a picture, along with his letter, of a person Jones thought looked like the person who robbed her and Lewis. Looby also testified that Jones said she was relieved after the trial because she felt that everything was over, and that when the petitioner's letter came to her mother's house she became very scared about her safety and that of her mother.
James Howard, a detective with the Hartford police department at the time of the robbery, testified that he was present when Lewis and Jones selected the petitioner's photograph from approximately ten photographs. Howard testified that Jones and Lewis were separated during their interviews, their viewing of the photographs and their ultimate selection of the petitioner as one of the perpetrators. Further, Howard testified that neither Jones nor Lewis ever contacted him to say that they had made mistaken identifications and he was not aware of any effort made to contact the police department with such information.
Channer v. State, 54 Conn.App. 620, 621-26, 738 A.2d 202, 203-05 (1999) (footnotes omitted).
In a Memorandum of Decision dated September 12, 1997, the Connecticut Superior Court denied Channer's motion for a new trial. The Court concluded, first, that Channer had failed to prove that the testimony they gave at the original criminal trial was false, and second, that recantations by Jones and Lewis of their trial testimony at the post-conviction hearing were not credible. See Channer v. State, No. CV 91-0503029S, 1997 WL 584709, at *8-*9 (Conn.Super.Ct. Jud. Dist. of Hartford Sept. 12, 1997).1 The Court found that Jones was clearly afraid of Channer and that "[h]er fear-laden recantation testimony [did] not diminish the credibility of her criminal trial testimony." Id. at *8. With respect to Lewis's recantation, the Court found that it was uncorroborated and "entitled to little credit." Id
Based on the corroborating testimony of Denzel Stewart, however, the Court found that "Lewis testified falsely at the criminal trial about being shown any pictures by individuals other than the police prior to the trial," and that "prior to the criminal trial it is likely that Lewis was shown at least one photograph by his brother Trey, and that Trey had received this photograph from Channer." Id. The Court also found that Lewis had committed perjury when he failed to acknowledge the existence of...
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