Davie v. Mitchell
| Decision Date | 06 August 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 1:99CV2400.,1:99CV2400. |
| Citation | 291 F.Supp.2d 573 |
| Parties | Roderick DAVIE, Petitioner, v. Betty MITCHELL, Warden, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio |
J. Joseph Bodine, Jr., Office of the Ohio Public Defender, Randall L. Porter, Office of the Public Defender, State of Ohio, Columbus, OH, Richard M. Kerger, Kerger & Kerger, Toledo, OH, for Roderick Davie, Petitioner.
Daniel R. Ranke, Office of the Attorney General, State of Ohio, Capital Crimes Section, Jon W. Oebker, Office of the Attorney General, State of Ohio, Cleveland, OH, Stephen E. Maher, Office of the Attorney General, State of Ohio, Capital Crimes Section, Stuart A. Cole, Office of the Attorney General, State of Ohio, Corrections Litigation Section, Columbus, OH, for Betty Mitchell, Respondent.
This is a capital habeas corpus case in which the petitioner, convicted of the aggravated murder of two employees of a company in Warren, Ohio, where he had formerly been employed, the attempted aggravated murder of a third employee, and related crimes, claims that his conviction and capital sentence were prejudicially tainted by several errors of constitutional dimension.
For the reasons that follow, I conclude that the petition is without merit. It will, accordingly, be denied.
The Ohio Supreme Court accurately summarized the facts of the crimes leading to the petitioner's convictions:
On the morning of June 27, 1991, defendant-appellant Roderick Davie entered his former place of employment, Veterinary Companies of America ("VCA"), in Warren and murdered John Ira Coleman and Tracey Jefferys, and attempted to murder William John Everett.
Davie worked at VCA, a distributor of pet and veterinarian supplies in Warren, for almost a year until he was fired in April 1991. While employed at VCA, Davie got along well with fellow employees Tracey Jefferys and John Everett, and socialized with them outside the workplace. After Davie's termination from VCA, Coleman was hired as a truck driver. Approximately one week before the murders, Davie and Everett ran into each other at a cafe and had a friendly conversation.
On June 27, Everett arrived to work at VCA at approximately 6:50 a.m. Jefferys, who as VCA secretary normally arrived at 9:00 a.m., got in at 6:55 a.m. to open the building. Coleman got to work at approximately 7:20 a.m., and the three went about their normal workday routine. As Everett was loading his truck for deliveries, Davie appeared at the VCA warehouse around 7:30 a.m. and spoke briefly with him. Everett knew that Davie wasn't permitted there and brushed Davie off while continuing to load his truck. When Everett finished, he turned around, but Davie was not there. Everett proceeded into the lunch room to pick up his supplies and invoices.
Suddenly, Davie came up behind Everett with Tracey, who was crying and shaking. Davie had a black revolver in his right hand and ordered Everett and Tracey to get in the warehouse area of the VCA building. Upon entering the warehouse, Davie yelled at Coleman, who was still loading his truck, to come over. Davie then ordered the three to lie face down on the warehouse floor.
As they were lying down, Davie said to them, "So, you all work for VCA, huh?" Everett then heard gunshots, and he saw the first shot hit the floor near his left arm. Then, Everett felt shots in the back of his head, shoulder, and left arm, but he remained conscious.
Everett heard Tracey get up and thought she ran toward the dock area. Another shot was fired. Everett heard Davie call out to Tracey, "Come here, bitch," and brought her back. Davie then said to Coleman, "So you ain't dead yet, huh, brother?" Another shot was fired. Davie then took Everett's wallet from his left rear pocket and said to Tracey, "You're lucky, I'm out of bullets." Everett heard Tracey run and open the lunch room door while Davie pursued her.
At no time did Everett see any person at VCA other than Coleman, Jefferys, and Davie. For three to five minutes, Everett heard Tracey screaming loudly from the lunch room. Then her screaming stopped, and Everett remained lying on the warehouse floor, thinking over what to do next while hearing his blood drip down the floor drain to his right. Everett looked up and initially saw neither Tracey nor Davie. As he looked around, he saw Davie with his back to him, standing in the doorway of an office. Everett, though wounded, then made his way out of the building through the north dock door.
At that time, Donna Smith was driving along Main Street on her way to work. She saw a bleeding white male, later identified as Everett, stumbling across the VCA parking lot, and waving his hands trying to attract attention. Smith then saw a black male come out from the VCA dock area and run around the front of a parked truck. Smith stopped her car on the bridge near VCA to get out and attempt to aid Everett. Another woman driving by also stopped to help. However, before they could get to Everett, a truck came "flying out" of the VCA parking lot across both lanes of Main Street. Everett managed to get up and stumble across Main Street. He climbed over the bridge abutment and fell underneath it to get away from the truck, which was speeding towards him. The truck, however, crashed into the side of the bridge. The black male driving the truck got out, stared at Smith for about fifteen seconds, and then jumped over the side of the bridge. Smith and the other woman then went to summon help. Later that morning, Smith chose Davie's photo out of an array and identified him as the man she saw in the truck.
Everett testified that he jumped over the end of the bridge in order to avoid the truck. After the truck crashed into the bridge, Davie came at Everett with a stick and began hitting him on the head and trying to poke him in the eye. After a brief struggle, Davie apparently saw someone looking down from the bridge and fled.
Police Officer Michael Albanese arrived on the scene and found the VCA truck up against the bridge abutment. He found Everett near death on the ground down from the bridge abutment. Albanese told Everett, who was weak and talking in a low voice, that he was going to take a dying declaration from him. Everett told him the name of his assailant, and Albanese reported the name of "Robert Davis" as the suspect over the police radio. A short time later, Albanese again asked Everett who his assailant was. Everett told Albanese that he knew his assailant, and Albanese then gave the name "Roderick Davie" out over the police radio.
Everett informed Albanese that two more people had been shot and were in the VCA building. Police officers then found John Coleman and Tracey Jefferys dead in the VCA building.
A folding chair near Jefferys's body bore Davie's fingerprint in blood. Hairs on the chair proved to be microscopically consistent with Jefferys's hair. Police found a revolver in the truck.
Dr. Roberto E. Ruiz, Chief Deputy Coroner in Summit County and Deputy Coroner in Stark County, performed autopsies on Coleman and Jefferys. He testified that Coleman, shot four times, died almost immediately when he was shot in the head. Dr. Ruiz stated that Jefferys's death was caused by lesions in the brain and skull fracture due to blunt force trauma. Dr. Ruiz opined that Jefferys's injuries could have been caused by a folding chair. Dr. Ted Soboslay, Coroner of Trumbull County, concurred in Dr. Ruiz's findings.
At approximately 8:30 a.m. on the day of the murders, Carl Miller, chief bailiff at the Warren Municipal Court, received a phone call from Dwayne "Styx" Thomas, whom he had known for several years. Thomas told Miller that he was not involved in the murders, but that he had the perpetrator with him, whom he identified as Davie. Miller and Police Captain Timothy Downs went to the White Court address given by Thomas, arrested Davie, and advised him of his Miranda rights. Because of an active capias warrant on Thomas, police also took him with Davie to police headquarters. However, Thomas was not formally placed under arrest.
At the police station, Lt. Carl Blevins and Det. Morris Hill twice advised Davie of his constitutional rights. The first time, Davie declined to sign a waiver of rights; the second time, he said that he did not want to make a statement. The questioning then ceased and Davie was taken to a cell.
Around 2:00 p.m. that afternoon, Davie told Sgt. Mark Massucci that he wanted to talk to Det. Sgt. Gary Vingle. Davie was brought back to an interview room, and police again advised him of his Miranda rights. Davie told the detectives, Davie admitted that he shot both Coleman and Everett and that he beat Jefferys with a chair. Davie further admitted that he tried to run Everett over with a truck and that he came back home in Jefferys's car.
Sgt. Massucci testified that he went with Thomas to the White Court residence where Davie lived with his girlfriend, Sonya Barnes. There, Thomas directed Massucci to a wooded area behind the homes on White Court, where they found a plastic bag containing Davie's clothes. Davie had told Thomas that he had thrown the bag of clothing there. In the bag were bloodstained clothes, cartridge casings, and Jefferys's checkbook, which was in the back pocket of the blue jeans found in the bag. The blood stains on Davie's shirt were consistent with Jefferys's blood. The casings had been fired from the gun found in the truck.
Later in the day, detectives went to Barnes's home, where they were given permission to search the premises without a warrant. When they...
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