Dawson v. Snyder
| Decision Date | 15 December 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. Civ.A. 96-300-RRM.,Civ.A. 96-300-RRM. |
| Parties | David F. DAWSON, Petitioner, v. Robert SNYDER, Warden, Delaware Correctional Center, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Delaware |
Kevin J. O'Connell, and Sheryl Rush-Milstead, Wilmington, DE, for petitioner.
Loren C. Meyers, Timothy J. O'Donovan, Jr., William E. Molchen, and Thomas E. Brown, Dept. of Justice, for State of Delaware, Wilmington, DE, for respondent.
This is a habeas corpus case. Petitioner David F. Dawson is a state prisoner incarcerated at the Delaware Correctional Center ("DCC") in Smyrna, Delaware. Respondent Robert Snyder is the warden of the DCC. Dawson is contesting the constitutionality of his murder conviction and his death sentences.
On June 24, 1988, a jury in the Kent County Superior Court of the State of Delaware convicted Dawson of four counts of first degree murder, one count of first degree robbery, one count of second degree burglary, six counts of possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, and one count of possession of a deadly weapon by a person prohibited. The four murder counts included one count of intentional murder, one count of killing in furtherance of an escape from prison, and two counts of felony murder. On July 22, 1988, a jury sentenced Dawson to death by lethal injection for the murder convictions, and to 100 years for the other convictions.
The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed Dawson's convictions and sentences on direct appeal. See Dawson v. State, 581 A.2d 1078 (Del.1990) ("Dawson I"). Dawson subsequently petitioned the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari to consider whether constitutional error occurred when, during the penalty hearing, the Superior Court admitted evidence that was not relevant to any issue being decided during the punishment phase. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari, and on March 9, 1992, it found that this constituted constitutional error. Thus, the United States Supreme Court ordered the death sentences vacated, and remanded the case for further proceedings to determine whether the error was harmless. See Dawson v. Delaware, 503 U.S. 159, 112 S.Ct. 1093, 117 L.Ed.2d 309 (1992).
On remand, the Delaware Supreme Court concluded that the error was not harmless. See Dawson v. State, 608 A.2d 1201 (Del. 1992). Accordingly, it reversed the death sentences and remanded the matter to the Superior Court for a new sentencing hearing. Dawson subsequently moved for a change of venue from Kent County to New Castle County on the grounds that pre-trial publicity of the escape and murder prejudiced him, and that an impartial jury could not be impaneled in Kent County. The Superior Court granted this motion.
In March 1993, following a second penalty hearing, a New Castle County jury unanimously recommended death sentences for each first degree murder conviction. On April 2, 1993, Judge Henry duPont Ridgely sentenced Dawson to death by lethal injection after independently reviewing the jury's recommendation, as required by Delaware's newly amended death penalty statute. See DEL.STAT.ANN. tit. 11 § 4209. The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed these sentences on direct appeal. See Dawson v. State, 637 A.2d 57 (Del.1994) ("Dawson II").
Dawson filed a motion for postconviction relief in the New Castle County Superior Court alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. While the court considered this motion Judge Ridgely ordered venue returned to Kent County, and on June 9, 1995, he denied Dawson's motion for postconviction relief. See State v. Dawson, 681 A.2d 407 (Del.Super.Ct.1995) ("Dawson III"). On April 17, 1996, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed this decision and remanded for the limited purpose of setting an execution date. See Dawson v. State, 673 A.2d 1186 (Del.Super.1996) ("Dawson IV"), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 117 S.Ct. 127, 136 L.Ed.2d 76 (1996). Judge Ridgely scheduled Dawson's execution for June 13, 1996.
On June 10, 1996, Dawson filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in this court claiming several constitutional infirmities in his trial and penalty hearings, including allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel, improper jury selection and instruction, and failure of the prosecution to divulge relevant evidence before and during the trial. The following is the court's decision on Dawson's petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
The court draws the following facts from a number of sources: the Delaware Supreme Court's findings in its decision on Dawson's direct appeal in 1990, Dawson I, 581 A.2d 1078 (Del.1990); the Delaware Supreme Court's findings in its 1994 decision on Dawson's direct appeal from his second penalty hearing, Dawson II, 637 A.2d 57 (Del.1994); the Superior Court's 1995 findings in its decision on his motion for postconviction. relief, Dawson III, 681 A.2d 407 (Del.Super.1995); the Delaware Supreme Court's findings in its 1996 decision on Dawson's appeal from the Superior Court's denial of his motion for postconviction relief, Dawson IV, 673 A.2d 1186 (Del.1996); and this court's independent review of the record of the state court proceedings and the parties' briefs.
Sometime between 1:00 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. on December 1, 1986, four inmates escaped from the Delaware Correctional Center in Smyrna, Delaware. The inmates were David Dawson, Larry Nave, Mark McCoy, and Richard Irwin.
After Dawson, Nave, McCoy and Irwin escaped, the four men began heading north on foot. Shortly thereafter, a car turned the corner where the men were, and without any discussion the group split up. Dawson headed south, while Nave, McCoy and Irwin went north.
Not far from where Dawson left the other three escapees, a 1979 Oldsmobile Starfire was stolen from the south side of Smyrna. Sometime before 6:30 a.m. the car was discovered abandoned on County Road 139 between Smyrna and Kenton, a few miles from where it was stolen.
Approximately two to four miles from the abandoned car, Frank and Dorothy Seeney left their home near Kenton and went to work at 6:30 a.m. When Dorothy Seeney returned home that afternoon, she discovered that while they were at work, somebody broke into their house and stole a black leather motorcycle jacket, containers holding loose change, and several pocket watches.
Approximately a half-mile from the Seeney residence, Richard Kisner and his sixteen-year-old son, Brian, left for work and school sometime before 7:45 a.m. Madeline Kisner, Brian's mother, was in the shower getting ready for work when they left the house. Mrs. Kisner typically left for her job at Rothwell's Garage around 8:30 a.m.
At approximately 3:30 p.m., Brian arrived home from school. As Brian walked past his parent's room to his room, he noticed his mother in her red housecoat laying on her back across her bed. Brian assumed she was ill and had come home early from her job. He decided not to disturb her. Brian went to his room to change his clothes, and then he went to the kitchen to remove his contact lenses. Sometime before 4:00 p.m., Alice Holman, one of Mrs. Kisner's colleagues at Rothwell's Garage, called and spoke with Brian. She told Brian that Mrs. Kisner never arrived at work that day.
Brian walked back to his parent's room and stood in the doorway. He called out to his mother, but he did not receive a response. He then noticed a pool of blood around her head. Brian went into his room and armed himself with a hunting knife he kept there. Brian observed that one of the baseball trophies he kept on a shelf near the door was missing. Brian called the police, and then he locked himself in the pickup truck in the driveway and waited for the police.
When the police arrived, they discovered Mrs. Kisner on her bed, her red housecoat opened, her bra exposed. A pool of blood surrounded Mrs. Kisner's head. Shoe laces bound Mrs. Kisner's hands, and a sock placed over her mouth and knotted at the back of her head gagged her. A nylon stocking around her neck appeared to have been used in an attempt to strangle her. The base of a trophy lay near the bed. There were twelve stab wounds in her neck and chest areas.
Mr. Kisner arrived home from work at approximately 5:30 p.m. and learned what happened. When Mr. Kisner went through the house he found money and the keys to Mrs. Kisner's 1986 LeBaron missing. The LeBaron, parked in the driveway when Mr. Kisner left for work that morning, was also missing. Mr. Kisner informed police that Mrs. Kisner habitually carried two-dollar bills in her wallet.
Around 7:30 p.m., Geraldine Ryan began speaking with a man in the Zoo Bar, a bar located in Milford, approximately twenty miles southeast of Kenton. Ryan's roommate, Patty Dennis, was playing pool in the bar, and she observed Ryan talking with a man wearing a black leather hat and a black leather jacket that was too large for him.
Approximately an hour later, Dennis, Ryan, and the man Ryan spoke with left the Zoo Bar, to go to the Hide-A-Way, a bar located outside of Milford. As they were leaving, the man referred to himself as "Abaddon," Dawson's nickname. After an hour at the Hide-A-Way the bartender asked them to leave after an incident between the man and Ryan. The three returned to the Zoo Bar, and within five minutes he was thrown out of the bar for being disorderly.
Around 9:30 p.m., Sergeant Keith Hudson, a Milford police officer, noticed a person matching Dawson's description, wearing a black leather jacket and hat, leave the Zoo Bar. Sergeant Hudson and another officer lost the individual they suspected was Dawson after he went around a corner not far from the Zoo Bar. However, Sergeant Hudson did discover Mrs. Kisner's 1986 LeBaron in a...
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