Demarest v. Price, 91 N 827.
| Decision Date | 20 November 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 91 N 827.,91 N 827. |
| Citation | 905 F. Supp. 1432 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Colorado |
| Parties | Richard S. DEMAREST, Petitioner, v. William PRICE, Superintendent of the Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility, and Gale A. Norton, Colorado Attorney General, Respondents. |
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Vicki Mandell-King, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Chief, Appellate Division, Denver, CO, for petitioner.
Robert Mark Russell, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Enforcement Section, Denver, CO, for respondents.
Petitioner Richard S. Demarest, a state prisoner in the custody of the Colorado Department of Corrections, seeks a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. § 2254 (West 1994). In October 1981, Demarest was convicted of first degree murder in Jefferson County, Colorado, District Court and sentenced to life imprisonment. Demarest argues, inter alia, that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. The matter is now before the court on the "Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge," filed April 23, 1993, and supplemented August 4, 1995, in which the magistrate judge recommends that the court grant Demarest's petition for habeas relief. I find and conclude that Demarest did not receive effective assistance of counsel at trial, and, on that ground, I grant his petition for writ of habeas corpus. Because my assessment depends upon comparing the actual course of trial events with what likely would have happened had counsel performed competently, a detailed examination of the facts and procedural history of the case in the state courts is necessary.
On February 9, 1981, Ronald H. Hyams was brutally murdered at his home in Evergreen, Colorado. (Tr. of Trial at 38 Prosecution's opening statement, Colorado v. Demarest, No. 81 CR 259 Jefferson County Dist. Ct. hereinafter "Tr. of Trial".) Hyams shared his home with Demarest, a friend of thirteen years, and Carol Lee Held, another close friend. (Id. at 203, 246 Held's Test..) Calling from a neighbor's house, Demarest reported Hyams' murder to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department in the early afternoon of February 9, 1981. (Id. at 117 dispatcher's Test..) In a panicked, sobbing voice, he told the emergency operator that he had discovered Hyams' body and that it looked as though he had been murdered. (People's Ex. 63 Demarest's call to sheriff's department (Feb. 9, 1981), Demarest No. 81 CR 259.) After calling the sheriff, Demarest ran back to his house and collapsed under a tree in the front yard, next to the gravel driveway. (Tr. of Trial at 99, 103 Test. of workman at house the day of Hyams' murder.) Paul McCoy, another neighbor, saw that Demarest was in distress, helped him sit under the tree, and waited with him for emergency personnel. (Id. at 103.)
When members of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department arrived, they found Hyams' body in his downstairs bedroom. (Id. at 61 Deputy Petier's Test..) Hyams' head was wrapped in a blue bathrobe, and his uncovered neck revealed puncture wounds in the throat and collar bone area. (Id. at 166 Deputy Manwaring's Test..) After performing an autopsy on Hyams' body, the State's pathologist concluded that Hyams died from "the combined effects of trauma to the head and to sic blood loss from the stab wounds in the left neck and from the complication of strangulation of the neck." (Id. at 638.)
Demarest suffered an emotional breakdown after Hyams' murder. The neighbor who waited with him for emergency personnel described Demarest as "obviously distraught" and in shock. (Id. at 192.) Emergency personnel took Demarest from the house to the Evergreen Medical Center. (See id. at 218 Carol Lee Held's Test..) Demarest's second roommate, Held, was called to the medical center and found Demarest on a stretcher in an ambulance there. (Id.) He was shivering, and his hands were cold. (Id.) That night, after he had returned home, Demarest grew unresponsive to Held's attempts to talk with him. (See id. at 227.) He fell into a trance, squeezing up his body, and clenching and releasing his hands, according to Held. (Id. at 227-28.) Frightened, Held called the sheriff's department for help. (People's Ex. 114 Held's call to sheriff's department (Feb. 10, 1981) , Demarest, No. 81 CR 259.) The officers responding to Held's call found Demarest lying on the floor in a fetal position, tightening his muscles, and clenching his fists. (Tr. of Trial at 289-90 patrol sergeant's Test..) Demarest did not respond to the officers' questions and made only guttural sounds. (Id. at 290.) The officers took Demarest back to the Evergreen Medical Center, (id. at 231), and, from there, he was transferred to St. Anthony's Hospital and placed in the psychiatric ward, (Evidentiary Hr'g Tr. at 172 filed Nov. 7, 1994 Dr. Rehg's Test.). Police placed Demarest on a seventy-two-hour hold at St. Anthony's in order to enable doctors to detain and treat him as an individual felt to be gravely disabled or a danger to himself or others. (Id. at 173.) At St. Anthony's, Dr. William Rehg diagnosed Demarest with adult situational reaction, a disorder caused by acute stress, and treated him with various prescriptive drugs, (id. at 174, 178), some of which have the possible side effect of mental confusion, (id. at 104 toxicologist's Test.). Dr. Rehg released Demarest on February 11, 1981. (Id. at 179.) Demarest returned to his house, joining Held and Hyams' family members and friends who were staying there. (Tr. of Trial at 457 Hyams' sister's Test..)
Almost immediately, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department suspected Demarest as the perpetrator of the grisly slaying. Deputies questioned Demarest three times, once in the ambulance at Evergreen Medical Center the day of the murder (on Demarest's first visit to the medical center), once at the sheriff's office the evening of the murder, and a third time at the sheriff's office on February 12, 1981, after Demarest's release from St. Anthony's Hospital. Throughout the interrogations, Demarest maintained his innocence. (See Pet'r's Ex. N Tr. of Feb. 9, 1981, interrogation, Ex. O Tr. of Feb. 12, 1981, interrogation.)
During the interrogation on the evening of the murder, Demarest told deputy sheriffs that he had found Hyams' body after going home to look for him. (Pet'r's Ex. N. at 10-11.) Demarest said that he had been to Hyams' dentist to pick him up from an appointment. (Id. at 9-10.) Upon learning that Hyams was not there, he had gone home to find him. (Id.) Demarest said he had borrowed Hyams' car that morning and wanted to return it in time for Hyams to get to a two o'clock appointment that day with a realtor in Boulder, Colorado. (See id. at 8-9.) When the deputies asked why he had scratches on the backs of his hands, Demarest told them that, in a state of profuse grief after discovering Hyams' body, he had pounded his fists into the gravel driveway while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive. (See id., tape 3 at 1.)1 When asked about scratches on his face, Demarest replied that he had scratched his face at the Evergreen Medical Center that afternoon. (See id., tape 3 at 1-2.) Deputies also asked Demarest why he had changed shirts the morning of the murder. (Id. at 17.) Demarest told them that he changed out of his flannel shirt and into a white shirt because he planned to see a potential business associate later that day and thought the white shirt looked better. (See id.)
During the February 12, 1981, interrogation, after repeatedly accusing Demarest of murdering Hyams, Deputy Ford Demming showed Demarest a photograph of Hyams when he was alive. (See Pet'r's Ex. O, tape 5 at 25.)2 Upon seeing the picture, Demarest began shaking, fell onto the floor, and curled into a fetal position. (Id., tape 5 at 26.) He did not respond to Demming's demands that he return to his chair. (Id.) Demming summoned emergency medical personnel, (id.), and Demarest was returned to St. Anthony's psychiatric ward, (see Evidentiary Hr'g Tr. at 184). There, he was diagnosed with "adult situational disorder with withdrawal" by another doctor, Dr. Gary Fletcher. (Pet'r's Ex. A-5.) Dr. Fletcher treated Demarest with prescriptive drugs, and Demarest stayed at St. Anthony's until February 23, 1981. (Id.)
On March 18, 1981, the district attorney charged Demarest with Hyams' murder. (R., Vol. A-I at 08 Information (filed Mar. 18, 1981), Demarest No. 81 CR 259 hereinafter "R.".) The state public defender represented Demarest until June 29, 1981, when William A. Cohan, having been retained by Demarest, entered the case as Demarest's defense attorney. (Id., Vol. I at 000034 Entry of Appearance (filed June 29, 1981).)
As the magistrate judge emphasized and respondents acknowledge, the State's case against Demarest was entirely circumstantial. (See Recommendation of United States Mag.J. at 5 filed Apr. 23, 1993; Supplemental Recommendation at 2 filed Aug. 4, 1995; Objections to Mag.'s Recommendation at 3 filed May 6, 1993; Tr. of Trial at 41 Prosecution's opening statement.) Prosecutors developed no theory of motive to explain why Demarest would have killed Hyams, his long-time friend. They implied that Demarest may have stolen some of Hyams' jewelry and hidden it in the house where it was later discovered. (Id. at 941-42 Prosecution's closing argument; see also id. at 449-59 Hyams' sister's Test..) They also suggested that Demarest, "down on his luck," was jealous of Hyams' successful business and upset because Hyams was moving to Boulder with a girlfriend. (Id. at 944; see also id. at 445-48 Hyams' sister's Test.) Prosecutors never argued explicitly, however, that Demarest killed Hyams in order to get his jewelry or out of jealousy or anger. In fact, during its closing argument, the Prosecution acknowledged that it had no motive to offer the jury. (S...
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