Dennis v. Mitchell
| Decision Date | 01 October 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 1:98-CV-1155.,1:98-CV-1155. |
| Citation | 68 F.Supp.2d 863 |
| Parties | Adremy DENNIS, Plaintiff, v. Betty MITCHELL, Warden, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio |
Nathan A. Ray, Burdon & Merlitti, Akron, OH, John F. McCaffrey, McLaughlin & McCaffrey, Cleveland, OH, for Adremy Dennis.
Betty Mitchell, Mansfield, OH, Jonathan R. Fulkerson, Office of the Attorney General, Capital Crimes Section, Columbus, OH, Charles L. Wille, Office of the Attorney General, Cleveland, OH, for Betty Mitchell.
On June 30, 1998, Petitioner-Defendant Adremy Dennis filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in this death penalty case [Doc 9]. In seeking release, Petitioner Dennis says constitutional error attended his conviction and resulting death penalty. Dennis further argues that the standard of review of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA") does not apply to his petition.
In response, Respondent Betty Mitchell2 first argues that Dennis has procedurally defaulted many of his constitutional claims. As for the remaining claims, Respondent Mitchell contends that Dennis makes no showing of a constitutional violation, especially under the deferential review required under the AEDPA.
In deciding Dennis's petition for a writ of habeas corpus, the Court first describes the factual background of Dennis's crime.3 Second, the Court describes Dennis's direct appeal and his later efforts at state postconviction relief. Third, the Court decides whether the AEDPA applies to this petition. After finding the AEDPA's provisions applicable to this petition, the Court next discusses whether Petitioner Dennis exhausted his state court remedies and whether Dennis defaulted certain claims under a state procedural rule.
Having established this background, the Court then decides Dennis's request for an evidentiary hearing and discovery. After deciding that Dennis is not entitled to an evidentiary hearing or discovery, the Court discusses the merits of Dennis's individual claims. Upon reviewing the claims, the Court finds Dennis shows no right to a writ of habeas corpus. The Court therefore denies Dennis's application for a writ of habeas corpus.
The State of Ohio convicted Petitioner Dennis of the murder of Kurt O. Kyle. The State alleged, and the jury found, that on June 5, 1994, Dennis killed Kurt Kyle by shooting him in the head with a sawed-off shotgun at point blank range. The jury further found that Dennis killed Kyle during a robbery attempt and as part a course of conduct involving the killing or attempt to kill two or more persons — both death specifications under Ohio law. The jury recommended the death penalty, and the court imposed a death sentence on Dennis.
On the night of Kyle's murder, Dennis and a friend, Leroy "Lavar" Anderson, went out together. At the time they went out, they spoke of "robbing somebody." They armed themselves: Dennis with a sawed-off shotgun and Anderson with a .25 caliber handgun. As the pair proceeded to a bar, they smoked marijuana.
At the bar, Dennis and Anderson had a few drinks. After leaving the bar, they encountered Pizer in an alley near West Market Street and South Highland Avenue, in Akron, Ohio. Pizer testified that Dennis was wearing a long black leather coat. After approaching Pizer, Dennis told Pizer, Pizer moved backwards, slid and rolled down a hill. As he ran, he heard a gunshot He then ran away unharmed.
As Dennis and Anderson were confronting Pizer, Kurt Kyle hosted a cookout at his home. Later, Kyle escorted a departing guest, Martin Eberhart, to Eberhart's car. At the car, Kyle continued his conversation with his friend. While Eberhart was seated in his car talking with Kyle, they heard a loud noise. Kyle told Eberhart the sound was that of a gunshot.
Shortly after the gun shot, Dennis and Anderson approached Kyle and Eberhart in Kyle's driveway. At this location, they were out of the view of Kyle's other guests. As he approached with Dennis, Anderson demanded money while pointing a gun at Eberhart's neck. Eberhart slowly reached under the car seat for his wallet and handed Anderson $15.
At the same time, Dennis demanded money from Kyle. As Dennis threatened him, Kyle searched his pockets and told Dennis that he had no money with him. Dennis then took the sawed-off shotgun and shot Kyle in the head at point-blank range. The shotgun blast severed both of victim Kyle's carotid arteries. Kyle died instantly of hypovolemic shock. Dennis and Anderson then ran away together "sprinting very fast."
About a minute after the blast to Kyle's head, Anita Foraker, a neighbor, walked her dog on Bloomfield Road. At that time, she saw two young black males near her on the other side of Bloomfield Road. She heard one say to the other, "Did you get it?"
Within a few days of the murder, an anonymous caller told the Akron Police that someone at 371 Grand Avenue had information about Kyle's killing. Akron detectives went to the address, where they met Shirley Morgan. Ms. Morgan gave the detectives permission to enter her house, to look around the house, and to speak to her son, seventeen-year-old Lavar Anderson.
In the basement of Morgan's house, the detectives noticed clothing similar to the clothing identified as having been worn by the assailants who robbed Eberhart and Kyle. After viewing the clothing, the detectives took Anderson into custody. While in custody, Anderson gave detectives information about the location of the murder weapon. With this information, the detectives obtained a search warrant. Executing this search warrant, the police seized several items from Morgan's basement, including the two coats, a .25 caliber pearl handle handgun, a 20 gauge sawed-off shotgun, and seven shotgun shells.
Soon after, police arrested Dennis. After his arrest, Dennis waived his Miranda rights. In interviews following this waiver, Dennis told several versions of where he had been on June 4 and 5, 1994. An Akron detective then confronted Dennis with the sawed-off shotgun obtained from Anderson's residence. Dennis identified the shotgun as his own. After further questioning, Dennis admitted that he and Anderson had planned to commit robberies. He then admitted robbing Pizer, Eberhart, and Kyle. Dennis confessed to aiming the sawed-off shotgun at Kyle, but claimed the gun went off accidentally.
Dennis agreed to allow detectives to tape his statement. In this taped statement, Dennis said that he and Anderson had smoked marijuana and then drank at a bar before the robberies and murder. Dennis admitted firing the sawed-off shotgun in the incidents with Pizer and Kyle, but claimed the shots were accidental.4
In examining the scene, police found yellow shotgun shell casings near where Pizer reported being accosted, and also in front of Kyle's home. A forensic scientist from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation gave the opinion that the two casings were fired from the sawed-off shotgun that Dennis acknowledged as his own.
The grand jury indicted Dennis on one count of aggravated murder, one count of attempted murder, three counts of aggravated robbery, and one count of possession of dangerous ordnance. All counts carried a firearms specification, and the dangerous ordnance charge also carried a physical-harm specification. The aggravated murder count also carried two death specifications: (1) murder during an aggravated robbery, where Dennis was the principal offender (OH REV. CODE § 2929.04[A][7]); and (2) murder committed as a course of conduct involving the killing or attempt to kill two or more persons (OH REV.CODE § 2929.04[A][5]).
On December 12, 1994, Dennis's trial began. After trial, the jury found him guilty as charged. The trial court then conducted a mitigation hearing where Dennis presented evidence. In mitigation, Dennis gave unsworn testimony claiming he did not intend to shoot Kyle, and that he "was drunk and nervous and scared and the gun went off and I ran." Dennis expressed remorse for what he had done and stated that he was sorry for what he had done to the Kyle family.
On December 20, 1994, the jury returned a unanimous verdict and recommended the death penalty. On December 29, 1994, the Summit County Common Pleas Court adopted the jury's recommendation and sentenced Dennis to death.
Dennis appealed to the Summit County Court of Appeals. On May 8, 1996, the court of appeals upheld Dennis' conviction and death sentence. See State v. Dennis, No. 17156, 1996 WL 233501 (unreported).
On June 14, 1996, Dennis filed a notice of appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court. On September 24, 1997, the court affirmed the conviction and sentence. See State v. Dennis, 79 Ohio St.3d 421, 683 N.E.2d 1096 (1997).
Dennis then filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States. On February 23, 1998, the Supreme Court of the United States denied Dennis's petition for certiorari. See Dennis v. Ohio, 522 U.S. 1128, 118 S.Ct. 1078, 140 L.Ed.2d 136 (1998).
After all of Dennis's avenues for relief on direct appeal ended, Dennis filed a petition for postconviction relief. On September 20, 1996, Dennis filed this petition under Ohio Revised Code § 2953.21 in the Summit County Common Pleas Court. On February 11, 1997, the common pleas court denied all of Dennis's claims for relief.
Dennis next appealed the denial of his postconviction petition to the Summit County Court of Appeals. On November 19, 1997, the court of appeals affirmed the trial court...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Moore v. Mitchell
...§ 2929.03(D)(1). This claim has been previously rejected. Williams, 380 F.3d at 963-64; Cooey, 289 F.3d at 925-26; Dennis v. Mitchell, 68 F.Supp.2d 863, 904 (N.D.Ohio 1999). In his next subclaim, Petitioner Moore argues that the definition of mitigating factors in O.R.C. § 2929.04(B)(7) vio......
-
Montgomery v. Bagley
...court remedies, Respondent expressly does not waive the exhaustion requirement. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(3); compare Dennis v. Mitchell, 68 F.Supp.2d 863, 879 (N.D.Ohio 1999) (finding Respondent waived exhaustion requirement by stating that claims in petition were exhausted) with Habeas Rule 5 (......
-
Williams v. Bagley
...investigation reports or mental examinations requested by defendants to be provided to the jury"); see also Dennis v. Mitchell, 68 F.Supp.2d 863, 904 (N.D.Ohio 1999) (same). Moreover, it is difficult to see how the submission requirement impaired Williams's right to effective assistance of ......
-
Dennis v. Mitchell
...law, namely McDonough Power Equip., Inc. v. Greenwood, 464 U.S. 548, 104 S.Ct. 845, 78 L.Ed.2d 663 (1984). See Dennis v. Mitchell, 68 F.Supp.2d 863, 885-89 (N.D.Ohio 1999). The Sixth Amendment provides that "[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and p......