Galbreath v. Griffith

• Decision Date: 08 April 2019
• Docket Number: Case No. 17-03152-CV-S-RK-P
• Citation: Galbreath v. Griffith, Case No. 17-03152-CV-S-RK-P (W.D. Mo. Apr 08, 2019)
• Parties: STEPHAN GALBREATH, Petitioner, v. CINDY GRIFFITH, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri

STEPHAN GALBREATH, Petitioner, v. CINDY GRIFFITH, Respondent.

Case No. 17-03152-CV-S-RK-P

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI SOUTHERN DIVISION

April 8, 2019

ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

Before the Court is Petitioner Stephan Galbreath's Petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for a writ of habeas corpus. (Doc. 1.) For the reasons below, the Petition is DENIED, a certificate of appealability is DENIED, and the case is DISMISSED.

Background

The Missouri Court of Appeals stated the facts as follows on direct appeal:

In 2004, Defendant was the most notorious cocaine dealer in Osage Beach and the surrounding area. Around November of that year, he permitted a dealer who sold cocaine for him, named Robert "Boo" Jones ("Boo"), to front an ounce of cocaine to Michael Young ("Young"). Young agreed to sell the cocaine for Boo and pay him back later, but instead he "wound up doing it all" himself. Boo called Young for a couple of weeks trying to collect the $1,000.00 Young owed him for the cocaine, but Young continued to evade him. Defendant wanted his money, so he ordered Boo to go with him to Young's house "to make an example out of him." Defendant got very angry when Young said he did not have the money and ordered Boo to "do something" about it. Boo hit Young several times in the jaw while Defendant yelled, "Is that all he's going to get? You need to hit him one more time." When Boo finally stopped hitting Young, the men ordered Young to get in the car and told him that he wasn't going to leave their sight until they got their money. They drove him to Boo's house, where Young was not free to leave. Defendant told Young he better call some people and try to get the money. Young called several people, but could not get a hold of anyone because it was so late at night.

Young spent the night at Boo's house, and the next morning recommenced his efforts to raise money by calling several people. He called his ex-girlfriend ("Victim")¹ several times. She kept refusing to help him, telling him she didn'thave any money. That afternoon, there were several people over at Boo's house. Defendant took his .38 revolver and fired a shot into the floor near the head of a drug dealer who was sleeping on the floor. The dealer jumped up, thinking that Defendant had shot Young, and saw Defendant standing next to him laughing with the .38 revolver in his hand. Young got very scared, and called Victim again. He told her that he thought Defendant and Boo might be planning on killing him, and whispered to her that he was scared and wanted her to call the police. She offered to get him $400.00. Defendant agreed to let Young go if he gave him the $400.00.

That evening, Defendant, Boo, and Young met Victim at a nearby Wal-Mart parking lot. Victim gave Boo the $400.00 then went inside the store with Young. She told Young that she had called the police and they were waiting all around the parking lot. Young got angry at her for calling the police, because of what Defendant might do to him or Victim for being a "snitch." Defendant always made it known to everyone that snitches would be killed. After leaving the parking lot, Defendant and Boo were pulled over by the police and arrested for kidnapping.² Within a few days, both of them had posted bond and were released from jail.

About three weeks later, on the evening of December 28, 2004, Defendant called his girlfriend, Kristina Jones ("Jones"), and told her to come pick him up at his house. Defendant would frequently call Jones and have her pick him up and drive him to Jefferson City, where they would usually hang out with Defendant's friends at a billiards hall named "Mike's Corner Pocket" and sometimes spend the night in a motel. Jones always drove, and Defendant would tell her where to go. Defendant never wanted anything in his name and always made Jones register the motel rooms under her name. He also had her register a cell phone for him under her name.

On the evening of December 28, Jones arrived at Defendant's house around eight-thirty. Defendant and another man came out of the house and approached her car. The second man was dressed all in black, with a hooded sweatshirt drawn tight around his face. Although she had seen him many times before and knew him well, it took Jones a few seconds to recognize the man as Defendant's best friend, Darrell Turner ("Turner"). Defendant and Turner got into Jones' white Acura, and Defendant told her to "[d]rive." When she got to the intersection where they would normally turn right to go to Jefferson City, Defendant told her to turn left toward Osage Beach. She was surprised and asked him where they were going, and he told her, "Don't worry about it." Defendant then told her to turn onto Horseshoe Bend Parkway. Jones was growing uneasy because they had never gone this way before, and Defendant had never had someone in the car dressed so strangely. She asked Defendant again where they were going, and he said, "We are just going to scare somebody . . . no big deal, don't worry about it." Defendant continued ordering Jones where to turn until they finally ended up in a circle drive at the end of Cornett Branch Road. Jones circled around, and Defendant told her to "keep driving." She drove back up Cornett Branch Road the way she had come, and Defendant told herto stop in front of a wooded area. Defendant asked Turner, "Is this good?" and Turner got out of the car. Defendant told Jones to drive, and she continued driving back up Cornett Branch Road.

Defendant directed Jones to a nearby convenience store named LaFatta's, where he went inside and bought a drink. Jones kept asking Defendant what was going on, and he kept telling her not to worry about it. Defendant then directed Jones to an apartment building back in the area near Cornett Branch Road, and had her pull into a parking space and stop. Defendant was speaking calmly with someone on his cell phone, asking, "What's going on? What can you see? How are you doing? How's everything going?" After sitting in the parking lot for awhile, Defendant said, "Let's go," and Jones drove.

Defendant directed Jones to drive back toward Cornett Branch Road. On the way, he told her he wanted her to go knock on a door and ask for "Tammy Franklin." Jones had never before heard that name and did not know anyone by that name. She knew she had to do what Defendant wanted, because she was too afraid of what he would do to her if she said no. Defendant directed Jones to a house on Cornett Branch Road, right before the wooded area where they had dropped off Turner. The house was Victim's, although Jones had no idea whose house it was, or who Victim was. Jones pulled into the driveway in front of the garage, next to three other cars that were parked in the driveway. She got out of the car, and Defendant got into the back seat. Jones knocked on the front door, and Victim's brother, Marcus, answered the door. Jones asked Marcus if "Tammy Franklin" was there, and he said he had no idea who she was talking about. Then Victim came to the door, and Jones also asked her if "Tammy Franklin" was there. Victim said, "No, you might want to try the next house down." As Jones was walking away, Victim's cat ran out the door, and Marcus chased it down. He noticed Jones' white, two-door car in the driveway, which he thought was either an Acura or a Honda. Marcus took the cat back inside and Jones got back into her car.

Defendant asked Jones, "Well?" She replied that they told her Tammy wasn't there. Defendant asked, "Was she bigger?" Jones asked, "The girl?" Defendant said, "Yes, was she bigger?" Jones replied, "Yes." Defendant said, "All right, let's go," and he directed her back to LaFatta's. He had Jones park in a small parking lot along the side of LaFatta's, where he made a call on his cell phone. Jones heard him say, "What's going on? Where are you at? What can you see?" He then told Jones to "just drive," and she drove to a nearby mini-mart where she used the bathroom. Jones again asked Defendant what was going on, and he told her not to worry about it.

Defendant then ordered Jones to drive back toward Cornett Branch Road. Defendant was attempting to make phone calls along the way, and by the time they arrived at the wooded area where Turner had gotten out of the car, Defendant was "freaking out" because he couldn't get a hold of whomever he was trying to call.

On December 28, 2004, Victim was hanging out at home with her brother Marcus and her niece and nephew, Rachel and Daniel, when Jones knocked on her door. Shortly after Jones left, Marcus left to go buy some cigarettes at LaFatta's.

As he was driving up Cornett Branch Road toward LaFatta's, he saw the white Acura or Honda that he had seen earlier in the driveway pass by him heading the opposite direction. Not long after Marcus left the house, Daniel decided to leave, and Victim walked him to the door. When Daniel opened the front door, he saw a man standing in front of him pointing a gun at him—a black revolver—about a foot from his face. The man was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt pulled tight around his face. The man instructed Daniel to lie on the ground, and he obeyed. Victim was standing behind Daniel when she saw the man at the door pointing a gun at Daniel's face. She said to him, "What do you want? Do you want money?" The man asked, "Are you [Victim]?" She replied, "No, I'm her sister." Victim thought the man was there to kill her because she had called the police on Defendant and Boo, and she thought she might be able to trick the man into thinking she was someone else. The man told her to "[g]et on the floor" and asked if there were any other people there. Victim told him Rachel was in the kitchen, but did not get on the floor right away in an attempt to stall him. Rachel came out into the entrance where the man could see her, and he instructed her and Daniel to lie down on the floor in the kitchen. He then ordered Victim to get on the

...