Hilliard v. Williams
| Decision Date | 28 May 1975 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 74-1356,s. 74-1356 |
| Parties | Lilly Mae Onie Lee Whitelaw HILLIARD, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. John L. WILLIAMS and Donn Clark, Defendants-Appellees. Appeal of John L. WILLIAMS. Appeal of Donn CLARK. to 74-1358 |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Dwayne D. Maddox, Huntingdon, Tenn., Julian P. Guinn, Paris, Tenn., for plaintiff-appellant.
David R. Farmer, Roy Hall, Waldrop, Hall, Tomlin & Farmer, Franklin Murchison, Murchison & Murchison, Jackson, Tenn., for Clark and Williams.
Before PHILLIPS, Chief Judge, EDWARDS, Circuit Judge, and O'SULLIVAN, Senior Circuit Judge.
This appeal grows out of an action brought by plaintiff Hilliard under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985 against District Attorney General John L. Williams and against Donn Clark, an agent of the Tennessee Bureau of Criminal Identification. The complaint alleged that the defendants withheld exculpatory evidence and presented false and misleading testimony at Mrs. Hilliard's criminal trial on the charge of murder. After a nonjury trial, the District Court awarded nominal damages of $1 each against Williams and Clark and costs against Williams. All of the parties appealed to this court. For the reasons stated below, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.
In late 1969, Mrs. Hilliard came to Tennessee from her home in Indiana to obtain her share of land that she held in common with her aunt, Vina Price. Ernie Price, the husband of Vina Price, disputed Mrs. Hilliard's claim to the land, and Mrs. Hilliard retained an attorney to protect her interest.
On February 19, 1970, Ernie Price died from the effects of two axe blows and a shotgun wound to the head and mouth. It appeared that Mr. Price had been murdered inside his home and the body thereafter dragged outside. One of Mrs. Hilliard's shoes was found near the scene of the crime. According to Mrs. Hilliard, just before the murder Mr. Price had threatened her with a shotgun, and she fled toward a neighbor's house, losing the shoe in the process. She claimed to have heard a shotgun blast while running. Upon arriving at the neighbor's home, she telephoned her attorney, who in turn called the authorities.
Later that day Mrs. Hilliard was arrested. Defendant Clark, who had been assigned to investigate the murder, seized as evidence a curtain from the Price home and the jacket Mrs. Hilliard was wearing when arrested, both of which contained small stains that Clark thought might be blood. Clark sent the curtain and the jacket to the F.B.I. laboratory in Washington for analysis of the stains. In late March of 1970, the F.B.I. returned both items and submitted a report stating: "No blood was identified on Q1 (jacket) or Q2 (curtain)." Agent Clark considered the report inconclusive and sent the jacket and curtain to Nashville to be forwarded back to the F.B.I. for further analysis. Unknown to either defendant, the jacket for some reason never left Nashville. On May 28, 1970, the F.B.I. reported that the stains on the curtain were composed of paint or varnish.
Before Mrs. Hilliard's murder trial began on May 12, 1970, the defendants discussed the first F.B.I. report at least twice. Williams instructed Clark not to mention the report in his testimony unless specifically questioned about it. Defendant Williams did not reveal the contents of the report to Mrs. Hilliard or to her attorney. To the contrary, in his capacity as prosecuting attorney he allowed the following testimony to be elicited from Agent Clark without correction or explanation:
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY GEN. SMITH:
Q. 66 Did you proceed to inspect the living room furniture then?
A. Yes sir, I found what looked to be blood stains on the arm of the arm chair, on the north side of the house, sort of behind the stove,
Q. 67 All right, go ahead?
A. Also found blood stains on the floor in front of the chair, and some on the curtains behind the stove, then on the back of the couch on the north wall of the living room, the wall looked wet, as if it had been washed behind the couch there.
Q. 108 Now, did the defendant continue to remain in the Sheriff's car while you all made the investigation?
A. Yes, she stayed in the back seat of the sheriff's car.
Q. 109 Now, did you take a picture of her?
A. Yes. (shows photo)
Q. 110 Was that the way she was dressed when you took the picture of her?
A. Yes, that was made at the jail.
Q. 111 What kind of coat is that?
A. A blue nylon windbreaker type coat.
Q. 112 All right, did you find any blood stains on that?
A. Yes sir, I found some spots on it.
Q. 113 What did they appear to be?
A. They appeared to be blood stains.
Q. 114 Where were they?
A. They were on the right tail of the coat, right front of the coat.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. MADDOX:
Q. 55 Was there any indication of any blood stains on the floor where the water was?
A. No sir, on the edge of where the water was is where you could see the blood stains.
Q. 56 Now, how do you know it was blood stains?
A. That is what it looked to me like.
Q. 57 Did you have it examined to see what it was?
A. No, I didn't have it analyzed.
Q. 58 Did you have anything analyzed off the couch to determine if it was blood?
A. No sir.
Q. 59 Did you have the curtains analyzed?
A. I sent them off to the FBI lab and they aren't back yet.
Q. 60 You don't have the curtains back?
A. No sir.
Q. 61 Lets talk about this jacket, you put in some very dangerous evidence against the defendant, by saying she had blood-stains on her jacket, do you know they were blood stains?
A. I said they looked like blood stains.
Q. 62 How large were they, Mr. Clark?
A. They were small,
Q. 63 Pin point weren't they?
A. No, they were bigger than pin point.
Q. 64 Well, were they as large as a dime?
A. No sir, not as large as a dime.
Q. 65 Were they as large as half a dime?
A. Yes sir,
Q. 66 Now, Mr. Clark, be sure about it?
A. Yes, they were as large as half a dime.
Q. 67 How many spots were on the jacket?
A. About 3 or 4, scattered,
Q. 68 Scattered where?
A. Up on the right side of the tail of the coat.
Q. 69 Were there any on the back?
A. I didn't see any.
Q. 70 Mr. Clark, where is that jacket today?
A. At the FBI Lab in Washington.
Q. 71 Why didn't you make it available here for us so that the jury could see those spots on that jacket and determine if it was blood?
A. They just didn't send it back.
Q. 72 Have you had any reports that that was human blood on that jacket?
A. No, not at this time.
Q. 73 But you don't know what was on that jacket do you?
Q. 75 Do you know if that was blood stains or not?
A. Not through a chemical analysis I wouldn't know,
Q. 76 So you do not know?
A. No sir, I don't.
Later in the trial, Attorney General Williams himself questioned another law officer who had participated in the investigation, and the following testimony was given:
Q. 6 All right, just describe this jacket that Onie Lee was wearing?
A. There was blood spots on the right side of the jacket.
Q. 7 They appeared to be blood stains to you?
A. Yes sir.
Mrs. Hilliard testified on her own behalf to the effect that if there was any blood on her jacket, it was hog blood and not human blood.
Mrs. Hilliard was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. On April 15, 1971, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction on the grounds that the evidence was "unconvincing" and insufficient to support the verdict and that some gruesome photographs of the victim had been exhibited to the jury. Hilliard v. State, No. 3 (Tenn.Crim.App., Apr. 15, 1971, unreported). Although the court did not pass on the propriety of withholding the F.B.I. laboratory report, it did discuss the effect of the testimony about the stains on Mrs. Hilliard's jacket:
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