Jones v. Greer
| Decision Date | 12 February 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-3140.,83-3140. |
| Citation | 627 F. Supp. 1481 |
| Parties | Richard JONES, Plaintiff, v. James GREER, Warden, Neil Hartigan, Attorney General, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Central District of Illinois |
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Richard Jones, pro se.
Warren J. Nickel, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, Ill., for defendants.
Habeas corpus.
Denied.
Jones brings this action for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, challenging the constitutionality of his Illinois state court conviction for attempted murder, home invasion, and armed robbery, and the resulting 50-year sentence. The gravamen of Petitioner's complaint is that improper evidentiary rulings and prosecutorial misconduct rendered his trial fundamentally unfair. For the reasons stated below, Jones' petition for a writ of habeas corpus is denied.
On February 27, 1981, Glen Mabus was alone in his rural Carlinville home. While working in the basement, he heard someone at the door and, thinking it was his wife, went upstairs. He observed a car in the driveway which he later described as a late model, light blue or bluish-green Chevrolet. Mabus proceeded into the bedroom, where he encountered a black male armed with a handgun. The assailant took money from Mabus and asked him where he kept his guns. He told the assailant his guns were located in the basement. Mabus was then taken into the basement and forced to sit in a chair. Sometime after taking one of Mabus' guns off the wall, the assailant shot Mabus in the face from a few feet away. Mabus survived the attack and managed to crawl up the basement stairs and call for help.
At trial, Mabus identified Jones as his attacker, and also testified that numerous items from his house were missing following the attack. A 12-person jury found Jones guilty of attempted murder, armed violence, home invasion, aggravated battery, armed robbery, burglary, and theft. The Appellate Court of Illinois affirmed Jones' conviction of attempt, home invasion, and armed robbery, but vacated the other convictions. People v. Jones, 108 Ill.App.3d 880, 64 Ill.Dec. 346, 439 N.E.2d 1011 (4th Dist.1982). Further appeal was denied by the Illinois Supreme Court.
Richard Jones was employed as a meat-packer at the Diamond Meat Packing Plant. On the morning of February 27, however, Jones did not ride to work with co-workers as was his usual routine. Instead, Jones later rode with a friend to the plant. There Jones met Barbara Grizzle and they decided to go drinking together in a car loaned to Jones by a co-worker. The car was a late model, blue-green Chevrolet. Ms. Grizzle testified at trial that Jones had displayed a gun to her while they were drinking together. In addition, she believed that the gun—later identified as the gun which was used in the shooting—was the same gun Jones had shown her.
After drinking for awhile, Jones and Ms. Grizzle drove back to the plant and then at about 4 p.m. left again. They drove to a point where the road curved and pulled off to the side. As they were parked by the side of the road, two men who knew Ms. Grizzle drove by. Upon seeing her in the car with Jones, they stopped, had some conversation with her, and took her with them. Among the state's witnesses was a truck driver, Mr. MacMurdo, who testified that he remembered following the car driven by these two men, and that they pulled in to meet a green car parked along this curve. The two men themselves—Paul Taylor and Bill Jefferson—stated that they went past the curve and saw the black man in the green Chevrolet with Ms. Grizzle and that they turned around and drove back to the green car. All of this testimony placed Jones less than three miles from the Mabus home sometime after 4 p.m. The crime itself occurred sometime between 4:35 and 4:50 p.m., when Mr. Mabus called the police for help.
Jones was arrested outside the Diamond Meat Packing Plant by the Macoupin County Sheriff's Department shortly after the incident. When he was arrested, several items that had been taken from the Mabus home were found in a nearby culvert. At the time of the arrest, Jones was wearing blue jeans and a blue vest. In addition to identifying Jones as the assailant, Mabus testified that his attacker wore jeans and a short blue coat that either had no sleeves or short sleeves. Detective Zirkelbach also testified that Mabus gave an identical description of his attacker immediately after the incident. Over hearsay objections, the trial court admitted Mabus' description of the attacker given to police approximately 15 minutes after he was shot.
At the time of the arrest, Jones was driving a green late model Chevrolet. In addition to Mr. Mabus, several witnesses testified that they saw a bluish-green or green late model Chevrolet at the Mabus residence at approximately the time of the attack. Other witnesses testified that this car belonged to Stanley Huddleston, a co-worker of Jones'. Huddleston testified that he had loaned Jones his car that day.
The day after the arrest, police found a .22 caliber colt automatic pistol in Gleason's Pond, near the area where Jones was arrested. Police also found an empty .22 caliber shell casing in the basement of Mabus' residence. A forensic scientist identified the shell casing as having been fired from the handgun found in Gleason's Pond. Also found at the Mabus residence was a single glove. According to police, a glove apparently matching the one found in the Mabus home was laying on top of the car when Jones was arrested.
The final piece of evidence against Jones—admitted over objection—was expert testimony by a forensic scientist identifying stains on Jones' undershirt as blood stains. It could not be conclusively determined, however, whether the blood was human or animal blood.
Jones' theory at trial was that he had not been anywhere near the Mabus residence at the time of the incident and that he was the target of a police conspiracy. Jones testified that he was at home sleeping the afternoon of the attack, but no other witness could corroborate this fact. On cross-examination, Jones stated that he believed that most of the state witnesses were either lying or were mistaken, and that Detective Zirkelbach (the chief investigating officer) was out to get him. Apparently, Jones had previously been charged for an offense which Detective Zirkelbach had investigated, but which resulted in two hung juries. In Jones' opinion, Detective Zirkelbach harbored ill-will toward him, and would do anything to see him put in prison.
Jones lists five primary grounds for habeas relief:
1. that the trial court erroneously admitted expert testimony that stains found on Jones' undershirt were blood stains;
2. that the trial court erred in allowing Detective Zirkelbach to remain in the courtroom throughout trial;
3. prosecutorial misconduct during cross-examination of Jones;
4. prosecutorial misconduct during closing arguments; and
5. erroneous admission of Mabus' hearsay statement to police concerning the description of his attacker.
To serve as a basis for habeas corpus relief, Jones' charges of prosecutorial misconduct and improper evidentiary rulings must amount to a denial of a specific constitutional right or a denial of a fundamentally fair trial. U.S. ex rel. Shaw v. DeRobertis, 755 F.2d 1279, 1281, n. 1 (7th Cir.1985); U.S. ex rel. Foster v. DeRobertis, 741 F.2d 1007, 1014 (7th Cir.1984). Improper admission of evidence may rise to the level of a due process violation only if the probative value of the evidence is greatly outweighed by prejudice to the Defendant. United States ex rel. Bibbs v. Twomey, 506 F.2d 1220, 1222 (7th Cir. 1974); U.S. ex rel. Bartall v. Lane, 607 F.Supp. 409 (N.D.Ill.1985). The issue facing this Court therefore differs from that previously faced by the Appellate Court of Illinois: Here, the question is not simply whether the evidentiary rulings were incorrect, but rather whether, in light of the entire record, the rulings so prejudiced Jones as to deprive him of a fair trial in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Bartall, 607 F.Supp. at 415 (citing Phelps v. Duckworth, 757 F.2d 811, 820 (7th Cir. 1985)). In determining whether such prejudice has occurred, the strength of the prosecution's case and the extent to which it is dependent upon the evidence erroneously admitted are relevant factors. United States ex rel. Palmer v. DeRobertis, 738 F.2d 168, 170 (7th Cir.1984).
The same analysis applies to allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. To justify relief under the Fourteenth Amendment, a habeas petitioner must show that prosecutorial misconduct so undermined his trial's fairness as to make his conviction a deprivation of liberty without due process of law. United States ex rel. Crist v. Lane, 745 F.2d 476, 482 (7th Cir.1984). To carry this burden, he must show that it is at least likely that the misconduct complained of affected the outcome of his trial. Shaw, 755 F.2d at 1281, n. 1. As explained by this Circuit in Crist:
The focus of federal due process review is to ensure that alleged improper prosecutorial argument does not warp the factfinding function of the jury by deflecting its attention away from consideration of the evidence presented at trial ... The essence of due process is fundamental fairness. The Constitution guarantees a fair trial, not a perfect one ... A trial is fundamentally fair if it results in a verdict reached through consideration of evidence properly admitted and which is untainted by improper influences. Thus, it is the totality of the effect of the alleged errors, not their mere presence or their number, which gives rise to, or defeats, a due process claim. Citations omitted.
745 F.2d at 482. Thus, with respect to Jones' charges of prosecutorial misconduct and improper evidentiary rulings, this Court will grant relief only if petitioner has shown that (1)...
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