The Michigan Court of Appeals summarized the facts surrounding Petitioner's conviction:
Seals's conviction arises from an altercation that occurred at Cheetah's Lounge on April 7, 2011. Todd Costello testified that he and the victim, Christopher Rice, were friends and members of the Liberty Riders Motorcycle Club. According to Costello, he and his girlfriend went to Cheetah's sometime after 5:30 p.m. While at Cheetah's, Cecil Dunlap, a bouncer who is black, approached Costello and told him that his conduct with his girlfriend was against the establishment's rules. Dunlap told Costello to leave.
Daniel Abraham, a valet at Cheetah's, testified that he witnessed Costello get thrown out of the building around 7:00 p.m. According to Abraham, Costello started making threats to Dunlap, used racial slurs, and said that he was going to "come back and get you[.]" Costello got into a car with a group and left his car at Cheetah's. Jason Stafford, another Cheetah's employee, testified that he heard Costello yell that he would "be back up here[.]"
Costello testified that he left Cheetah's and went to the Liberty Club's club house. Some point after 11:00 p.m., he and members of the Liberty Club returned to Cheetah's. Costello testified that he intended to retrieve his car. Abraham testified that Costello returned to Cheetah's with 20 to 30 men, and he heard three or four gunshots shortly thereafter.
According to Costello, immediately on entering Cheetah's, Costello approached Dunlap and hit him in the mouth. Others became involved in the fight, including Seals, a white bouncer. Dunlap fell to the ground during the fight, drew gun, and started shooting. Dunlap shot Costello in the hip, and Costello, Rice, and others ran out of the building. Costello testified that Seals chased Rice and continued to strike Rice in the back of the head with a blackjack.
According to Costello, he and Rice entered Rice's Tahoe. While Costello was in the Tahoe, bullets came from behind the vehicle and he was shot in the shoulder. Costello testified that it was Seals, not Dunlap, who was shooting at the Tahoe. Costello admitted that as soon as he saw the vehicle's rear window break, he ducked down between the seats. However, Costello testified that he was "a hundred and ten percent sure" that it was Seals who was shooting at the Tahoe. Rice was also shot and told Costello that he was dying. Rice stopped the Tahoe and moved to a rear seat, and Elliott drove the Tahoe to the hospital. Rice was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to his back.
Abraham testified that he was 15 to 20 feet away from Seals when he heard gunshots. According to Abraham, he did not see anything in Seals's hands, but Abraham saw flashes on both sides of him. Stafford also testified that he did not see Seals with a gun in his hands. According to Stafford, the gunshots fired outside the building were fired from near the street and came from a red truck.
Jason Gartin testified that he was good friends with Rice and Costello. Gartin's testimony was similar to Costello's, but Gartin testified that Dunlap started the fight by swinging at Costello. According to Gartin, someone fired shots in the airduring the fight, and everyone started to run outside. Gartin testified that he did not see Dunlap outside the building. Gartin did see Seals holding a gun out and firing it "in front." Gartin saw Seals firing at the back window of the Tahoe. Gartin testified that he also saw Seals reach for a second gun. Gartin got into a friend's vehicle and left.
The prosecutor played portions of surveillance videos from Cheetah's. Detroit Police Sergeant Ron Gibson testified that one portion of the video showed a person laying two guns on a counter. Sergeant Gibson testified that the person in the video was Seals. According to Gibson, there was no surveillance video that captured the shooting itself because the outside camera's lighting and focus was bad.
Sergeant Samuel Mackie testified that he spoke with Seals while investigating the shooting. According to Sergeant Mackie, Seals admitted that he and Dunlap were the only bouncers working that night, but denied that any shooting took place at Cheetah's or that he or Dunlap ever had a gun. Seals also denied that gunshots were fired inside or outside Cheetah's.
Detroit Police Officer Mary Gross testified that she examined the Tahoe on April 14, 2011. According to Officer Gross, she found five suspected bullet impact points on the back of the vehicle. Two impacts were the rear doors. One bullet had passed through the back seat and driver's seat. Officer Gross concluded that the shooter shot the Tahoe from its right rear side. Officer Gross testified that additional bullets could have shattered the vehicle's windows and passed through the Tahoe without leaving marks.
Matthew Fillmore testified that, in April 2011, he overheard a conversation at a gym between a person he was "pretty sure" was Seals and an unknown man. Fillmore heard Seals say that he was working as a bouncer, something happened, and he ended up shooting and killing someone. Fillmore contacted the police and spoke with a sergeant about what he had heard because he thought it was the right thing to do.
B. THE TRIAL COURT'S FINDINGS
The trial court found that either Dunlap or Seals had killed Rice. It found that, on the basis of the video, after Dunlap fired his gun, Costello's group "all rushed out the door."
The trial court found that the video showed Seals chasing after and hitting Rice. The trial court found that the prosecutor had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that it was Seals who shot Rice, and it noted that it relied on the testimony of Officer Gross, the video of Seals in the kitchen area with guns, and Fillmore's testimony to reach this conclusion. The trial court also noted that there was no testimony from Costello and Gartin that placed Dunlap outside, but that Gartin and Costello both testified that Seals was outside. The trial court also found that Officer Gross's investigation corroborated Gartin's testimony that he saw Seals firing at the vehicle.
The trial court also noted that the kitchen video showed Seals "nonchalantly taking guns ... from his waist area and so forth and laying them on the counter...." The trial court noted that Seals had denied ever having a gun when Sergeant Mackie questioned him, which showed his consciousness of guilt. The trial court also accepted Fillmore's testimony that he overheard Seals admit to shooting and killing someone.
People v. Seals, No. 316474, 2014 WL 6068115, at *1-3 (Mich. Ct. App. Nov. 13, 2014).
Following his conviction and sentence, Petitioner's trial counsel filed a claim of appeal along with a motion for new trial. The motion claimed that Petitioner was entitled to a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. (Motion for New Trial, ECF No. 14-1, PageID.1601-1623.) The motion wassupported by affidavits of additional witnesses present on the night of the incident who had not testified at trial. (Id., PageID.1624-1633.)
Petitioner filed an addendum to the motion, asserting that the trial court misapprehended the contents of the surveillance videos and photographs and contending that they showed Dunlap following Petitioner outside the bar before the shooting with a gun at his side and then reentering the bar with Petitioner after the shooting. (Id., PageID.1637-1660.) The trial court denied the motion without holding an evidentiary hearing, finding that the proffered newly discovered evidence was insufficient to warrant a new trial. (Opinion Denying Motion for New Trial, ECF No. 12-15, PageID.1297-1300.)
Petitioner retained a second attorney to pursue a direct appeal, and appellate counsel filed a motion to remand in the Court of Appeals. (Motion to Remand, ECF No. 14-1, PageID.1679-1697.) The motion to remand sought to overturn the decision of the trial court to deny the motion for new trial absent an evidentiary hearing, and it asserted a new claim that Petitioner's trial counsel was ineffective for failing to discover and present additional defense witnesses at the time of trial. (Id.)
Besides the materials provided to the trial court with the motion for new trial, the motion to remand also included affidavits related toprosecution witness Fillmore, the subject matter of Petitioner's current IATC claim: (1) Petitioner stated in an...
