Singletary v. Reilly, 04-7013.

• Decision Date: 07 July 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-7013.,04-7013.
• Citation: 452 F.3d 868
• Parties: Charles SINGLETARY, Appellant v. Edward F. REILLY, Jr., in his official capacity as Commissioner of the U.S. Parole Commission, et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

452 F.3d 868

Charles SINGLETARY, Appellant v. Edward F. REILLY, Jr., in his official capacity as Commissioner of the U.S. Parole Commission, et al., Appellees.

No. 04-7013.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued May 5, 2006.

Decided July 7, 2006.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 00cv01263).

Catharine F. Easterly, Assistant Public Defender, Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia, argued the cause for appellant. With her on the brief was Timothy P. O'Toole, Assistant Public Defender.

Elizabeth H. Danello, Assistant U.S. Attorney, argued the cause for appellees. With her on the brief were Kenneth L. Wainstein, U.S. Attorney, and Roy W. McLeese, III and Thomas J. Tourish, Jr., Assistant U.S. Attorneys.

Before: SENTELLE and BROWN, Circuit Judges, and EDWARDS, Senior Circuit Judge.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge BROWN.

BROWN, Circuit Judge.

Charles Singletary's parole was revoked in 1996 based on his alleged participation in a murder. The evidence tying Singletary to this offense—for which he has been imprisoned for the last ten years—consisted solely of hearsay testimony relayed by a prosecutor and an investigating detective. The reliability of the hearsay, most of it multilayered, was never established, and its accuracy remains open to serious questions. A parole revocation hearing is not a criminal trial, and the same standards of proof and admissibility of evidence do not apply. Yet though the government is not required to carry a heavy burden in such proceedings, it cannot return a parolee to prison based on a record as shoddy as this one. We therefore conclude that Singletary is entitled to a new parole revocation hearing.

I

Singletary was originally sentenced to nine to twenty-seven years' imprisonment (minus 388 days) for robbery, armed robbery, and assault with a deadly weapon. He began serving his sentence on January 28, 1983, and was granted parole on June 1, 1990. In June 1995, Singletary was arrested for the murder of Leroy Houtman, a.k.a. Vaughn Stokes, but the case was never brought before a grand jury, and Singletary was eventually released without being charged. However, on July 30, 1996, the District of Columbia Board of Parole held a joint hearing to consider parole revocation for Singletary and his alleged accomplice, Gary Barnes, based on the Houtman murder.¹

We cannot be sure of everything that transpired at the hearing. Singletary has provided us with a partial transcript created by his counsel from an audiotape of the proceedings. However, the transcript cuts off in the middle of a sentence, and Singletary claims that he has never been provided with a recording or transcript of the rest of the hearing. Our only other information regarding the events of that day comes from the Board's semi-legible handwritten findings of fact and Singletary's abbreviated description of the hearing, neither of which provides any significant additional details.

Singletary was charged with failing to obey all laws and using a deadly weapon in connection with first degree murder. He denied both accusations. The Board began by asking Peter Zeidenberg, an Assistant United States Attorney, if he "could tell [the Board] what [he] kn[e]w about this case." Zeidenberg presented his view of what "the evidence was in this case" through his own narrative as well as by questioning Detective Todd Amis, who investigated Houtman's murder. Most of the information described by Zeidenberg and Amis originally came from two individuals—Verdez Smith and Terri Washington—who were not identified by name during the hearing, though their names have been revealed during this litigation. Smith and Washington claimed to have learned about the murder from Carmelita Metts, who was convicted of conspiracy to murder Houtman.

According to Zeidenberg and Amis, Houtman's body was discovered in Metts's apartment complex when plumbers working in a utility room smelled an odor and saw a foot sticking out from some plastic. Houtman had been stabbed fifty-one times; his body had been wrapped in insulation that was pulled down from the ceiling. He had been dead for approximately three weeks.

Amis stated that the body was finally identified three months later by Houtman's sisters, based on a piece of jewelry Houtman was wearing. Amis then began a search for Houtman's missing truck, which bore fruit when he discovered it in Smith's possession. Smith initially claimed that someone named "Tony" gave him the truck; he later admitted to receiving it from Metts, although he claimed not to know where she obtained it. After being charged with Houtman's murder, Smith changed his story again, claiming that Metts—his former girlfriend—had asked him to help her kill Houtman, but that he had refused. Smith claimed that Metts had later given him Houtman's truck so that he could sell it, as he had previous experience as a car thief. The charges against Smith were dropped.

The police also interviewed Washington, who initially denied knowing anything about the murder (as Amis stated in a sworn statement made after the hearing). Amis told the Board that Washington then claimed Metts confessed to helping Barnes and Singletary murder Houtman.² Allegedly, Metts lured Houtman to her apartment, where Barnes and Singletary (and possibly Metts herself) stabbed him, stored the body in the closet temporarily, and later moved it to the basement. Amis informed the Board that Smith also claimed Metts told him of this sequence of events.³

Zeidenberg stated that the police searched Metts's apartment and found some of Houtman's blood. He stated that when Metts found the notice left on her door by the police, she was with Washington, who then accompanied her to the barber shop where Singletary worked. Zeidenberg and Amis both stated that Washington claimed to have seen Singletary wearing a distinctive ring that had belonged to Houtman.(However, at Metts's trial, Washington actually testified that Singletary was wearing Houtman's bracelet, and that she saw Barnes wearing Houtman's ring at one point. Neither piece of jewelry was ever recovered by the police.) According to Zeidenberg, Metts told Washington and Smith she gave Houtman's keys to Barnes and Singletary in order for them to search his apartment for drugs and money, but that they did not give her a share of whatever they found.

Singletary was eventually arrested. After his arrest, Amis asked if he knew Metts or Barnes, but Singletary allegedly denied knowing either. Amis later found a picture of Singletary and Barnes together at a wedding. Singletary's attorney had an opportunity to cross-examine Amis (although only part of this exchange is reflected in the hearing transcript). When asked if the police had "anything, anything at all besides double hearsay that connects [Singletary and Barnes] to the murder," Amis simply stated, "no." Amis also admitted that no murder weapon had been found.

Zeidenberg acknowledged Singletary's case had never been presented to a grand jury because the prosecution's only admissible evidence would have been Metts's statements. The prosecution did not want to "cut a deal" with Metts to get her to testify; "any confession that she gave would be so suspect that ... it would [be] counterproductive." According to Singletary's former attorney, prior to the hearing, the Board did not inform him of any evidence, witness statements, or other information regarding the alleged parole violations. He claimed that Singletary brought two "favorable witnesses" to the hearing, but the Board did not permit them to enter the hearing room. The record does not reflect that Singletary complained about either issue during the hearing.

The Board revoked Singletary's parole on August 6, 1996. Singletary filed for a writ of habeas corpus in 1997, but the writ was denied by the D.C. Superior Court, and the D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed. Singletary v. Quick, No. 97-SP-1984 (D.C. July 24, 1998) (unpublished order). He again sought habeas relief in 2000, but again the Superior Court denied his claims, and again the Court of Appeals affirmed. Singletary v. D.C. Bd. of Parole, 794 A.2d 56 (D.C.2001) (unpublished table decision). Finally, Singletary petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and his petition was denied one more time. Singletary v. D.C. Bd. of Parole, No. 00-cv-01263 (D.D.C. Dec. 16, 2003) (unpublished opinion). The district court found that "the only challenge raised by petitioner through his counsel at the parole revocation hearing that is now being raised was the challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence." Id. at 7. The court thus considered other challenges brought by Singletary forfeited, a decision that Singletary does not challenge on appeal. Finding the hearsay sufficiently reliable, the district court denied Singletary's petition. Id. at 8-10.⁴

II

In Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 487-88, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972), the Supreme Court mandated a hearing "prior to the final decision on revocation by the parole authority," if the parolee desires such a hearing. The hearing

must be the basis for more than determining probable cause; it must lead to a final evaluation of any contested relevant facts and consideration of whether the facts as determined warrant revocation. The parolee must have an opportunity to be heard and to show, if he can, that he did not violate the conditions, or, if he did, that circumstances in mitigation suggest that the violation does not warrant revocation.

Id. at 488, 92 S.Ct. 2593. While declining to "write a code of procedure" for such hearings, the Court did specify that "the minimum requirements of due process" included:

(a) written notice of the claimed violations of parole; (b) disclosure to the parolee of evidence against him; (c) opportunity to be heard in person and to present...