Snow v. Pfister

• Decision Date: 20 December 2016
• Docket Number: No. 13 C 3947,13 C 3947
• Citation: 240 F.Supp.3d 854
• Parties: James SNOW, Reg. No. N–50072, Petitioner, v. Randy PFISTER, Warden, Superintendent, or authorized person having custody of petitioner, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

240 F.Supp.3d 854

James SNOW, Reg. No. N–50072, Petitioner,

v.Randy PFISTER,¹ Warden, Superintendent, or authorized person having custody of petitioner, Respondent.

No. 13 C 3947

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

Signed December 20, 2016

Elizabeth C. Wang, Loevy & Loevy, Boulder, CO, Jonathan I. Loevy, Tara Elizabeth Thompson, Loevy & Loevy, Chicago, IL, for Petitioner.

Brian McLeish, Illinois Office of the Attorney General, Chicago, IL, for Respondent.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Elaine E. Bucklo, United States District Judge

James Snow ("Snow") has filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging his conviction for first degree murder. Snow asserts that his attorneys rendered ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to conduct an adequate investigation into his case and by failing to impeach various witnesses. He also contends that the state committed multiple violations of Brady v. Maryland , 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), by failing to disclose information helpful to his defense. For the reasons below, Snow's petition is denied.

I.

At approximately 8:15 p.m. on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1991, William Little ("Little"), who was working as an attendant at a Clark Oil gas station ("the Clark station") in Bloomington, Illinois, was shot and killed during an apparent robbery. The gas station's silent alarm had been triggered and Officer Jeffrey Pelo ("Pelo") of the Bloomington Police Department ("BPD") responded. Pelo parked his vehicle behind a building across the street and approached the station on foot. He saw Danny Martinez ("Martinez") in the gas station's parking lot filling his car's tires with air. Pelo saw Martinez walk toward the station, then turn back around, return to his car, and drive off. Pelo had a brief conversation with the police dispatcher about the vehicle's license plate number. A pickup truck then pulled into the station's parking lot. Pelo instructed the driver to park across the street and wait for him. Pelo then entered the station and found Little lying behind the counter. He had been shot twice and died at the scene.

Martinez, who lived next door to the Clark station, was later interviewed. He told investigators that he heard two "bangs" while filling his tires, and that he initially believed these to have been the sound of his car backfiring. After filling his tires, Martinez started walking toward the station. He claimed that he noticed a man walking backwards out of the door. Martinez said that he momentarily turned back toward his car because he heard its engine begin to stall, and that when he turned back toward the station, he was within a few feet of the man. Martinez would later testify that he had been struck by the man's eyes, stating "His eyes was wide open like if he was out the whole night, and I'll never forget those eyes." Ex. B at 160.²

A second witness, fourteen year-old Carlos Luna ("Luna"), who lived across the street from the Clark station, told investigators that he was looking out of his window at the time of the incident and saw a white male walking out of the gas station. He stated that the man appeared to be carrying something under a long trench coat. Gerardo Gutierrez ("Gutierrez") told investigators that he had purchased fuel at the Clark station around the time in question and that when he entered the station to pay, he saw another man with the attendant. The individual turned away, appearing as though he did not want to be seen. The police made composite sketches based on Martinez's, Luna's, and Gutierrez's descriptions, but no suspect was apprehended.

On April 23, 1991, a police officer for Webster Groves, Missouri went to the home of Snow's sister to arrest him on a warrant for the robbery of a Freedom Oil gas station in Bloomington in February 1991. Snow's sister and wife initially told the officer that Snow was not there, but Snow was found several hours later hiding in the attic.

The following day, BPD Detectives Russell Thomas ("Thomas") and Charles Crowe ("Crowe") transported Snow back to Bloomington. Thomas testified that during the trip, Snow appeared anxious and agitated and asked whether he was a suspect in Little's murder. After arriving back at Bloomington, Snow was questioned by Thomas and Michael Bernardini ("Bernardini"), an Agent of the Illinois State Police. Thomas and Bernardini asked Snow about a number of crimes, including the robbery of the Freedom Oil station and the murder/robbery at the Clark station. According to Thomas's and Bernardini's testimony, Snow indicated during the interview that he had information about Little's murder but that he wanted a deal before saying anything.

In June 1991, the BPD arranged for a lineup that was to include Snow and five other individuals. By all accounts, including Snow's, he initially refused to participate. See, e.g. , Ex. I at 179–81; Ex. J at 19. Richard Koritz ("Koritz"), a public defender representing Snow in another matter at the time, had previously spoken to BPD detectives about the lineup and was present when it took place. Koritz testified that Snow was "distraught and upset" about participating in the lineup. Ex. H at 21. According to Snow, he initially refused to stand in the lineup only until Koritz arrived. See Ex. I at 183–84. However, several other witnesses testified that Snow remained upset after speaking with Koritz and that Snow had stated that he was going to fire Koritz. See, e.g. , Ex. H at 19–20; Ex. J at 19–20; Ex. F at 135. According to detectives Crowe and Thomas, Snow agreed to participate in the lineup only after being told that he would be forced to do so if he continued to refuse. Ex. J at 21; Ex. F at 135.

Luna viewed the lineup and stated that Snow looked like the man he had seen leaving the gas station on Easter evening. Martinez indicated that he thought two of the individuals looked like the perpetrator; however, neither of the individuals was Snow. At a later time, however, Martinez identified Snow from a photograph in a local newspaper. Gutierrez also made no identification.

After the lineup, Snow moved to St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife, Tammy, and their children. Snow returned to Bloomington in July 1993, and in October 1994, he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for attempting to persuade a girlfriend of his to lie about his involvement in another crime. Snow was incarcerated until February 1996. During this period, he was housed in several different prisons. Upon his release, Snow moved back to St. Petersburg.

In September 1999, Snow was indicted for Little's murder.³ Snow testified that when he learned of this, he moved to Ohio. Ex. I at 114, 202. Later that month, he was apprehended in Akron, Ohio, after a violent fugitive task force received a tip regarding where Snow was living. Detective Robert Ondecker ("Ondecker") approached the location and saw an individual matching Snow's description. Ondecker testified that Snow identified himself as "David Arison" and produced a birth certificate and social security card with Arison's name. When Ondecker asked Snow to pull down his sock so he could check for a tattoo on his calf, Snow fled. He was found a short time later hiding under the porch of a nearby home.

Snow's Trial

In March 2000, G. Patrick Riley ("Riley") was appointed to represent Snow. Riley requested additional counsel, and in April 2000, Frank Picl ("Picl") was appointed to assist in Snow's representation. Riley and Picl were two of a handful of attorneys in Bloomington whose experience qualified them for the state's capital litigation trial bar. The state was represented by Charles Reynard ("Reynard"), who at that time was McLean County's State's Attorney, and Assistant State's Attorney (ASA) Teena Griffin ("Griffin").

On December 20, 2000, Snow sent the trial judge a letter stating that he believed Picl and Riley were unprepared for trial. At a subsequent hearing, Snow asked that his trial be continued. The judge questioned Picl and Riley, who stated that they were prepared to go forward. The judge denied Snow's request for a continuance.

Snow's trial began in January 2001 and lasted for nine days. In all, the state called forty-three witnesses, and Snow called fifteen. In addition to the eyewitness testimony of Martinez and Luna, the state presented several witnesses who testified that Snow had confessed to killing Little, bragged or joked about having done so, or had otherwise implicated himself in the crime. Because the state's case depended on the collective strength of these witnesses' testimony, I summarize the main points here.

Ed Palumbo ("Palumbo"), a friend of Snow's, claimed that a few days after the Clark station murder, he was driving in his car with Shannon Schmidt Wallace ("Wallace"), his girlfriend at the time, when he saw Snow driving in his car. The two pulled alongside one another and Snow asked Palumbo if he had read about him in the paper. When Palumbo answered that he had not, Snow told him he should be sure to read about it. Palumbo asked what the paper said and Snow responded, "Boom, boom. Gun goes off. Kid dies." Ex. C at 123. Palumbo said that he spoke about the conversation with Wallace when they got home. Wallace later corroborated that Palumbo had spoken with her about the conversation and had told her "Jamie said that the gun went off and the kid died." Ex. E at 76.

Palumbo testified to a later conversation in which he told Snow that it "wasn't too smart" of Snow to have talked about the murder in front of other people. Snow replied that he was not worried because he trusted the others who had been present during the conversation. According to Palumbo, Snow "basically said that the kid was a smart ass so he shot him," Ex. C at 126, and that killing Little was not as hard as he had imagined. Palumbo also testified that Snow provided additional details about the crime, including that Snow had gotten very little money from the robbery; that he did not think...