Sowell v. Sheets, CASE NO. 2:09-CV-1089

Decision Date14 October 2011
Docket NumberCASE NO. 2:09-CV-1089
PartiesSHAWN SOWELL, Petitioner, v. MICHAEL SHEETS, WARDEN, Respondent.
CourtUnited States District Courts. 6th Circuit. United States District Courts. 6th Circuit. Southern District of Ohio

SHAWN SOWELL, Petitioner,
v.
MICHAEL SHEETS, WARDEN, Respondent.

CASE NO. 2:09-CV-1089

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO EASTERN DIVISION

Dated: October 14, 2011


JUDGE JAMES L. GRAHAM

MAGISTRATE JUDGE E.A. Preston Deavers

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Petitioner, a state prisoner, brings the instant Petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. This matter is before the Court on the instant Petition, Respondent's Return of Writ, Petitioner's Reply, and the exhibits of the parties. For the reasons that follow, the Magistrate Judge RECOMMENDS that this action be DISMISSED.

FACTS and PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals summarized the facts and procedural history of this case as follows:

Appellant was indicted on one count of aggravated murder, in violation of R.C. 2903.01, with a firearm specification. Appellant pled not guilty and the case was tried to a jury. Appellee presented the following evidence.
Ahman Fares testified on behalf of appellee as follows. Fares worked as a cashier at Kelly's Carryout located at 1521 North 4th Street ("4th") at the corner of 11 th Avenue ("11th") in Columbus, Ohio. On the evening of April 18, 2005, he was standing outside the front door of the carryout talking to Jimon Jones. An SUV pulled up directly across the street from the carryout and stopped. Neither Fares nor Jones recognized the SUV; they noticed it only because it had distinctive wheel rims.
A man who had been standing on the sidewalk across the street from

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the carryout approached the passenger side of the SUV and conversed with the occupants for approximately 30 seconds. The SUV then pulled away and turned right onto 11th; the man crossed the street and walked toward the carryout. According to Fares, Jones did not appear to recognize the man, and said nothing about him as the man approached the carryout. Thereafter, Fares, presuming the man to be a potential customer, entered the carryout and stood behind the counter, which Fares estimated to be "maybe 15 feet at the most" from the front door. (Tr. 420.)
The man, whom Fares had never seen before, then entered the carryout, approached the counter, purchased a cigar, and walked toward the door. At the same time, Jones entered the carryout. According to Fares, Jones again did not appear to recognize the man, and the two did not communicate in any way as they passed one another. As Fares turned away from the door, he heard several gunshots. He ducked behind the counter and heard two more gunshots. Thereafter, he looked up and saw Jones lying on the floor. Although Fares did not actually see who fired the shots, he saw "someone" with a gun, and was "pretty sure" it was the man who purchased the cigar, because "nobody else came into the store" and "it happened too fast for it to be anybody else." (Tr. 422.) He then observed the man run down a nearby alley.
Fares immediately called 911; police and emergency medical personnel arrived shortly thereafter. Fares told the police that the man who purchased the cigar was a dark-skinned African-American, 5' 11" to 6', with a full beard, wearing dark pants and a green shirt with a yellow picture on the front of it. At trial, Fares described the man's beard as "full," i.e., "covering his entire face * * * not like a goatee." (Tr. 427.) Two days after the shooting, the police showed Fares two separate photo arrays, both of which included a photograph of appellant, and asked him if he could identify the person who shot Jones. Fares could not identify the shooter from either of the arrays.
At trial, Fares admitted that the man who purchased the cigar stood close to him during the transaction; indeed, he testified he was "face-to-face" with the man. (Tr. 427.) However, he did not pay particularly close attention to the man because he was just "another customer" (Tr. 425); in addition, he had to turn away from the man in order to retrieve the cigar from under the counter. When presented with the photo arrays at trial, he could not identify the man who purchased the cigar from him. Indeed, he testified that the man in the carryout did not resemble any of the photographs in either of the

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arrays. Fares testified that he probably would not be able to recognize the man if he saw him again because the incident happened so quickly and the man had a full beard which covered most of his face.
On cross-examination, Fares admitted that he paid at least "some attention" to the man as he processed the cigar purchase; as such, he "had him in [his] view for at least a reasonable period of time." (Tr. 447.) He described the man's beard as "very obvious," i.e., two to three inches long around his entire face. (Tr. 455)
Columbus Police Officer John Haley testified on behalf of appellee as follows. Officer Haley arrived at the carryout shortly after receiving a radio dispatch about the shooting. Upon arrival, he observed a group of individuals standing across the street from the carryout. He then interviewed Fares, who provided a description of a man who had been in the store immediately prior to the shooting.
On cross-examination, Officer Haley testified that he arrived at the carryout "within a minute" after receiving the radio dispatch. (Tr. 479.) In addition to the group of people he observed standing across the street from the carryout, he also observed a group of individuals running in that general direction; he did not, however, interview any of those persons. On redirect, Officer Haley testified that it is not unusual to encounter a large group of people at the scene of a shooting.
Crime Scene Search Unit ("CSSU") Detective Phillip Walden testified on behalf of appellee as follows. CSSU collected, among other items, seven spent shell casings just inside the door of the carryout. CSSU did not collect DNA evidence from the counter or any articles on or near the counter, as the information provided about the shooting indicated that no physical confrontation other than the shooting of the victim had transpired; hence, there would likely be no DNA evidence at the scene other than the victim's blood. Detective Walden also testified that CSSU did not recover any fingerprints of value from either the counter or the SUV.
On cross-examination, Detective Walden admitted that DNA evidence, if present, can be obtained from "almost any surface." (Tr. 545.) He further testified that CSSU did not dust the door or doorframe for fingerprints because the information provided about the shooting indicated that the door remained open throughout the entire incident.

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The driver of the SUV, Anthony Crump, testified on behalf of appellee as follows. On the evening of April 18, 2005, he and his cousin, Andre Brown, were riding around smoking marijuana. Enroute to purchase more marijuana from a friend on 11th, Crump drove northbound on 4th, stopping twice along the way. Crump first stopped near Ninth Avenue; he then continued northbound on 4th and stopped in front of an apartment building at 1504 North 4th, "a little before" 11th. (Tr. 592, 594.) He spoke to some people at each of the stops, including a man named "Shawn" (Tr. 595), whom he had known "slightly" from "out in the neighborhood" for approximately ten years. (Tr. 583.) At first, Crump was "not all the way sure" at which of the two stops he spoke to Shawn. (Tr. 595.) However, after reviewing a videotape of his interview with police the night of the shooting, he testified that he stopped and "talked to a few people" including Shawn while driving on 4th (Tr. 600) and that he spoke to Shawn near a house "right across from the market." (Tr. 601.) He identified appellant as the "Shawn" with whom he conversed during the second stop.
Crump further testified that following the conversation with appellant, he drove northbound on 4th and turned right onto 11th; he had "no idea" what happened to appellant after he drove away. (Tr. 602.) Crump continued on 11th for two blocks; he stopped on the side of the street to purchase more marijuana. As he exited his vehicle, he heard shots fired "in the neighborhood." (Tr. 605.) He completed the marijuana purchase, returned to the SUV, drove Brown home, and then went to a bar. Sometime after he left the bar, the police stopped him; they later questioned him and seized his SUV.
On cross-examination, Crump testified that he was "high" the night of April 18, 2005 because he had smoked several marijuana "blunts," some of which were laced with cocaine. (Tr. 625-626, 628, 630, 635, 662.) During his testimony, he suddenly recalled that a man named "Little C" was also in the SUV with him and Brown. Crump assumed "Little C" was "young," somewhere "between 18 and 22," because he "[did] not have a mustache like [Crump's]." (Tr. 628.) He admitted that he had never mentioned "Little C" to the police.
Crump further testified that he stopped somewhat south of the carryout, not directly across from it, and that there were several people outside when he stopped, including appellant. He also averred he told the police that appellant approached the SUV from the middle of the street because he was scared after police told him they believed he and Brown were involved in the murder. He admitted, however,

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that he could not recall if appellant was in the street or on the sidewalk.
Crump also testified that police told him during the interview that he and Brown were both implicated in the crime, i.e., that even if they did not do it, they had either provided the
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