Spalla v. Foltz
| Decision Date | 15 July 1985 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 84-CV-2425-DT. |
| Citation | 615 F. Supp. 224 |
| Parties | Frederick SPALLA, Petitioner, v. Dale FOLTZ, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan |
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Stuart B. Lev, Asst. Defender, State Appellate Defenders Office, Detroit, Mich., for petitioner.
Thomas Kulick, Asst. Atty. Gen., Corrections Div., Lansing, Mich., for respondent.
Petitioner, presently confined to the State Prison of Southern Michigan, challenges his conviction for second degree murder, M.C.L. § 750.317, in habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2254. His petition includes a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim for injunctive and declaratory relief; this claim is subsumed in the decision on the habeas action.
On February 28, 1976 petitioner was convicted by an Oakland County Michigan jury of first degree murder, M.C.L. § 750.316, and sentenced to life imprisonment. The conviction was affirmed by the Michigan Court of Appeals with a dissent, 83 Mich. App. 661, 269 N.W.2d 259 (1978), but reversed by the Michigan Supreme Court for the reasons expressed in the Court of Appeals dissent, 408 Mich. 876, 290 N.W.2d 729 (1980).
On retrial, on August 28, 1981, Petitioner was again convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and again sentenced to life imprisonment. On March 3, 1983, the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction in an unreported opinion. (Docket No. 60683). The Michigan Supreme Court, however, on April 27, 1984, reduced the conviction to second-degree murder because of insufficient evidence of premeditation. M.C.L. § 750.317. 419 Mich. 863, 346 N.W.2d 841 (1984). Petitioner was resentenced on October 2, 1984, to a term of life imprisonment.1
The petition before me was filed on July 24, 1984 raising only two issues. On January 16, 1985 I denied the petition and on February 4, 1985 I granted a motion to amend the petition and raise different issues.
Id. at 1147. I must draw all available inferences and resolve all credibility issues in favor of the jury's verdict. Id. "Only when the record evidence cannot support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt can we hold that there has been a constitutional denial of due process." Id. The prosecution need not negate every reasonable theory consistent with innocence. Jackson, supra, 443 U.S. at 326, 99 S.Ct. at 2792; Holland v. United States, 348 U.S. 121, 75 S.Ct. 127, 99 L.Ed. 150 (1954).3
The record showed that on August 20, 1975, at about 7:30 p.m., petitioner and Ronald Furby left Furby's house just outside Utica, Michigan. They were observed leaving by Steven Bonno who thought the car they left in was a Vega and described it as goldish-colored or coppertone in color. Petitioner told Bonno that the two of them were driving north to Lake Orion.4 Petitioner was driving a 1974 brownish Dodge Colt he had borrowed from a Ruth Kuehn Briggs. Petitioner had picked up the car from her at 5:30 p.m. in New Baltimore.5
At about 7:45 p.m., James Malatesta heard gunshots coming from a cornfield just off of Snell Road west of Rochester, Michigan. This field is directly between Furby's home and Lake Orion. On investigating, he found Furby's body. He then heard two car doors slam and then saw a two-door small car drive onto Snell Road. He described the car as having a copperish color. He thought it might be a Nova. Although he said it could have been Briggs' Dodge Colt, he was not able to positively identify it.6
Ruth Spencer, at about 7:50 p.m., while she was driving down Snell Road, she saw "an orange color, not real orange, but ... a definite orange-brown color" pull out of a cornfield and almost hit her and then drive away very quickly. She thought that the car might be a Vega. She too stated that it could have been the Dodge Colt but was not sure.7
Bernard Stechschulte, between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m., saw a buff color subcompact car driving down Snell Road very quickly.8
Paul McGrath, a friend of petitioner's, saw petitioner driving eastbound between 8:00 and 8:10 p.m. on Twenty-Four Mile Road by Dequindre Road. Although he knew the car petitioner was in belonged to Briggs, he described it as a brown or tan Opel Cadet. Although he went between fifteen and twenty miles over the speed limit trying to catch up with petitioner, he was unable to do so.9
Bonno, Malatesta, Spencer, Stechschulte and McGrath each describe the car they saw as small, two-door, with a sloping roof and generally of the same color.
Petitioner gave the car back to Briggs at her place of work, Lou's Lounge, in New Baltimore at about 8:30 p.m.10
Early the next morning, Oakland County Detective Gregory Putman talked with petitioner. Petitioner admitted picking up Furby at Furby's house at about 7:30 p.m. in the 1974 Dodge Colt. Petitioner also admitted giving back the car to Briggs in New Baltimore at about 8:30 p.m. Petitioner told Putman that the last he saw of Furby was after he gave the car back to Briggs when he saw Furby walking toward the docks on Lake St. Clair.11
A crumpled pack of Marlboro cigarettes was found in the field close to Furby's body.12 Furby smoked Kool cigarettes.13 Petitioner smoked Marlboros.14 Both Marlboro and Kool cigarette butts were found in the Dodge Colt's ashtray.15
Putman said that it took him fourteen minutes to drive the 8.4 miles from Furby's house to the cornfield on Snell Road in his eight cylinder car at the speed limit at 5:00 a.m. He also testified that it took him thirty-seven minutes to drive the 25.2 miles between the cornfield on Snell Road to Lou's Lounge in New Baltimore under the same conditions travelling via Twenty-Four Mile Road.16
The proper resolution of petitioner's first claim involves an analysis of two decisions by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The first is Speigner v. Jago, 603 F.2d 1208 (6th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1076, 100 S.Ct. 1023, 62 L.Ed.2d 758 (1980). In that case:
The victim's automobile was stopped at 5:02 a.m., a few hours after his murder, a short distance from the place where his body was discovered. At that time, blood stains of the victim's type were in the car; a bloody but unidentified fingerprint was on the door; a sawed-off shotgun was under the passenger's seat; a vent window was shattered and glass was strewn on the floor. From this evidence, a jury could reasonably infer that the victim's car might have been at the scene of his murder. When we add to this inference the facts that petitioner was a passenger in the vehicle when it was stopped at 5:02 a.m., that he was seated directly over the shotgun, and that he later admitted knowing both the victim and the driver of the vehicle, we must conclude that the record in this case contains "some" evidence relevant to the elements of second degree murder.
In a two to one decision, the Sixth Circuit found the evidence in Speigner legally insufficient to convict. The prosecution was unable to show how long the petitioner had been in the victim's car. Moreover, the petitioner was never connected with the shotgun other than by proof that it was under his seat when he was arrested. Further, although the victim died of two pistol shots and one shotgun blast, the shotgun found in the car was never connected with the crime. The Sixth Circuit found the evidence too speculative to be sufficient. See also Fuller v. Anderson, 662 F.2d 420, 424 (6th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1028, 102 S.Ct. 1734, 72 L.Ed.2d 150 (1982).
The second Sixth Circuit case involved Speigner's co-defendant, Scott v. Perini, 662 F.2d 428 (6th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 909, 102 S.Ct. 1758, 72 L.Ed.2d 167 (1982). In a two to one decision, the Sixth Circuit distinguished Speigner. Unlike Speigner, Scott had given two separate statements to the police and then testified. Each of his versions was different. In the first version he admitted having been with Speigner and the victim just before the murder had occurred. Based on this evidence, the Sixth Circuit said:
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