Vance v. Warden, Noble Corr. Inst.

Decision Date07 November 2019
Docket NumberCASE NO. 2:19-CV-00687
PartiesLEWIS JAMES VANCE, Petitioner, v. WARDEN, NOBLE CORRECTIONAL INST., Respondent.
CourtU.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

LEWIS JAMES VANCE, Petitioner,
v.
WARDEN, NOBLE CORRECTIONAL INST., Respondent.

CASE NO. 2:19-CV-00687

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

November 7, 2019


JUDGE JAMES L. GRAHAM
Chief Magistrate Judge Elizabeth P. Deavers

ORDER and REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Petitioner, a state prisoner, brings this petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. This matter is before the Court on the Petition (ECF No. 4), Petitioner's Additional Evidentiary Documents (ECF Nos. 6, 14), Respondent's Return of Writ, Petitioner's Reply, and the exhibits of the parties. For the reasons that follow, the Undersigned RECOMMENDS that this action be DISMISSED.

Petitioner's Motion for Evidentiary Hearing, Subpoena Depositional Testimony, with the Appointment of Counsel (ECF No. 22) is DENIED.

I. Facts and Procedural History

Petitioner challenges his December 2016 convictions after a jury trial in the Jackson County Court of Common Pleas on aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, and tampering with evidence. The Ohio Fourth District Court of Appeals summarized the facts and procedural history as follows:

{¶ 2} On June 23, 2014, a Jackson County Grand Jury returned an indictment that charged appellant with crimes alleged to have been committed against Patrick Morgan, including aggravated murder in violation of R.C. 2903.01(D), murder in violation of R.C. 2903.02(A), murder in violation of R.C. 2903.02(B), felonious

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assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(1), and felonious assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(2). The indictment also included crimes alleged to have been committed against Rachel Canode and her daughter M.C., including kidnapping in violation of R.C. 2905.01(A)(4), abduction in violation of R.C. 2905.02(A)(2), attempted rape in violation of R.C. 2923.02(A)/2907.02(A)(2), tampering with evidence in violation of R.C. 29021.12(A), abduction in violation of R.C. 2905.02(A)(2), and kidnapping in violation of R.C. 2905.01(B)(2). The trial court appointed counsel and appellant entered not guilty pleas to all charges.

{¶ 3} Counsel filed various motions and, inter alia, requested a competency evaluation. The trial court granted the request. At the November 21, 2014 competency hearing, both parties stipulated to the forensic report and the court later determined appellant to be competent to stand trial.

{¶ 4} On March 30, 2015, appellant's trial counsel requested leave to change appellant's plea to not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) and an evaluation, along with a third competency evaluation. The trial court granted appellant's request for leave to change his plea and ordered an evaluation at Appalachian Behavioral Healthcare. However, on June 16, 2015, the court ordered the evaluation to occur at Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare. The court also denied the request for the third competency evaluation.

{¶ 5} On February 19, 2016, appellant sent a pro se letter to the trial court judge and indicated that he wished to have different counsel. At this juncture, counsel also requested yet another competency evaluation, but the trial court indicated that both prior evaluations determined appellant's competency, as set forth in R.C. 2945.37(G), and that appellant raised no additional facts or argument as to why a third competency evaluation was necessary. Thus, the court denied the motion.

{¶ 6} On July 14, 2016, the trial court issued a pretrial order and indicated that it had received additional unsolicited correspondence from appellant, including: (1) a June 27, 2016 letter, (2) a June 27, 2016 voluntary statement, (3) a June 24, 2016 voluntary statement, and (4) a June 19, 2016 motion for dismissal and a list of witnesses. Because appellant had counsel, the court did not file any of the documents, but instructed counsel to file, within 14 days, any necessary motion regarding the issues that appellant raised in the documents. In a separate order, the court indicated that it had received defendant's pro se motion for acquittal, but again stated that it would not consider appellant's pro se motion because counsel represented appellant.

{¶ 7} The trial court held a four day trial beginning October 20, 2016. The first witness, William Ghearing, stated that he was driving toward Wellston, Ohio at 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. on November 29, 2013 when appellant's pick-up truck struck him head-on. When Ghearing approached appellant, appellant told him "You never seen me. You never seen me at all, and don't know who I am." Shortly thereafter, appellant disappeared.

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{¶ 8} Chillicothe Police Officer Morgan Music testified that at the time of the accident, he worked for the Coalton Police Department. After Officer Music arrived at the crash site, he noticed a body in the truck bed. Once he secured the scene, Officer Music also learned that a man had been observed walking about a quarter mile away. Officer Music assisted in detaining that man (appellant), who displayed blood on his face, pants and jacket. Jackson County Sheriff's Deputy Urias Hall later visited the hospital to see appellant and testified that he smelled of alcohol, but appeared to be oriented.

{¶ 9} Officers eventually learned that appellant's truck actually belonged to Patrick Morgan. Also, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) Special Agent Bryan White testified about processing the vehicle crash site, and stated that the victim's (Morgan's) pants and underwear were found around his knees, and that the victim had only one shoe.

{¶ 10} Nineteen-year-old Dustin Jones testified that on the night in question, appellant came to his parents' neighboring home and asked him to help load a deer into a truck. Jones assisted, but observed that the object was not a deer but rather a human body that he recognized as the person who had been staying with appellant. Appellant then threatened Jones and his family with harm if he did not help. Jones helped appellant, then returned to his parents' home. The following morning, he told his father about the incident.

{¶ 11} Rachel Canode testified that, as a friend of appellant's sister, she knew appellant. Canode explained that she was at her mother's house on November 29, 2013 when appellant came by to look for her mother to sell some rings. Canode told appellant that her mother was at a friend's house, and that she and her twelve-year-old daughter (M.C.) were also getting ready to walk to that house. Canode stated that while appellant walked with them, he kept putting his arms around her and grabbing her breasts and legs. Canode testified that the second or third time appellant put his arms around her, a knife fell from appellant's coat. When they arrived at appellant's sister's house (the house where appellant was living), he started to walk up the sidewalk to the home while Canode attempted to escape his grasp. Ultimately, Canode's daughter (M.C.) grabbed appellant's arm and appellant put the knife to her throat. Canode stated that she and her daughter then fled to her mother's house.

{¶ 12} Wellston Police Department Officer Steve Wilbur testified that he was at the fire station when he heard the radio call about the crash and the body in the truck bed. Officer Wilbur also explained that he later received a call from Rachel Canode who stated that appellant attempted to force her and her daughter into a house. Officer Wilbur testified that he met with Canode, then walked to the home where appellant had been living. When no one answered the door, Officer Wilbur looked in the windows. Blood could be seen on the porch and inside the house on a couch and a knife. Officer Wilbur also found a single shoe in the driveway.

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{¶ 13} BCI Agent Todd Fortner testified that he processed the crime scene at the home and found no signs of struggle. Fortner observed two couches, one with and one without bloodstains, a wooden chair, a lamp, a table and a small radio. None of the furniture had been overturned or broken. Because one couch and the door area contained all of the bloodstains, Fortner testified that, based on his experience, he believed that at the time of the attack the victim was either lying or sitting on the couch.

{¶ 14} BCI Forensic Scientist (DNA Section) Andrea Weisenburger testified that (1) the knife blade recovered from appellant's home contained Patrick Morgan's blood, (2) the knife handle had mostly Morgan's blood, but also some of appellant's blood, (3) Morgan's blood appeared on appellant's jeans, and (4) the truck's air bag had mostly Morgan's blood, but also some of appellant's blood.

{¶ 15} Franklin County forensic pathologist John Daniels testified that he performed Patrick Morgan's autopsy. The autopsy revealed multiple stab wounds to Morgan's face, eye and neck, including a wound through his eye and one inch into his brain. In total, Morgan had 24 wounds, including defensive wrist wounds. Daniels testified that the manner of death was homicide.

{¶ 16} Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections Parole Officer Brett McRoberts testified that on November 29, 2013, appellant was under his supervision while on community control after his judicial release. McRoberts noted that appellant had been living at a homeless shelter in Athens, but McRoberts did not know that appellant had moved to Wellston.

{¶ 17} At the close of the state's evidence, appellant's counsel requested a Crim.R. 29 motion for dismissal of Count 8 of the indictment (rape). The trial court denied the motion.

{¶ 18} Michelle Vance, appellant's sister, testified that her brother and his roommate, Morgan, were living at her home. She explained that she offered the two a place to stay after they had been removed from Timothy House, an Athens shelter.

{¶ 19} Phillip Lemaster testified that Jay Poe told him that Brian Canode, Rachel Canode's brother, wanted to talk with him. Lemaster stated that Brian Canode asked him to assault appellant in exchange for heroin, and that he agreed to do so.
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