Walls v. Konteh, 3:04 CV 7352.
| Decision Date | 01 March 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 3:04 CV 7352.,3:04 CV 7352. |
| Citation | 418 F.Supp.2d 962 |
| Parties | Lawrence WALLS, Petitioner, v. Kelleh KONTEH, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio |
John F. Potts, Toledo, OH, for Petitioner.
Mark J. Zemba, Office of the Attorney General, Cleveland, OH, for Respondent.
Pending before this Court is the Report and Recommendation ("R & R") of Magistrate Judge Kenneth S. McHargh filed July 18, 2005 (Doc. No. 15), as to which Petitioner, Lawrence Walls ("Walls" or "Petitioner") filed objections (Doc. No. 18) and Respondent, Kelleh Konteh, ("Konteh" or "Warden") has filed an opposition to those objections (Doc. 21). In accordance with Hill v. Duriron Co., 656 F.2d 1208 (6th Cir.1981), and 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) & (C), this Court has made a de novo determination of the Magistrate Judge's findings.
This case involves Walls petition for a writ of habeas corpus regarding his 2001 convictions for aggravated robber, aggravated burglary, and robbery in the Lucas County Ohio Court of Common Pleas. The Respondent is the Warden of the Toledo Correctional Institution. The petition is based on the single assertion of Walls being placed twice in jeopardy in violation of his rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. In his exceptionally well-reasoned R & R the Magistrate Judge concluded as follows:
The state court rulings on the double jeopardy issue involved an unreasonable application of clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States. Walls was tried a second time in violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the U.S Constitution. The petition for a writ of habeas corpus should be granted.
It must be said at the outset that no judge finds gratification in determining that the actions of another judicial officer are inappropriate, particularly under the circumstances of this particular case. No one suggests that Judge Charles Wittenberg of the Common Pleas Court of Lucas County, Ohio acted irresponsibly or in a non-judicious manner. But because he failed to consider reasonably available alternatives to a mistrial and subsequently tried the Defendant/Petitioner a second time, he violated Walls' Fifth Amendment rights against twice being placed in jeopardy on the same charges. Therefore, the Court will adopt the recommendations of Magistrate Judge McHargh and direct that a writ of habeas corpus issue.
The circumstances involved in this case arise out of a trial on September 11, 2001, a date which no American will ever forget as it involved terrorist bombings of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon building in Washington, D.C., and an aborted attempt elsewhere which resulted in the crash of a large passenger airplane in Pennsylvania. When the facts of the terrorist activities were brought to the attention of Judge Wittenberg on the morning of September 11th, the trial of Walls was in its closing stages; the Defendant Walls had rested and it appeared that the state prosecutor was about to call a rebuttal witness or witnesses. The trial at that point ended abruptly, and Judge Wittenberg sent the jurors home with instructions to call the courthouse to determine when they would return and defense counsel had returned to his office. Judge Wittenberg was concerned that the uncertainty of the day and the possibility of additional events would militate against reopening the courthouse the following day (it was closed on September 11th in the late morning) and this would not would permit the trial to continue. Against that backdrop, Judge Wittenberg determined to declare a mistrial. The prosecutor was called to his office and defense counsel for Walls was on the telephone. The judge informed the attorneys that he had determined to declare a mistrial, as to which defense counsel "weakly" responded with an objection on behalf of Defendant Walls. The State took no position with regard to the declaration of a mistrial. The determination to declare a mistrial was made sua sponte by Judge Wittenberg, who was concerned with getting a message on the recorder in the courthouse to inform the jurors as to when they would be required to return to the courthouse for the completion of the trial. No determination was made through voir dire of the individual jurors whether th...
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Walls v. Konteh
...of a mistrial by the judge in his state-court trial violated petitioner's right not to be placed twice in jeopardy. Walls v. Konteh, 418 F.Supp.2d 962 (N.D.Ohio 2006). This appeal requires us to balance petitioner's double jeopardy interest against the determination of the state trial judge......