Williams v. Anderson
| Decision Date | 19 November 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 3:99CV0570.,3:99CV0570. |
| Parties | Darnell WILLIAMS Petitioner, v. Rondle ANDERSON, Superintendent, Indiana State Prison, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana |
Juliet Marie Yackel, Chicago, IL, for plaintiff.
Stephen E. Eberhardt, Crestwood, IL, for defendant.
Petitioner, Darnell Williams, was convicted of murder in a state court trial conducted in Lake County, Indiana, and was sentenced to death by the judge conducting that trial upon the recommendation of the jury that heard the case. The within petition was filed by counsel in this Court on May 12, 2000 and oral argument was heard in Lafayette, Indiana on April 5, 2001. Additionally, supplemental simultaneous briefs were filed on July 23, 2001. This Court greatly appreciates the high degree of professional competence displayed by appointed counsel for this petitioner.
The extensive state record has been filed and examined by this Court under the mandates of Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963) and under the mandates of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b). Immediate reference is made to the two decisions in this case by the Supreme Court of Indiana, namely Rouster v. State, 600 N.E.2d 1342 (Ind. 1992), and Williams v. State, 706 N.E.2d 149 (Ind.1999), cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1113, 120 S.Ct. 1970, 146 L.Ed.2d 800 (2000). This petitioner is now confined on death row at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana in this district.
The evidence presented at trial developed the following facts regarding the murders of John and Henrietta Rease. As neither Darnell Williams nor Gregory Rouster, his co-defendant, have testified or otherwise made statements on the record regarding the facts of the case, the facts elicited at trial are the best description of the events of August 12, 1986.
On August 12, 1986, Jack Baumer, a child welfare caseworker employed by the Lake County Department of Public Welfare, ran into one of his former charges, Gregory Rouster, at a drug store in Gary. T.R. 812.1 Baumer had worked on Rouster's case while he was placed at the Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, and had later placed Rouster in the home of John and Henrietta Rease, 2430 Jennings Street in Gary, for his last few months in the care of the state, from November 1985 through his eighteenth birthday on February 7, 1986.2 T.R. 811. During their encounter on August 12, 1986, Rouster asked Baumer if the Reases had received a clothing allowance for him from the state during their brief foster care relationship. T.R. 818. When Baumer responded that the Reases had received a small amount of clothing allowance, approximately five to six dollars per month, Rouster told him that he had not received any clothing and that he was going to get the money from the Reases. T.R. 819-20.
Eugene Powell, a young man who lived across the street from the Reases, was outside with his friends at approximately 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. on the evening of August 12, 1986. T.R. 858-59. Powell saw Rouster, Rouster's girlfriend, Tina, a friend of Rouster's, and another girl coming down the street towards the Powell and Rease homes. Powell knew Rouster from his time as a foster child in the Rease home. T.R. 860-62. Rouster stopped at the Hicks home and inquired if a Tony was home. When told he was not, the four continued on to the Rease home. T.R. 866-68. Powell watched Rouster and Tina go into the Rease home while the other two stayed outside. T.R. 868-69. Powell and his friends walked to the corner of Jennings and 25th Avenue, then turned around and walked back, and as they were walking, they heard what sounded like two firecrackers. T.R. 869-71. Powell then saw Rouster's friend using a cigarette lighter to look for something on the ground. T.R. 871-72. Powell and his friends saw Rouster come out of the house and go to the garage. T.R. 878-79. Powell and a friend, Demond, walked up the Reases' driveway, but when they heard Rouster say, "who's up in here, we shoot," they turned around and went back across the street. T.R. 880. Powell and his friends again walked down the street, and Powell heard three more firecrackers, at which time they returned to Powell's house. TR. 881-82. Powell noticed that all the lights were off in the Reases' house except for the television, and Powell saw a shadow pointing inside the house. T.R. 883. Powell and his friends again walked down the street, where they heard two more firecracker sounds, and they went into a friend's house. T.R. 884. Powell eventually returned home to see if his father had arrived home; as he did, he saw Rouster standing in the Reases' driveway talking to Tina. T.R. 886-87. Powell saw his father and started running for his father's car, but as he ran, he heard Rouster state to Tina "I killed the motherfuckers." T.R. 891-92. Powell then saw a police car pull up to where Rouster and Tina were talking, and he saw Rouster pointing down the street. The police then pulled away and stopped at a different house down the block. T.R. 893. As Powell and his father drove away, they heard another firecracker sound while Rouster and Tina were still in the driveway. T.R. 893-94.
Jamal Pope was with Powell on August 12, 1986, and he also recognized Rouster and Tina that evening. When Pope and Powell were walking back from 25th Avenue the first time, Pope also noticed the person looking for something with a cigarette lighter, and he saw that person admitted into the Rease home. T.R. 1829-31. Pope then heard some shots while sitting on Powell's ledge. T.R. 1831. He saw Rouster leave the house and walk towards the back of the house, then reenter the house, after which he heard more shots. Id. Pope then went with Powell to call Powell's father, during which time he heard more shots. T.R. 1832. Finally, he ran to Powell's father's car, at which time he saw Rouster talking to Tina, asking her "do you still love me?" Id. Pope saw Rouster and Tina redirect the police car and he heard one more shot from inside the Rease home, and then he left the scene. T.R. 1832-33. Pope identified Rouster and Tina at trial as the people he had seen, and further identified Darnell Williams as Rouster's friend who was looking for something with the lighter. T.R. 1837-39.
Clyde Cunningham went to the Rease home shortly before 9:00 p.m. on the evening on August 12, 1986 to purchase a pack of cigarettes from their small store. T.R. 1177. As Cunningham approached the store entrance, a young woman approached him and told him the store was closed. T.R. 1184. Cunningham did not try to go into the store, although he noticed that the wire gate was still open and the lights were still on in the house. T.R. 1185. Approximately five to ten minutes later, Cunningham heard what sounded like gunfire coming from the direction of the Rease home. T.R. 1187.
Demond Ligon, another young resident of the neighborhood, was with his friends, Eugene Powell, Jamal Pope, and Jimmy Gray, on the evening of August 12, 1986. T.R. 1785. Ligon testified that he walked to 25th Avenue with his friends, where he heard two "pops." T.R. 1788. When the group walked back toward the Rease home, Ligon saw Edwin Taylor, another foster child of the Reases, under a car in the driveway next to the Reases' house, and he saw Rouster's friend looking for something in the Reases' yard with a lighter. T.R. 1787. Ligon and Powell began walking toward the Reases' driveway, at which time Ligon saw Rouster standing by the garage and heard him say "come out or I'll shoot." T.R. 1790. Ligon and Powell then returned across the street, where he saw Rouster's friend bang on the front door of the Reases' home and be admitted. T.R. 1794. Shortly after that, Ligon heard more "pops" coming from the house, and the group ran to Ligon's home to use the phone. T.R. 1795-96. Ligon identified Rouster in court, but not the others. T.R. 1798. Ligon did state that Rouster's friend was wearing Hawaiian shorts that night. T.R. 1799.
Jimmy Gray was another of the group of young people outside on the night of August 12, 1986 who saw Rouster approach the Rease home with another man and two women. T.R. 1515-17. Gray walked with his friends to 25th Avenue, and as they returned, he heard what sounded like two shots. T.R. 1521. Gray then saw a boy on the ground in front of the Reases' home, looking for something with a lighter and saying something about his shells. T.R. 1523-24. Gray went inside his home, where he heard more shots. T.R. 1525. Gray identified Rouster as one of the people present that evening. T.R. 1527. Gray identified the other boy as wearing a red shirt, but did not otherwise recognize him. T.R. 1527-28.
Lelia Gray, Jimmy's mother, was at home on the evening of August 12, 1986. T.R. 1540. Mrs. Gray heard a lot of noise and cursing outside her home that evening. Id. She saw two boys wrestling in the Reases' driveway, with one boy yelling that he wanted his share. T.R. 1541-42. She heard a young lady dressed in white ask for bus fare and one of the boys told her to leave. T.R. 1543-44. Mrs. Gray saw the two boys at the Reases' front door, trying to push their way in, and she noticed that one boy had a gun in his back pocket. T.R. 1545. She saw the two boys enter the home and then heard what sounded like gunshots. T.R. 1546. She later saw one boy and the girl in the driveway, where she heard the girl ask the boy why he did what he did, and heard the boy say that he killed the motherfuckers and that the girl should go home, although the girl protested that she did not have bus fare. T.R. 1557-58. Mrs. Gray saw a police car pull up to the Reases' home and saw the boy and girl tell the police that the disturbance was down the block; she then...
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