Williams v. Withrow
| Decision Date | 26 July 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-10502-BC.,00-10502-BC. |
| Citation | 328 F.Supp.2d 735 |
| Parties | Steven WILLIAMS, Petitioner, v. Pamela WITHROW, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan |
Sheldon Halpern, Royal Oak, MI, for Petitioner.
Brenda E. Turner, Michigan Department of Attorney General, Lansing, MI, for Respondent.
Steven Williams is a prisoner in the custody of the Michigan Department of Corrections presently incarcerated at the Earnest C. Brooks Correctional Facility in Muskegon Heights, Michigan. He has filed a petition for the writ of habeas corpus through counsel alleging that he is in custody in violation of the Constitution because his Michigan convictions of first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder, and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony (felony firearm) were obtained at a 1997 trial that was fundamentally unfair. The Court referred the matter to Magistrate Judge Charles E. Binder pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636 and E.D. Mich. LR 72.1, who found otherwise. Magistrate Judge Binder filed a report and recommendation recommending that the petition be denied, to which Williams' counsel timely objected.
The Court has conducted a de novo review of the record in light of Williams' petition, the response, the magistrate judge's report and the objections. The Court finds that the magistrate judge's suggestion that the petitioner did not exhaust his state remedies on his first claim — that he was denied the opportunity to fairly present his mistaken identity defense because the state trial judge erroneously excluded evidence, including expert testimony, that would challenge the eyewitness identification — is not well taken. That claim was exhausted, but it does not warrant habeas relief on the merits. The Court agrees with the magistrate judge's disposition of the second claim and holds that no constitutional error resulted from the failure to instruct the jury on a lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter. Likewise, the Court concurs with the recommendation that the third claim, which is an amalgamation of unobjected to errors relating to jury instructions, was procedurally defaulted by the lack of a contemporaneous objection in the state trial court, and no cause or prejudice excuses the default. The Court therefore will adopt the report and recommendation in part and deny the petition for writ of habeas corpus.
The convictions arose from the shooting death of Landis Davis and the assault of his companions outside the Blue Note Lounge in Detroit on November 19, 1995. Davis had been a patron of the lounge earlier that night when he, his cousins Alvin Woodford and Anjorel Hammond, and Hammond's girlfriend, Angela Hill, went there to celebrate Hill's birthday. At approximately 1:45 a.m., Woodford attempted to return to his seat at the bar when the petitioner refused to let him pass, and an argument ensued. A group of about seven or eight people were at the bar with the petitioner, including a man named Trenell Whitworth. Davis approached Whitworth, with whom he was acquainted, and attempted to calm things down. Davis said to Whitworth, "you get your friends and you all go, and I get my friends, and we just go on about our business; you know, everybody go on back their own separate ways." Trial Tr. Vol. I at 103. About this time, however, the petitioner threw a drink at Davis that hit him on his forehead and a fight broke out between the two groups. The bouncers at the bar broke up the fight and compelled the petitioner, Whitworth, and the rest of their group to leave the bar. At one point, a bouncer also fired a shot in the bar to further calm down the situation.
Hill left the bar sometime during the fight and brought a car around to the door of the bar. As Hammond, Davis, and Woodford exited the bar and were in the process of getting into the car, two men, identified at trial as the petitioner and Whitworth, ran across the street toward the group, pulled out guns, and began shooting. Hill testified at trial that the petitioner shot at the car four or five times and that Davis was hit with a bullet and then "just slid down the car." Trial Tr. Vol. II at 44. Everyone in the area started running, and Hammond testified at trial that as he ran to the side of the bar he heard Hill say that Davis had been shot in the head. Hammond then went back to the car and saw the petitioner standing over Davis, who was lying on the ground. Hammond testified that the petitioner was shooting his gun up into the air and when the gun ran out of bullets, the petitioner reloaded and began chasing after Hammond. The petitioner got into a burgundy Impala, which was parked behind the bar, and continued to chase after Hammond and shoot at him. Eventually, police arrived at the scene, and the petitioner fled.
In the days following the shooting, Hammond asked a friend who wasn't at the Blue Note on the night of the shooting if he knew the name of Whitworth's best friend. The friend gave Hammond the name of the petitioner. On November 28, 1995, Hammond attended a live lineup and positively identified Whitworth as one of the individuals who was shooting at his group on the night in question. On November 29, 1995, Hammond attended another live lineup. On this day, however, Hammond was unable to identify a different target suspect. Upon viewing the lineup, Hammond stated that the suspects standing in the third, fourth, and fifth positions all looked as though they could be one of the individuals that was involved in the shooting. The police were attempting to see if Hammond could identify an individual named Wendell Hightower, who the police suspected might have been a third person involved in the shooting with the petitioner and Whitworth. On December 7, 1995, Hammond was shown an array of photographs and asked if he could identify the shooter. Hammond picked out the petitioner from the photo array.
Prior to trial, the petitioner filed a motion to permit expert testimony by Dr. Stephen Miller on the eyewitness identification of criminal suspects. The trial court entertained oral argument at which the petitioner's attorney expounded that Dr. Miller would be called to
explain some of the psychological makeup that goes into an eyewitness identification, why there are so many inappropriate identifications being made, why individuals who are under stress who make identifications are frequently wrong, the manner in which photographs are displayed to individuals may be suggestive and how that fits into false identifications and misidentification.
Arraignment Tr. at 7-8. The prosecutor stated at the hearing that he would not contest the motion, but at the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court stated:
And there is no expert, no matter who he is, that can come in and make an opinion based on generalizations about the value of a person's identification. The jury hears the witness. They hear the two witnesses. If these two people give different identifications, it could be subjective. It could be because people see things differently. It might be because they're not talking about the same person. I could be anything. But the fact is that the jury heard that. They are the experts. They then make that decision. They don't have to have anyone coming in here and telling them, well, this is unreliable because, for this reason. The jury is going to hear one case.
Id. at 10-11. Accordingly, the trial court denied the petitioner's motion.
The petitioner's jury trial commenced on April 7, 1997 in the Wayne County, Michigan Circuit Court in Detroit. At trial, the prosecution called several witnesses who were at the scene of the crime and provided eyewitness testimony regarding the events that took place. Hammond was called as a witness and he testified that he saw the petitioner shoot Davis and also saw Whitworth shooting that night. Regarding his identification of the petitioner, Hammond testified as follows:
Q. Are you positive that Mr. Williams was one of the shooters that was out there that night?
A. Yes.
Q. How positive are you?
A. I'm positive — there's some things that you just never forget —
Q. Okay.
A. — and I'm positive. We looked at each other. We was — right looking each other right smack in the face from the argument, from the fight, from the time he threw the drink. And just everything was just happening so — you know, I wasn't paying — you know, when he was running by, you know, I wasn't paying no attention to him. Then he just pulled out the gun and just started shooting. I'll never forget him.
Trial Tr. Vol. I at 126-127. Hammond also testified that he had never seen the petitioner before the night of the incident.
The prosecution also called Angela Hill, Hammond's girlfriend, to testify. She testified that she saw both the petitioner and Whitworth shooting and that there was no doubt in her mind that the petitioner shot Davis. She also testified that Whitworth shot Davis while he was lying on the ground. Hill positively identified the petitioner in a photo array at a police station and later identified Whitworth in a live lineup.
The remaining eyewitnesses for the prosecution did not provide as conclusive an identification as did Hammond and Hill, but nevertheless did provide an account of the events that occurred that night. Woodford testified that the petitioner threw a drink at him and that while Davis was attempting to break up the confrontation, the petitioner threw a drink at Davis. Woodford also testified that he hit the petitioner in the face for throwing the drink. He further testified that the petitioner ran up towards him, Davis, Hammond, and Hill, who were all getting in the car, and pulled out a gun and started shooting. Woodford testified that he did...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Adams v. Bradshaw
...Schotten, 146 F.3d 314, 335 (6th Cir.1998). See Samatar v. Clarridge, 2006 WL 355684 *28 (S.D.Ohio Feb. 16, 2006); Williams v. Withrow, 328 F.Supp.2d 735, 745 (E.D.Mich.2004). The Ohio Supreme Court's finding on this claim is as DNA evidence. In proposition of law II, Adams challenges the D......
-
Achelles v. Vannoy
... ... following: ... This case stems from the killings of Demektric Anderson and ... Tacara Williams-Moss that occurred in Jefferson Parish in the ... early morning hours of December 30, 2013 ... Ramonica Gainey, a friend of both ... Thomas, No ... 1:04-cv-567, 2006 WL 2547405, at *7 (M.D. Ala. Aug. 31, ... 2006); accord Williams v. Withrow, 328 F.Supp.2d ... 735, 745 (E.D.Mich.2004). Accordingly, Daubert has ... no direct applicability to federal habeas corpus claims and ... ...
-
Reese v. Larson
...and (3) that there was not a lapse of time during which a reasonable person could control his passions. Williams v. Withrow, 328 F. Supp. 2d 735, 748-49 (E.D. Mich. 2004)(citing People v. Pouncey, 437 Mich. 382, 388; 471 N.W.2d 346, 350 (1991)). Under Michigan law, one acts lawfully in self......
-
Kennedy v. Warren, Case No. 2:09-CV-10218
...and (3) that there was not a lapse of time during which a reasonable person could control his passions. Williams v.Withrow, 328 F. Supp. 2d 735, 748-49 (E.D. Mich. 2004)(citing People v. Pouncey, 437 Mich. 382, 388; 471 N.W.2d 346, 350 (1991)). In the present case, the evidence established ......