Bible v. Schriro

497 F.Supp.2d 991

Richard Lynn BIBLE, Petitioner, v. Dora B. SCHRIRO, et al., Respondents.

No. CV-98-1859-PHX-PGR.

United States District Court, D. Arizona.

July 26, 2007.

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John R. Hannah, Esq., Hoidal & Hannah PLC, Sally S. Duncan, Esq., Bryan Cave LLP, Tracey Westerhausen, Esq., Debus Kazan & Westerhausen Ltd., Phoenix, AZ, for Petitioner.

Monica Beerling Klapper, Esq., Office of the Attorney General, Phoenix, AZ, Linda Louise Knowles, Esq., Robert John Gorman, Esq., Office of the Attorney General, Tucson, AZ, for Respondents.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER

ROSENBLATT, District Judge.

On October 15, 1998, Richard Lynn Bible ("Petitioner") filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus alleging that he is imprisoned and sentenced to death in violation of the United States Constitution. (Dkt.1.)¹ An Amended Petition filed on August 2, 1999, presented twenty-two claims for relief, including numerous subclaims. (Dkt.29.) In an Order dated September 2, 2004, the Court found that the entirety of Claims 12, 18, 19, 21, and 22, along with parts of Claims 3, 8-10, 13-16, and 20, were procedurally barred. (Dkt.79.) The Court found that Claims 1-11, 13-17, and 20 were properly exhausted, in whole or in part. (Id.) On January 20, 2005, Respondents filed an answer addressing the merits of the non-defaulted claims. (Dkt.90.) Petitioner filed a reply on August 10, 2005 (Dkt.98.)

This Order addresses the merits of Petitioner's properly exhausted claims. For the reasons set forth herein, the Court concludes that Petitioner is not entitled to habeas relief.

BACKGROUND

A jury convicted Petitioner of the kidnapping, molestation, and murder of a nine-year-old girl named Jennifer Wilson. The court sentenced him to death. The following facts are supported by this Court's review of the entire record and, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the decision of the Arizona Supreme Court in State v. Bible, 175 Ariz. 549, 858 P.2d 1152 (1993).²

In late May 1987, Petitioner was released from prison after serving a sentence imposed in 1981 for the kidnapping and rape of his seventeen-year-old cousin.

In April 1988, the Coconino County Sheriff seized a dark green and white GMC "Jimmy" vehicle in Sedona, Arizona. The vehicle had a damaged left rear quarter panel. Officers also noticed that rubber bands were scattered within the vehicle.³ The vehicle was stored in a fenced impound lot near Flagstaff, close to an area known as Sheep Hill. On June 5, 1988, Petitioner stole the GMC from the impound lot. An officer saw the vehicle parked in Flagstaff later that day.

The next day, June 6, 1988, shortly after 10:30 a.m., Jennifer Wilson began bicycling from her family's lodgings in Flagstaff to a ranch a mile away.⁴ Her family passed her while driving to the ranch in their tan-colored pickup truck. When the child did not arrive at the ranch, the family set out to search for her. They found her bicycle by the side of the road. Jennifer's mother, Nancy Wilson, called the police at 11:21 a.m.

The Flagstaff police arrived within minutes. They called in a helicopter, set up roadblocks, and alerted the FBI. Mrs. Wilson told the police that she saw two vehicles on her way to the ranch. One was a royal blue Blazer-type vehicle. While at the ranch, she saw this same vehicle going the opposite direction at a high rate of speed. She described the driver as a Caucasian male in his mid-to-late twenties, with dark hair and a dark complexion, possibly wearing a white t-shirt. According to Mrs. Wilson, the man had looked at her intently.

That same day, Petitioner arrived at his brother Wesley's home near Sheep Hill shortly before 1:00 p.m., driving a dark green or dark silver, white-top Blazer-type vehicle with a dented left bumper. Petitioner was wearing jeans, a plaid shirt, a camouflage baseball-type cap, and boots. He told Wesley that the Blazer belonged to a friend. After Petitioner left, Wesley called the police and described the vehicle. A neighbor boy also witnessed Petitioner's presence at Wesley's house. (RT 3/9/90 at 135.) The boy phoned his mother, who then called Petitioner's mother; Petitioner's mother called the sheriff. (Id. At 159-61.)

Shortly thereafter, a detective realized that Mrs. Wilson's description of the Blazer-type vehicle and its driver approximated Petitioner and the GMC Jimmy. At about 5:00 p.m., the GMC was discovered missing from the impound lot. At 6:20 p.m., police officers saw Petitioner driving the GMC, which had been painted a different color. The officers attempted to stop Petitioner, and a high-speed chase began. Petitioner finally drove the vehicle off the road and into a cattle guard; he exited the vehicle while it was still moving and ran into the forest.

Using a tracking dog, officers found Petitioner hiding under a ledge, where he had camouflaged himself with branches and debris. Petitioner was wearing a "levi-type" jacket, jeans, a plaid shirt, and boots; he was not wearing underwear. He was carrying wool gloves, despite the summer heat. Nearby, police located a baseball-type cap. Police also found a large folding knife in Petitioner's hiding place and another knife in one of his pockets.

Petitioner confessed that he had stolen the GMC the previous day and painted the vehicle two hours before his arrest, but denied being in the area of the abduction. He explained that he had planned to drive the GMC to Phoenix, but a helicopter had him "pinned down."

In the GMC, police found a green blanket and numerous rubber bands but no rubber band bags. The steering column had been cut open and a piece of metal had fallen to the floorboard. The vehicle contained a case of twenty 50-milliliter bottles of "Suntory" vodka; two bottles were missing. In the vehicle's console was a wrapped cigar broken in two places; a "Dutchmaster" cigar wrapper and band were in the ashtray. The vehicle also contained Carnation "Rich" hot chocolate packets. Investigators found blood smeared inside and under the GMC; testing failed to reveal whether the blood was human.

Despite an intensive search involving multiple law-enforcement agencies, Jennifer Wilson's body was not found until June 25, nearly three weeks after her disappearance, when a couple walking in the Sheep Hill area discovered items of children's clothing and notified the police. Officers located Jennifer's naked body at the top of the hill. It was hidden under a tree, mostly covered branches and debris. Jennifer's hands were tied behind her back with a shoelace.

Police secured the area that night and returned the next morning to process the. scene.⁵ They found one of the child's sneakers, without a shoelace, near the body. Her panties were in a tree. An unwrapped, unsmoked cigar with two breaks in the middle was on the ground near the body. This cigar and the cigar found in the GMC appeared very similar; they had consistent breaks and identical seals. Microscopic analysis showed that the cigars had similar thresh cuts, tobacco mixtures, sieve test results, and pH values. The cigars were from the same lot; the tobacco was indistinguishable from residue found in Petitioner's shirt pockets.

An empty ten-pack box of Carnation "Rich" hot chocolate — matching the packets in the GMC — was found near the body. Also nearby were two empty 50-milliliter "Suntory" vodka bottles, identical to the full bottles found in the GMC. No fingerprints were found on the bottles.

Rubber bands were scattered throughout the scene: on a path near the body; over, on, and under the body; in the tree where the panties were hanging; near other items of Jennifer's clothing; in the brush covering the body; in a tree above the body; and under a tree where one of Jennifer's shoes was found. Visual observation ,and testing revealed that the rubber bands in the GMC were identical to those found near the body. A rubber band bag containing a few rubber bands was found five feet from the body.

There was a patch of blood-matted grass near Jennifer's body. Testing revealed that this blood was human and was phosphoglucomutase ("PGM") subtype 2 +, the same subtype as the victim's blood. Luminol spraying revealed a faint blood trail leading from the blood-matted grass to the body. Blood was also present on the top of the branches covering the body.

Near the body, police found a piece of metal that fit the GMC's steering column. In Flagstaff, at the location where the GMC was seen parked the day before the victim disappeared, police found another piece of metal from the vehicle's steering column. The three metal pieces — found inside the GMC, near the body, and where the GMC had been parked — fit together like jigsaw puzzle pieces. An investigator concluded that the three metal pieces were part of the GMC's steering column.

The condition of the body was consistent with having been on Sheep Hill for approximately three weeks. Multiple skull fractures and a broken jawbone indicated that blows to the head, probably with a heavy blunt object, were the cause of death. (RT 2/29/90 at 152.) The blood-matted grass near the body was consistent with the blows being inflicted there. Although the body was naked with the hands tied, suggesting sexual molestation, no sperm or semen was found, possibly because the victim's genital region, like her head, was severely decomposed. (Id. at 138.)

Near the body were several clusters of golden brown hair approximately six to ten inches long. The hair found at the scene was microscopically similar to Jennifer's hair and could have come from her. In one of the locks of hair, an examiner found a pubic-type hair, which was similar to Petitioner's pubic hair samples. Hair found on Petitioner's jacket, shirt, and in his wallet were similar to Jennifer's hair and could have come from her. Investigators also found hair similar to Petitioner's on a sheet used to wrap the body and on Jennifer's t-shirt. Hair on a blanket in the...