Blake v. Gittere

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ALFONSO MANUEL BLAKE, Petitioner, v. WILLIAM GITTERE,^[1]et al., Respondents.

No. 3:09-cv-00327-RCJ-WGC

United States District Court, D. Nevada

February 9, 2023

ORDER

ROBERT C. JONES UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Before the court for a decision on the merits is an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by Alfonso Manuel Blake, a Nevada prisoner sentenced to death. ECF No. 124.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In March 2004, a jury sitting in the Clark County Eighth Judicial District Court found Blake guilty of two counts of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon and one count of attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon. In the penalty phase of Blake's trial, the jury found the following aggravating circumstances for both murders: (1) Blake had been convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person of another; (2) the murder was committed to avoid or prevent a lawful arrest; and (3) Blake had been convicted of more than one offense of murder in the immediate proceeding. The jury also found three mitigating circumstances: Blake's remorse; his mental emotional, or physical state at the time of the incident; and no evidence of a long-standing plan to commit murder. However, the jury determined that any mitigating circumstances were insufficient to outweigh the aggravating circumstances and returned a sentence of death. For the attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon, Blake was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 96 to 240 months in prison.

In its opinion deciding Blake's direct appeal, the Nevada Supreme Court recounted the facts of the case as follows:

In November 2002, Kim Choy moved to Las Vegas and began dancing at various clubs in town to earn money for school. Eventually, her younger sister, Sophear Choy, joined her and worked as a cocktail waitress and later danced at local clubs. While dancing at one club, Sophear befriended Priscilla Van Dine, also known as Sheila. Also through her employment, Sophear met Blake.

In late February or early March 2003, Kim, Sophear, and Sheila met Blake at a bar. During the course of the evening Blake told Kim that he had a house and would be willing to rent three rooms to her, Sophear, and Sheila. He told Kim that he did not live at the house but that three other women did. Regarding the rental arrangement, Blake informed Kim that each of the women would pay $500 per month and he would pay for health insurance and a gym membership. Kim told Blake that she would think about it. She and Blake agreed that in the meantime she, Sophear, and Sheila would store some of their belongings in Blake's garage.

About two days later, Kim, Sophear, and Sheila dropped off their belongings at Blake's house. However, feeling uncomfortable with the arrangement the women decided not to move in. On March 3, 2003, Kim called Blake and informed him of their decision and thanked him for allowing them to store their belongings in his garage. Blake was upset by this news. Kim arranged to go over and retrieve their belongings the next night, around 11 p.m. On March 4, 2003, Kim, Sheila, and two of their friends drove to Blake's house in two vehicles, and without much incident they loaded their vehicles. Unable to load everything, Kim told Blake that they would return for the remainder of their belongings that evening.

Sophear and Sheila accompanied Kim on the second trip. During the trip, Sophear had a phone conversation with Blake. Kim heard Blake screaming and Sophear telling Blake not to put their belongings on the street corner. When the women reached Blake's neighborhood, they noticed some of their possessions on a street corner. The women began loading their Denali SUV. Two cars soon pulled up behind the Denali. Blake rushed out of one of the vehicles and nudged Sophear in the back. Blake's companions, Jinah Chung, Bonette Lim, and Aileen Ramos, surrounded Sophear. Nervous that Sophear was about to be beaten, Kim called 9-1-1 on her cell phone. Kim told the 9-1-1 operator that her sister was getting beat up at the corner of Decatur and Lone Grove. Whenever Blake or his accomplices looked at her, Kim pretended that she was on the phone with a girlfriend.

Blake began choking Sophear and hitting her head against boxes that had been loaded into the Denali. She unsuccessfully attempted to flee. Kim saw Sophear drop to the ground, and then she felt someone try to knock the phone out of her hand. When Kim turned around, Lim tried to hit her and grab the phone.

Next, Blake approached, snatched the phone from Kim, and demanded to know to whom she was speaking.

Sophear, still slouched over, asked Kim to help her walk. Blake told Kim that “we all need to calm down” and that “we're going to take a walk and just calm down.” Confused, Kim asked Sophear what was wrong. Sophear said that she could not walk or breathe. Blake ordered Kim to help Sophear walk. As Blake, Kim, Sophear, and Sheila walked toward an open desert area, Blake ordered Chung, Lim, and Ramos to leave the area.

After walking some distance, Blake told Kim, “Look what [Sophear] made me do, she made me fucking stab her.” Blake then pushed Kim and Sophear together and said “Okay, that's far enough.” He grabbed Sheila's sweater, threw her down on the ground, and told the women to get on their hands and knees. Blake donned a pair of gloves, pulled a silver revolver out of his pocket, and said, “I warned you I didn't want any problems.” He shot Sheila and then Sophear in the head. Blake pointed the gun at Kim, who waved her hand over her head and screamed. Blake shot, and the bullet ricocheted off a ring on Kim's right hand and hit her in the head. Blake shot Kim again in the head, and she lost consciousness.

When Kim woke up, Blake was gone. Kim stumbled across the desert area yelling for help. She came to a police car and told the officer that she, her sister, and a friend had been shot by Slinky (Blake's stage name). One of the officers ran to the area from which Kim emerged and found Sophear dead. However, Sheila was still breathing. Paramedics transported Sheila to the University Medical Center Trauma Center, where she succumbed to her injuries a few hours later.

Meanwhile, Blake, although suffering from a stab wound, fled to Los Angeles with Chung, Lim, and his friend Vandal, in Chung's Blazer. During the drive, Blake and Vandal discussed Blake's alibi. Eventually the two concocted a story that Blake and Lim had been kidnapped and dumped in the desert and that Chung picked them up. Blake communicated the story to Ramos, who remained in Las Vegas. When they arrived in Los Angeles, Vandal wrapped Blake's gun in a towel and threw it in the sewer. They also stopped to buy hand cleaner. Blake scrubbed his hands with it and tossed the remainder down the sewer.

Eventually, Blake sought medical treatment for his injuries at a local hospital. He told personnel that his name was Marcus Edwards and that he had been mugged and stabbed. While at the hospital, Blake told a police officer that he was living with a friend in Los Angeles and had been stabbed outside a club in Hollywood.

Blake received a phone call at the hospital. Chung heard him say, “How could this be, there's no possible way. I shot them in the head.” Blake left the hospital the day after checking in. He, Lim, and Chung drove to the San Bernardino, California, area and then headed back to Las Vegas. At approximately 4 a.m. on March 8, 2003, police officers in Barstow, California, who were on the lookout for Chung's Blazer, pulled the vehicle over with weapons drawn. Blake, Lim, and Chung were arrested without incident.

Dr. Gary Telgenhoff, a forensic pathologist with the Clark County Coroner's Office, performed autopsies on Sheila and Sophear. The autopsies revealed that both women had sustained gunshot wounds to the head. Additionally, there were a number of sharp force cuts and stabs on Sophear's left shoulder and back, behind her right ear, above her right breast, near her armpit, and on her right arm and hand. The cuts on her hands were consistent with defensive wounds. Dr. Telgenhoff concluded that the cause of the deaths of both women was gunshot wounds to the head and that the manner of death was homicide.

Blake called Arlene Oliver, his sister, to testify in his defense. Oliver stated that Blake appeared at her home around 3 a.m. on March 5, 2003. She testified that Blake appeared irrational and delusional. Blake told Oliver that he needed a ride. When he got into Oliver's car, he hid and appeared afraid, as if someone was after him. Oliver testified that she dropped off Blake in a parking lot on Valley View Road.

Dr. Mortillaro, a psychologist, also testified in Blake's defense. Dr. Mortillaro stated that he had administered a series of tests and spent several hours interviewing Blake. He also interviewed Oliver, Blake's brother, Anthony Fleming, and Ramos. Dr. Mortillaro opined that Blake appeared to have a compromised mental state at the time of the killings, meaning that “he would have difficulty determining right from wrong and thinking logically.” He further testified that Blake exhibited elements of antisocial and histrionic behavior and narcissism. Dr. Mortillaro testified that, based on his interviews, when the killings occurred Blake exhibited characteristics of a brief psychotic disorder in which he was confused, delusional, and disconnected from reality and exercised poor judgment. Dr. Mortillaro also opined that Blake suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from the stab wounds he received.

On cross-examination, Dr. Mortillaro stated that his reconstruction of Blake's mental state on March 5, 2003, was not dependent upon the tests he administered but upon the accuracy of the information

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