Hooley v. State

537 P.3d 1267

Thomas K. HOOLEY, Petitioner-Appellant,

v.STATE of Idaho, Respondent.

Docket No. 48846

Supreme Court of Idaho, Boise, September 2022 Term.

Opinion Filed: October 27, 2023

Nevin, Benjamin & McKay LLP, Boise, for Appellant, Thomas K. Hooley. Dennis Benjamin argued.

Lawrence G. Wasden, Idaho Attorney General, Boise, for Respondent, State of Idaho. Kenneth K. Jorgensen argued.

SUBSTITUTE OPINION.

THE COURT'S PRIOR OPINION DATED MARCH 23, 2023, IS WITHDRAWN

BEVAN, Chief Justice.

Thomas Hooley appeals from the district court's summary dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief. In 2014, Hooley was convicted of aiding and abetting aggravated battery and kidnapping in the first degree. Hooley petitioned for post-conviction relief in 2019, asserting that (1) he was actually innocent and (2) the prosecution withheld evidence in contravention of Brady v. Maryland , 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). The district court concluded that Hooley's actual innocence claim was time-barred and further concluded the claim failed on the merits. While the district court found that Hooley's Brady claim was timely, the court ultimately determined the claim failed on the merits. As a result of its conclusions, the district court summarily dismissed the petition without an evidentiary hearing. Hooley timely appeals. For the reasons below, we affirm the district court's decision.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

Two people kidnapped Jason Given from the Apollo Motel in Twin Falls, Idaho, on July 13, 2013. The kidnappers took Given to a secluded location near Gooding, Idaho, atop a hill that was out of sight of a road below. The kidnappers stunned Given with a "stun baton" and then bound Given's hands and feet using zip ties. They purportedly "interrogated" Given, hitting him in the face and threatening further use of the stun baton. At trial, it was disputed how long the "interrogation" lasted. Ryan Cunningham, one of the admitted kidnappers, testified the interrogation lasted about thirty to forty minutes. Given testified that no one asked him any questions but that "the torture" lasted around ten minutes. At this point, Cunningham stabbed Given twice, once in the back of the head and once in the temple. Cunningham then cut Given's throat twice and attempted to break Given's neck, telling Given "this is for all the times you hurt her [Autumn Boyack]." Believing that Given was dead, Cunningham and his accomplice left the scene and went back to Twin Falls. Given, however, survived the incident.

At first, Given said he did not recognize his assailants. He told his rescuer and the police officers who responded to the scene that he had been "jumped" by "two white males" he did not know. It was not until five days after the attack and three days after Given had been released from the hospital that Given told the police a different version of the story about the assault. He said the names of his two kidnappers were Ryan Cunningham and Thomas Hooley. Both men were later arrested.

Detective Derrick Walker interviewed Hooley on July 30, 2013. Hooley admitted knowing both Cunningham and Given and to seeing them both on the day of Given's assault. Even so, Hooley denied traveling with Cunningham and Given to the secluded area and participating in the attack. Walker explained to Hooley that "the first one to talk gets the deal." Hooley maintained that he did not go to the secluded area, and that he was innocent. Instead, he told Walker, "I'm thinking I'm getting set up here and I ain't liking the smell of things."

Cunningham, on the other hand, struck a deal with law enforcement. In exchange for testifying against Hooley, Cunningham received what he deemed to be a "sweetheart deal" of his own creation: Rather than serving "life plus thirty" years for first degree kidnapping and aggravated battery (with a deadly weapon enhancement), in exchange for his testimony, Cunningham pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and received a unified sentence of fifteen years, with the possibility of parole after only four years.

Hooley was charged with one count of aiding and abetting aggravated battery and one count of kidnapping in the first degree. A jury trial was held in July 2014. At trial, Cunningham portrayed Hooley as the mastermind of the attack on Given. Cunningham testified that: Hooley knew of the secluded area, used the stun baton on Given, "interrogated" Given, and told Cunningham to stab Given and cut his throat. Cunningham also testified that Hooley instructed him on precisely where to stab Given. During cross-examination, Cunningham explained, "[Hooley]’s the one who told me how to do it. I had never – I never stabbed anyone before, so he's the one who told me how to stick it in the back of his neck and temple." And Cunningham testified that, after the assault, Hooley told him to "shut [his] mouth" and "[c]ome up with an alibi."

Cunningham added that, when he told Given "this is for all the times you hurt her," he was referring to Autumn Boyack. At the time of the attack, Boyack and Given had a four-year-old son together. Cunningham was also intimately involved with Boyack, having met Boyack through Given. Even so, Cunningham testified that Hooley had been the one to "interrogate" Given specifically about the extent of Given's sexual relations with a different woman—with whom Hooley had apparently been romantically involved.

Given also testified at Hooley's trial. Given's version of events differed from Cunningham's. Given corroborated the fact that Hooley was the one who used the stun baton and the fact that Cunningham was the one who stabbed him and cut his throat. Given testified, however, that except for Cunningham stating that "this is for all the times you hurt her" between the two attempts to cut Given's throat, no one spoke during the attack—not to "interrogate" him, nor to give instructions on how to stab him and cut his throat. Given further testified that he waited to identify the kidnappers because he knew Cunningham was a member of a violent white supremacist gang, the Aryan Peckerwoods, and he was fearful of retaliation by Cunningham or other members of Cunningham's gang.

During closing argument, Hooley's defense counsel focused on the lack of credibility on behalf of the prosecution's two eyewitnesses: Cunningham and Given. Both were felons and admitted drug addicts, and both had at least some affiliation with a white supremacist gang. Hooley's counsel could not, however, establish an identity for an alternate perpetrator if it was not Hooley. Hooley's counsel's argument was apparently unpersuasive because the jury found Hooley guilty of both counts. For aiding and abetting aggravated battery, Hooley was sentenced to a unified sentence of fifteen years, with five years fixed. For kidnapping in the first degree, Hooley was sentenced to a unified sentence of twenty-five years, with five years fixed. The trial court ordered the sentences to be served concurrently.¹

B. Procedural History

Hooley moved for a new trial, alleging juror misconduct (the basis of which is not relevant to his appeal), which the trial court denied. Hooley then appealed that denial, which the Idaho Court of Appeals affirmed.²

State v. Hooley , No. 42627, 2015 WL 7758496, at *1–3 (Idaho Ct. App. Dec. 2, 2015) (unpublished opinion). Hooley then filed a pro se motion for a new trial, alleging the prosecution had improperly withheld favorable material under Brady v. Maryland , 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). The trial court dismissed the motion as untimely under Idaho Criminal Rule 34. Hooley appealed, arguing the trial court should have considered the motion not as a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence, but as a petition for post-conviction relief. The Court of Appeals again affirmed the trial court, as did this Court after Hooley petitioned for review. State v. Hooley , No. 46181, 2019 WL 2714067, at *1 (Idaho Ct. App. June 28, 2019) (unpublished opinion); State v. Hooley , 166 Idaho 417, 418, 460 P.3d 341, 342 (2020).

On September 18, 2019, while his appeal was pending before this Court, Hooley filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief in district court, alleging that he had new evidence that proved he was innocent and that Given, Cunningham, and Boyack had "conspired to send me to prison for a crime Autumn [Boyack] and Ryan [Cunningham] committed." Hooley further requested he be appointed counsel. The district court granted Hooley's request for the appointment of counsel.

On December 2, 2019, Hooley's newly appointed counsel submitted an unsigned amended petition for post-conviction relief, which contained no mention of Hooley's actual innocence claim. Counsel reported that Hooley had refused to sign the amended petition.³ Citing a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship, counsel requested leave of the court to withdraw from representing Hooley. The district court granted the request and appointed Hooley a new attorney on February 5, 2020. This second attorney did not submit an amended petition either and, on May 22, 2020, also requested leave to withdraw from representing Hooley. The district court approved the request and, on June 9, 2020, appointed a third attorney to represent Hooley.

On August 26, 2020, Hooley (through his new attorney) finally filed a verified amended petition.⁴ In that petition, Hooley set forth the following claim of actual innocence based on newly discovered evidence:

Mr. Hooley has discovered through the attached Affidavits to this Petition that there is new evidence, unavailable to Mr. Hooley at the time of trial, as to the truth of Mr. Hooley's involvement, or more accurately, his lack of involvement in the alleged incident. See, Attached Affidavits of Jody Carr and Steven A. Bauer. ...

Hooley then cited the Drapeau standard for newly discovered evidence, and pleaded the following claim:

The attached Affidavits, incorporated by

...