Jadav v. Woodson

Harshadkumar Nanjibhai Jadav, Petitioner, v. J. Woodson, Respondent.

No. 1:22cv136 (TSE/IDD)

United States District Court, E.D. Virginia, Alexandria Division

January 31, 2023

MEMORANDUM OPINION

T. S Ellis, III, United States District Judge

Harshadkumar Nanjibhai Jadav (“Jadav” or “Petitioner”), a Virginia inmate proceeding pro se, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, challenging his conviction in the Circuit Court of Hanover County, Virginia for first-degree murder. [Dkt. No. 1]. Respondent has filed a Motion to Dismiss, with a supporting brief and exhibits. [Dkt. Nos 12-14]. Jadav was notified of his right to respond as required by Roseboro v. Garrison, 528 F.2d 309 (4th Cir. 1975) [Dkt. No. 15], and he has responded by filing a reply with exhibits. [Dkt. Nos. 18, 19]. Accordingly, this matter is now ripe for disposition. For the reasons that follow, respondent's Motion to Dismiss must be granted and the petition will be dismissed.

I. Factual Background

To begin with, a brief recitation of the factual background of this matter is necessary to understand and to provide context to the instant habeas petition. The following recitation of facts is derived from the Court of Appeals of Virginia Order issued on December 28, 2018:

[Jadav] and Reena Jadav were married on September 8, 2012 but by the summer of 2016, they were experiencing marital problems. They fought almost daily, and Reena frequently spent her weekends with her parents. In July 2016 [Jadav] began dating women he met through an online dating service. He told those women that he was single and even invited them to stay at the marital home while Reena was visiting her parents. One of the women rejected his sexual advances, but the other woman was physically intimate with him between the end of July and late August 2016. [Jadav] assured both women that he was seeking a serious, long-term relationship.

Unaware of her husband's infidelity, Reena traveled with [Jadav] to Nashville, Tennessee on August 29, 2016, when she started a new job with Regions Bank. The new position included life insurance policies with total coverage exceeding one million dollars. Reena named [Jadav] as the beneficiary of the policies. While [Jadav] was in Nashville with Reena, his Google account records showed searches using the terms “accidental death and dismemberment insurance,” “homicide,” and “death by natural causes.”

The couple returned to their home in Hanover on Saturday, September 3, 2016. On the day of their return, they ate dinner with Reena's parents, Chandra and Sumitra Shrestha. When Reena went to the bathroom, [Jadav] spoke to Chandra in a hushed voice and asked him to advise his daughter not to communicate with her new employer in Tennessee because “they were not going back.” [Jadav] told Chandra that the bank would have to fire her and pay her for another two weeks if Reena did not reply to the bank's communications.

That same evening, [Jadav] communicated with Felicia Smith, one of the women he had met online and had been dating since July 27, 2016. He told Smith that he missed her and could not wait to “cuddle” with her. Using the dating website, [Jadav] also texted another woman whom he had met online and suggested that they meet in person.

On Sunday, September 4, 2016, the day before Labor Day, Reena's parents and Reena attended a family dinner hosted by Reena's sister; when [Jadav] did not appear, Chandra called him and urged him to come. [Jadav] declined, explaining that he and Reena were fighting. After the dinner, Reena asked her parents to stop by her house in the Honey Meadows subdivision, and they arrived there between 8:15 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. [Jadav] was in the kitchen cooking when Reena, Sumitra, and Chandra arrived. Sumitra went upstairs with her daughter to help her unpack from her trip, and Chandra sat down in the living room while [Jadav] continued cooking. After the women went upstairs, [Jadav] emerged from the kitchen and removed Reena's cell phone from her purse.

When Sumitra returned downstairs, she announced that Reena had changed into her nightclothes and would join them shortly. [Jadav], who was still holding Reena's phone in his hands, encouraged Reena's parents to leave, telling them that Reena might want to leave with them if they stayed. Sumitra and Chandra complied and left the house between 9:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. They never saw their daughter again.

At approximately 11:00 p.m., Dr. Willie Stroble and Roger Hultgren, who lived in neighboring houses in the Honey Meadows subdivision, heard a woman's scream behind their houses. Both men looked from their homes toward their backyards, but the area was dark, and they saw nothing.

At 12:47 a.m. [Jadav] texted Reena's phone and asked her to tell him when she arrived at her parents' house, noting that he was “so seeeepyyyy [sic].”

The following morning, [Jadav] texted Reena's parents and asked if Reena was at their house. Chandra called [Jadav] immediately and told him that Reena was not with them. [Jadav] told Chandra that he and Reena went for a walk after Chandra and Sumitra left, but that when he and Reena returned home, Reena wanted [Jadav] to walk a second time. [Jadav] told Reena that he was tired and went upstairs to bed, leaving her watching television downstairs. He admitted to Chandra that he had taken Reena's car key, but noted that Reena told him that she was leaving and that she would call her father to pick her up.

Because Reena's jogging clothes were missing, [Jadav] speculated to Chandra that she might have gone for a walk. Chandra directed [Jadav] to search for her in the car while Chandra stayed on the phone. [Jadav] drove through the neighborhood in Reena's gray Prius and finally told Chandra that he saw Reena lying unconscious on the ground. [Jadav] told Chandra that he was calling 911 and hung up.

Dressed in black athletic pants, an orange shirt, and sneakers, Reena was lying on her left side in the grassy area behind Stroble's and Hultgren's houses. Her head was covered in blood, with visible blows to her face and the back of her head. A “gaping hole” in the top of her head exposed brain matter. When [Jadav] called 911, however, he did not state that she was clearly dead. Instead, he described her as “all bloodied up” and stated that she “look[ed] like she's not breathing.” Based on [Jadav]'s ambiguous description, the 911 operator instructed him to turn Reena over on her back to start CPR. Rather than telling the operator that Reena was dead, [Jadav] responded that she was too heavy and “all jammed up.” When the 911 operator asked [Jadav] if Reena was “beyond help,” [Jadav] replied, “I'm not a doctor. I don't know.”

Hanover County Sheriff's Sergeant Gardner arrived at the scene at approximately 5:44 a.m. on September 5, 2016. Gardner saw [Jadav] standing next to a gray Prius talking on the phone. Reena's body was nearby lying in the grass next to a black backpack and covered in blood. After seeing the condition of Reena's body, Gardner immediately approached [Jadav] and directed him to hang up the phone and to keep his hands visible while Gardner checked his car for a weapon. [Jadav] calmly told Gardner that Reena had gone out for a run the night before and that he had searched for her when she did not come home.

Deputy Dumond arrived at the scene at approximately 5:45 a.m. After handcuffing [Jadav], Dumond detained him in his police car for approximately two hours and recorded their conversation. [Jadav] told Dumond that he and Reena fought almost daily and acknowledged that they had been fighting the prior evening. When Reena told [Jadav] that she “didn't want to be in the same room” with him, he went upstairs and went to sleep. He stated that he did not realize Reena was missing until he woke up the following morning. [Jadav] noted that, after he found her, he attempted to perform CPR, but could not move her because “she's really heavy.” Later, he asked Dumond why Reena was not in the ambulance. When Dumond informed [Jadav] that she was deceased, he responded, “You're kidding me.” But he did not cry.

Investigator Laplaga arrived at the scene at approximately 7:30 a.m. on September 5, 2016. Laplaga examined the backpack on the ground next to Reena's body and found red and brown stains on the top of it. The backpack contained only a pair of work gloves. Laplaga executed a search warrant at [Jadav]'s house and found an open bag of tools in an upstairs closet. The tool bag contained multiple tools, but it did not contain a hammer.

Investigator Dover arrived at the scene at 7:05 a.m. and interviewed [Jadav] at approximately 8:15 a.m. [Jadav] told Dover that Reena became upset after her parents left without warning and that the couple took a walk together. When they returned home, Reena ate a snack and suggested a second walk, but [Jadav] declined. Angry, Reena told [Jadav] to go upstairs and announced that she was going to her parents' house. [Jadav] stated that he went to bed at approximately 10:30 p.m. and woke up at 12:30 a.m. to find Reena was not beside him. He noted that he texted her and asked her to let him know when she arrived safely at her parents' house. [Jadav] specifically told Dover that he did not leave his house between 10:30 p.m. on September 4, 2016, and 5:22 a.m. the following morning.

Investigator Cary checked [Jadav]'s cell phone records to determine his whereabouts on the night of the murder. During the weeks preceding the murder, Cary discovered that [Jadav]'s cell phone consistently “pinged” off the same cell tower between 11:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. each night. On the night of the murder, however, Cary noticed a “deviation in the pattern” between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. At 11:31 p.m. [Jadav]'s phone was at his

...