Keller v. Cain

1

JASON KELLER PETITIONER v. BURL CAIN, et al. RESPONDENTS

Civil Action No. 1:21-CV-134-KHJ

United States District Court, S.D. Mississippi, Southern Division

September 23, 2024

ORDER

KRISTI H JOHNSON UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This is a capital habeas case. The Petitioner, Jason Lee Keller, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in the Circuit Court of Harrison County, Mississippi. He asks this Court to issue a writ of habeas corpus that vacates his statecourt conviction and sentence. For the following reasons, the Court denies Keller's petition and dismisses this case with prejudice.

I. Background

On the morning of June 21, 2007, Terry Ann Muffi walked into a Food Mart in Biloxi, Mississippi, to buy some tobacco and rolling papers. [22-5] at 71.^[1]No one was behind the counter id., and Muffi looked around the store until she noticed a pack of Doral cigarettes on the floor. Id. at 72, 121. She picked up the cigarettes, put them on the counter, and noticed that the cash register drawer was ajar. Id. at 72. Muffi stepped closer to the counter and saw the body of Hat Nguyen, the store's owner, on the floor behind the counter. Id. at 72-73, 79-80. She picked up a nearby phone and called 911. Id. at 74.

Teo Nguyen^[2]worked at a nearby nail salon. Id. at 88. He had known Hat Nguyen for several years id. at 90, and he went into her store every morning to buy cigarettes. Id. at 88. When he entered the store on June 21, 2007, he noticed that it was “messy,” “everything was . . . on the floor,” and the cash register appeared to be damaged. Id. at 96. He saw Muffi behind the counter, and she told him to go outside and get the name of the convenience store to tell the 911 dispatcher. Id. at 89. He did so. Id. When he came back inside, he looked over the counter and saw Hat Nguyen on the floor. Id. at 89-90.

Muffi gave Teo the phone and asked him to tell her what the 911 dispatcher said. Id. at 74-75, 90. Following the dispatcher's instructions, Muffi began to perform CPR on Hat. Id. at 74-75. She noticed blood on Hat's shirt from an apparent injury to her abdomen, and when she put her hand under Hat's neck, it was covered in blood. Id. at 75, 90.

Soon after, first responders arrived. Id. at 75-76. They confirmed that Hat Nguyen was dead and found what appeared to be small caliber gunshot wounds to her head and abdomen. Id. at 101-02; [23-14] at 27-28; [22-12] at 43. There were no shell casings at the scene, leading investigators to believe the murder weapon was a revolver. [22-12] at 43. Officers cleared the building and began searching for a suspect. [22-5] at 102. Later that afternoon, the Biloxi Police Department received “a lot of phone calls” indicating that Jason Keller was the murderer. Id. at 112; see also [23-14] at 30. Police learned that Keller had stolen a truck, “that he had been on crack for a long time, and that he . . . was going to rob a bank and go out in a blaze of glory.” [22-12] at 40. Additionally, his ex-girlfriend told officers that he smoked Doral cigarettes, the same brand Muffi had observed on the floor in Hat Nguyen's store. Id. at 41. Finally, Keller was already suspected to have stolen a .22 revolver from a pawn shop the day before the murder. Id. at 42-43.

Keller woke up that morning in the waiting room of a hospital, where he had slept. [23-14] at 3. He walked to his stepfather's workplace and stole his truck, intending to visit his ex-girlfriend and son, but on the way, he hit a curb and blew out two tires. See id. at 3-4. He “had nothing else to do,” so he made his way on foot to Hat Nguyen's Food Mart to get some cigarettes. Id. at 4. He had the .22 he had stolen the day before. Id.

Keller went inside the store and asked for a pack of Doral cigarettes. Id. at 4, 13. Hat Nguyen was behind the counter. See id. When she turned to get the cigarettes, Keller pulled out the gun. Id. at 4. Nguyen then saw the gun and started screaming, “No,” and Keller shot her. Id. at 4-6. While Keller tried to open the cash register, Nguyen ran outside. Id. at 6. Keller pocketed his gun, [22-6] at 116, and gave chase. [23-14] at 6. Nguyen stopped, agreeing to give him money. Id. They went back inside, and Nguyen gave him some cash and rolls of coins from a small box behind the counter. Id. at 8-9, 16. Keller then shot Nguyen again. Id. at 16, 22. She fell to the floor, incapacitated, and Keller shot her a final time, in the back of her head at close range. Id. at 6-7. He took the money and a carton of cigarettes, ran, and hid in the backyard of a nearby house. Id. at 8, 13.

When Keller started hearing sirens, he ran to his stepfather's house, where he stole another truck. Id. at 8-9. He threw the spent .22 shell casings off a bridge and drove to a bank in Biloxi. Id. at 8-9, 19. At the bank, he exchanged the rolled coins for cash. Id. at 9; see also [22-5] at 126-28. From there, he went to a “crack house” in Gulfport, where he smoked crack cocaine and laid low. [23-14] at 9-10, 18. Later that night, Keller sold the murder weapon for $75 worth of crack cocaine and started riding around Gulfport in the stolen truck. Id. at 10.

Eventually, law enforcement officers spotted him and gave chase. Id. at 11. Keller ignored the officers and kept driving long enough to call and say goodbye to several family members. Id. He finally pulled over around 11:30 or 11:45 p.m. See id. at 11, 30-31; [22-3] at 58. When he exited the truck, Keller brandished a shotgun choke (a pipe that fits on the end of a shotgun barrel) because he wanted the police to shoot him. [23-14] at 11-12; Notice of Conventional Filing [56].^[3] Officers shot him, and he was transported back to the same hospital where he had begun his day. See id. at 3, 12.

Minutes after Keller arrived at the hospital, Craig Shows, an investigator with the Biloxi Police Department, read him his rights and interviewed him for about 10 to 15 minutes in the emergency room. [22-3] at 22, 24-25. The interview was not initially recorded. Id. at 27. Keller admitted that he had killed Hat Nguyen, and he told Shows that the gun was at the crack house in Gulfport. Id. at 29. He also admitted that he had stolen the gun from a pawn shop the day before. Id. Then another officer brought in a recorder, and Shows went over the same questions again. Id. at 29-30. Keller provided the same answers. Id. Keller never asked for an attorney, and he never invoked his right to remain silent. Id. at 26, 50.^[4]

Sometime between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m. on June 22, 2007, Michael Brown, an investigator with the Biloxi Police Department, took a second recorded statement from Keller after reading him his rights. Id. at 58-59, 61, 64-65.^[5] Once again, Keller did not ask for an attorney or invoke his right to remain silent, but it was apparent to the officer that Keller was in pain while receiving medical treatment. Id. at 26, 50, 61. Keller admitted that he went into the “store in Biloxi” to get cigarettes. [56]. He asked to “talk about this later,” and Brown responded, “We can, but I . . . need just a little bit of information now, if you can give it to me.” Id. Keller replied, “I can't think straight.” Id. Brown asked him whether he had fired the gun when he robbed the store, and Keller said, “You tell me.... You seen it, didn't you?” Id. Keller said, “You got me hurting . . . talking,” and he admitted that he took money from the store. Id. Brown asked him, “Do you remember how many times you shot the lady?” Id. Keller responded: “Probably like four.” Id. Brown then ended the questioning. Id.

Brown took a third recorded statement from Keller later that day in the hospital's intensive care unit. [22-3] at 65; [23-14] at 3-25.^[6]After Brown read Keller his rights, Keller again admitted that he had shot and killed Hat Nguyen during an armed robbery. [23-14] at 3-6. He told Brown everything he had admitted before, including that he had stolen two trucks belonging to his stepfather, that he had traded the rolled coins for cash at the bank, that he had thrown the spent shell casings off a bridge, that he had gone to a crack house to smoke crack cocaine after murdering Nguyen, and that he had sold the gun to someone at the crack house. Id. at 3-4, 8-10, 18. Once again, Keller did not ask for an attorney or invoke his right to remain silent. Id. at 3-25; [22-3] at 67. In fact, he was “very willing to talk . . . [and] very cooperative,” and investigators found nothing to contradict what he told them. [22-5] at 123.

Dr. Paul McGarry, a forensic pathologist, conducted Hat Nguyen's autopsy. [23-30] at 17; [22-5] at 134. He found that she suffered four gunshot wounds: one entering the center of her abdomen above the naval; one entering the right side of her head but not breaching the skull; one entering the left side of her head from close range and going into her brain; and one entering the base of her skull from close range, going into her brain and severing the brain stem from her spinal column. [23-30] at 4, 9, 19; [22-5] at 135, 138, 143-45, 149-50. All four bullets were retrieved from the wounds. [23-30] at 9.

Dr McGarry found that the cause of death was “MASSIVE BRAIN DESTRUCTION” due to a “RECENT CONTACT GUNSHOT WOUND TO THE HEAD,” with “THREE GUNSHOT WOUNDS TO THE HEAD AND ABDOMEN” as contributing factors. Id. at 17. He testified at trial that he could not determine the exact order in which the shots were fired or how much time passed between them. [22-5] at 147; [22-6] at 10. Still, he testified that the wound to Nguyen's abdomen was “minimally disabling,” and that the head shot that did not breach the skull “would be like a blow to the head,” after which she could still function. [22-6] at 6. The shot to the left side of her head entered her brain, though, and while it...