Martin v. Allison

RAYMOND MARTIN, Petitioner, v. KATHLEEN ALLISON, Respondent.

No. 2:11-cv-0870 LKK GGH (HC)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

Dated: July 3, 2014

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Introduction and Summary

Petitioner, Raymond Martin, was convicted of first degree, special circumstance, felony murder, and was sentenced for that crime to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He was also convicted of the subsidiary burglary and robbery charges (for which he received stayed sentences), an assault for which he received an additional nine years, and finally, an additional one year for being a principal armed with a firearm.

Several significant issues are raised, and one less significant:

1. Due process was violated when the trial court permitted into evidence a hearsay statement which was conceded to be untrustworthy in part, and which the prosecutor knew to be incorrect/untrustworthy (Napue claim as to the latter assertion);2. The alleged error in ground 1 constituted a denial of Sixth Amendment confrontation rights (Bruton error);

3. Due process was violated when the police tainted a witness by disclosing to her that petitioner made a threat on her life;

4. The trial court committed error by precluding key defense evidence at a pretrial Miranda hearing;

5. The trial court committed error by not having the jury instructed regarding involuntary manslaughter.

Factual Background

For purposes of general background, the parties, although vigorously contesting the admission of certain evidence, do not dispute that the evidence recounted by the Court of Appeal was correctly set forth.¹

The victim, Doug Cline, and his roommate Jeff Alexander shared a duplex. Cline worked in construction, but also sold small amounts of methamphetamine to his friends. Among Cline's friends were Travis Harris, who was Gregory's "street father" (i.e., not Gregory's biological father, although he treated Gregory as such), and Christopher Robison, Gregory's "street uncle."

On December 26, 2005, Cline, Gregory, and Harris were at Cline's house in the bedroom, and Cline and Harris were playing video games. Cline told Gregory that he did not want Gregory bringing Martin to his house. Before long, Cline and Gregory were fighting, and Cline ended up with a red eye. Harris took Gregory out of the room, and Gregory left the house.

The next day, December 27, 2005, Gregory and Mason showed up at Cline's house around 8:00 or 8:30 p.m. Gregory was wearing a 49er jacket. Gregory told Cline he wanted his money back for some bad dope. Cline told Gregory to have Harris bring back the dope. Harris testified that Gregory said that he got into an argument with Cline, and that Cline would not let him in the house. Gregory reported that Cline had told him, "FU, you're burnt," and shut the door in Gregory's face. Gregory was mad.

A little later that night, Nicole Fernandez, Gregory's girlfriend, heard Gregory and Mason talking. They were talking about collecting $200 from someone that had ripped them off. Fernandez figured out that they were talking about Cline, and that they planned to rob him. Gregory, Mason, and Fernandez were at the apartment of Ericka Reed with Robison and Jessica Marsh. They did some methamphetamine, and Gregory and Mason left.

At 12:45 a.m. on December 28, Gregory called Martin. Martin did not want to talk to Gregory, but Gregory persisted, calling repeatedly until around 1:00 a.m. Finally, Harris called Martin around 1:15 a.m., and Martin took the call. After Martin talked to Harris, Gregory called Martin again, and Martin took the call. Immediately afterward, Martin had his girlfriend, Danielle Davison, give him a ride to an apartment that belonged to Martin's friend, Lisa Lindeman. Lindeman's daughter, Amanda Miller, and Amanda's boyfriend were living at the apartment. Also at Lindeman's apartment were Gregory and Mason. Gregory had a black commemorative handgun. Gregory was showing off his gun, saying, "Look what I have." Davison told police that while they were at Lindeman's house, she overheard a plan to rob Cline. Gregory asked Miller if she had any pantyhose that he could put over his face.

Martin and Davison left the apartment around 5:00 a.m. Gregory and Mason left around the same time. Gregory was driving his girlfriend's car with Mason as a passenger. Martin drove another vehicle, and Davison followed in her car. Davison understood they were going to Harris's house.

Along the way, Martin drove his vehicle (which belonged to Lindeman) into Davison's car and another car. The three vehicles carrying defendants and Davison left the scene of the accident without stopping and parked on a side street, where they emptied the contents of the car Martin had been driving into Davison's vehicle. Martin proceeded on in Davison's car with Davison driving. Gregory called Martin on Davison's cell phone and said he had decided not to go to Harris's, but instead to go rob Cline, and Martin agreed. Around 5:30 a.m. Davison let Martin out of her car, and he climbed into the car with Gregory and Mason. Before leaving Davison's car, Martin grabbed a long dark coat with a fur collar.

Martin, Gregory, and Mason went to Cline's house. Martin and Gregory went into Cline's bedroom and found Cline and Anna McDonald asleep on Cline's bed. Gregory tied Cline's hands with zip ties. They took Cline's money from his wallet and some dope from the bathroom.

McDonald woke up to a man standing over her and pointing a gun at her. He was wearing a black ski mask with a white bandana tied around it, a baseball cap, and a 49er jacket. The other person had on a dark blue parka with fur around the hood and a light blue ski mask. Cline's hands were tied up in front of him with plastic zip ties, and he was awake.

There was a third intruder at the door of the bedroom. He was wearing a black mask. Cline said to the person holding the gun, "Why are you doing this, Vince [?]" Cline asked this over and over, saying, "Vince, why are you doing this? I have kids. I have a daughter and—two daughters and family, you know." Finally, the man with the gun said, "Why does he keep on saying my name?"

The man with the gun (Gregory) asked Cline where his keys were. They found the keys and started to go to Cline's truck. At this point, Cline said, "Fuck this," and charged Gregory. Gregory fired at Cline, and Cline fell towards the gunman. The gunman shot twice more. McDonald was shot in the leg. Cline fell to the floor, and the intruders ran out.

Alexander, the roommate, was awakened by the gunshots. He saw three men run past the open door of his bedroom. Alexander came out of his bedroom and called 911.

Sometime between 6:00 and 7:00 in the morning, defendants arrived back at Reed's apartment, where Robison, Fernandez, Marsh, Reed, and others were. They stayed there about 20 minutes. While they were there, they were going in and out of the bathroom and using profanity. Gregory was saying "Everyone get the F away from me, don't touch me," and was very agitated, hyper, and upset. Mason kept looking out the front window. He was "white as a ghost." Both Gregory and Mason appeared stressed.

Robison asked Gregory what had happened because Mason "was freaking out." Gregory said that things had gone bad at Cline's, and that Cline got shot. Robison tried to help Gregory come up with a plan, and told Gregory to get out of town and to make sure he took everything he had brought with him to Reed's apartment. Gregory also told Fernandez that he shot Cline twice, the first time in the gut. Later, Fernandez heard Mason say they had either blasted or booted someone in the head.

Gregory called Harris's cell phone. Gregory was distraught and crying. Harris met Gregory at Harris's house. Gregory was carrying a black semi-automatic handgun. He was fidgety and appeared to be under the influence of methamphetamine.

Gregory told Harris that he thought Cline was dead. He said that Martin told him to shoot, and he shot Cline. Gregory told Harris that both he and Martin had been armed. He said he shot Cline in the chest and head.

Around 7:45 or 8:00 a.m., Reed found a cell phone outside her apartment. She took it back to her apartment, where it started ringing. Reed answered the phone in speaker mode. The person on the other end asked for Doug. Robison assumed it was Cline's cell phone, and started making motions with his hand across his throat telling her to cut off the call. Robison then wrote on a yellow pad, "Hang up, bad, got problems with my nephew[.]" Robison made her give him the telephone. Robison broke the phone and threw it in a dumpster.

The authorities, having spoken with McDonald and determined that Gregory was a likely suspect, went to Harris's address at approximately 9:00 a.m. They set up surveillance at the residence. As they watched, Fernandez and Gregory pulled up and parked in front of Harris's residence. Christine Shepherd, Harris's girlfriend, came out of the residence and got into the car. As the car left the house it lost traction and was hit by a pickup truck. An officer observed Gregory get out of the car and fumble with something at his waistband. He then stuck his hand into the pockets of his sweatshirt and held his hands tight against his waist. He walked back into Harris's house, was gone about a minute, then came back. When he returned, he was no longer clutching his waist, but had his hands down by his side. Gregory later told detectives that he put the gun under the sink under a garbage bag.

The gun was retrieved from the location given by Gregory. The gun was test fired, and the cartridge casings matched those recovered from the murder scene. The bullet recovered from Cline's body was also fired from the gun. A number of items were recovered from Fernandez's house, including Cline's wallet, containing his photo identification and three masks, as well as clothing consistent with that worn by Cline's attackers. DNA testing was performed on some of the items found.

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