Ali v. Hofbauer

9 F. App'x 495
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedMay 17, 2001
DocketNo. 99-1875
StatusPublished

This text of 9 F. App'x 495 (Ali v. Hofbauer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ali v. Hofbauer, 9 F. App'x 495 (6th Cir. 2001).

Opinion

KRUPANSKY, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner-Appellant Fathiree Uddin Ali (“Ali”) has challenged his Michigan state imprisonment pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. He has alleged, inter alia, that his involuntary confession coupled with ineffective assistance of his trial counsel has deprived him of his constitutional rights to a fair trial.

Jessie Hilton (“Hilton”) and Kevin Campbell (“Campbell”) recruited Ali into their scheme to rob Carl Gow (“Gow”), Hilton’s former housemate. Hilton wanted revenge against Gow for evicting Hilton from the Gow residence. On March 24, 1989, Ali, Hilton, and Campbell committed the robbery and murdered the three inhabitants within Gow’s home. On March 26, 1989, Gow’s mother discovered the lifeless remains of Gow, Theresa Navarrette, and Jeffrey Harper. The Michigan Court of Appeals described the gruesome scene:

All three bodies were found in the living room of Gow’s house. All three had been bound with electrical cord. Navarrette, Gow, and Harper all suffered from severe head injuries caused by a blunt force object. Gow and Harper also suffered from multiple stab wounds. The police found a claw hammer, butcher knife, power drill, axe. and screwdriver which all had blood on them. There was blood spattered on the walls and ceiling of the living room and there was so much blood that it had seeped through the living room floor to the basement.

Ali v. Hofbauer, No. 89-004251, slip op. at 1 (Mich.Ct.App. Jan. 30,1995).

After police investigation, Hilton, Campbell, and Ali were arrested. Hilton and Campbell quickly confessed to being involved in the robbery and the murders,1 implicating Ali as well. Following Ali’s initial arrest on March 27th, he denied any involvement in the crime; instead, he identified four individuals as alibi witnesses attesting to his whereabouts on March 24th: his wife. Tracy Johnson, Marlene Mills, and Brian Morgan. Later that day, in a second statement, Ali related the circumstances of a pre-March 24, 1989 altercation between him and Hilton, which Ali claimed was the last occasion upon which he had seen Hilton. The authorities then released Ali. At 11:15 P.M. that same evening, March 27,1989, he was rearrested on a murder charge. He was again questioned about the events of March 24th. Officer William Rice testified that Ali made an oral statement2 at 3:30 A.M., but refused to sign any written account of what he had said. Officers returned Ali to the interrogation room at 7:30 A.M. the following day and commenced questioning him. Ali has asserted that, at this point. Officer Rice indicated that he would arrest [497]*497Ali’s wife and his four-year-old child and charge them with murder if he refused to confess. Later, on his way to the men’s restroom, Ah saw his wife,3 her sister, Marlene Mills, and Brian Morgan.4 The officer escorting Ali refused to permit him to speak with his wife. When his interrogation resumed at approximately 8:30 P.M., he made further inquiries about his wife and was told that he would be informed of her status at a later time. Subsequently, Ali confessed to the robbery,5 in a twenty-four page statement, but disclaimed any involvement in the related murders.6 Before each interrogation, the police officers informed Ali of his Miranda7 rights, and Ali signed written statements confirming that he had been so informed.

Before trial, the state trial court conducted a hearing on the admissibility of the various confessions made by the three defendants. Ah’s trial counsel, Monsey Wilson (“Wilson”), argued that the police coerced Ali to confess by using several different investigators to interrogate him over an extended period of time. Wilson did not argue or produce evidence to the court that Ali’s confession was caused by an unjustified detention of Ali’s wife. On June 8, 1989, the state trial court refused to suppress the confession, ruling that Ali was aware of his rights and had not been coerced into confessing.

On October 20,1989, the state trial court found Ali guilty of three counts of aiding and abetting felony murder. On November 1, 1989, Ali was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences. He timely filed a pro se appeal of his conviction to the Michigan Court of Appeals. He petitioned for remand to the lower court with instructions to conduct an evidentiary hearing to determine (1) if his confession to police was voluntary, given the detention of his wife; and (2) if his trial counsel had provided ineffective assistance. On February 27, 1991, the state court of appeals denied his request. Ali then retained counsel, who reinstituted the motion to remand. On May 21, 1993, the court of appeals denied the renewed motion to remand. On November 30, 1993, the Michigan Supreme Court denied Ali’s interlocutory appeal from the court of appeals’ denial of the motion to remand. On January 30, 1995, the court of appeals affirmed Ali’s convictions and sentences. On January 29, 1996, the Michigan Supreme Court denied leave to appeal.

After exhausting his state court avenues of review, on January 21, 1997, Ali filed a petition for habeas relief in the Eastern District of Michigan. He alleged that seven instances of error infected the convictions: (1) the evidence of his participation in the March 24, 1989 robbery was insufficient to prove his vicarious guilt of felony murders committed by his accomplices; (2) the state prosecutor had denied him a fair trial by arguing in closing, without supporting evidence, that petitioner had per[498]*498sonally committed the three killings; (3) petitioner’s statement to police should have been suppressed because it had been coerced by the unjustified arrest of his pregnant wife, and the state court of appeals denied him due process by refusing to remand to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing; (4) the trial court had denied him a fair trial, as well as his right to compulsory process to compel witness testimony, by allowing a person called as a defense witness to refuse to testify; (5) the trial court improperly instructed the jury regarding inferences to be drawn from the use of a weapon; (6) the court’s instructions emphasized that he did not testify; (7) he had ineffective assistance of counsel at trial.

On July 22, 1998, the district court denied habeas relief on all theories except the voluntariness of Ali’s confession and his charge asserting ineffective assistance of his trial counsel, and the district court ordered an evidentiary hearing as to these two claims, finding that Ali was “presumably” 8 without fault for the failure to develop a factual basis in the state court system for the two claims.9

On December 21,1998, the district court conducted its previously ordered evidentiary hearing to resolve the issues of ineffective assistance of counsel and the voluntariness of Ali’s confession. On July 1, 1999, the district court denied habeas relief, finding that Ali’s confession was voluntary, and that his trial counsel had not been ineffective.

“The benchmark for judging any claim of ineffectiveness must be whether counsel’s conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a just result.”10 Strickland v. Washington,

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9 F. App'x 495, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ali-v-hofbauer-ca6-2001.