Dibble v. Klee

373 F. Supp. 3d 846
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedFebruary 4, 2019
DocketCase Number 16-10655
StatusPublished

This text of 373 F. Supp. 3d 846 (Dibble v. Klee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dibble v. Klee, 373 F. Supp. 3d 846 (E.D. Mich. 2019).

Opinion

DAVID M. LAWSON, United States District Judge

Petitioner Christopher Dibble challenges his convictions of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in a habeas corpus petition filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The convictions involved the petitioner's live-in girlfriend's teenage daughter, who was thirteen years old when the sexual abuse occurred. He contends that the admission of "bad acts" evidence deprived him of a fair trial, and the application of Michigan Compiled Laws § 768.27a to his case - a statute that permits the admission of propensity evidence in certain sexual assault cases - violated the Ex Post Facto Clauses of the state and federal Constitutions. The State argues that the petition should be dismissed as deficient because it is unsigned and undated, it is barred by the one-year statute of limitations, the petitioner's first claim is not cognizable on habeas corpus review, and *849that the petitioner's ex post facto claim lacks merit. Because no meritorious grounds for habeas corpus relief are presented in the petition, the Court will deny it.

I.

The incidents allegedly occurred between March 2005 and January 2006. The complainant was sixteen years old when she testified at the petitioner's trial in 2008. She said that in 2003 or 2004, her mother was taking pain medication for degenerative disc disease. The medication made her mother forgetful, and it caused her to sleep much of the time.

One night in 2005, the petitioner penetrated her vagina while she was in bed. She did not say anything to him or tell him to stop what he was doing because she was afraid and did not know what was happening or would happen if she objected. Her mother was home at the time but was sleeping. On subsequent occasions, the petitioner would penetrate her vagina with his finger, rub or lick her breasts, or touch her vaginal area. The sexual activity occurred at least ten times when she was thirteen years of age.

The petitioner also became very controlling and argumentative. The complainant's school grades declined, and she became less independent. The abuse eventually stopped, and in 2007, she informed her mother about it. The two of them later reported the matter to the police. The petitioner moved out after the police showed up. The complainant never asked her mother to break up with the petitioner. Instead, she thought that it would have been better if her mother was not taking the medication.

The complainant's mother testified that in 2005, her relationship with the petitioner was strained, and she slept a lot because she was taking pain killers for her back. On a few occasions, however, she had to get up in the middle of the night and she saw the petitioner come out of the complainant's bedroom. When she would ask him what the problem was, he would say that the complainant was having a nightmare. She could tell that the complainant was afraid of the petitioner, but the complainant would not talk about the nightmares or what had happened. In October of 2007, the complainant finally told her what had happened without providing any details about the incidents.

The complainant's grandmother testified that beginning in October 2006, the petitioner, the complainant, and the complainant's mother lived with her for six months. The petitioner was very possessive of the complainant, but not the other children in the family. He would pull the complainant on his lap and kiss her on the lips almost every day even though the complainant was afraid of the petitioner and did not like him kissing her.

Kimberly Crissman, a relative of the complainant's mother, testified that in 2005 and 2006, the petitioner tried to control the complainant and would kiss the complainant on the lips. She thought that the kissing was inappropriate, but she did not talk to the petitioner about it because he was unapproachable, and she was afraid that she would not be permitted to visit the family if she said anything.

Over previous objection, the petitioner's ex-wife testified that she was married to the petitioner from 1985 to 1998, and on more than ten occasions between 1991 and 1998, the petitioner would come home drunk and force her to have sex with him. On June 6, 1998, he slapped and choked her until she gave in to his demands for oral sex. She reported that incident to the police and decided to leave the petitioner.

*850The son of the petitioner's ex-wife, thirty-one years old when he testified at the petitioner's trial, said - over defense objection - that in 1988 and 1989 when he was eleven years old, the petitioner would make him massage, wash, or suck the petitioner's penis. This occurred over thirty times. He eventually informed his mother and reported the abuse to the police. He changed his story at the request of his mother and the petitioner so that the petitioner would not go to jail. They promised him that the petitioner would get help and that it would never happen again. He did not disclose the abuse to anyone else because it was embarrassing and nobody's business.

Anticipating a defense of non-access, Karin Nyenhuis testified that the petitioner worked the night shift (from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.) at Forest Hills Foods from March 21 to September 2, 2005. His regular days off were Friday and Saturday, but there were other days when he did not work.

The petitioner presented two witnesses, and he testified on his own behalf. The petitioner's sister, Angelea Gillett-Waite, testified for the defense that she never saw anything out of the ordinary take place between the petitioner and the complainant. The complainant was a "clingy" child and would often put her hands on the petitioner's shoulders, rub his arm, or give him hugs. They kissed on the lips, but their whole family did that. In 2005, the complainant's mother was taking a lot of medication and frequently fought with the petitioner, who was trying to work and take care of the complainant and her mother.

The complainant's biological father testified that his parenting time with the complainant was every other weekend, every other holiday, and two weeks in the summer. However, the schedule was flexible because he was a truck driver at the time.

The petitioner testified that in 2005, he worked nights most of the time. His relationship with the complainant's mother was terrible at the time because she was abusing her medication and would argue or complain about minor things. She threatened to turn him in for "CSC" if he did not leave, but he felt sorry for her and tried to help her as much as he could.

The petitioner maintained that his relationship with the complainant was good and that their kissing was her idea. He denied touching the complainant on her breasts or vagina or in an inappropriate manner. He also denied raping his ex-wife or inappropriately touching his ex-wife's son, but he admitted that he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree child abuse as a result of allegations that he had sexually molested the boy.

On October 31, 2008, the jury found the petitioner guilty as charged of one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, Mich. Comp.

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Bluebook (online)
373 F. Supp. 3d 846, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dibble-v-klee-mied-2019.