Keith Smith v. Linda Metrish

436 F. App'x 554
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedAugust 30, 2011
Docket09-1327
StatusUnpublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 436 F. App'x 554 (Keith Smith v. Linda Metrish) 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
Keith Smith v. Linda Metrish, 436 F. App'x 554 (6th Cir. 2011).

Opinions

CLAY, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner Keith Brandon Smith appeals the district court’s order denying Petitioner’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

I. Factual Background

On December 31, 1999, Petitioner celebrated the new year by attending two separate parties. The first party was held at a house shared by Petitioner’s aunt, Dawn Edward, and her boyfriend Bruce Long (“Edwards’ house”). The revelers at this party drank alcohol, smoked marijuana, and used cocaine. During the party, Petitioner got into a fight with a neighbor outside, and began shooting at the neighbor. At this point Long, who had been outside with Petitioner when the fight began, reentered the house, removed a black semiautomatic gun from under the couch in the living room, and returned outside. (See R. 39, Trial Tr. Vol. IV 9/21/2001 at 8.)

When the fight subsided, Petitioner left the first party at Edwards’ house for fear that the police would come. After spending some time elsewhere, Petitioner returned to Edwards’ house, where he met his friend Jimmy Curtis, a known drug dealer. Petitioner and Curtis remained at Edwards’ house only a short time, and then left to go to a second new year’s party hosted by Eric Whitrock and Jason Glaum.

This second party took place at the Signature Inn in Elkhart, Indiana. Curtis supplied cocaine for this party, and like the first party that Petitioner attended, the activities at this party included drinking alcohol, and using drugs. Petitioner arrived at the second party armed with a semiautomatic gun, which he wore at his waist, and proudly displayed periodically by lifting his shirt. After remaining at the second party for approximately an hour, Petitioner stated that he wanted to go home, and Glaum offered to give Petitioner a ride back to Edwards’ house. The two left in Glaum’s green Ford Mustang.

Around midnight on January 1, 2000, Petitioner and Glaum returned to the party at Edwards’ house. The two remained there for approximately an hour, and both drank. When Petitioner and Glaum decided to leave, Long drove them from Edwards’ house in Glaum’s green Mustang [556]*556because both Petitioner and Glaum had been drinking.

En route, Long, Petitioner and Glaum stopped on Redfield Road in Michigan. The purpose of this stop is disputed, and at this point Petitioner’s and Long’s versions of what transpired that night diverge.

Petitioner testified at his trial that Long requested that they stop the car on Red-field Road to buy more cocaine, (see id. at 37), and that Long and Glaum exited the car, leaving Petitioner behind in the car. While Long and Glaum were out of the car, Petitioner heard gunshots, and then saw Long returning to the car. When Long got back in the car, Petitioner asked Long what happened, and Long replied, “[d]on’t worry about it.” (Id. at 38.) Petitioner stated that he and Long briefly returned to Edwards’ house, where Petitioner put his gun in his bedroom. From there, Petitioner and Long proceeded back to the party at the Signature Inn. (See id. at 39.)

Long, however, testified that Petitioner directed him to drive to Redfield Road in order to obtain more cocaine. (R. 36, Trial Tr. Vol. II 9/19/2001 at 42.) Long explained that Petitioner and Glaum exited the car at Redfield Road, and that from his seat in the car, Long heard gunshots. Shortly thereafter, Petitioner returned to the car and instructed Long to drive. (Id. at 45.) Long testified that he and Petitioner proceeded directly from the murder scene to the party at the Signature Inn. (See id. at 47.)

When Petitioner and Long arrived at the Signature Inn, Petitioner went up to Curtis and said “[y]our boy is dead.” (Id. at 49.) Thereafter, Petitioner and Long remained at the party for approximately ten minutes, at which point they drove two girls home from the party, and went with Curtis to dispose of Glaum’s ear. Petitioner and Long met Curtis at the Sherman Street Boat Landing where Long testified that they “put the car in neutral and let it roll ... down the boat dock ... [i]nto the river.” (Id. at 52.) Curtis then drove both Petitioner and Long back to Edwards’ house.

Early the next morning, Petitioner and Long met at Jessica Jellison’s house. Jel-lison was Edwards’ friend, and lived across the street from the Sherman Boat Dock. While there, Long changed out of the clothes he had been wearing the prior evening, and threw them away. (See R. 39, Trial Tr. Vol. IV 9/21/2001 at 27.)

Glaum’s body was found on Redfield Road on the morning of January 1, 2000. Glaum had been shot eight times. Police officers gathered several pieces of forensic evidence from the murder scene that day, including, nearly a dozen nine millimeter shell casings near Glaum’s body. Police also found that two sets of footprints led towards Glaum’s body, whereas only one set led away. After taking a cast of the set of footprints that went in both directions, police identified that the footprint had been made by a relatively new pair of size 11.5 Nike sneakers. (R. 36, Trial Tr. Vol. II 9/19/2001 at 184.)

The afternoon of January 1, 2000, Petitioner and Long met to dispose of the murder weapon. Petitioner testified that he borrowed a car, and picked Long up from Edwards’ house. Long entered the car with a plastic shopping bag containing the gun and bullets. Petitioner and Long drove to Fidler’s Pond, a pond near the local high school, and Long “swung the stuff into the [water].” (Id. at 44.)

On January 3, 2000, Petitioner was arrested for Glaum’s murder at the residence where he lived with his grandmother. While arresting Petitioner, police requested, and were granted, consent to search the residence. Dur[557]*557ing the search police seized Petitioner’s size 11.5 Nike sneakers.

Petitioner was subsequently indicted in Cass County, Michigan for the felony murder of Glaum. Petitioner waived his Fifth Amendment rights, and agreed to talk to the police. In advance of his trial, Petitioner provided the police with ten different versions of the events surrounding Glaum’s murder.

Long was also arrested. Prior to Petitioner’s trial, Long pled guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement, to accessory after the fact to murder. As part of his plea agreement, Long agreed to testify at Petitioner’s trial. However, during a preliminary hearing, Long perjured himself on the stand, and Long subsequently pled guilty to perjury.

II. Procedural History

Petitioner’s trial lasted five days. On the second day of trial, Long testified against Petitioner. In his testimony, Long stated that Petitioner shot Glaum, that Long had not possessed the murder weapon at any point on the night of December 31, 1999, and that Long had not gone to Jellison’s house the morning after the murder. At the start of the fourth day of trial, the prosecution discovered that the portions of Long’s trial testimony maintaining that he did not possess the murder weapon on December 31, 1999, and had not gone to Jellison’s house the next morning, were false. But the prosecution did not immediately disclose this information to either the trial court or the defense.

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Related

United States v. Martin Lewis
763 F.3d 443 (Sixth Circuit, 2014)
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Smith v. Metrish
181 L. Ed. 2d 1024 (Supreme Court, 2012)
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838 F. Supp. 2d 616 (N.D. Ohio, 2011)
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650 F.3d 1276 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)

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436 F. App'x 554, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keith-smith-v-linda-metrish-ca6-2011.