Professional Documents
Culture Documents
United States Court of Appeals For The Ninth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals For The Ninth Circuit
SUMMARY*
*
This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has
been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader.
STATEN V. DAVIS 3
COUNSEL
OPINION
BACKGROUND1
A. The Crimes
1
The facts, as recited here, are not disputed.
2
The Menendez brothers were convicted of the 1989 murders of their
parents. Menendez Brothers Sentenced to Life in Prison, N.Y. Times, July
3, 1996, at A15.
6 STATEN V. DAVIS
3
A friend of Petitioner’s testified that Petitioner had the nickname
“501 man” because he often wore 501 Levi’s blue jeans.
8 STATEN V. DAVIS
4
In 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four others were murdered by
Charles Manson’s followers. Dial Torgerson, “Ritualistic Slayings”:
Sharon Tate, Four Others Murdered, L.A. Times, Aug. 10, 1969, at A1.
STATEN V. DAVIS 9
“ESD kills” inside the house. The paint from both samples
was made up of the same commercial formula, which
matched a can of spray paint found in a hall closet.
B. Procedural Background
STANDARDS OF REVIEW
DISCUSSION
1. Deficient Performance
b. Gang Expert
2. Prejudice
his blood might be in the house, testifying that he had cut his
finger earlier in the day and may have left a trail of blood.
Petitioner, characteristically, had been wearing blue jeans on
the day of the murders, but when police arrived at the scene
he was in shorts. Detectives searched for his jeans but never
found them, and the relative with whom Petitioner stayed
after his parents’ deaths testified that she did not see him
wear jeans again until he bought a new pair about three weeks
after the killings. And there was sufficient leeway in the
timeline given by prosecution witnesses to permit the jury to
conclude that events unfolded as the prosecution described.
Against the backdrop of that evidence, a reasonable jurist
could conclude that testimony about the overheard boasting
of ESD members would not have had a reasonable probability
of changing the outcome of the guilt phase of the trial.5
5
The dissent argues that much of the evidence that composed the
prosecution’s case is open to multiple interpretations and innocent
explanations. But viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to
Petitioner does not accord with AEDPA deference where the inquiry is
whether a reasonable jurist could conclude that the deficient performance
did not undermine confidence in the outcome. Richter, 562 U.S.
at 111–12.
22 STATEN V. DAVIS
6
Although the California Supreme Court concluded that Hardy was
prejudiced as to the theory that he was the actual killer, it ultimately held
that his ineffective assistance of counsel claim failed because he could
have been found guilty of murder under a derivative theory. Hardy,
163 P.3d at 887. On appeal, we held that was an unreasonable application
of clearly established federal law because the prosecution’s entire theory,
including its arguments under the derivative theories, rested on the
defendant’s being the actual killer. Hardy v. Chappell, 849 F.3d 803,
820–21 (9th Cir. 2016).
24 STATEN V. DAVIS
AFFIRMED.
1
The majority mentions this encounter, Maj. Op. at 5, but does not
explain that Staten’s two friends, John Nichols and Bishop Higgins,
“didn’t take [Staten] serious[ly]” and described Staten as “just joking.”
STATEN V. DAVIS 33
(2) Blood samples from the crime scene that could have
been Staten’s. The blood evidence was relatively
vague—this was not DNA evidence, but a stipulation from
the defense and the prosecution that some blood samples
taken from the crime scene “could have” come from Staten
and others “could have” come from Faye. The majority
acknowledges that the blood sample tests were
“inconclusive.” Maj. Op. at 20. Also, Staten gave an
explanation as to why his blood may have been in the
house—that it came from a finger that he cut while trimming
the hedges earlier that day.
(4) Staten told his cousin that it was “time to party and get
high” on the night of his parents’ funeral. This
statement—which could have been an inappropriate attempt
to comfort his crying cousin—did not meaningfully implicate
Staten in his parents’ murders. And there was evidence that
Staten was emotionally affected by his parents’ murders—
several witnesses testified to seeing Staten upset after over his
parents’ death.
First, that Arthur Staten was shot but Faye Staten was
stabbed to death suggests, as the defense argued and the
prosecution acknowledged in its opening statement, that more
than one person was likely involved in the murders. But the
jury was never presented with a theory as to who else could
or would have helped Staten murder his parents. Second,
numerous witnesses testified that Staten had a very close
relationship with his mother, making it unlikely that Staten,
STATEN V. DAVIS 35
The majority argues that “in the cases in which [the Ninth
Circuit] and the California Supreme Court have concluded
that failure to present evidence of third-party culpability was
prejudicial,” (1) “the omitted evidence was far more
compelling than it was here,” and (2) “[t]he prosecution’s
case was . . . weaker.” Maj. Op. at 22–23. As discussed
below, the omitted evidence here was both compelling and
fundamentally different than any other evidence admitted at
trial. See infra, Section I.B.ii.
2
See infra, page 40 for discussion of the other case relied on by the
majority, In re Hardy, 163 P.3d 853, 886–87 (Cal. 2007).
36 STATEN V. DAVIS
3
Staten’s case is also similar to Thomas’s because “the objective
clues as to the jury’s assessment of the case strongly suggest that the case
was close.” Thomas, 678 F.3d at 1103. Here, the jury deliberated for two
days and requested readbacks of certain testimony, which “is an indication
that the jury was clearly struggling to reach a verdict.” Id. (quotation
marks and citation omitted). See also Daniels v. Woodford, 428 F.3d
1181, 1209–10 (9th Cir. 2005) (holding that “[t]he jury deliberat[ing] for
STATEN V. DAVIS 37
two days before returning a verdict . . . suggests that the jury may have
been influenced by [additional] evidence had it been offered”). Notably,
the jury requested during their deliberations a transcript of the recorded
conversation between Nichols and Staten in which Staten repeatedly
denies having anything to do with the murders and maintains that the ESD
gang was likely responsible.
4
Thomas did not involve AEDPA deference, and so only considered
whether Thomas was prejudiced by his counsel’s deficient performance.
5
Staten and his family are African American.
6
This testimony contradicted the prosecution’s gang expert, who
testified that the graffiti found in the Statens’ house did not match the style
of the ESD gang’s graffiti.
38 STATEN V. DAVIS
that Staten had had several confrontations with the ESD gang.
Staten and other witnesses testified that Staten received
threatening phone calls from and was shot at by ESD gang
members. Defense counsel also emphasized that the police
did not conduct a thorough investigation of possible gang
involvement before ruling out the ESD gang as suspects. But
the defense did not present any evidence, aside from the
graffiti in the Statens’ house, that directly connected the ESD
gang to Arthur and Faye Staten or to their murders.
ii
7
The majority also asserts that the evidence offered in Staten’s state
habeas petition is less probative because it involved witnesses who “were
either not new or not more credible.” Maj. Op. at 23. For one thing, we
cannot know how credible the jury would have found Keith Taylor, who
did not testify at Staten’s trial. But more importantly, even if the
witnesses would not have been new to the jury, their testimony connecting
the ESD gang to the murders would have been. That these witnesses
provided other unrelated testimony does nothing to diminish the probative
value of testimony regarding the ESD gang claiming credit for the
murders.
STATEN V. DAVIS 39
8
The fact that Arthur and Faye Staten had recently returned from a
trip to Egypt when they were murdered would have supported this
testimony.
STATEN V. DAVIS 43
II