Supreme Court OF THE OKLAHOMA INTERCOLLEGIATE LEGISLATURE

Transcription

1 Supreme Court OF THE OKLAHOMA INTERCOLLEGIATE LEGISLATURE CHIEF JUSTICE: Chase Maxwell VICE CHIEF JUSTICE: Paige Colston ASSOCIATE JUSTICES, By Seniority: Matthew Nieman Wade Hilsher Clayton Mayfield Rachel Seldenrust Mike Giammarino Zac Helms MOOT COURT CASE SPRING 2016

2 SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES Case No.: Eugene Goldwater, PETITIONER vs. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE 13TH CIRCUIT United States of America, RESPONDENT CASE FACTS: On July 31, 2015, a jury for the Southern District of Hamilton convicted Eugene Goldwater of one count of 1 st degree Murder for the death of Barry Debs and sentenced Eugene Goldwater to death in a bifurcated proceeding. All relevant issues were preserved for appeal. Eugene Goldwater, through counsel, timely appealed his conviction to the 13th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Goldwaters and the Debs had been close since childhood. Eugene Goldwater and Barry Debs served in the Army together after high school. After completing law school at Hamilton State University, Goldwater, Debs, and another friend, Lyndon Roosevelt, opened a small criminal law practice primarily servicing Lane, Hominy, and Storm counties. Barry Debs would marry Eugene Goldwater s sister Hillary. Eugene Goldwater would marry Barry Debs younger sister Ladybird. Eugene Goldwater is a 72-year-old man with severe health problems. Before his retirement, he was known in the legal community for taking high profile criminal defense cases pro bono. He has long been retired and suffers from Payne s Disease and severe arthritis. Payne s Disease symptoms include problems with impulse control,

3 extreme emotional response, and long term memory, sufferers often have lapses where they firmly and truly believe they are years in the past, experiencing the same events and the same emotions they did years, even decades earlier. After the passing of his wife Ladybird in 2012, Eugene Goldwater moved into the house of his younger sister and brother-in-law, Hillary and Barry Debs, because his condition requires constant care and supervision. He has two adult sons and three grandchildren. At the time of his death, Barry Debs was 72-year-old man in a happy, stable marriage. Despite his age, he was still actively involved at his law firm: overseeing the younger attorneys, paralegals, and investigators. He was an active runner; he competed in the senior divisions of local races. He was an active gun collector, a champion sharp shooter, and he taught gun safety courses in his spare time. He had recently started a position with the federal government to teach its officers in the Southern District of Hamilton continuing education classes in marksmanship and gun safety. His wife Hillary, two daughters, and two grandchildren survive him. The only serious problem in the two s friendship occurred in the early years of their law practice. After a series of crushing legal defeats, Barry Debs developed an addiction to alcohol. In a fit of drunken rage, he assaulted his wife Hillary. When Eugene Goldwater heard what had happened to his sister, his law partner, Lyndon Roosevelt had to restrain him to keep him from attacking Barry Debs. Barry Debs would enter anger management classes and a rehabilitation program, and would eventually make amends with both his wife and law partner. Neither a police report, nor criminal charges were ever filed.

4 INVESTIGATION & CRIMINAL TRIAL: The government alleged that on April 1, 2015, Eugene Goldwater shot his brother-in-law Barry Debs five times with Debs 9mm Glock 19 in downtown Drake, Hamilton, while Barry Debs was alone and setting up a rented classroom for a gun safety class for federal officers and employees. Barry Debs lingered in local St. Thomas More Hospital for three days before finally passing away. The government was never able to find fingerprint evidence, DNA evidence, video evidence, or third party eyewitness testimony. The local U.S. Attorney s office achieved the conviction primarily through six key pieces of evidence: 1. The police found a missing 9mm Glock 19, from one of Debs gun safes lying under the bed of Eugene Goldwater. 2. Forensic evidence showed that the gun recently had been fired without being cleaned. 3. Testimony from Hillary Debs that her husband had always been fastidious about gun safety and gun cleaning. 4. Testimony from Hillary Debs that her brother was no longer able to clean a firearm without severe joint pain. 5. A hearsay statement testified to at trial by Barney Flanders that Barry Debs made to the police days later at the hospital. 6. A post-miranda statement in which Eugene Goldwater admitted to having a Payne s Disease episode that day in which he thought he was back to the day in which he found out that Barry Debs had assaulted Hillary. Because he had spent his professional life as an opponent to the death penalty, Barry Debs had originally not wanted to give a statement to an officer. Through his first two days at the hospital, the doctors told him that it was likely he was going to pull

5 through. Around noon on the third day, Debs condition took a serious turn for the worse. The doctors told Debs that he likely would not make it through the night. One doctor did vocally dissent and tell Debs that he would likely be okay. Around 9:00 P.M. Debs asked for a Catholic priest and for an officer. The Catholic Priest performed the last rites on Debs and Debs asked the priest to tell the government to not seek the death penalty. Officer Barney Flanders arrived around 10:00 P.M. Officer Barney Flanders quotes Barry Debs as saying: I think I am dying. I just got square with God, now I need to get square with you. My brother-in-law, Eugene, shot me. He kept muttering something about Hillary. Please don t execute him, but I think he is a danger to my wife and my kids. I think he purposefully shot me the way he did so I d take awhile to die. Pray for my health, will ya? Barry Debs would die shortly before midnight. Because of the U.S. Attorney Office s refusal to seek anything but the death penalty, Eugene Goldwater and his counsel took the case to trial. Both sides offered evidence that Eugene Goldwater was suffering from a Payne s Disease episode on the day of the crime. The trial was properly bifurcated with the jury finding aggravating circumstances such as heinousness and age of victim. In the last ten years, fifteen states have by statute outlawed the execution of a person that was in a Payne s Disease episode at the time of the crime: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Indiana, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia. There is a ballot initiative in Oklahoma and Kansas set for next November.

6 CASE RULES: Issue that are NOT at issue: 1) Is this properly a federal case, 2) Is the death penalty in all cases immoral and unconstitutional, 3) Federal constitutional provisions, statutes, rules, cases or regulations that aren t mentioned, 4) Firearms, 5) If the statements are actually hearsay, and 6) If another hearsay exception serve to allow the statements in. The appeal is challenging two issues: 1. DYING DECLERATION The statements the police officer made to the jury about what Barry Debs told him is clearly hearsay. Are they allowable under the dying declaration exception? Even if it was a dying declaration, does the dying declaration exception survive Crawford? If it was not a dying declaration or it did not survive Crawford, is it harmless error? What remedy, if any, is appropriate? Federal Rule of Evidence 802: Hearsay is not admissible unless any of the following provides otherwise: a federal statute; these rules; or other rules prescribed by the Supreme Court. Federal Rule of Evidence 804(a)(4) (a) Criteria for Being Unavailable. A declarant is considered to be unavailable as a witness if the declarant: (4) cannot be present or testify at the trial or hearing because of death or a then-existing infirmity, physical illness, or mental illness; or Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(2)

7 (b) The Exceptions. The following are not excluded by the rule against hearsay if the declarant is unavailable as a witness: (2) Statement Under the Belief of Imminent Death. In a prosecution for homicide or in a civil case, a statement that the declarant, while believing the declarant's death to be imminent, made about its cause or circumstances. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(a) (a) Harmless Error. Any error, defect, irregularity, or variance that does not affect substantial rights must be disregarded. Advisory Committee Notes to subdivision (a) Note to Subdivision (a). This rule is a restatement of existing law, 28 U.S.C. former 391 (second sentence): On the hearing of any appeal, certiorari, writ of error, or motion for a new trial, in any case, civil or criminal, the court shall give judgment after an examination of the entire record before the court, without regard to technical errors, defects, or exceptions which do not affect the substantial rights of the parties ; 18 U.S.C. former 556; No indictment found and presented by a grand jury in any district or other court of the United States shall be deemed insufficient, nor shall the trial, judgment, or other proceeding thereon be affected by reason of any defect or imperfection in matter of form only, which shall not tend to the prejudice of the defendant, * * *. A similar provision is found in rule 61 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C., Appendix. Carver v. U.S.,164 U.S. 694 (1897). Shepard v. U.S., 290 U.S. 96 (1933). Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004). Michigan v. Bryant, 562 U.S. 344 (2011). 2. DISEASE? a. Can a person with Payne s Disease, who by the government s own admission was going through an episode of Payne s Disease at the time of the crime, be sentenced to death under the 8 th amendment of the federal constitution? 8 th Amendment Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815 (1988)

8 Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005). Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002). Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008).