FN8. This hybrid representation resulted from motions Davis filed regarding his right to self-representation. This is precisely what the prosecution did here. While the jury determines aggravating factors unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt, it determines mitigating factors individually and by a preponderance of the information. 18 U.S.C. The evidence reflects, however, that Williams had discussed a plea agreement with the Government, but did not have an actual agreement in place at the time of his 1996 testimony. The district court denied the motion, holding that victim impact evidence is relevant, admissible, and constitutional. The victim-impact testimony here did not violate Davis's due process rights. We may not reverse or vacate a sentence of death on account of any error which can be harmless, including any erroneous special finding of an aggravating factor, where the Government establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that the error was harmless. Id. Anything significant that you're aware of as to the homicide rate, homicide number in 1994? [14] Hardy shot and killed her on October 14, 1994, less than one day after she filed the complaint. You give him life, you don't give him death, he won't be punished at all for killing, executing Kim Marie Groves. You give him life, you don't give him death, he won't be punished at all for killing, executing Kim Marie Groves. Or maybe they didn't do anything.". Pennington said he immediately suspended the nine officers. Therefore, it is not a relevant intervening change of law, and this issue does not fall within the exceptions to the law of the case doctrine. Moreover, the testimony of a single family member was not sufficient to render the trial unfair, relative to the overwhelming evidence against Davis. In connection with this investigation, the FBI conducted surveillance and recorded cellular telephone conversations of Davis and other NOPD officers. This was in direct response to the court's sustaining his objection to the prosecutor's mention of other criminal cases in the Government's summation. Len Davis was a decorated police officer and received many commendations, including a Purple Heart, while with the New Orleans Police Department. See Rogers v. Tennessee, 532 U.S. 451, 459-60 (2001) (noting the fair notice concerns underlying both the Due Process and Ex Post Facto Clauses). [PROSECUTOR]. Draft: Selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the 6th round (164th overall) of the 1998 NFL Draft. The federal documents include detailed transcripts of telephone conversations between Davis, Hardy and Causey, including conversations just minutes before and after the killing. Therefore, we affirm the jury's finding on the future dangerousness factor. Jasmine read the remarks from a letter she had written to Davis. Fourth, Davis asserts that omission of the FDPA elements from the indictment precluded the government from seeking the death penalty at re-sentencing. In his third claim, Davis alleges that the prosecution engaged in misconduct by (1) introducing evidence about his and Hardy's involvement in violence; (2) improperly cross-examining his defense expert; and (3) presenting arguments to the jury about Davis's and Hardy's involvement in violence, in violation of his due process rights. We also determine whether it appears beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of did not contribute to the verdict obtained. Hall, 152 F.3d at 406 (citing Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 23 (1967)); see also 18 U.S.C. Show Transcript. Fifth, Davis claims that the Double Jeopardy Clause precludes his conviction for violating both 18 U.S.C. Williams's sentencing judge was different from Davis's trial judge..FN18. Williams and Duncan had been caught in Operation Shattered Shield and convicted on drug-conspiracy charges. The jury was aware-from the court's detailed instructions before and after the selection and penalty phases-that Davis could only be sentenced to a life sentence without the possibility of release, or to death. At the May 2001 hearing on Davis's Brady motion, Williams reiterated under oath that he did not have an agreement. During the second or selection phase of Davis's re-sentencing hearing, the Government presented evidence to prove that Davis posed a threat of future dangerousness while imprisoned, a non-statutory aggravating factor. They are designed to run in place. Therefore, the defendant and the government may introduce any relevant information during the sentencing hearing limited by the caveat that such information be relevant, reliable, and its probative value must outweigh the danger of unfair prejudice. United States v. Jones, 132 F.3d 232, 241 (5th Cir.1998). Here, the jury decides whether the aggravating factors sufficiently outweigh statutory or non-statutory mitigating factors to warrant a death sentence or, absent mitigating factors, whether the aggravators alone warrant that sentence. [15] His conviction was upheld on appeal. The Brady/Giglio claim was correctly dismissed. If the cooperation was substantial, the Government would consider filing the 5K letter, but neither the letter nor a lighter sentence were guaranteed. The New Orleans Police Department has been broken for some time, and this case shows just that, said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. That's how he thinks of her.. Federal agents were monitoring the telephone lines as the killing was discussed, but were powerless to prevent it, Gallagher said. When Hardy called back, he and Davis discussed a plan to kill Groves, with Hardy as the shooter and Davis and Williams taking care of evidence at the crime scene after the murder was committed. [6], In 1994, an FBI sting caught Davis enforcing a protection racket upon the city's cocaine dealers. We preempted those acts of violence with suggestions to people that they may not want to stay in a particular location.". Two men described as violent drug traffickers - Paul "Cool" Hardy and Damon Causey - have been charged in the Oct. 13 murder. Other participants in the drug trafficking conspiracy are now eligible to receive reduced sentences as a result of their testimony against Mr. Davis and plea agreements with the government. After driving Hardy home, Davis and Williams returned to Groves's neighborhood and searched for her again. Paul Demarest. Defense counsel asked Williams about a 5K letter, a motion for downward sentence departure pursuant to U.S.S.G. Police officers put their lives at risk every day in the line of duty. Thus, there is no reasonable likelihood that the jurors understood the challenged instructions to preclude consideration of relevant mitigating evidence. Buchanan, 522 U.S. at 279. Defense counsel offered correction to a typo but no substantive objections. Life here is no punishment at all. He gets life, he wins again [I]f you don't return a sentence of death, which is the only just sentence in this case, Len Davis will be celebrating again tonight. See Bernard, 299 F.3d at 479-81 (holding that error in admitting minimal victim impact testimony in which victim's mother directly addressed defendants did not affect substantial rights in light of the impact on the family); see also Griffith v. Quarterman, 196 F. App'x 237, 245 (5th Cir.2006) (per curiam, unpublished) (in a habeas case, rejecting Due Process challenge to admissibility of victim impact evidence where only one witness (victim's brother) testified and prosecutor made only passing reference to testimony in closing argument); cf. Sources said prosecutors want to eliminate the possibility that accused officers will concoct an alibi that they were participating in legitimate undercover drug operations. The verdict form and the jury instructions plainly said so. At the eligibility phase, the prosecutor opened by telling jurors they would hear how Davis had developed a particular relationship with Paul Hardy, a street assassin to the extent where he protected Hardy. Then, in summation, the prosecutor used similar language to discuss Hardy while playing some of the wiretap tapes: You know too from the tapes and testimony of Sammie Williams that the defendant is protecting a murder [sic] and dope dealer by the name of Paul Hardy. In 1994, Davis and Williams provide Adams policeprotection. 241; (2) depriving Groves of her civil rights by use of excessive force by shooting her with a firearm, resulting in death, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Minutes before the slaying, Davis was heard giving Hardy a description of Groves' clothing, prosecutors said. Accordingly, this court's review of this claim is foreclosed. Davis stated that trial testimony from FBI personnel revealed that Williams was promised witness protection for himself and his family in exchange for his cooperation, and that the Government would consider filing the 5K letter for Williams. Davis did not appeal this ruling. McCrimmon, 443 F.3d at 461-62. The fact is so reprehensible it demands a sentence of death. FN6. The charge, [t]here is no requirement that the government prove that the defendant deliberated for any particular period of time, was given in the context of the remaining elements of the charge, including, [i]t must, however, show that the defendant had enough time to become fully aware of what he intended to do and to substantially think it over before he acted. Given that the term substantial could have denoted a thing of high magnitude on its own, the remaining elements of the jury charge served to underscore that definition. FN17. Admission of the testimony is not sufficient to reverse Davis's sentence. FN9. Instead, we consider the evidence in a light most favorable to the Government. WebWilliams was a 25-year-old New Orleans police officer assigned to the 7th District. 1999)", "Three Louisiana men freed after 28 years in prison for wrongful murder convictions", "New Orleans wrongfully convicted men crime Len Davis now free", "Houma man freed after 32 years in prison for murder advocates say he did not commit", James Gill: Spinning their wheels on death row, Federal judge recuses herself from ex-cop Len Davis case, New Orleans Breaking News, Today's News | WWL Radio, 24 Years After New Orleans Officer Had Her Killed, Kim Groves' Children to Receive $1.5M Settlement, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Len_Davis&oldid=1137864030, American police officers convicted of murder, Prisoners sentenced to death by the United States federal government, People convicted of murder by the United States federal government, People convicted of depriving others of their civil rights, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 6 February 2023, at 20:56. You have an obligation to uphold the law and that takes courage.Certain crimes, regardless of mitigation, deserve the death penalty. He won't be punished at all. We're not going to tolerate it, " Morial said. In other words, a mitigating factor may be considered in the jury's weighing process if any one juror finds the factor proved by a preponderance. Jones, 527 U.S. at 408. The government must also establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the murder was committed after substantial planning for you to find this element proved. Davis argues that intervening case law has created a contrary decision of the applicable law such that the law of the case doctrine does not apply. In addition, the prosecutor's remarks did not communicate to jurors that they were legally bound to impose the death penalty or that they could not consider Davis's mitigating factors. The other police officers were arrested Wednesday. denied, 526 U.S. 1031 (1999) (waiving appellant's argument where it merely referenced pleadings filed in the district court without stating facts or legal authority in support). Washington State Department of Corrections, WA. (internal citation omitted). The citizens of the City of New Orleans wait for you to give them justice. FN10. Authorities were targeting as many as 20 additional cops when the undercover investigation ended. Police procedurals are stasis machines. When Ronald Doucette resigned from Delgado in 2014, college officials replaced him with another former New Orleans police officer: Julie Lea, a former lieutenant in internal affairs. Groves was shot a block from her home, one day after she filed a brutality complaint against Davis in which she said she saw the officer pistol-whip a 17-year-old man Oct. 11. In a pre-trial filing, Davis moved to strike this aggravating factor. They were contemplating taking an act of violence against the primary undercover agent. Therefore, Davis suffered no prejudice. FN16. That investigation, Operation Shattered Shield, involved soliciting NOPD officers to guard what they thought was a warehouse holding illegal drugs for shipment. The records showed that Davis had two minor disciplinary incidents for most of his incarceration (possession of an unauthorized newspaper and failure to submit to DNA testing). In this context, the error is harmless if the answer is responsive to the question, correctly states the law, and no prejudice results. Davis, Hardy and Causey are charged with conspiring to violate the civil rights of Groves by killing her, a crime punishable by death. As the district court held, victim-impact evidence has been upheld as constitutional. [7][8] Davis had extorted protection money from a drug dealer who was an FBI informant. Mark Mottola. The Fifth Circuit, however, reversed his death sentence when his conviction for witness tampering was thrown out. Therefore, the law of the case doctrine applies to foreclose review in this appeal. Accordingly, [this court] reviews jury findings of aggravating factors by asking whether, after viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the government, any rational trier of fact could have found the existence of the aggravating circumstance beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Agofsky, 458 F.3d 369, 374 (5th Cir.2006) (citing United States v. Bernard, 299 F.3d 467, 481 (5th Cir.2002)). Davis's arguments have no merit. Examples of the remarks include:He prayed [sic] on a community, this community, New Orleans, Louisiana, in the Eastern District of Louisiana that desperately needed, still needs protection from the likes of Len Davis.If you want to shed a tear, shed a tear for the city of New Orleans. In Sinisterra, a federal habeas petitioner challenged the prosecutor's closing argument in which the jury was urged to act as the conscience of the community and send a message to all other drug dealers that this community will not tolerate [crimes like the petitioner's]. 600 F.3d at 910. Moreover, there was not inappropriate disparagement of Davis or defense counsel. The factor states, in relevant part, The defendant committed the offense after substantial planning and premeditation to cause the death of a person. 18 U.S.C. She was seen driving around in her patrol care on duty with that thug many times and even allowed him to drive her patrol car. Hardy and Davis moved to prohibit a death penalty re-sentencing based on double jeopardy. Second, the prosecutor commented on the jurors' duty to return a death sentence, even if mitigation evidence is presented: You see, some crimes, some defendants deserve the death penalty. In his first claim, Davis challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the sentencing jury's finding that he posed a threat of future dangerousness while imprisoned. Nonetheless, we hold that the facts and circumstances of this case make the error harmless. Williams and Duncan had been caught in Operation Shattered Shield and convicted on drug-conspiracy charges. THE COURT: [Prosecutor], please try not to testify and give information. denied, 528 U.S. 829 (1999). Here, in the eligibility phase, Williams's testimony was relevant to show that Davis was familiar with Hardy's criminal activities, maintained a relationship with him, and therefore was able to call upon him as an intermediary to execute Groves. Davis and his police partner Sammie Williams are quoted talking to Hardy at 11:22 p.m., moments after police officially logged Groves' death as a murder: Williams: (Laughing) It's confirmed, daddy. (quoting United States v. Collins, 972 F.2d 1385, 1406 (5th Cir.1992)). at 587. At the close of the selection phase hearing, the district court charged the following aggravating factor to the jury: That Mr. Davis poses a threat of future dangerousness to the lives and safety of other persons while imprisoned. The jury unanimously found that the Government had proven this factor beyond a reasonable doubt. This defendant deserves it. A subsequent jury also chose the death penalty for Davis, and he was formally sentenced to death again on October 27, 2005. Pennington, appointed in October, was briefed about the probe in November, the sources said. at 423. Finally, Davis claims that the Supreme Court's decisions in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000) and Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002) resulted in an unconstitutional judicial rewriting of 18 U.S.C. October 27, 2005 Davis or defense counsel strike this aggravating factor violate Davis 's trial..... 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