Appeal
from the United States District Court for the Northern
District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 1:13-cv-01434-AT
Before
MARCUS and HULL, Circuit Judges, and WRIGHT, [*] District Judge.
WRIGHT, DISTRICT JUDGE
Scott
Winfield Davis ("Davis"), a Georgia prisoner
serving a life sentence for malice murder, appeals the
district court's denial of his petition for a writ of
habeas corpus, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The
district court granted a certificate of appealability on two
issues: (1) whether Davis's due process claims are
procedurally defaulted and, if not, whether the claims fail
on the merits; and (2) whether the district court abused its
discretion in denying Davis's request to employ the stay
and abeyance procedure set forth in Rhines v. Weber,
544 U.S. 269, 125 S.Ct. 1528, 161 L.Ed.2d 440 (2005). After
careful review and oral argument, we affirm.
I.
BACKGROUND
We
begin by reviewing the evidence presented at Davis's
criminal trial and procedural history.
A.
Murder, Arson, Alibi, and Initial Arrest
On
Friday, December 6, 1996, a private detective gave Davis the
home address of David Coffin, Jr., who was dating Davis's
estranged wife, Megan. After two years of marriage, Megan had
filed for divorce and left the couple's Atlanta home.
Davis, who desperately hoped for a reconciliation, hired the
detective to follow Megan, and told an acquaintance that he
would kill anyone who had a sexual relationship with his
wife. With the address in hand, Davis told the detective that
he planned to drive by Coffin's house that weekend.
On
Saturday, December 7, 1996, while Coffin was spending the
night at Megan's apartment, his home was burglarized and
vandalized, and a phone call was placed from his home phone
to Davis's. Later that night, Davis left multiple,
emotional messages on Megan's phone, begging her to
answer and asking if she were sleeping with Coffin. Coffin
returned to his house the next morning and discovered his
television set destroyed and entertainment room in disarray.
Missing from the residence were Coffin's Porsche
automobile, Beretta handgun, two shotguns, caller
identification box, and two watches.
On
Monday, December 9, 1996, Davis called in sick to work. That
evening, Davis exchanged vehicles with his neighbor, Greg
Gatley, telling Gatley that he needed his Jeep Cherokee,
which was white, to return a table and chairs borrowed for a
Christmas party. Coffin also owned and drove, in addition to
the Porsche, a white Jeep Cherokee. After Gatley and Davis
exchanged cars, Gatley drove Davis's car to a nearby gym
called Australian Body Works, and the next time he saw Davis
was later that night, when Davis returned the Jeep.
On
Tuesday, December 10, 1996, a morning 911 call took Dekalb
County Fire Department personnel to a road near Coffin's
home, where Coffin's stolen Porsche sat unoccupied and on
fire. That evening, Coffin's neighbor observed flames
coming from Coffin's house and called 911. Firefighters
later discovered Coffin's charred body in what remained
of his incinerated home.
The
same evening, Davis made several calls to the police. Before
the discovery of the house fire and Coffin's body, Davis
reported that an intruder had entered his home and sprayed
him with mace. Davis told the responding officer that his
attacker put a gun to his head and warned him to "leave
Megan alone" and that after a failed attempt to steal
his car, the attacker fled on foot and jumped over his
backyard fence. Davis called police a second time to report
that a gas can, tools, and clothing were missing from his
home after the alleged attack, and made a third emergency
call a few hours after firefighters were dispatched to the
fire at Coffin's house. With his last call, Davis
reported that he had awakened to find flames on his back
patio and a person in a ski mask with a handgun. Davis told
the responding officers that he had fired a shotgun at the
masked person, who had shot back and fled over the back
fence, and that Davis had extinguished the fire with a garden
hose.
After
firefighters discovered Coffin's body, homicide
detectives Rick Chambers and Marchal Walker went to the scene
and learned about Davis's emergency calls and his
connection to Megan and Coffin. The detectives went to
Davis's residence, a short distance away, where Davis
repeated the information he had reported earlier. Given
similarities between the events at Davis's house and
Coffin's, and the assailant's reference to Megan, the
detectives requested that Davis provide a written statement,
and he agreed. Davis voluntarily allowed officers at the
scene to transport him to the homicide office to give his
statement.
At the
homicide office, Davis dictated a statement to Chambers, and
Chambers asked him some questions. At first, Chambers viewed
Davis as a victim, but as his story progressed, he became
suspicious and provided Davis Miranda warnings.
Davis waived his Miranda rights and continuing with
the interview, said that he had learned that Coffin's
house was on fire and that Coffin had been shot. At that
time, law enforcement had no information about the cause of
death, as Coffin's body had been severely burned. Only
later would an autopsy reveal that Coffin died from a gunshot
wound to the head. When asked how he had learned that Coffin
had been shot, Davis said that he thought that Megan or her
friend, Craig Foster, had told him during a phone
conversation. Chambers left the interview room and called
Megan and Foster, who both denied that they knew how Coffin
died or that they had told Davis that Coffin had been shot.
Chambers, assisted by Walker, continued the remainder of
Davis's interview on audiotape. Davis was free to go when
the interview concluded, and Chambers and Walker drove him
home. Before Chambers left Davis's residence, he scanned
the back fence for evidence of a fleeing intruder but found
nothing.
On
Thursday, December 12, 1996, Davis told Gatley that they
needed to "get their stories straight," and asked
Gatley to tell police that he had seen him at the Australian
Body Works Gym on December 9, the night the two had exchanged
vehicles. Gatley told Davis that he was just going to tell
the truth.
On
Friday, December 13, 1996, officers arrested Davis on charges
of Coffin's murder, the burglary and arson of
Coffin's home, and the theft of Coffin's Porsche.
Davis was eventually released, and the Fulton County District
Attorney dismissed the charges in mid-1998, but Davis
remained a suspect.
B.
Indictment and Pretrial Motion to Dismiss Based on Lost and
Destroyed Evidence
In
November 2005, a Fulton County grand jury charged Davis with
felony and malice murder, alleging that between December 9
and 10, 1996, he shot Coffin and set his body on fire. Davis
urged the trial court that the State's loss or
destruction of evidence during the nine-year period between
his initial arrest and eventual indictment violated his right
to due process. Before trial, he filed a motion to dismiss
the indictment based on the loss or destruction of evidence
and reported that the State's attorney had notified
defense counsel that much of the physical evidence in the
case had been lost or destroyed. In his written motion, Davis
alleged that the State lost or destroyed the following
evidence:
• a Beretta handgun (the alleged murder weapon)
recovered from the murder scene, near Coffin's body
• a bullet and a bullet casing removed from Coffin's
body
• a hat tassel found in the Jeep Cherokee that Davis
borrowed from Gatley
• a gasoline can recovered from Coffin's torched
Porsche
• remnants of a 1996 Atlanta Olympics plastic bag
recovered from Coffin's torched Porsche
• a shotgun recovered from Coffin's torched Porsche
• a knife recovered from Coffin's torched Porsche
• a flashlight recovered from Coffin's torched
Porsche
• a key recovered from Coffin's torched Porsche
• a caller identification unit recovered from
Coffin's torched Porsche
• a second gasoline can found December 26, 1996 on a
road close to Coffin's home
Davis
argued that the foregoing items were potentially exculpatory
and that law enforcement personnel had acted in bad faith by
destroying or losing them. After a hearing, the trial court
denied the motion, finding that the missing evidence was
material but that without a showing of bad faith on the part
of the State, the loss or destruction of the evidence did not
amount to a denial of due process.
C.
Trial, Conviction, and Posttrial Motion for a New Trial Based
on Lost and Destroyed Evidence
At
trial, over defense counsel's continued objection,
witnesses referred to multiple articles of lost or destroyed
evidence. For example, Megan identified a photograph of the
gas can surrounded by a plastic bag remnant that firefighters
recovered from Coffin's Porsche. She testified that the
gas can, which had the word "gasoline" printed on
the diagonal, looked like one that had been present in the
home she had shared with Davis. Megan also testified that the
plastic bag remnant looked like a drawstring bag with a
sports insignia that Davis had brought home after the 1996
Atlanta Olympics, but she acknowledged that she did not know
whether the gas can and bag were the same items that she had
observed in her marital home. Also notable was testimony that
the Beretta handgun that Coffin owned and had reported stolen
was discovered under his head.
Several
witnesses testified about forensic tests attempted or
performed before physical evidence was lost or destroyed. A
Georgia Bureau of Investigation ("GBI") firearms
examiner testified that the bullet removed from Coffin and
Beretta and shell casings from the crime scene were
untestable due to fire and water damage. Although the
examiner could not verify that the bullet had been fired from
the ...