Jamie Mills v. Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Jamie Mills v. Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections
Opinion
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[PUBLISH]
In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eleventh Circuit
____________________
No. 24-11661
____________________
JAMIE MILLS,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
COMMISSIONER, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF
CORRECTIONS,
Respondent-Appellee.
____________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Alabama
D.C. Docket No. 6:17-cv-00789-LSC
____________________
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2 Order of the Court 24-11661
Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and LUCK and ABUDU, Circuit
Judges.
WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge:
Jamie Mills, an Alabama inmate scheduled to be executed on
May 30, 2024, for committing two murders in 2004, seeks a certifi-
cate of appealability for the denial of his motion for relief from the
judgment denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in 2020.
See FED. R. CIV. P. 60. Because no reasonable jurist could conclude
that the district court abused its discretion, we deny Mills’s applica-
tion and deny as moot his motion to stay his execution.
I. BACKGROUND
In 2007, an Alabama jury convicted Jamie Mills of the capital
murders of Floyd and Vera Hill. The trial court accepted the jury’s
recommendation and sentenced him to death. See Mills v. State, 62
So. 3d 553, 556 (Ala. Crim. App. 2008). After Mills and his common-
law wife, JoAnn, plotted to rob the Hills, Mills “brutally executed”
the Hills “with a machete, tire tool[,] and ball-peen hammer.” Id. at
557 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). JoAnn testi-
fied against her husband at his trial and later pleaded guilty to mur-
der and was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.
Mills moved for a new trial on the ground that JoAnn had per-
jured herself by denying that she testified against him to procure
leniency for herself. The trial court denied the motion. The Ala-
bama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed, see id. at 574, and the
Supreme Court of Alabama denied Mills’s petition for a writ of
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24-11661 Order of the Court 3
certiorari on that issue. Mills also later unsuccessfully sought post-
conviction relief under Alabama Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.
Mills petitioned the district court for a writ of habeas corpus in
2017. The district court denied relief on November 30, 2020. We
denied his motion for a certificate of appealability, and the Su-
preme Court denied his petition for a writ of certiorari on April 18,
2022.
On January 29, 2024, the State of Alabama moved to set an ex-
ecution date. In March 2024, Mills filed a successive motion under
Rule 32 in state court. With that motion, he offered, for the first
time, an affidavit by JoAnn Mills’s attorney, Tony Glenn. Glenn al-
leged that he had “had several discussions” in 2007 with the district
attorney, Jack Bostick, “about a plea offer based on [JoAnn’s] tragic
mitigation history and her potential testimony at Jamie Mills’[s] up-
coming trial.” Glenn alleged that Bostick and the victims’ family
“agreed” that JoAnn would receive a plea deal for “life with parole,”
instead of capital murder, if she “testified truthfully” at Mills’s trial.
Glenn alleged that these discussions involving Bostick and the vic-
tims’ family were recorded on his fee declaration, which Mills at-
tached. And Glenn alleged that the first time he spoke with “any
attorneys from the Equal Justice Initiative”—which has repre-
sented Mills since 2009—about the matter was February 23, 2024,
nearly two years after the Supreme Court denied certiorari.
On April 5, 2024—three-and-a-half years after the district court
denied his habeas petition—Mills moved for relief under Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 60. He argued that “[n]ewly discovered
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4 Order of the Court 24-11661
evidence”—the Glenn affidavit and attached declaration—estab-
lished that Bostick had “engaged in egregious misconduct” by “af-
firmatively and falsely stat[ing]” to the trial court that “there was
no deal” with JoAnn to testify against her husband. Mills sought
relief under Rule 60(b)(2), Rule 60(b)(3) and (d), and Rule 60(b)(6).
The district court denied relief on each ground. First, under
Rule 60(b)(2), which allows relief for “newly discovered evidence”
that “could not have been discovered” with “reasonable diligence”
in time to move for a new trial, the district court denied the motion
as untimely. It explained that the motion had to be filed “no more
than a year after the entry of the judgment or order” from which
the party seeks relief. See FED. R. CIV. P. 60(c)(1). It alternatively de-
nied relief because Mills failed to exercise reasonable diligence.
Mills had known since 2007 that Glenn represented JoAnn and had
been arguing since then that she perjured herself. Yet Mills did not
approach Glenn until 2024 to discuss whether JoAnn struck a secret
plea deal. Mills “offer[ed] no reason why he could not have spoken
with Glenn or obtained [his] . . . fee declaration” before then. Sec-
ond, the district court denied relief under Rule 60(b)(3) and (d). It
ruled that relief under Rule 60(b)(3)—for the opposing party’s
“fraud,” “misrepresentation,” or “misconduct”—was untimely. See
id. It also ruled that Mills failed to prove that the State obtained
Mills’s sentence through fraud on the court. It identified “mis-
state[ments]” in Glenn’s fee declaration, stated that Bostick had al-
leged in his affidavit that the State did not offer JoAnn a plea deal
before she testified, and explained that, if Glenn’s affidavit “[were]
to be believed,” Glenn would have sat silently in court in 2007 as he
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24-11661 Order of the Court 5
knowingly watched both JoAnn and Bostick repeatedly perjure
themselves. Third, the district court denied relief under
Rule 60(b)(6), which allows relief for “any other reason that justi-
fies relief.” It ruled that the motion was not “made within a reason-
able time.” Id. R. 60(c)(1). And it denied Mills a certificate of ap-
pealability and his motion for a stay of execution.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
A party who seeks to appeal the denial of a motion for relief
from a judgment denying habeas relief must obtain a certificate of
appealability. See Gonzalez v. Sec’y for Dep’t of Corr., 366 F.3d 1253,
1263 (11th Cir. 2004), aff ’d on other grounds sub nom. Gonzalez v.
Crosby, 545 U.S. 524 (2005). We may issue a certificate “only if the
applicant has made a substantial showing of the denial of a consti-
tutional right.” 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). The applicant must establish
that jurists of reason could disagree with the resolution of his con-
stitutional claims or that jurists could conclude that “the issues pre-
sented are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed fur-
ther.” Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 327 (2003). Because Rule 60
“vests wide discretion in [district] courts,” we ask whether a reason-
able jurist could conclude that the district court abused its discre-
tion. See Buck v. Davis, 137 S. Ct. 759, 777 (2017). A district court
abuses its discretion when it applies an incorrect legal standard, fol-
lows improper procedures, makes clearly erroneous factual find-
ings, or applies the law unreasonably. Loc. 703, I.B. of T. Grocery &
Food Emps. Welfare Fund v. Regions Fin. Corp., 762 F.3d 1248, 1253
(11th Cir. 2014).
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6 Order of the Court 24-11661
III. DISCUSSION
Mills seeks a certificate of appealability on three grounds. He
argues that a reasonable jurist could conclude that the district court
abused its discretion in denying relief under Rule 60(b)(2),
Rule 60(b)(3) and (d)(3), and Rule 60(b)(6). We reject each argu-
ment.
A. No Reasonable Jurist Could Conclude That the District Court Abused
its Discretion in Denying Relief Under Rule 60(b)(2).
Mills argues that reasonable jurists could debate whether the
district court abused its discretion in denying his motion for relief
under Rule 60(b)(2) as untimely. He argues that the time limit in
clause (c)(1) does not apply to his motion because Rule 60 “does
not limit” a court’s power to “set aside a judgment for fraud on the
court.” See FED. R. CIV. P. 60(d)(3). He argues that Bostick commit-
ted fraud on the court.
No reasonable jurist could conclude that the district court
abused its discretion in rejecting this argument. We interpret the
Federal Rules based on their “plain text.” See City of Jacksonville v.
Jacksonville Hosp. Holdings, L.P., 82 F.4th 1031, 1034 (11th Cir. 2023);
see also Rosenberg v. DVI Receivables XIV, LLC, 818 F.3d 1283, 1288
(11th Cir. 2016). Rule 60(c)(1) states that a “motion under
Rule 60(b)” “for reasons (1), (2), and (3)” must be made “no more
than a year after the entry of the judgment or order” from which
the movant seeks relief. FED. R. CIV. P. 60(c)(1). Mills sought relief
from the November 30, 2020, judgment and filed his motion on
April 5, 2024. Three-and-a-half years is “more than a year.” See id.
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24-11661 Order of the Court 7
B. No Reasonable Jurist Could Conclude That the District Court Abused
its Discretion in Denying Relief Under Rule 60(b)(3) and (d)(3).
No reasonable jurist could conclude that the district court
abused its discretion in denying Mills’s motion under Rule 60(b)(3)
as untimely and under subsection (d)(3) on the merits. The time
limit in Rule 60(c)(1) expressly applies to relief under clause (b)(3)
based on allegations of the opposing party’s fraud, misrepresenta-
tion, or misconduct. See id. Our precedent forecloses Mills’s argu-
ment to the contrary: when “more than one year passe[s] between
the entry of the original judgment and the filing of [a motion un-
der Rule 60(b)(3)], the plaintiff cannot seek relief under Rule
60(b)(3).” Travelers Indem. Co. v. Gore, 761 F.2d 1549, 1550–51 (11th
Cir. 1985).
To be sure, there is “no time limit on setting aside a judgment”
under Rule 60(d)(3). See 11 Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller
& Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice & Procedure § 2870 (3d ed. Apr.
2023). But a movant who seeks relief under clause (d)(3) must es-
tablish “fraud on the court,” FED. R. CIV. P. 60(d)(3), by clear and
convincing evidence, see Booker v. Dugger, 825 F.2d 281, 283 & n.4
(11th Cir. 1987). That standard is “demanding.” Miller-El v. Dretke,
545 U.S. 231, 240 (2005). The movant must establish that the alleged
fraud is “highly probable.” See Bishop v. Warden, GDCP, 726 F.3d
1243, 1258 (11th Cir. 2013). Fraud on the court involves a “direct
assault on the integrity of the judicial process.” 11 Wright, Miller
& Kay, Federal Practice & Procedure § 2870. It “embrace[s] only that
species of fraud” that officers of the court “perpetrate[]” against
“the judicial machinery” and that “defile[s] the court itself.” Gore,
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8 Order of the Court 24-11661
761 F.2d at 1551 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). It
involves “an unconscionable plan or scheme.” See Davenport Recy-
cling Assocs. v. Comm’r, 220 F.3d 1255, 1262 (11th Cir. 2000) (citation
and internal quotation marks omitted) (describing fraud on the
court in the context of challenges to a decision of the Tax Court).
No reasonable jurist could conclude that the district court
abused its discretion in ruling that Mills failed to establish that it is
highly probable that the State hatched an unconscionable scheme.
Mills does not dispute that “the dating of some of the relevant
events is misstated” in Glenn’s fee declaration. For example, the
declaration states that Glenn attended trial on September 11 and
12, 2007, to watch JoAnn testify. It is undisputed that JoAnn testified
instead on August 22, 2007. Mills dismisses these inconsistencies as
“scrivener’s errors” or an “inadvertent[]” “transposition of num-
bers,” but the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining
to credit a fee declaration with blatant errors about the very events
at the heart of this controversy. And no reasonable jurist could con-
clude that the district court abused its discretion in assessing the
plausibility of Glenn’s affidavit. The district court concluded that, if
the affidavit “[were] to be believed,” Glenn witnessed both Bostick
and JoAnn repeatedly perjure themselves on August 22, 2007, yet
said nothing and then, as the Commissioner says, “held his tongue
for nearly seventeen years.” No reasonable jurist could conclude
that the district court abused its discretion in ruling that Mills had
not met the “demanding” standard of Rule 60(d)(3), see Dretke, 545
U.S. at 240, for proving that the State “defile[d] the court itself,”
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24-11661 Order of the Court 9
Gore, 761 F.2d at 1551 (citation and internal quotation marks omit-
ted).
C. No Reasonable Jurist Could Conclude That the District Court Abused
its Discretion in Denying Relief Under Rule 60(b)(6).
Last, Mills argues that a reasonable jurist could conclude that
the district court abused its discretion in denying the motion for
relief under Rule 60(b)(6). He seeks relief on grounds identical to
those on which he premised his requests for relief under
Rule 60(b)(2) and (b)(3). But Rule 60(b)(6) states that a court may
grant relief only “for . . . any other reason” than those listed in
clauses (b)(1) through (b)(5). FED. R. CIV. P. 60(b)(6) (emphasis
added); see Liljeberg v. Health Servs. Acquisition Corp., 486 U.S. 847,
863 (1988) (stating that Rule 60(b)(6) “grants federal courts broad
authority to relieve a party from a final judgment . . . provided that
the motion is . . . not premised on one of the grounds for relief
enumerated in clauses (b)(1) through (b)(5)”). As a leading treatise
on federal civil practice puts it, “much authority” establishes that
“clause (6) and the first five clauses [of Rule 60(b)] are mutually ex-
clusive” and that “relief cannot be had under clause (6) if it would
have been available under the earlier clauses.” 11 Wright, Miller &
Kane, Federal Practice & Procedure § 2864 (3d ed. Apr. 2023).
No reasonable jurist could conclude that the district court
abused its discretion in denying relief under Rule 60(b)(6). Were we
to read the Rule as Mills urges, the one-year limit in subsec-
tion (c)(1) would be superf luous. And his reading would make
clauses (b)(1) through (b)(5) altogether “pointless.” See Antonin
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10 Order of the Court 24-11661
Scalia & Bryan A. Garner, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal
Texts § 26, at 176 (2012) (surplusage canon); see also United States v.
Jicarilla Apache Nation, 564 U.S. 162, 185 (2011) (“[W]e are hesitant
to adopt an interpretation . . . [that] renders superf luous another
portion of th[e] same law.” (citation and internal quotation marks
omitted)). Although we agree with the district court that no rea-
sonable jurist would think that Mills’s motion for Rule 60(b)(6) re-
lief was timely, we rule that no reasonable jurist would question
the denial on the merits as supported by the record. Cf. Haynes v.
McCalla Raymer, LLC, 793 F.3d 1246, 1249 (11th Cir. 2015) (we may
affirm on any ground that the record supports when reviewing for
abuse of discretion).
IV. CONCLUSION
We DENY Mills’s application for a certificate of appealability
and DENY AS MOOT his motion to stay his execution.
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24-11661 Abudu, J., Concurring 1
ABUDU, Circuit Judge, Concurring:
The death penalty is the harshest punishment one can
receive in this country. The Supreme Court has recognized that
“the death penalty is qualitatively and morally different from any
other penalty.” Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U.S. 333, 361 (1992) (Stevens,
J. concurring); see also Gre v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 187 (1976)
(“There is no question that death as a punishment is unique in its
severity and irrevocability. When a defendant’s life is at stake, the
Court has been particularly sensitive to insure [sic] that every safe-
guard is observed.” (citations omitted)); Woodson v. North Carolina,
428 U.S. 280, 305 (1976) (noting “the need for reliability in the de-
termination that death is the appropriate punishment in a specific
case”). As a result, “it is of vital importance to the defendant and
to the community that any decision to impose the death sentence
be, and appear to be, the consequence of scrupulously fair proce-
dures.” Sawyer, 505 U.S. at 361 (internal quotation marks and
brackets omitted).
I concur in the denial of Mills’ motion for a certificate
of appealability (“COA”). I write separately to express concern
about the rigid interpretation and application of Rule 60(b)(6), par-
ticularly the “extraordinary circumstances” provision in a death
penalty case when the petitioner is asserting actual innocence.
I. THE COA STANDARD
We may only grant a petitioner a COA if he “has
made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.”
28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). Importantly, “[a]t the COA stage, the only
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2 Abudu, J., Concurring 24-11661
question is whether the applicant has shown that ‘jurists of reason
could disagree with the district court’s resolution of his constitu-
tional claims or that jurists could conclude the issues presented are
adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further.’” Buck v.
Davis, 580 U.S. 100, 115(2017) (quoting Miller-El v. Cockrell,537 U.S. 322, 337
(2003)). This question must be decided without a full con-
sideration of the factual or legal basis underlying the petitioner’s
claims. Id. To conduct such merits analysis at the COA stage “is in
essence deciding an appeal without jurisdiction.” Miller-El, 537 U.S.
at 337.
Accordingly, at the COA stage, a petitioner does not
have to show that his appeal will be successful once it is heard on
the merits. Id. We cannot “decline the application for a COA
merely because [we] believe[] the applicant will not demonstrate
an entitlement to relief.” Id. Instead, we must issue a COA where
reasonable jurists could debate the issue presented, and “a claim
can be debatable even though every jurist of reason might agree,
after the COA has been granted and the case has received full con-
sideration, that [the] petitioner will not prevail.” Id. at 338. At
minimum, the petitioner seeking a COA must prove “something
more than the absence of frivolity” or “good faith” on his part. Id.
(internal quotation marks omitted).
II. RULE 60(b)(6) MOTIONS
We review for an abuse of discretion the district court’s de-
nial of a Rule 60(b)(6) motion. Buck, 580 U.S. at 122-23. Rule 60
provides a list of specific grounds on which a movant may seek
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24-11661 Abudu, J., Concurring 3
relief from a death sentence, including for “any other reason that
justifies relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(1)-(6). Relief under Rule
60(b)(6) is available only in “extraordinary circumstances.” Gonza-
lez v. Crosby, 545 U.S. 524, 535 (2005). The case law supports a re-
jection of Mills’ request for relief under Rule 60(b)(6) as duplicative
of the arguments he raised under Rule 60(b)(2), (b)(3), and (d)(3),
see Liljeberg v. Health Services Acquisition Corp., 486 U.S. 847, 863
(1988). However, the Supreme Court also has recognized that Rule
60(b)(6) “does not particularize the factors that justify relief.”
Liljeberg, 486 U.S. at 863-64. Moreover, the Court has emphasized
that Rule 60(b)(6) relief is warranted “to vacate judgments whenever
such action is appropriate to accomplish justice.” Id. at 864 (em-
phasis added) (instructing courts to “consider the risk of injustice”
and “the risk of undermining the public’s confidence in the judicial
process”); see also Cano v. Baker, 435 F.3d 1337, 1341-42 (11th Cir.
2006) (analyzing a party’s Rule 60(b)(6) motion in conjunction with
related Rule 60(b)(5) arguments).
III. RELEVANT TENANTS OF FUNDAMENTAL
FAIRNESS AT TRIAL
Prosecutors play a special role “in the search for truth
in criminal trials.” Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 281 (1999). As a
result, the court, defendants, and juries expect prosecutors to re-
frain from using improper methods to secure a conviction. Banks
v. Dretke, 540 U.S. 668, 696 (2004).
The Supreme Court has issued many rulings outlin-
ing a prosecutor’s duties to the court, litigants, and juries. Most
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4 Abudu, J., Concurring 24-11661
relevant here, prosecutors cannot suppress “evidence favorable to
an accused . . . where the evidence is material either to guilt or to
punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the pros-
ecution.” Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87 (1963). The essential
elements of a Brady claim include: (1) the evidence at issue must be
favorable to the petitioner because it was either exculpatory or im-
peaching; (2) the evidence was suppressed by the state, either will-
fully or inadvertently; and (3) the petitioner suffered prejudice.
Banks, 540 U.S. at 691(citing Strickler,527 U.S. at 281-82
). Thus,
“prosecutor[s] may [not] hide,” nor must a petitioner “seek” out,
the existence of Brady materials. Id. at 696 (internal quotation
marks omitted).
Additionally, prosecutors have an obligation to cor-
rect false testimony once it is stated in court. Napue v. Illinois, 360
U.S. 264, 269 (1959). In fact, “[t]he principle that a State may not
knowingly use false evidence, including false testimony, to obtain a
tainted conviction, implicit in any concept of ordered liberty, does
not cease to apply merely because the false testimony goes only to the cred-
ibility of the witness.” Id. (emphasis added). As the Supreme Court
recognized, “[t]he jury’s estimate of the truthfulness and reliability
of a given witness may well be determinative of guilt or innocence,
and it is upon such subtle factors as the possible interest of the wit-
ness in testifying falsely that a defendant’s life or liberty may de-
pend.” Id.
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24-11661 Abudu, J., Concurring 5
IV. MILLS HAS MET THE THRESHOLD
REQUIREMENT TO OBTAIN A COA
In applying the above legal framework, Mills has met
the threshold requirement to obtain a COA on the issues of:
(1) whether the district court abused its discretion in denying his
Rule 60(b)(6) motion as untimely; and (2) whether reasonable ju-
rists could debate the district court’s determination that Mills did
not establish “extraordinary circumstances” entitling him to relief.
Buck, 580 U.S. at 116 (“That a prisoner has failed to make the ulti-
mate showing that his claim is meritorious does not logically mean
he failed to make a preliminary showing that his claim was debata-
ble.”).
At the very moment JoAnn (Mills’ ex-wife and the star wit-
ness of the State’s case against him) testified at his trial, Mills has
asserted that JoAnn was offered a favorable plea deal in exchange
for her testimony against him. In fact, Mills has raised this issue no
less than 15 times before varying trial, state, and post-conviction
courts—each time to no avail. In these instances, the courts denied
his claim in reliance on the State’s affirmation, made in open court,
that it did not offer JoAnn a “promise . . . maybe . . . nudge . . . [or]
wink” that she would receive a favorable plea should she testify
against Mills. The district court, when it denied Mills’ initial 28
U.S.C. § 2254 petition, also relied on the State’s averments. This
Court then denied Mills a COA to appeal the § 2254 petition’s de-
nial, meaning this Court has yet to hear Mills’ case on the merits.
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Now, Mills has obtained an affidavit from JoAnn’s trial
attorney, Tony Glenn, and additional information that JoAnn met
with state officials before she testified in court against Mills and that
a plea deal was discussed. Specifically, Glenn affirmed that he en-
gaged in pre-trial discussions with the district attorney and the vic-
tims’ daughter regarding JoAnn avoiding the death penalty if she
“testified truthfully” at Mills’ trial. According to Glenn, before
Mills’ trial, the victims’ daughter agreed not to oppose the State
offering JoAnn a plea deal, and the district attorney agreed to not
pursue the death penalty against JoAnn—so long as she “testified
truthfully” at Mills’ trial.
In response, the State submitted two affidavits—one
from the district attorney who prosecuted the case and another
from the former investigator on the case. The district attorney ad-
mitted that JoAnn and her attorney visited his investigator before
Mills’ trial but denied that the investigator offered her a plea deal
or had the authorization to do so. The district attorney also af-
firmed that he did not offer JoAnn a plea deal because the victims’
family wanted to pursue the death penalty, and it was not until after
JoAnn testified that the family became comfortable with the state
offering JoAnn life imprisonment. The former investigator ex-
plained that he encouraged JoAnn to testify and that he did not of-
fer her a plea deal either.
As the record shows, JoAnn did in fact testify at Mills’
trial, placing all the blame on Mills for the victims’ deaths, while
her attorney sat in the courtroom observing the testimony. At trial,
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24-11661 Abudu, J., Concurring 7
she stated she was not offered any promises or deals in exchange
for her testimony. The State asserted the same when asked by
Mills’ counsel. Nevertheless, ten days after Mills was found guilty,
the state dismissed the capital murder charges against JoAnn.
Mills’ theory of defense primarily rested on the fol-
lowing facts. First, that although JoAnn pointed the finger at Mills
during trial, she initially gave two statements to police implicating
Benji Howe—a local drug dealer—as the perpetrator of these hor-
rendous crimes. Additionally, record evidence showed that Mills’
DNA was not found on the murder weapons, Howe had equal ac-
cess and opportunity to place the victims’ belongings in the trunk
of Mills’ car, and Howe was found with the victims’ prescription
pills in his possession along with a large amount of money. More-
over, Howe’s alibi for the date of the incident proved shaky at best,
with conflicting witness statements given regarding Howe’s where-
abouts on the day of the murders.
In denying Mills’ claim, the district court found it im-
possible to believe that the district attorney and JoAnn would have
perjured themselves when questioned about whether a plea deal
existed to decrease JoAnn’s sentence in exchange for her testimony
identifying Mills as the killer, and that JoAnn’s defense attorney
would not have objected or otherwise informed the court of the
malfeasance. Yet, Mills produced Glenn’s affidavit attesting under
oath that such a plea deal in advance of her testimony indeed did
exist, and he provided the general date and participants of the al-
leged plea deal meetings.
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The questions that the varying accounts between the
district attorney, JoAnn, and Glenn’s version of events present, in-
cluding why JoAnn’s attorney would sign an affidavit against his cli-
ent’s interests that could jeopardize his own legal career, are issues
the Court need not address at this COA stage. Those factual issues
should be resolved by the district court after an evidentiary hearing.
Instead, at this phase in Mills’ death penalty case, we look to the
record evidence only to determine whether a reasonable jurist
could debate whether the district court abused its discretion in
denying Mills’ Rule 60(b)(6) motion on the grounds that “extraor-
dinary circumstances” did not warrant relief. Mills has sufficiently
alleged the denial of a constitutional right—the right to have im-
peachment evidence disclosed to him and the right to ensure his
trial is not infected with perjured testimony. Brady, 373 U.S. at 87;
Napue, 360 U.S. at 269. Mills also has demonstrated that, without
relief, there exists a “risk of injustice” and “risk of undermining the
public’s confidence in the judicial process.” Buck, 580 U.S. at 123.
This is especially true given that Mills has maintained his inno-
cence.
Unfortunately, even when a petitioner’s life hangs in
the balance, our case law does not extend sufficient procedural and
substantive due process protections.
Reference
- Status
- Published