Bales v. Bell, No. 13-2404 (6th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseJerry and Linda’s niece, Whitney, often stayed overnight with them and accompanied them on camping trips. When Whitney was 12 years old, the couple divorced. Linda told Whitney’s parents that Linda’s daughter-in-law had accused Jerry of making sexual advances and that Linda was concerned about Whitney. Questioned, Whitney said that Jerry had done something to her. At retrial, Whitney testified about sexual touching and remembered that Jerry exposed himself in front of her. Linda admitted she had never seen Jerry act inappropriately toward Whitney. Andrea testified that she spent the night at Jerry’s home, that Jerry came into her room at night, and exposed himself and touched her. Andrea acknowledged inconsistencies in her testimony between the two trials but explained that she had tried to forget the experience. Jerry denied the accusations. The prosecutor and defense counsel fought openly, often making side comments. Jerry was convicted of two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct but not guilty of assault with intent to commit second-degree criminal sexual conduct. His conviction was affirmed; Michigan courts also rejected his collateral attack. Jerry filed an unsuccessful habeas petition. The Sixth Circuit affirmed, rejecting claims concerning suppressed evidence consisting of a police report with notes from Andrea’s interview and hand-written notes from Andrea’s therapist that would have demonstrated inconsistencies in Andrea’s testimony. Jerry did not establish that the state court’s resolution of his prosecutorial misconduct claims was an unreasonable application of federal law.
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