Davis v. Bradshaw, No. 17-3262 (6th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseDavis is incarcerated for the assault and murder of Marsha Blakely. His conviction was based on the testimony of an eye-witness, Avery, who changed his story several times before trial. Corroborating evidence permitted the jury to credit Avery’s trial testimony that implicated Davis. Years later, Avery recanted his testimony, claiming that he did not witness Blakely’s murder and that he admitted this to the prosecutor before testifying against Davis. Davis filed a successive petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. 2254, based on the prosecution’s alleged knowing presentation of Avery’s perjured testimony at trial. The Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of Davis’s petition, which was filed outside the one-year statute of limitations. Davis’s petition was untimely and he cannot show a credible claim of actual innocence to overcome the statute of limitations. For a petitioner to establish entitlement to the actual-innocence exception, he must support his allegations of constitutional error with new, reliable evidence, such as exculpatory scientific evidence, trustworthy eyewitness accounts, or critical physical evidence, that was not presented at trial. Davis has not undermined the evidence that corroborates Avery’s trial testimony, and his only proof of innocence, Avery’s recantation affidavit, is unreliable and, in the circumstances, insufficient to establish innocence.
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