Dick v. Muse, No. 3:2010cv00505 - Document 124 (E.D. Va. 2016)

Court Description: MEMORANDUM OPINION. Signed by District Judge John A. Gibney, Jr. on 9/26/2016. (sbea, )

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Dick v. Muse Doc. 124 Dockets.Justia.com Omar Ballard alone killed Michelle Bosko. For unknown reasons, Bosko allowed Ballard to enter her apartment late at night, while her husband was not at home. Ballard somehow got Bosko into the bedroom, where he raped her and stabbed her in the chest a number of times. Ballard admitted to both the rape and the murder. In his confessions, Ballard accurately described the apartment, the location of the corpse, and the knife used in the crime. Scientific evidence supported Ballard’s admission. The police found Ballard’s DNA on Bosko. The fatal stab wounds in her chest were of uniform depth and closely bunched together, indicating that a single individual inflicted them.3 The Norfolk Four, in contrast, left no DNA, fingerprints, or other evidence on the scene, could not accurately describe the location of the crime, and did not coherently explain what happened. This evidence—clear and straightforward—makes it hard for the Commonwealth to tie the Norfolk Four to the crime. Undeterred, the Commonwealth offers a bizarre explanation for how Williams and Dick committed the alleged offenses. First, the Commonwealth notes, accurately, that Williams apparently had a crush on Bosko. (Resp’t’s Post-Hr’g Br. 16.) The State contends that Williams and Dick went to her apartment on the night in question. (Id. at 18.) Then, the Commonwealth says that Williams, Dick, and two other sailors joined Ballard in a united effort to rape and kill Bosko. (Id. at 12.) The Commonwealth says that the five men banded together to hold her down while she violently struggled. (Id. at 20–21.) Then they had sexual intercourse with her. The prosecution says that despite their combined efforts, none of the Norfolk Four ejaculated in Bosko’s vagina, and despite their herculean labors to restrain her and her desperate struggles, they left not a trace of DNA. (Id.) According to the Commonwealth, 3 The corpse had other, non-fatal stab wounds as well, indicating that Bosko resisted her attacker. 3 III. General Timeline of Events Preceding Williams’ Guilty Plea There is no dispute that Ballard raped and murdered Michelle Bosko. (JSF ¶ 979.) What the parties dispute is whether Williams and Dick participated in those crimes with Ballard. A general understanding of the sequence of events before and after the murder is necessary to give context to the evidence in support of Williams’ and Dick’s guilt or innocence. A. Events Preceding the Murder of Bosko In June and July of 1997, Michelle and William Bosko and Danial and Nicole Williams lived in the Bayshore Gardens apartment in Norfolk. (JSF ¶ 973.) In late June, Nicole Williams learned that she had ovarian cancer and required surgery. (JSF ¶ 974.) Williams arranged to take two weeks of leave to care for Nicole after her surgery. (JSF ¶ 974.) Danial and Nicole moved their wedding date forward to June 27, so that Danial’s health insurance would cover Nicole’s surgery. (Id. ¶¶ 974, 975.) On July 1, 1997, Nicole Williams entered the hospital for surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. (Id. ¶ 976.) In June and early July of 1997, Williams would often visit Bosko late at night on the pretense of using Michelle’s telephone. (JA 1739–40, 1743.) Williams seldom came by to use the phone if Bosko’s husband was around. (JA 1740.) In the beginning of July of 1997, a couple of days before Bosko’s murder and while Nicole Williams was in the hospital, Bosko hosted a party in her apartment. (JA 1743–44.) Bosko’s husband, a sailor, was out at sea at the time of the party. (JA 1744.) Among others, Tamika Taylor and Omar Ballard went to the party. (JA 1184–85.) Williams came to the apartment and asked to use the phone. (JA 1183, 1746.) After he got off the phone, Williams 7

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