Full opinion text
OPINION AND ORDER CONDITIONALLY GRANTING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS LAWSON, District Judge. Scott Wynne is presently confined at the St. Louis Correctional Facility in St. Louis, Michigan on a state court judgment of sentence for first-degree murder, Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.316, and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.227b. He has filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus through his attorney, alleging that he did not receive a fair trial for a number of reasons, including the state court’s refusal to permit him to present evidence that he was innocent of the crime and that his chief accuser was likely the actual perpetrator. For the reasons explained in detail below, this Court is convinced that the petitioner’s constitutional rights under the Due Process Clause and the Sixth Amendment were abridged, and that the state courts’ conclusions otherwise constituted an unreasonable application of clearly established federal constitutional law as determined by the Supreme Court. This Court, therefore, will conditionally grant the writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, and direct the respondent either to release the petitioner from custody or to conduct a new trial within ninety days. I. Philip Timmerman was shot to death on his Allegan County, Michigan farm on the evening of May 18, 1995, between 10:22 p.m. and 10:37 p.m. There were no eyewitnesses to the crime. Scott Wynne, the petitioner in this case, was charged with the shooting and, following a jury trial in the Allegan County Circuit Court held from October 16 through November 3, 1995, was found guilty of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm while in the commission of that felony. Timmerman farmed on land that he had leased, with a purchase option, from the Wynne family. The land had been in the Wynne family for many years, and the petitioner had on several occasions attempted without success to renegotiate the lease and option with Timmerman. In fact, the petitioner wanted to purchase the land himself. The prosecution’s theory was that the petitioner’s frustration with his unsuccessful dealings with Timmerman over the Wynne ancestral land caused Wynne to murder Timmerman in cold blood. Much of the prosecution’s evidence of motive came from Mark Peckham, a childhood friend of the petitioner. However, Wynne contended that Peckham’s mental state had deteriorated since high school and he had become a destructive and violent person, who was jealous of the petitioner and sought revenge against him for real or imagined wrongs. Wynne argued that Peckham set out to frame him for Timmerman’s murder. Although Wynne presented some evidence establishing this defense at trial, the jury never heard some of the powerful testimony in support of the defense theory because of the state courts’ evidentiary rulings. The police neglected to pursue leads that were consistent with that defense or pointed to a suspect other than the petitioner, and even failed to disclose certain evidence to Wynne’s trial counsel. The prosecution’s case against Wynne, although constitutionally sufficient, was entirely circumstantial. Timmerman was shot and killed near his fertilizer truck, which was parked near a barn, while farming his land on the night of May 18, 1995. There were no eyewitnesses to the shooting. However, two farmhands, Brent DeWeerdt and Keith Kohtz, were helping Timmerman plant corn on the night of May 18th. Around 10:00 p.m., Kohtz saw what could have been a flashlight or a parking light on a vehicle near a railroad grade in the area of the tree line which was adjacent to Tim-merman’s field. DeWeerdt and Timmerman had taken a semi truck from the farm where the murder occurred to another site around 10:00 p.m. and did not return until close to 10:30 p.m. DeWeerdt indicated that he spoke with his parents from a phone in the barn of the other farm at 10:15 p.m. and that it took between five and ten minutes after that phone call to return to the farm where the murder took place. Upon returning to this first farm, DeWeerdt dropped Tim-merman off and Timmerman went to fill some fertilizer tanks while DeWeerdt went to hook up a fertilizer wagon to a flatbed truck. While doing this, DeWeerdt heard five to ten noises which sounded like “pops.” When DeWeerdt went looking for Timmerman, he found him lying next to his truck, which was spewing fertilizer. DeWeerdt contacted Kohtz, who was on a tractor in the field, by two-way radio. When Kohtz arrived, he called the 911 emergency telephone number to summon help. An autopsy revealed that Timmerman had been shot nine times, eight times with .45 caliber bullets and once with a .22 caliber bullet. The petitioner was quickly considered a suspect when Deputy Lon Hoyer of the Allegan County Sheriff Department, who was working the homicide scene, informed Lieutenant Ross of the sheriffs department that they should investigate the petitioner as a suspect. Hoyer informed Ross that he was aware of problems between the Timmermans and the petitioner and that the petitioner had been a suspect in a prior tire slashing of the victim’s farm equipment. Scene measurements that were taken indicated that the direct distance from the homicide scene to the petitioner’s house was 1.53 miles. Two sets of footprints were found in the field at the murder scene, and a K-9 dog tracked a human scent to a grassy area on the side of Timmerman’s field where the grass was matted down. The K-9 dog showed a great deal of interest in the area and then continued tracking the scent to an abandoned railroad grade and back down towards 118th Avenue where more footprints were observed. The dog continued tracking up the railroad grade to 28th Street to the gravel road, where it lost track of the scent at the intersection of the railroad grade and 28th Street. A cast was made of a footprint found at the railroad grade. Detective Patrick O’Reilly of the Allegan County Sheriffs Department was also involved in the investigation of the murder. O’Reilly became aware of the petitioner being a possible suspect through conversations with Deputy Hoyer and Sergeant Dale Haverdink. O’Reilly was aware that the victim had been shot with a .45 caliber weapon, and learned through his investigation that the petitioner had a .45 caliber handgun registered to him. O’Reilly then obtained a search warrant for the petitioner’s residence. During the execution of the search warrant, police recovered a .45 caliber handgun in a holster with an additional magazine and clip from over a ceiling tile in the petitioner’s bedroom. This handgun was, in fact, registered to the petitioner. The petitioner denied putting the handgun in the ceiling and informed the officers that he had last seen it on his bedpost. Tests were performed on this handgun by police and it was determined that it was one of the weapons used to murder Timmerman. Tests also indicated that a fingerprint found on the holster and magazine pouch of the handgun belonged to the petitioner. There was also testimony concerning the police investigation into the slashing of the victim’s tractor tires in 1992. During that investigation, police had spoken to the petitioner, but he had denied any involvement with this vandalism of the victim’s property. Deputy Kenneth Blackwell, who had collected evidence, testified that neither the cast of the footprint taken from the railroad grade nor the footprints found at the crime scene matched any shoes that had been taken from the petitioner’s home during searches conducted by the police on May 19 and 24, 1995. In addition, the petitioner’s clothes, shoes, and the mats from his vehicles were submitted for testing against soil samples taken from Tim-merman’s farm, but revealed no traces of fertilizer or herbicides that had been used on Timmerman’s farm on the night of the murder. Mark Peckham, a friend of the petitioner’s since childhood, contacted the police two days after the shooting. Peckham claimed that the petitioner had told him that he had wanted to kill Timmerman. The petitioner had told Peckham that he and his mother had met with Timmerman in an attempt to get him to release back to them the land that he had leased from the Wynne family, with no success. According to Peckham, the disagreement over the land was a continual problem for the petitioner and he saw the petitioner become more and more upset over the issue. In December of 1992, the petitioner told Peckham that he had slashed the victim’s tractor tires. The petitioner began to talk frequently about wanting to kill the victim in September or October of 1993. The petitioner told Peckham that he was running from the industrial park in Allegan to his house to see how long it would take and further spoke with Peckham about various ways to kill the victim. However, none of the methods that the petitioner mentioned when he discussed killing Tim-merman were the way that Timmerman was murdered. Peckham, in fact, conceded that the petitioner had told him that he would not Mil Timmerman on his family’s property. Peckham admitted that he had fired the petitioner’s guns on numerous occasions and was also aware that the petitioner kept his .45 caliber handgun on his bedpost. Peckham acknowledged that he had worn some camouflage clothing that belonged to the petitioner’s sister, September Wynne, while playing paintball the Sunday before the killing. Peckham admitted being at the petitioner’s home on the afternoon of the murder, while waiting for the petitioner to come home. No one else was at the petitioner’s house while Peckham waited for him. During this time, one of the petitioner’s friends and neighbors, Mark Craig Haveman, stopped and talked with Peckham. Peckham finally left the house, but saw the petitioner on the road, spoke to him, and returned to the petitioner’s home to wait for him again. Peckham denied going into the house at any time while waiting. Although denying that he killed Timmerman, Peckham testified that if he were to have committed the murder himself he would have worn camouflage clothing and lain in wait. Peckham testified that the petitioner called him at 9:20 p.m. on the night of the murder and talked for five to seven minutes. However, on cross-examination, Peckham acknowledged that the petitioner’s phone call on the night of the murder had been from 10:05 to 10:12 p.m. and that Peckham had left for work shortly after the telephone call. On cross-examination, Peckham admitted that he described himself as a passive-aggressive person, i.e., someone who would hold his anger in until he acted it out in some indirect way. Peckham denied owning an unregistered 9 millimeter pistol. He denied making the complaint that he worked harder than the petitioner or that the petitioner got more than he deserved or took from his family but gave nothing in return. Inexplicably, Peckham believed that the petitioner had gotten his telephone service cut off after the petitioner stopped calling him with work. Peckham admitted that he knew the access code for the lock to the petitioner’s shop and had gone there in March to retrieve his .22 rifle when the petitioner was not home. Peckham denied telling his insurance agent, Mike Densham, that he was “going to put Scott Wynne away.” He further denied that he had made comments to Kathy Hinson, with whom he had worked and who was a chaplain at the county jail, that he had done something so wrong that if the police ever found out he would go to prison for life, or that hunting men was more fun than hunting animals. Peckham claimed that he left for work at 10:30 p.m. on the night of the murder and arrived at 10:50 p.m. Peckham’s place of work was in a local industrial park just southwest of 118th Avenue along the abandoned railroad grade and was closer to the murder scene than was the petitioner’s home. Defense counsel attempted to question Peckham about his former girlfriend, Melissa Weeks (Hill). The prosecutor objected to this line of questioning. Outside of the jury’s presence, defense counsel made an offer of proof regarding additional facts about Peckham. These included the fact that Peckham had admitted burning down his trailer that he and Weeks shared as revenge on the day she broke up with him, that Peckham had showed Weeks an unregistered 9 millimeter pistol and threatened to kill her if she told anyone about it, that Peckham had vandalized his own truck and attempted to frame Weeks’ new boyfriend for the crime, and that he had sought to enlist a friend to beat or kill his stepfather out of revenge. The trial court ruled that this was inadmissible character evidence and was more prejudicial than probative. Elizabeth Cams testified that she was a friend of the petitioner and had dated him at one time. The petitioner had told Cams about the dispute that he was having with Timmerman over his mother’s land. The petitioner had informed Cams that he was angry with the victim and had tried to get him to change the paperwork for the land. Cams also testified that the petitioner had admitted slashing the victim’s tractor tires in 1992. Mark Craig Havemen testified that he went to the petitioner’s home in the late afternoon hours of May 18, 1995 and discovered Peckham there alone. Haveman spoke with Peckham briefly and then left. Haveman testified that the garage doors to the petitioner’s house were open. Have-men saw the petitioner the day after the shooting, but the petitioner mentioned nothing about Timmerman. In fact, Have-man testified that the petitioner had recently paid him to move brush piles with a bulldozer off of the land leased by Tim-merman so that Timmerman could plant crops near the lot line more easily. Have-man testified that in his opinion, the petitioner was honest and nonviolent. Christina Haveman, Mark Craig Have-man’s daughter-in-law, said that on the night of the murder, she and her husband left to visit her father-in-law at 10:10 p.m. and arrived at his house at 10:30 p.m. She observed a tractor in the fields where Tim-merman had been working. When she and her husband left to go home at 11:00 p.m., she saw the petitioner’s truck at his house and his bedroom light on. Either on the way to her father-in-law’s house at 10:20 p.m. or on the way back at 10:55 p.m., she observed car or truck reflectors down the railroad grade from 28th Street in the direction of the murder scene. Mark Andrew Haveman’s testimony mirrored that of his wife Christina. However, he testified that he observed tail lights from a car or a truck on the abandoned railroad grade at 10:20 p.m., when he and his wife were en route to his father’s house. When he passed the petitioner’s house both times on the night in question, at 10:20 p.m. and 10:55 p.m., the petitioner’s truck and van were parked there. Prior to and during the trial, the petitioner’s mother, Judy Wynne, and her daughter September, had experienced several unusual occurrences, including prowlers in the middle of the night. At the end of the first day of trial, on October 16, 1995, they returned home to find their door wide open. Because they found nothing missing, they did not call the police, but contacted the petitioner’s attorney. Defense counsel sent two investigators to check the Wynne home on October 23, 1995. The investigators found a blue duffle bag lying beneath the bed in an unoccupied upstairs bedroom. Inside of the duffel bag they discovered camouflage clothing and a pair of boots with soles similar to the footprints found at the crime scene. The bag also contained a military belt, a canteen, a knife, a tear gas cannis-ter, a mirror, leather gloves, socks, hat, loose ammunition, and a camouflage face painting kit. This bedroom previously had been searched by the police twice and nothing had been found there, nor had one of the defense investigators, Patrick Parr, seen the bag when he went through the house on June 23, 1995. The duffel bag and its contents were turned over to defense counsel, who in turn, contacted the Allegan County Prosecutor’s Office. The bag was ultimately taken into custody by Sergeant Dean Ka-penga of the Allegan County Sheriffs Department and taken to the Michigan State Police Laboratory for testing of the contents. Testing revealed that the petitioner’s fingerprint was taken from the tear gas cannister that had been found inside of the duffel bag. An expert in footprint evidence compared the boots found inside the bag with the footprints found at the crime scene and determined that the left boot matched the cast of the footwear impression taken from the crime scene. On October 30, 1995, the petitioner’s counsel filed a motion to dismiss due to the intimidation of witnesses by the police. In this motion, counsel indicated that after he had turned over the duffel bag to the police, Detective Kapenga had threatened defense counsel, the defense investigators, and defense witnesses with being charged criminally as accessories after the fact to murder for planting evidence in order to influence or affect the verdict. In an affidavit attached to the motion, defense counsel stated that the threat of criminal prosecution had affected his ability to effectively represent the petitioner by making him think that he was going to be charged with a crime himself. Counsel sought to have a mistrial declared or the charges dismissed. The trial court denied the motion. Norma Kawka, the petitioner’s girlfriend, testified that the petitioner had spoken with his attorney about changing the lease that the victim had on the land. On the evening of the murder, Kawka went to the petitioner’s house and spoke with him. They did not discuss Timmer-man. Kawka left at 10:00 p.m. and the petitioner called her at 10:50 p.m. When she called the petitioner the next morning and informed him that the victim was dead, the petitioner was surprised and answered “you’re kidding.” Kawka was later recalled by the defense and testified that she spoke to the petitioner on May 20, 1995, after the shooting, and told him the details of what she knew about Timmer-man’s murder. She also testified about the petitioner’s whereabouts for the evening in question, as well as the fact that his trucks were at home at the time of the killing. Kawka testified that when she left the petitioner at 10:00 p.m., he was happy and they were making plans for dinner for the following day. The petitioner’s mother, Judy Wynne, testified both in the prosecution’s case-in-chief and for the defense. Ms. Wynne testified that Timmerman’s lease on the land had been renegotiated in 1992 and that her children had been given a five-year first option to purchase the land from her. Ms. Wynne testified that neither she nor the petitioiier had been angry at Tim-merman regarding the renegotiation of the option on the lease. On the day of the murder, Judy Wynne arrived home at 5:45 p.m. The petitioner was speaking with Mark Haveman when she arrived home. The petitioner left home that evening around 8:00 p.m. and his girlfriend Norma Kawka arrived at the home shortly thereafter. Judy Wynne was positive that the petitioner came into the house to take a shower at 10:30 p.m., because her cuckoo clock struck the time. Stephen Stein, Sr., a neighbor of Tim-merman, testified that he heard gunshots on May 18, 1995 about 10:15 to 10:20 p.m. Shortly thereafter, Stein observed fire trucks outside and went toward the Tim-merman farm, where his children, nephew, and wife had already gone. As he walked towards the scene, he observed a man, who was not the petitioner, walking west down 118th Avenue, in the opposite direction from the petitioner’s house. The man was 6'2" tall, thin, wearing a T-shirt and jeans, with messy hair. Stein thought the man might be his son and yelled over to him, but the man turned and Stein realized that it was not his son. The man looked at Stein, appeared startled, and continued walking. Stein thought it was unusual for a person to be walking on foot on a rural road at night. Stein had also seen a white pickup truck in the area around that time. Matthew Radke had been a good friend of Peckham since high school until 1992, but was no longer his friend due to Peck-ham’s “mental deterioration.” The prosecutor objected to this testimony and Radke was only able to testify to the jury that Peckham was untrustworthy. Outside the jury’s presence, a separate record was made of Radke’s additional testimony that the petitioner sought to have admitted. Radke testified in this separate record that Peckham had vandalized his own truck and had initially blamed someone else, but later admitted that he did it himself and had the repairs paid by his own insurance. Radke said that Peckham talked about avoiding the debts caused by the vandalism of his truck and the arson of his trailer by going into bankruptcy. Peckham admitted to Radke that he had beaten his girlfriend. Peckham once asked Radke if he thought the two men could “take” his stepfather, because he had a grudge against him. Prior to the vandalism of his own truck, Peckham had attempted suicide and when Radke visited him in the hospital, he talked strangely and began to decline mentally after that. Peckham had described himself to Radke as “passive-aggressive” with a penchant for violence and getting revenge in secretive ways. None of this additional testimony was admitted into evidence. The defense also made a separate record of the proposed testimony of Melissa Hill, Peckham’s ex-girlfriend. Melissa Hill had dated and lived with Peckham for five years.. Peckham had been violent to her and had vandalized his own truck and had tried to blame her new boyfriend for this act. Peckham had showed her what he claimed was an unregistered handgun, and threatened to kill her with it more than once if she told her family that he possessed it. Peckham would sometimes drive at a high rate of speed and ask her how she felt about dying right then. Hill testified that Peckham’s trailer was burned down within twenty-four hours of their break-up and Peckham later admitted that he had committed the arson. Hill testified further that Peckham was a stalker and burglar with a fetish for stealing women’s undergarments. Hill testified that Peckham would use a key obtained from his brother, an apartment complex manager, to break into female tenants’ apartments and steal their underwear. Peckham also stole underwear from Hill’s girlfriends. Peckham kept a large collection of stolen women’s underwear, a list of the names and addresses of the women from whom it was stolen, and the names of those women whose underwear he wanted but had not yet stolen. Defense counsel argued that this fetish was particularly relevant, first, because it established Peckham’s readiness to go into persons’ homes, and secondly, because a women’s petite, black camisole, which did not belong to the Wynnes, had been found underneath the blue duffel bag that had been found in the Wynne household on October 23,1995. The petitioner argued that Peckham’s stalker and burglar behavior, his character for seeking revenge in secretive ways, his violent tendencies, his mental deterioration, and his readiness to frame other persons supported an inference that he was capable of murdering Timmerman and planting the petitioner’s gun afterwards to frame the petitioner for the murder as a means of obtaining revenge against the petitioner. The court excluded this testimony on the grounds that it was not relevant, was more prejudicial than probative, and there was no evidence that Peckham planted the duffel bag. Defense counsel also made an offer of proof concerning Kathy Hinson’s testimony, namely, that Peckham had admitted to her that he had done something so bad that if the police ever found out, he would be put in jail for life, and that it was more fun to hunt men than animals. The court excluded this testimony on the grounds that it was more prejudicial than probative, finding that although Peckham was an important witness, he was not the crucial witness. Thomas Cole, a defense investigator, testified that he had spoken with Peckham. Peckham told Cole that the petitioner had too easy of a life and had taken from Peckham’s family but had not returned anything to them. Cole also testified that there were burrs in the socks found in the duffel bag that were similar to burrs found near the barn where Timmerman’s body had been found. Michael Densham, Peckham’s insurance agent, testified that on three or four occasions following Timmerman’s murder, Peckham told Densham that he was “going to put Scott Wynne away.” The petitioner testified in his own defense. He was a twenty-six-year-old, self-employed businessman who owned a garage door company that had grossed $197,000 in 1994. The petitioner also owned various rental houses and an apartment building and also worked in the construction and rehabilitation of houses. The petitioner was a licensed builder who had completed 2000 hours towards a journeyman electrical license. The petitioner testified that on the day of the murder, he came home from work around 5:30 p.m. and spoke with Mark Havemen for one and a half hours before running an errand at 8:00 p.m. The petitioner returned home at 8:30 p.m., where Kawka was waiting for him. Kawka left the house at 10:00 p.m. and the petitioner worked on business invoices before going into the house at 10:25 p.m. The petitioner took a shower and called Kawka at 10:50 p.m. On Saturday, May 20, 1995, the petitioner spoke with Kawka and was shocked when he was informed by her that Tim-merman had been murdered. The petitioner denied ever telling Peck-ham that he planned on killing Timmer-man. Although he acknowledged that he thought his mother had set too low of a price for the land that she had leased to Timmerman, he thought it was only $20,000 too low. The petitioner was aware that he had an option to purchase the land. Although it was not part of his plans, had he wanted to purchase the land, his maternal grandfather was wealthy and would have assisted him with financing it. The petitioner testified that the boots and the other items found in the duffel bag were not his, although some of the camouflage clothing had belonged to his sister from when she was in the army and he had previously given a tear gas cannister like the one found in the bag to Peckham after playing paintball on the Sunday prior to the murder. The jury found the petitioner guilty of first-degree murder and felony firearm, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole on the murder charge and two years imprisonment on the felony firearm count on January 5, 1996. He filed a timely motion for new trial, raising several grounds, including a claim that newly discovered evidence required a new trial. The trial court conducted a lengthy eviden-tiary hearing, and denied the motion in an opinion and order dated August 13, 1998. The petitioner timely pursued an appeal in the Michigan Court of Appeals, raising, inter alia, all of the issues that he presents to this Court. The court of appeals rejected the petitioner’s arguments, for reasons discussed in detail below, and affirmed his conviction in an unpublished opinion. See People v. Wynne, No. 192512, 1999 WL 33328893 (Mich.Ct.App. Dec. 3, 1999). The state supreme court denied the petitioner’s apphcation for leave to appeal. See People v. Wynne, 463 Mich. 876, 618 N.W.2d 595 (2000). On June 15, 2001, the petitioner filed the present petition for writ of habeas corpus, raising the following grounds: I. The petitioner was denied the right to present a defense where the trial court excluded defense evidence that he was framed by the key prosecution witness who may have committed the murder. II. Where testimony from witnesses who lived close to the scene suggested a different killer or killers was not presented at trial, the petitioner was deprived of due process, either because the prosecutor withheld information [that] should have been turned over to the defense, or because the petitioner was deprived of effective assistance of counsel. III. The petitioner was deprived of his rights to due process and to counsel because the prosecutor intimidated defense counsel and defense witnesses during trial by threatening to bring criminal charges against them. IV. The petitioner was deprived of a full and fair opportunity to litigate [a] Fourth Amendment issue regarding the May 19, 1995, search warrant, because the record does not support the state court factual findings, and on the merits the search warrant affidavit contained false information made in reckless disregard for the truth and misleading and material omissions, and did not establish probable cause. V. The petitioner was denied his state and federal due process rights to a fair trial where the trial court merely instructed the jury that a reasonable doubt is a doubt that is reasonable even after the prosecutor denigrated the reasonable doubt standard. The respondent filed an answer challenging the merits of the petition, together with the Rule 5 materials, on November 28, 2001. The respondent has not raised any substantial procedural defenses, but rather contends that the petitioner is not entitled to relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), as that statute has been amended by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. II. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), Pub.L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214, altered the standard of review federal courts must apply when reviewing applications for a writ of habeas corpus. The AEDPA applies to all habeas petitions filed after the effective date of the Act, April 24, 1996. Lindh v. Murphy, 521 U.S. 320, 336, 117 S.Ct. 2059, 138 L.Ed.2d 481 (1997). Because the petitioner’s application was filed after April 24, 1996, the provisions of the AEDPA, including the amended standard of review, apply to this case. As amended, 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) imposes the following standard of review that a federal court must utilize when reviewing applications for a writ of habeas corpus: An apphcation for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court shall not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim— (1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or (2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). Therefore, federal courts are bound by a state court’s adjudication of a petitioner’s claims unless the state court’s decision was contrary to or involved an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law. Franklin v. Francis, 144 F.3d 429, 433 (6th Cir. 1998). Mere error by the state court will not justify issuance of the writ; rather, the state court’s application of federal law “must have been objectively unreasonable.” Wiggins v. Smith, — U.S. -, 123 S.Ct. 2527, 2535, 156 L.Ed.2d 471 (2003) (quoting Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 409, 120 S.Ct. 1495, 146 L.Ed.2d 389 (2000); internal quotes omitted). Additionally, this Court must presume the correctness of state court factual determinations. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1) (“In a proceeding instituted by an application for a writ of habeas corpus by a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court, a determination of a factual issue made by a State court shall be presumed to be correct.”); see also Cremeans v. Chaplean, 62 F.3d 167, 169 (6th Cir.1995) (“We give complete deference to state court findings unless they are clearly erroneous.”). The United States Supreme Court has explained the proper construction of the “contrary to” clause as follows: A state-court decision will certainly be contrary to [the Supreme Court’s] clearly established precedent if the state court applies a rule that contradicts the governing law set forth in our cases.... A state-court decision will also be contrary to this Court’s clearly established precedent if the state court confronts a set of facts that are materially indistinguishable from a decision of this Court and nevertheless arrives at a result different from [the Court’s] precedent. Williams, 529 U.S. at 405-06, 120 S.Ct. 1495. The Supreme Court held that a federal court should invoke the “unreasonable application” clause of § 2254(d)(1) and issue the writ “when a state-court decision unreasonably applies the law of this Court to the facts of a prisoner’s case.” Id. at 409, 120 S.Ct. 1495. The Court defined “unreasonable application” as follows: [A] federal habeas court making the “unreasonable application” inquiry should ask whether the state court’s application of clearly established federal law was objectively unreasonable.... [A]n unreasonable application of federal law is different from an incorrect application of federal law.... Under § 2254(d)(l)’s “unreasonable application” clause, then, a federal habeas court may not issue the writ simply because that court concludes in its independent judgment that the relevant state-court decision applied clearly established federal law erroneously or incorrectly. Rather, that application must also be unreasonable. Id. at 409, 410, 411, 120 S.Ct. 1495. See also Lewis v. Wilkinson, 307 F.3d 413, 418 (6th Cir.2002). With these standards in mind, the Court proceeds to the merits of the petition. A. The petitioner’s theory at trial was that prosecution witness Mark Peckham was not only the actual murderer, but also that Peckham had planted and manipulated evidence to make it appear that the petitioner killed Philip Timmerman. The petitioner theorized that Peckham sought revenge against him for real or imagined wrongs, and that Peckham killed Timmerman in a way that implicated the petitioner in the crime. According to the petitioner, Peck-ham achieved this goal by taking the petitioner’s .45 caliber handgun from the petitioner’s home, shooting Timmerman, and then returning the weapon, hiding it above the ceiling tiles back at the petitioner’s house. In addition, the petitioner believed that Peckham had planted a duffle full of evidence, including shoes and other clothing linked to the murder scene, in the petitioner’s home while the trial was ongoing. The petitioner sought to prove this theory at trial by offering evidence that Peck-ham previously had engaged in a similar modus operandi when he took revenge on his girlfriend, Melissa Weeks (Hill), after she broke up with him. The petitioner sought to prove that Peckham had burned down a trailer that he shared with his girlfriend Melissa Weeks (Hill) in an act of revenge and then vandalized his own truck and had attempted to blame it on Weeks’ new boyfriend. Additional evidence of Peckham’s scheme of exacting revenge on other occasions, excluded by the trial court, consisted of testimony that Peckham had been violent towards Weeks, and testimony from Matthew Radke that Peckham had admitted that he had a passive-aggressive personality, had a penchant for violence, and sought revenge in secretive ways. To support the theory that Peck-ham had planted the duffle in the petitioner’s house during the trial, the petitioner offered evidence that Peckham had burglarized homes for the purpose of stealing women’s undergarments, which he collected, inasmuch as a “signature” camisole, belonging neither to the defendant’s mother nor sister, was discovered with the blue duffle full of evidence in a location that previously had been searched on more than one occasion by both police and defense investigators. Finally, the petitioner sought to introduce evidence of an oblique admission by Peckham through the testimony of Kathy Hinson, to whom Peckham allegedly said that he had done something so bad that if the police ever found out, he would be put in jail for life, and that it was more fun to hunt men than animals. This evidence, coupled with other admitted testimony that established that Peck-ham had the means and opportunity to commit the homicide with the petitioner’s handgun, paints a convincing picture of the petitioner’s innocence and Peckham’s guilt. The jury, however, was not able to assess these submissions, or evaluate the entire spectrum of evidence offered in support of the defense theory. The respondent contends that this claim consists of nothing more than state law evidentiary questions, and points to the state court of appeals’ opinion, which decided the issue based on its view of the Michigan Rules of Evidence. The ruling on this issue is contained in a single paragraph: Defendant next argues that he was denied the right to impeach prosecution witness, Mark Peckham, and demonstrate that Peckham had committed the murder. We disagree. Defendant offered evidence in the form of testimony of other “witnesses” concerning various things Peckham had said or done in the past. Testimony regarding Peckham’s past violence and criminal acts, offered to prove that he acted in conformity therewith, constituted improper impeachment under MRE 404(b). Testimony regarding his sexual proclivities was inadmissible because it was unrelated to truthfulness. People v. Chaplin, 412 Mich. 219, 225-226, 313 N.W.2d 899 (1981). Testimony offered to contradict Peckham’s testimony was inadmissible because a proper foundation for impeachment did not occur, People v. Barnett, 165 Mich.App. 311, 315, 418 N.W.2d 445 (1987), and it constituted impeachment by extrinsic evidence on a collateral matter. People v. Sutherland, 149 Mich.App. 161, 165-166, 385 N.W.2d 637 (1985). Testimony regarding Peckham’s history of mental illness was inadmissible because defendant failed to establish that the information was temporally relevant, that is, that any mental illness was suffered by Peckham and affected his memory, ability to perceive reality, or tell the truth. United States v. Jackson, 863 F.Supp. 1462, 1465 (D.Kan. 1994). People v. Wynne, 1999 WL 33328893 at *1. To be sure, errors in state evidence law will not support the issuance of the writ unless those errors rendered the trial fundamentally unfair. See Clemmons v. Sowders, 34 F.3d 352, 357 (6th Cir.1994) (holding that “[h]abeas review does not encompass state court rulings on the admission of evidence unless there is a constitutional violation”). The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has explained that “[e]rrors in the application of state law, especially rulings regarding the admission or exclusion of evidence, are usually not to be questioned in a federal habeas corpus proceeding.” Cooper v. Sowders, 837 F.2d 284, 286 (6th Cir.1988). Generally, state-court evidentiary rulings cannot rise to the level of due process violations unless they “offend[ ] some principle of justice so rooted in the traditions and conscience of our people as to be ranked as fundamental.” Montana v. Egelhoff, 518 U.S. 37, 43, 116 S.Ct. 2013, 135 L.Ed.2d 361 (1996) (quoting Patterson v. New York, 432 U.S. 197, 202, 97 S.Ct. 2319, 53 L.Ed.2d 281 (1977)); see also Spencer v. Texas, 385 U.S. 554, 563-64, 87 S.Ct. 648, 17 L.Ed.2d 606 (1967). Seymour v. Walker, 224 F.3d 542, 552 (6th Cir.2000), cert. denied, 532 U.S. 989, 121 S.Ct. 1643, 149 L.Ed.2d 502 (2001) (second alteration in original). However, this Court finds that the petitioner has raised an issue of constitutional dimension that was neither properly addressed nor correctly decided by the state courts: the right to present a defense incorporated in the Sixth Amendment. The failure of the state court of appeals to directly address the petitioner’s constitutional claim implicates the standard of review that this Court must apply. The Sixth Circuit has recently observed that “[w]here ... the state court did not assess the merits of a claim properly raised in a habeas petition, the deference due under the AEDPA does not apply.” Maples v. Stegall, 340 F.3d 433, at 437 (6th Cir.2003). The court took its cue on this issue from Wiggins v. Smith, — U.S. -, 123 S.Ct. 2527, 156 L.Ed.2d 471 (2003), where the Supreme Court considered an ineffective assistance of counsel claim on habeas review in which the state court had never analyzed the prejudice prong of the applicable test. Under those circumstances, the Wiggins Court concluded that its “review [wa]s not circumscribed by a state court conclusion,” Id. at 2542, and instead conducted a de novo review. Nonetheless, this Court finds that the petitioner prevails on this issue under the more stringent standards of the AEDPA, and will assess the claim by that standard. The Compulsory Process Clause of the Sixth Amendment provides an accused with the right to “compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor,” U.S. Const. amend VI, a crucial part of the Constitution’s more basic guarantee of “a meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense.” California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 485, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984). As applied to the States by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the accused has the right at trial to present testimony that is “relevant,” “material,” and “vital to the defense.” Washington v. Texas, 388 U.S. 14, 16, 87 S.Ct. 1920, 18 L.Ed.2d 1019 (1967). See also Crane v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 683, 690, 106 S.Ct. 2142, 90 L.Ed.2d 636 (1986) (“whether rooted directly in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, or in the Compulsory Process or Confrontation clauses of the Sixth Amendment, the Constitution guarantees criminal defendants ‘a meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense’ ”) (internal citations omitted). The “right to present relevant evidence is not unlimited,” and “is subject to reasonable restrictions” imposed by the criminal process. United States v. Scheffer, 523 U.S. 303, 308, 118 S.Ct. 1261, 140 L.Ed.2d 413 (1998). As a result, state and federal rulemak-ers have broad latitude under the Constitution to establish rules excluding evidence from criminal trials. Such rules do not abridge an accused’s right to present a defense so long as they are not “arbitrary” or “disproportionate to the purposes they are designed to serve.” Moreover, we have found the exclusion of evidence to be unconstitutionally arbitrary or disproportionate only where it has infringed upon a weighty interest of the accused. Ibid, (citations and quotation omitted). In Washington v. Texas, the petitioner was convicted of malicious murder arising from the shooting of the mother of his ex-girlfriend. Both Washington and one Charles Fuller were present when the gun was fired. Washington testified at his trial that he did not shoot the deceased, and had in fact been running back to his vehicle when he heard a shot ring out, presumably discharged by Fuller. Fuller was not allowed to corroborate this version of events at trial because he had earlier been convicted of the same murder, and under Texas evidence law persons charged as accomplices in the same crime were not permitted to testify on behalf of one another. The petitioner’s conviction was upheld by the Texas courts, but the Supreme Court reversed, finding that “the right to present ... witnesses to establish a defense ... is a fundamental element of due process of law.” See 388 U.S. at 19, 87 S.Ct. 1920. The Court found the Texas rule in question— which prohibited the accomplice from testifying for his co-participant, but not the prosecution—to be “absurd” and “arbitrary,” ruling that “[t]he Framers of the Constitution did not intend to commit the futile act of giving to a defendant the right to secure the attendance of witnesses whose testimony he had no right to use.” Id. at 23, 87 S.Ct. 1920. A similar problem arose in Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973), where the defendant was tried for the murder of a police officer. The defendant was accused after evidence established that the slain deputy had discharged his firearm at his likely assailant and that Chambers had been struck by one of the bullets. Chambers insisted that he was innocent, and demanded to call at trial a Gable McDonald, who initially confessed to the shooting to Chambers’s attorneys, but later recanted at a preliminary examination. At trial, Chambers sought to prove not only that he did not shoot the officer, but that McDonald did. Although he was able to present testimony that McDonald was in fact the shooter, he was not able to call McDonald to the stand himself because of Mississippi’s common-law “voucher” rule, which provided that a party could not impeach his own witness. Furthermore, the trial court refused to permit Chambers to call three witnesses who would have testified that McDonald confessed to them as well because Mississippi did not recognize a hearsay exception for statements against penal interest. The Supreme Court concluded that Chambers’ inability to call and cross-examine McDonald, combined with the trial court’s prohibition on the introduction of the witnesses’ hearsay testimony, violated Chambers’ due process rights. With regard .to the requested testimony of McDonald, the Court recognized that “the right to confront ... is not absolute and may, in appropriate cases, bow to accommodate other legitimate interests in the criminal trial process.” Id. at 295, 98 S.Ct. 1038. As an example of such an interest, the Court cited to Mancusi v. Stubbs, 408 U.S. 204, 92 S.Ct. 2308, 33 L.Ed.2d 293 (1972), in which the Court held that the trial court’s inability to compel the attendance of a foreign national did not abridge the defendant’s right under the Confrontation Clause. Nonetheless, the “denial or significant diminution” of this right “calls into question the ultimate ‘integrity of the fact-finding process’ and requires that the competing interest be closely examined.” Chambers, 410 U.S. at 295, 93 S.Ct. 1038 (quoting Berger v. California, 393 U.S. 314, 89 S.Ct. 540, 21 L.Ed.2d 508 (1969)). Because “the right to confront and to cross-examine those who give damaging testimony against the accused has never been held to depend” on who actually called the witness, the Supreme Court concluded that the voucher rule “plainly interfered with Chambers’ right to defend against the State’s charges.” Id. at 298, 93 S.Ct. 1038. The Court found that it need not decide whether the Confrontation Clause violation itself would be enough to reverse the conviction, as Chambers had argued that it was the combination of his inability to cross-examine and his inability to call witnesses that violated his due process rights. Ibid. See also Davis v. Jabe, 824 F.2d 483, 486 (6th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 988, 108 S.Ct. 509, 98 L.Ed.2d 507 (1987). Proceeding to the exclusion of the three hearsay witnesses, the Court recognized the State’s interest in prohibiting introduction of hearsay generally, but found that such a rule must-yield to the defendant’s due process interests when sufficient indi-cia of reliability underscore the statements allegedly made. Chambers, 410 U.S. at 302, 93 S.Ct. 1038 (noting that because “[t]hat testimony was also critical to Chambers’ defense, ... the hearsay rule may not be applied mechanistically to defeat the ends of justice”). The reliability of the statements was supported by their spontaneity to close acquaintances, their corroboration by other evidence, and the reality that the statements were manifestly against McDonald’s penal interest. Id. at 300-01, 93 S.Ct. 1038. Together “with the State’s refusal to permit Chambers to cross-examine McDonald,” “the exclusion of this critical evidence” denied Chambers due process of law. Id. at 302, 93 S.Ct. 1038. See also Crane v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 683, 689-91, 106 S.Ct. 2142, 90 L.Ed.2d 636 (1986) (holding that the State deprived the defendant of his right to due process by denying him the opportunity to present evidence at trial concerning the voluntariness of his confession on the basis of a state rule permitting such evidence only to be introduced at pretrial hearings). In Rock v. Arkansas, 483 U.S. 44, 107 S.Ct. 2704, 97 L.Ed.2d 37 (1987), the Supreme Court explained that the defendant’s right to present a defense at trial trumped not only “arbitrary” state procedural rules, but also those “disproportionate to the purposes they are designed to serve. In applying its evidentiary rules a State must evaluate whether the interests served by a rule justify the limitation imposed on the defendant’s constitutional right to testify.” Id. at 56, 107 S.Ct. 2704. In Rock, the Court addressed an Arkansas rule of evidence that categorically excluded testimony that was derived from hypnosis sessions. Applying the rule, the trial judge had forbidden the defendant from providing any testimony other than that which she had recalled prior to her hypnosis sessions. Although it recognized that several other states applied a similar rule, the Court found that the effect of the rule was to “prevent[ ] her from describing any of the events that occurred on the day of the shooting, despite corroboration of many of those events by other witnesses.” Id. at 57, 107 S.Ct. 2704. In light of the evidence corroborating the details of the defendant’s hypnotically refreshed testimony, the tape recordings of the hypnosis sessions, and the trial court’s finding that the hypnotist did not use leading questions, the trial court erred by not weighing the defendant’s right to present testimony against the interests advanced by the hypnosis rule. Id. at 61-62, 107 S.Ct. 2704. Accordingly, the Court vacated the conviction and remanded the matter for further proceedings. It is clear that the defendant’s right to present evidence is not absolute, and that the State may place reasonable limitations on the introduction of evidence in criminal proceedings. See, e.g., United States v. Scheffer, 523 U.S. 303, 118 S.Ct. 1261, 140 L.Ed.2d 413 (1998) (holding that the proscription against the introduction of polygraph examination results contained in Military Rule of Evidence 707 did not violate the Due Process Clause). However, the unavoidable conclusion to be drawn from the Supreme Court’s cases is that the “the right to present ... witnesses to establish a defense” is clearly established as “a fundamental element of due process of law.” See Washington, 388 U.S. at 19, 87 S.Ct. 1920. State evidence rules must yield to this fundamental right when they “plainly interfere! ] with [the defendant’s] right to defend against the State’s charges,” Chambers, 410 U.S. at 298, 93 S.Ct. 1038, particularly when such rules are “disproportionate to the purposes they are designed to serve.” Rock, 483 U.S. at 56, 107 S.Ct. 2704. A state court’s interpretation of its evidence rules that results in the denial of the defendant’s right to present a defense, most notably the defense of third-party culpability as in Chambers, especially when the state court interprets the evidence rules incorrectly, is an unreasonable application of this clearly established constitutional rule. See Wade v. Mantello, 333 F.3d 51, 58 (2d Cir.2003) (holding that a claim that evidence of another’s guilt was improperly excluded “is based upon clearly established federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court. The Constitution protects a criminal defendant from the arbitrary exclusion of material evidence, and evidence establishing third-party culpability is material.”). In the present case, the petitioner’s attack against the prosecution witness was two-pronged: he sought both to discredit and accuse him. The petitioner also sought to undermine the probative force of the State’s circumstantial evidence by linking it to Peckham’s scheme to “frame” the petitioner. The state court of appeals, however, limited its view of the relevance of the petitioner’s proffered evidence by considering it only as an attack on Peckham’s “character.” This narrow view resulted in an abridgement of the defendant’s constitutional right to present a defense, as clearly established by the Supreme Court. Evidence that someone other than the defendant may have committed the crime is critical exculpatory evidence that the defendant is entitled to present to the jury. See United States v. Armstrong, 621 F.2d 951, 953 (9th Cir. 1980) (citing Chambers, 410 U.S. at 302, 93 S.Ct. 1038, and holding that “[f]undamental standards of relevancy, subject to the discretion of the court to exclude cumulative evidence and to insure orderly presentation of a case, require the admission of testimony which tends to prove that a person other than the defendant committed the crime that is charged.”)- This is particularly true in cases like this one, where there is evidence that suggests that the prosecution’s main witness may be the actual perpetrator. Such evidence should be admitted even where the defense theory is purely speculative, since it is the jury’s role to consider the evidence and determine whether it presents “legitimate alternative theories for how the crime occurred.” Gray v. Klauser, 282 F.3d 633, 649 (9th Cir.2002) (quoting United States v. Vallejo, 237 F.3d 1008, 1023 (9th Cir. 2001)). Likewise, extrinsic proof tending to establish a reason on the part of a witness to fabricate is never collateral and may not be excluded on that ground. Justice v. Hoke, 90 F.3d 43, 48 (2d Cir.1996) (granting habeas relief where such evidence was excluded). “[I]t is axiomatic that defense counsel should be permitted to expose to the jury facts relevant to a witness’ possible motivation to testify favorably for the prosecution or his potential bias for or against any party to the criminal proceeding. Such information is ‘always relevant as discrediting the witness and affecting the weight of his testimony.’ ” Wilkerson v. Cain, 233 F.3d 886, 890 (5th Cir.2000) (some internal quotation omitted). In this case, the state court of appeals held that evidence of Peckham’s conduct toward his former girlfriend and her new boyfriend, and the evidence of his theft of women’s undergarments, was impermissible propensity evidence excludable under the first sentence of Michigan Rule of Evidence 404(b), which states: “Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith.” It is clear from the record, however, that the evidence was not offered as proof of Peckham’s character or a character trait. Rather, the defense intended to show Peckham’s “system in doing an act,” see Mich. R. Evid. 404(b), in the manner of seeking revenge upon the defendant by accusing him of a crime that Peckham, himself, committed. Likewise, proof that Peckham stole women’s undergarments, to which he allegedly had a strange attachment, linked him to the incriminating evidence tied to the crime scene that the petitioner says was “planted” at his home during the trial. Thus, according to state evidence law, since the chain of inferences that made this evidence relevant did not require a detour through Peckham’s character, the first sentence of Rule 404(b) should not have served as an obstacle to admissibility. See People v. VanderVliet, 444 Mich. 52, 64, 508 N.W.2d 114, 121 (1993) (holding that “if the proffered other acts evidence is logically relevant, and does not involve the intermediate inference of character, Rule 404(b) is not implicated”). Moreover, Peckham’s statements to Kathy Hinson that he had done something so bad that if the police ever found out he would go to prison for life, and that hunting men was more fun than hunting animals, was not extrinsic evidence on a “collateral” matter; rather, it was probative of Peckham’s own guilt because, in fight of the other evidence of motive and opportunity, the jury could have inferred from these statements that Peckham was alluding to the murder of Timmerman. Such evidence would have tended to inculpate Peckham as it exculpated the petitioner. See Chambers, 410 U.S. at 296-98, 93 S.Ct. 1038. The Court finds that the state courts’ exclusion of the evidence under the circumstances amounted to an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court. If this constitutional violation is not harmless, the petitioner is entitled to relief. See Lewis v. Wilkinson, 307 F.3d 413, 422 (6th Cir.2002). “The test for harmless error, for purposes of determining habeas corpus relief, is whether the error made at trial ‘had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s verdict, rather than whether the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” Ibid. (quoting Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 630, 113 S.Ct. 1710, 123 L.Ed.2d 353 (1993)). “This standard of review requires the reviewing court to examine the effect of the error on the jury rather than the sufficiency of the evidence at trial.” Calvert v. Wilson, 288 F.3d 823, 833 (6th Cir.2002). This Court has little trouble concluding that the improperly excluded evidence would have substantially influenced the jury’s verdict. The failure to allow the jury to consider relevant and highly probative evidence of the guilt of a third party, who also happened to be the prosecution’s main witness establishing the petitioner’s motive, undermines confidence in the outcome of the case and rendered the trial fundamentally unfair. There were no eyewitnesses to the shooting. The circumstantial evidence against the petitioner, although adequate, was nonetheless equivocal. The prosecution posited that the petitioner was upset that Philip Timmerman would not renegotiate his option to purchase property coveted by the petitioner, a theory supported by Peckham’s testimony. But this theory was contradicted by the testimony of Judy Wynne that she had renegotiated the lease with Timmerman in 1992 and had given her children the first option to purchase the property. Moreover, the prosecution’s theory of how the petitioner actually went about committing the murder was weakened by other evidence in this case. Although the evidence established that the petitioner’s house was only 1.53 miles from the victim’s house, because the prosecution claimed that a footprint found by the railroad grade near 28th Street was made by the boot belatedly discovered inside the duffel bag that turned up in the petitioner’s house, coupled with evidence of the route that the tracking dog followed, the petitioner would have had to hike 2.7 miles on foot from his home through woods and fields and along an abandoned railroad grade at night, lay in wait long enough for the grass to have matted down, kill Tim-merman, and then return to his home. However, there was testimony that the petitioner’s girlfriend, Norma Kawka, left the petitioner at his house at 10:00 p.m. on the night of the murder, and Judy Wynne testified that the petitioner took a shower at his house at 10:30 p.m. that night. Kawka said that she spoke with the petitioner by telephone at 10:50 p.m. Although the circumstances do not render impossible the prosecution’s theory, there is certainly room to doubt the state’s theory and consider an alternative that would involve a different killer. Stephen Stein, Sr. testified that he observed another man walking away from the crime scene in a suspicious manner at the time of the murder. Stein’s testimony was bolstered by the testimony of Christina and Mark Andrew Haveman, who observed the tail lights from a car or truck near the railroad grade from 28th Street in the direction of the murder scene at about the time that Timmerman was shot. In addition, there was evidence in the record that Peckham had the opportunity to obtain the petitioner’s pistol, which was the likely murder weapon, and other evidence that connected Peckham to the clothing and other artifacts that later turned up in