Gagne v. Booker

680 F.3d 493 (6th Cir. 2012)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P and his friend Swathwood (P's co-defendant) had decided to move to California. P had ended a relationship with P.C., three weeks earlier. On the evening of July 3, 2000, P, Swathwood, and another friend, David Stout, were out for a good time. Their car ran out of gas, they walked to P.C.'s house and found her there. P.C., who had been drinking agreed to get cash from the ATM to buy gas, beer, and crack cocaine. After smoking, drinking, and showering, P.C. began to have sex with P, whereupon Swathwood joined in. P.C. engaged in fellatio, vaginal intercourse, and anal intercourse with both men. She also engaged in fellatio with Stout, albeit briefly, and during the course of this 'escapade,' had multiple vibrators and a wine bottle inserted into her vagina and rectum. The next morning, the three men took P.C.'s ATM card, withdrew $300, bought crack cocaine, and smoked it all themselves. P.C. called the police and accused P and Swathwood of rape. What had originally begun a consensual sexual encounter with P, she had protested Swathwood's uninvited participation and, rather than relenting when she objected, Swathwood and P had held her down, forcibly raped and sodomized her, mocked her and laughed at her, and tried to force her to perform fellatio on Stout, who was drunk, stoned, and virtually incoherent. P and Swathwood claimed it was consensual; that P.C. had initiated and directed the 'wild orgy' and had given them the ATM card with orders to return with more crack. P and Swathwood with three counts each of first-degree criminal sexual misconduct. They entered not-guilty pleas, and Stout was to be a witness, but not a defendant. P and Swathwood with three counts each of first-degree criminal sexual misconduct. They entered not-guilty pleas, and Stout was to be a witness, but not a defendant. P proffered evidence that P.C. and P had, on a certain prior occasion, engaged in group sex with another individual, one Ruben Bermudez; and a separate allegation that P.C. had offered to engage in group sex with P and his father. the trial court denied the motion. Ds were convicted and appealed. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions. After exhausting his state-court appeals, P for habeas corpus relief claiming that the Michigan state courts had violated his Sixth Amendment rights to a fair trial by excluding the testimonial evidence about the group sex with Bermudez and the offer of group sex with his father. The district court granted the petition. D appealed