Garvin

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

INTRODUCTION

In this federal habeas case brought by a state prisoner, the issue concerns the vol-untariness of a confession obtained after detectives falsely suggested to the suspect that she could avoid a murder prosecution by confessing to robbery and urged her to “cooperate” before she consulted with a lawyer. The state courts condemned this tactic but held its coercive force had attenuated by the time of the non-counseled confession, three days later, a confession used to convict petitioner of murder. In this habeas proceedings, petitioner makes a powerful case of coercion and involuntariness. Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”), however, federal district courts may no longer engage in de novo review of the voluntariness of confessions. Under the deferential review required by AEDPA, the petition must be denied.

STATEMENT

Petitioner Tammy Garvin, then a 32-year old prostitute, knew the murder victim, Rolf Neumeister. She had worked for him as a waitress and had maintained an intermittent sexual relationship with him. Knowing where Neumeister kept the restaurant’s proceeds,…