Paul Ott v. Kelly Harrington

MEMORANDUM

Paul Ott challenges the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . The ease is reviewed under the deferential standards set forth in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.

The facts are known to the parties. Ott argues that his statement to the police, obtained in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 , 86 S.Ct. 1602 , 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), was involuntary, and therefore inadmissible at trial for impeachment purposes. Blackburn v. Alabama, 361 U.S. 199, 206-07 , 80 S.Ct. 274 , 4 L.Ed.2d 242 (1960). Even if Ott’s statement were found involuntary, his claim fails because he cannot show the admission of his statement had a substantial and injurious effect on the jury’s verdict. See Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 637-38 , 113 S.Ct. 1710 , 123 L.Ed.2d 353 (1993). Had the prosecution refrained from using Ott’s statement to impeach him, the jury still would have been persuaded by extensive evidence against him, including the testimonies of other female victims; physical evidence pinning him to the murder and oral copulation; the absence of significant dissimilarity between Ott’s theory…