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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF IDAHO

JODY CARR, Petitioner, v. Case No. 3:10-cv-00237-EJL MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

WARDEN CARLIN, Respondent.

Pending before the Court are various motions filed by the parties. Having reviewed the motions, responses, replies, and the state court record, the Court finds that the parties have adequately presented the facts and legal arguments in the briefs and record and that the decisional process would not be significantly aided by oral argument. Therefore, in the interest of avoiding further delay, the Court shall decide this matter on the written motions, briefs and record without oral argument. D. Idaho L. Civ. R. 7.1(d). Accordingly, the Court enters the following Order.

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BACKGROUND The Idaho Court of Appeals summarized the facts of Petitioner Jody Carr's case as follows: According to the state's evidence presented at Carr's criminal trial, Carr met S.B. at a bar and the two drove to a secluded location to engage in intercourse. When S.B. exited to the front of the vehicle, Carr ran over her twice. Carr believed S.B. was dead, and left the scene. Carr returned the next morning to make sure he did not leave any evidence and ran over S.B.'s body a third time to make sure she was not still alive. Carr fled to California with his family and was later arrested and returned to Idaho. (State's Lodging D-4, p. 1.) On February 4, 2004, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Petitioner for kidnaping and aggravated battery. Petitioner was arrested by San Bernardino County Deputy Sheriff Jerry Hughes. (State's Lodging A-4, pp. 2-3.) On February 5, 2004,Twin Falls Police Department Detective Curtis Gambrel arrived in California. He gave Petitioner a Miranda warning and interviewed him. At that time, Petitioner told Gambrel that, on the night in question, he was very drunk and had consensual sex with S.B. Afterward, S.B. exited the car and took off one leg of her pants and underwear to urinate. Petitioner revved up the car, but it lunged forward when his foot slipped off the clutch, whereupon he accidentally ran over S.B. Confused, he made a U-turn to try to find her, and accidentally ran over her again. At that time, he determined that she was dead, and he drove away. He returned to the scene the next morning, and, believing she might be still alive and suffering, ran over her a third time to liberate her spirit from her body. (Id., pp. 3-4 & Exhibit, Report of Jon F. Burke, Ph.D.)
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On February 10, 2004, Gambrel interviewed Petitioner a second time in the San Bernardino County Jail. Petitioner related essentially the same story. (State's Lodging A4, p. 4.) Petitioner was then transported to the Twin Falls County Jail. On February 16, 2004, Gambrel interviewed Petitioner a third time, whereupon Petitioner substantially changed his story and said that his best friend, Caleb Casey, gave Petitioner and S.B. some methamphetamine because S.B. had requested drugs; Petitioner and S.B. had consensual sex; Casey then tried to rape S.B.; a small fight broke out; and then Casey pushed S.B. out the car door and ran over her twice. Petitioner said he returned to the scene the next day to look for bottles and evidence, and saw S.B. lying face up, but did not run over her. (Id., p. 5.) Casey was interviewed by Detective Gambrel and Deputy Kelly Hassani on February 16, 2004, and Casey denied having anything to do with the death of S.B. (State's Lodging A-4.) Petitioner was re-interviewed on February 16, 2004, at which time he said he had lied about Casey and again told substantially the same story about the accidental death of S.B. and running over her three times. (Id.) Petitioner told law enforcement officers where to search for S.B.'s body. She was found after several days, covered in snow, with her pants entirely off her left leg and bunched around her right ankle. (State's Lodging A-4, pp. 5-6.) S.B.'s autopsy revealed that she had several non-fatal blunt trauma wounds consistent with being hit and run over by a car, and that all of the wounds were suffered while she was alive. (State's Lodging A-2, p. 15. ) She was believed to have survived for several hours after the wounds were
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inflicted, because she died of exposure rather than trauma. (State's Lodging A-4 p. 6; A2, p. 13.) She had no illegal drugs in her system. (State's Lodging A-4, p. 5.) The car Petitioner was driving when he fled to California, was towed from California to Idaho, searched, inventoried, and held as evidence for a short time. (State's Lodgings A-1, pp.37-38; C-1, p.166.) When Petitioner's family attempted to retrieve or search the car several weeks later because Petitioner asserted he had hidden exculpatory evidence in it, they found it had been crushed at an Idaho junkyard. (State's Lodging C-1, p. 143.) Petitioner was charged with first degree murder. The court originally appointed the public defender to represent Petitioner. (State's Lodging A-1, p.21.) However, private counsel Greg Fuller appeared on behalf of Petitioner on March 9, 2005, four months prior to trial. (State's lodging A-4, pp.5-6, 49.) Petitioner remained in custody at the Twin Falls County Jail for approximately 15 months where he alleges the conditions of confinement were unbearably harsh. To try to reduce the possibility of a fixed life sentence, he pleaded guilty to the charge on June 24, 2005, under a plea agreement that limited the State to arguing that the maximum sentence should be thirty years fixed, with life indeterminate. (State's Lodging A-3, p. 8-9.) Judgment of conviction was entered on October 17, 2005, wherein Petitioner was sentenced to a unified life sentence with twenty-five years fixed. (State's Lodging A-1, pp. 92-93.) On direct appeal, Petitioner challenged only his sentence, arguing that it was
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excessive. (State's Lodging B-1.) The Idaho Court of Appeals affirmed Petitioner's conviction and sentence. (State's Lodging B-4.) Petitioner did not file a petition for review with the Idaho Supreme Court, and the Idaho Court of Appeals issued its remittitur on November 16, 2006. (State's Lodging B-5.) While his direct appeal was still pending, Petitioner filed a pro se application for postconviction relief in which he asserted that his guilty plea was the product of extreme mistreatment at the Twin Falls County Jail, amounting to coercion; that numerous individuals conspired to cover up the wrongdoing; that his attorney was ineffective; and that various other constitutional violations occurred. He further alleged that he was innocent, but he pleaded guilty only to protect his family from the actual person who did commit the crime, his best friend, Caleb Casey. (State's Lodging C-1.) Petitioner's application was accompanied by a 92-page affidavit that primarily discussed the poor living conditions in the Twin Falls County Jail. (Id., pp.23-117.) The State filed a motion for summary dismissal of the post-conviction action, contending Petitioner's petition was more properly characterized as a habeas corpus petition. (Id., pp.118-19.) In response, Petitioner filed a motion for counsel and a motion to strike the State's motion, contending his petition "clearly complied with Idaho Code

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