MIDDLETON, JOHN

DOB: November 2, 1959
Race: White
Gender: Male

CRIME AND TRIAL

County of conviction: Adair (on transfer from Harrison)
Number of counts: One (first case) / Two (second case)
Race of victim: White/white/white
Gender of victim: Male (first case) male/female (second case)
Date of crime: June 23, 1995 (first case) / June 11, 1995 (second case)
Date of sentencing: April 24, 1997 (first case) / June 26, 1998(second case)

TRIAL COUNSEL:

((?)) (first case)
Sharon R. Turlington (second case)

LEGAL STATUS:

Current proceedings: 

Case No. 1:

Case No. 2:

Last judicial decision:

Case No. 1:

CURRENT COUNSEL:

Charlie Rogers
Wyrsch & Hobbs
1000 Walnut St. Ste. 1600
Kansas City, MO  64106-2122
816-221-0080

John W., Simon
P O Box 16005
Clayton, MO  63105
314-645-1776

REPORTED OPINIONS:

•  Habeas corpus denied by U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri, Case No. 4:02-CV-08002-ODS, unpublished memorandum and order dated June 3, 2004; Certificate of Appealability granted in part and denied in part
   
• Denial of post-conviction relief affirmed (as to first case).  Middleton v. State, 80 S.W.3d 799 (Mo. banc 2002).
   
• Conviction and sentence in second case affirmed on direct appeal by State v. Middleton, 998 S.W.2d 520 (Mo. banc 1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1167 (2000).
   
• Conviction and sentence in first case affirmed on direct appeal by State v. Middleton, 995 S.W.2d 443 (Mo. banc), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1054 (1999)

SIGNIFICANT LEGAL ISSUES (First case):

• Suggestiveness of store clerk's out-of-court identification of defendant
   
• state's refusal to disclose, and court's refusal to order disclosure of evidence concerning witnesses' mental health records, where witnesses were competent to testify
   
• state's cross-examination of defense psychiatric expert regarding expert's belief in truth of defendant's out-of-court statements regarding guilt, where trial counsel asked expert about truthfulness of defendant's statements regarding methamphetamine usage
   
• exclusion of equivocal Witherspoon venirepersons
   
• Brady claim regarding alleged deals between state and two witnesses
   
• Trial counsel's failure to present diminished capacity evidence in the guilt phase and to call Middleton's former employers and family members as witnesses during the penalty phase

SIGNIFICANT LEGAL ISSUES (Second case):

• state's failure to disclose an alleged tacit "deal" between the prosecution and its primary witness
   
• trial counsel's effectiveness in pursuing a penalty phase theory that the crime was committed under a methamphetamine-induced psychosis, rather than to present evidence that Mr. Middleton was a good employee, or evidence from his relatives that he had limited cognitive abilities even before his heavy drug use, that his mother had inhaled gas fumes as a child, or evidence of his favorable prison behavior in another state
   
• admissibility of sheriff's opinion that case against state's witness was "weak," as offered by state to rebut defense contention that charges against witness were dropped at sheriff's request
   
• prosecutor's stated uncertainty in closing argument about whether defendant would be put to death in first case, as allegedly relieving second jury of responsibility for death sentence
   
• alleged invalidity of one aggravating factor when other aggravators have been found to exist (i.e., Missouri is or is not a "weighing state")

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