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C’mon, Phil! Paul House
What will it take for Gov. Phil Bredesen to pardon a death row inmate even the U.S. Supreme Court believes is innocent?
How about DNA evidence proving semen found on the murder victim did not belong to Paul House? Or the fact that bloodstains found on House’s jeans, it turns out, didn’t come directly from the victim, but from vials of blood taken during the autopsy? And what about the two witnesses who claim the victim’s husband confessed to the murder?
Despite mounting evidence pointing to House’s innocence, Bredesen has refused to intervene, saying such matters should remain in the courts until all judicial remedies are exhausted. But now, dozens of state legislators and a federal judge are urging the governor to reconsider and grant a full pardon.
Led by Rep. Mike Turner, a Democrat from Old Hickory, nearly 35 lawmakers from both parties (about half of whom support capital punishment) have signed a letter asking Bredesen to free House, and warning that “allowing an innocent man to die in prison would be a shame and blemish on our state.” State Rep. Eric Swafford supports the death penalty but signed the letter because he believes House is on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. “I believe a reasonable, intelligent person like the governor will make the right decision and right this wrong in Tennessee,” the Pikeville Republican says, adding, “It’s never too late to do the right thing.”
And although the governor says he will consider the unprecedented request, he tells the Scene he’s reluctant to pardon House. “My understanding of that case is, I believe, it is moving forward in the courts, which I believe is the proper place for it,” he says following a public event at the downtown Sheraton last Friday. “I would expect to let the matter play out in the courts.”
Lawmakers aren’t the only ones nudging the governor. Nashville’s Gilbert S. Merritt, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge, might also send a letter to the governor asking him to grant a pardon. As for Bredesen deferring to the judicial system at this point, Merritt says, “He is the only person who can pardon this man. The courts don’t have the authority to pardon him. That is the governor’s exclusive authority.”
Because the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office maintains House is guilty, Merritt says the case could continue to linger in the courts for years without resolution. “If the thought is that it would be better off to have two or three more years of expensive litigation in the courts, then fine,” he says. “But I think that’s a misguided view.”
When the 6th Circuit voted 8-7 in 2004 to deny House a new trial, Merritt issued a scathing dissent: “The State, and its officials who have prosecuted, sentenced and reviewed the case, are inclined to persevere in the belief that the State was right all along.… This case is a good example of how these errors can lead to the execution of a defendant who is actually innocent.”
House was convicted in 1985 for the rape and murder of 29-year-old Carolyn Muncey in rural Union County. The prosecution argued at trial that House raped Muncey and then bludgeoned her to death so he could not be identified. Rape was the only motive presented at trial, and it was the aggravating factor used to justify a death sentence.
From the beginning, House maintained his innocence, but it wasn’t until more than a decade after his conviction that DNA evidence revealed that the semen found on the victim belonged to her husband, William Muncey, not House. From there, the case against House began to crumble, with allegations of evidence tampering and prosecutorial misconduct arising, and with at least two witnesses claiming William Muncey tearfully confessed to murdering his wife.
In a brief filed in federal court last week, Attorney General Robert Cooper downplays the post-conviction evidence and contradicts the opinion of the nation’s highest court, writing that the state “remains confident that the proof presented at House’s criminal trial and at the evidentiary hearing in this Court fully supports the jury’s finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” In light of the Supreme Court ruling, however, Cooper’s office finally concedes in its latest brief that House’s claims should be settled in federal court.
Rep. Mike Turner, Judge Merritt and others have expressed disappointment in the attorney general’s refusal to acknowledge what even pro-death penalty officials view as a mistake.
Given House’s declining health because of advanced multiple sclerosis—and because he’s already spent more than 22 years on death row—his supporters say the governor should move expeditiously on the matter. In recent months, House has begun experiencing memory loss and difficulty speaking, and he is losing feeling in his torso and arms. He cannot walk, bathe himself or even shave without assistance.
“We are going to move forward and get this to the governor, who I think is a fair man. I think after he reviews this…that he will make the right decision,” Turner says. “We’re hoping the governor will make this decision before the summer is over. I really don’t think Paul House has that much time.”
Bredesen says he definitely won’t make a decision before a July 12 hearing scheduled in the U.S. District Court in Knoxville. At that hearing a federal judge will decide how to proceed with the case given the numerous evidentiary matters raised, as well as allegations of prosecutorial misconduct and inadequate representation at trial.
Bredesen says that, as governor, it’s his job to get involved only when something isn’t working, adding that House is not on the brink of execution, and that he is receiving good health care at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, where he is confined. According to relatives and his lawyer, though, a daily multivitamin and Tylenol PM is the extent of House’s medical treatment.
Gov. Bredesen also is quick to note that the Supreme Court did not explicitly opine that House is innocent.
Here’s what it did say: “This is the rare case where—had the jury heard all the conflicting testimony—it is more likely than not that no reasonable juror viewing the record as a whole would lack reasonable doubt.” In other words, he would not have been convicted or sentenced to death.
When the opinion was issued in June 2006, House and his supporters believed it would be a matter of weeks, or at most months, before he was released. It soon became clear, however, that wasn’t going to happen.
Because House’s memory is suffering, his mother says he often forgets the status of his case. During several recent visits, Joyce House says her son has mentioned with optimism the Supreme Court decision, urging her to read it as though it was a new development. Then she reminds him the opinion was issued a year ago, and that still nothing has happened.“Last Sunday when I went to leave, he looked at me and said, ‘Mom, I think I’m gonna die in here,’ ” Joyce House says. “I said, ‘No. No you’re not. Just keep hanging in there because we’re gonna get you out.’ ”