Jells Stands in the Sixth Circuit

On Tuesday December 16th, the Circuit denied en banc and rehearing in Jells v. Mitchell. This is a case right out of our own Northern District CHU. In this case, the Circuit granted relief on Jells' claims of both ineffective assistance of counsel and Brady. The court found counsel to be ineffective for failing to prepare for the mitigation phase of Jells' trial and for failing to use a mitigation expert to gather information regarding his background. In addition, the court held that the State had witheld several witness statements that contradicted its theory that the murder was a random kidnapping for sex, and instead showed that Jells and the victim knew each other, and that she had voluntarily gotten into the van and travelled around with him. The assistant county prosecutor who tried the case: Carmen Marino. See also, Joe D'ambrosio; Robert Brown; Rasheem Matthews; Gregory Lott.