Federal Court Orders Release of Man Imprisoned for Murder

A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Monday ordered the release of a Compton man who has been imprisoned for nearly eight years on a second-degree murder conviction, saying there are strong signs he is innocent and clear evidence that he received incompetent legal assistance.

“We are confronted here with that rare case” in which a defendant seeking review of a guilty verdict “has demonstrated a substantial possibility of actual innocence,” the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said in a unanimous decision stemming from a 1985 shooting that led to the imprisonment of Sheldon Sanders, now 28.

Monday’s decision follows two trials and a lengthy appeals process.

Sanders’ brother, Xavier, who had a lengthy criminal history, confessed immediately after the incident to his mother and a lawyer that he had shot Norman Gregory. The attorney advised him not to testify. The first trial ended in a hung jury.

The Sanders family then hired a new attorney, Philip Jefferson. Sanders’ mother told him that her other son, Xavier, had confessed to her and was willing to talk to Jefferson. But the attorney declined to interview Xavier about what happened.

Jefferson “evidenced a Gargantuan indifference to the interests of his client and clearly prejudiced his client’s defense” by failing to investigate or introduce evidence on the strongest possible defense--that someone else committed the crime, the decision stated.

“Jefferson also failed to hire a private investigator to interview witnesses and gather evidence from the scene; failed to hire a ballistics expert . . . and failed to familiarize himself with crime scene photos and other physical evidence,” the decision said.

Sheldon Sanders was convicted at the second trial and sentenced to 17 years to life in prison. Neither jury was told of Xavier Sander’s confession.

Some time after the second trial, Jefferson was disbarred for a long record of “demonstrating complete indifference to his legal and ethical duties to the great detriment of his clients,” according to a state Bar decision quoted in Monday’s ruling.

Nonetheless, a state appeals court upheld the conviction, saying Sanders had failed to prove he had been incompetently represented, a decision criticized by dissenting Justice Earl Johnson as putting expediency before justice.

Johnson’s dissent was “very convincing,” according to the 9th Circuit decision by appellate Judges Stephen Reinhardt and Thomas G. Nelson and Frank A. Kaufman, a Maryland federal trial judge sitting by designation. Their decision reverses a ruling by a Los Angeles federal district judge who rejected Sanders’ federal habeas corpus petition.

“Justice Johnson should be commended for his courageous dissent which was a precursor to today’s ruling,” said Santa Monica attorney Rowan K. Klein, who prepared the federal appeal for Sanders.

“I’m thrilled for Sheldon Sanders,” Klein said. “A court has finally recognized that it is inexcusable for a trial attorney not to pursue a confession by a third party, even if the third party is the defendant’s brother.”

Klein said it could take weeks or months for his client to be released on bail, pending a decision by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office on whether to retry him. He also noted that the district attorney could charge Xavier Sanders with the July 11, 1985, murder of Gregory.

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After the second trial, the Sanders family fired Jefferson and retained a third attorney, Leslie Abramson, one of the Los Angeles area’s most prominent criminal lawyers. In a state appeal, Abramson said Jefferson told her he “didn’t see any reason to get Xavier involved” and felt that he was “representing the family.” A Los Angeles Superior Court judge spurned that appeal.

Klein then took over the case. At a later state court hearing, Klein introduced Xavier’s tape-recorded confession that he shot Gregory. Xavier testified that he walked up to the Gregory house with a rifle, but he did not admit firing it.

A state court judge rejected Klein’s claim that Sheldon Sanders had been incompetently represented by Jefferson. The ruling was upheld by a state appeals court, and the California Supreme Court declined to review the case, setting the stage for the federal appeals.

A spokesman for the district attorney’s office indicated that officials would have to review the case before deciding whether to seek a retrial. Joseph P. Furman, a deputy California attorney general, said that office was considering whether to seek a rehearing of the decision.

The 9th Circuit ruling may affect other defendants, in particular Jesus Avila, 22, who was convicted of attempted murder and whose case has startling parallels to that of the Sanders brothers. “I’m very optimistic about Jesus’ chances,” said Barry Levin, one of his attorneys.

Like Sheldon Sanders, Avila was accused of a crime, even though his brother admitted that he had committed the offense. The Avila case also raises questions about whether he was competently represented.

Avila’s lawyers assert that his case appears to present even more compelling arguments for a rehearing because when Xavier Sanders testified in his brother’s appeal, he invoked the 5th Amendment, declining to give evidence that might incriminate himself. By contrast, Jesus Avila’s brother, Ernesto, testified that he had fired the shots in the incident for which Jesus was charged with attempted murder.

“Our case is much stronger in that Ernesto came to the hearing and testified,” Levin said. However, Furman said that there are “some serious differences” between the two cases, chief among them the fact that Sanders’ attorney, Jefferson, had a long history of poorly representing clients. That was not the case with Avila.