Free Motion for Miscellaneous Relief - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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Gary T. Lowenthal - California Bar No. 46923 [email protected] 1490 Camino Corrales Santa Fe, NM 87505 Telephone: (505) 982-6708 Douglas Gerlach - 06869 [email protected] JENNINGS, STROUSS & SALMON, P.L.C. A Professional Limited Liability Company The Collier Center, 11th Floor 201 East Washington Street Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2385 Telephone: (602) 262-5911 Attorneys for Petitioner UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA STEVEN CRAIG JAMES, Plaintiff vs. DORA B. SCHRIRO, et al., Defendants No. CV 00-1118-PHX-NVW DEATH PENALTY CASE APPLICATION FOR AUTHORIZATION FOR TRAVEL FUNDS AND RE-APPOINTMENT OF INVESTIGATOR

Petitioner requests funding authorization for Petitioner's lead counsel to travel

19 to Michigan to interview an important mitigation witness, Mr. Norman O'Steen. 20 Petitioner also requests the Court to re-appoint Petitioner's investigator, R. Bruce 21 Whitman, for the limited purpose of assisting counsel in Mr. O'Steen's interview. 22 Norman O'Steen is Petitioner's biological uncle and the brother of Petitioner's 23 mother, Lora Pannell. Petitioner has submitted declarations to this Court setting forth 24 the following: (1) Mr. O'Steen was a sexual predator in the 1960s, molesting children 25 in his own family [Ex. 45 at para. 10; Ex. 48 at para. 11; Ex. 49 at para. 2-4; Ex. 84 at 26 para. 5]; (2) some of this abuse occurred when the victims were as young as three
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1 years old [Ex. 49 at para. 2]; (3) Mr. O'Steen has admitted recently that he molested 2 "other children" (potentially including Petitioner) [Ex. 49 at para. 4]; and (4) Mr. 3 O'Steen was a frequent visitor to Lora Pannell's home when Petitioner lived there as 4 a young child [Ex. 45 at para. 10; Ex. 48 at para. 11]. 5 Before filing the Merits Memorandum, Petitioner's counsel diligently sought

6 to locate and interview Mr. O'Steen to determine if he sexually abused Petitioner. 7 This investigation included conducting Internet searches, interviewing family 8 members to ascertain his whereabouts, and visiting nursing homes in the greater Los 9 Angeles area. These efforts were thwarted because Mr. O'Steen was either homeless 10 or residing at an undisclosed nursing home, and his family did not know where to 11 locate him. However, Mr. O'Steen's daughter informed Petitioner's counsel in June 12 2008 that she had assumed the responsibility for Mr. O'Steen's care, and that he 13 currently resides in a nursing home near her residence, approximately forty-five 14 miles from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mr. O'Steen's daughter has also stated that she 15 will facilitate the interview of Mr. O'Steen, if counsel comes to the nursing home. 16 Petitioner respectfully requests authorization for the following travel funds for

17 two adults: (1) ground transportation to and from Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix; (2) 18 round trip airfare between Phoenix, AZ and Grand Rapids, MI; (3) an automobile 19 rental in Grand Rapids to travel to and from Mr. O'Steen's nursing home; (4) 20 overnight lodging at a local motel in Michigan; and (5) two days per diem expenses. 21 Petitioner also requests the Court to re-appoint Petitioner's investigator, R.

22 Bruce Whitman, for the limited purpose of assisting counsel in Mr. O'Steen's 23 interview. On October 30, 2006, this Court issued an order under seal, authorizing 24 Petitioner's counsel to retain Mr. Whitman's investigative services, to assist in the 25 investigation of Petitioner's ineffective assistance of counsel claims. The Court 26 authorized Mr. Whitman's compensation at a rate of $55 per hour. Petitioner requests 2

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1 that Mr. Whitman again be compensated at this rate. Counsel will not request 2 compensation for counsel's own time, except for time preparing for and conducting 3 Mr. O'Steen's interview. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 3 By /s/ Douglas Gerlach Attorneys for Petitioner Gary T. Lowenthal 1490 Camino Corrales Santa Fe, NM 87505
JENNINGS, STROUSS & SALMON, P.L.C.

Dated this 29th day of July, 2008.

Douglas Gerlach

The Collier Center, 11th Floor 201 E. Washington Street Phoenix, AZ 85004-2385

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on July 29, 2008, I electronically transmitted this Application for Authorization for Travel Funds and Re-Appointment of Investigator 3 to the Clerk's Office using the CM/ECF System for filing and transmittal of a Notice of Electronic Filing to the following CM/ECF registrants: 4 Robert John Gorman 5 Office of the Attorney General Criminal Appeals Section 6 400 W. Congress, Suite 315 Tucson, AZ 85701-1367 7 [email protected] Attorney for Respondents 8 and copy mailed to: 9 The Honorable Neil V. Wake Judge, United States District Court 10 United States District Court 401 West Washington 11 Phoenix, AZ 85003 12 13 By /s/ Denise L. Christiansen 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 4

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