Schlup v. Delo, 513 U.S. 298, 6 (1995)

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Cite as: 513 U. S. 298 (1995)

Opinion of the Court

Schlup's defense was that the State had the wrong man.3 He relied heavily on a videotape from a camera in the prisoners' dining room. The tape showed that Schlup was the first inmate to walk into the dining room for the noon meal, and that he went through the line and got his food. Approximately 65 seconds after Schlup's entrance, several guards ran out of the dining room in apparent response to a distress call. Twenty-six seconds later, O'Neal ran into the dining room, dripping blood.4 Shortly thereafter, Schlup and O'Neal were taken into custody.

Schlup contended that the videotape, when considered in conjunction with testimony that he had walked at a normal pace from his cell to the dining room,5 demonstrated that he could not have participated in the assault. Because the videotape showed conclusively that Schlup was in the dining room 65 seconds before the guards responded to the distress call, a critical element of Schlup's defense was determining when the distress call went out. Had the distress call sounded shortly after the murder, Schlup would not have had time to get from the prison floor to the dining room, and

by Flowers during the struggle itself. And when O'Neal was taken into custody, his clothes were covered with blood and he was bleeding from lacerations on his right hand.

3 Schlup did not testify at the guilt phase of the trial. At the sentencing hearing, Schlup did testify and maintained his innocence of the offense. He continued to maintain his innocence even after the jury had sentenced him to death.

4 After stabbing Dade, O'Neal broke a window with his hand and threw the knife out the window. That resulted in multiple lacerations to his right hand. Before leaving the prison floor, O'Neal paused briefly at a utilities sink on Walk 2 to try to wash off the blood, and then continued on to the dining room.

O'Neal was followed into the dining room by inmate Randy Jordan, who is identified in some affidavits attesting to petitioner's innocence as the third participant in the crime. See infra, at 308-309. However, Jordan's name was not mentioned at Schlup's trial.

5 Schlup's cell was at the end of Walk 2, closest to the dining room.

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