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Opinion of the Court
told him to call for help, and that Green had notified base of the disturbance shortly after it began.17
Schlup immediately filed a traverse arguing that Green's affidavit provided conclusive proof of Schlup's innocence. Schlup contended that Green's statement demonstrated that a call for help had gone out shortly after the incident. Because the videotape showed that Schlup was in the dining room some 65 seconds before the guards received the distress call, Schlup argued that he could not have been involved in Dade's murder. Schlup emphasized that Green's statement was not likely to have been fabricated, because at the time of Green's interview, neither he nor anyone else would have realized the significance of Green's call to base. Schlup tried to buttress his claim of innocence with affidavits from inmates who stated that they had witnessed the event and that Schlup had not been present.18 Two of those affi-17 "BROOKS: John, whenever you saw Dade fall what did you do then? "GREEN: I stepped out of the office and I heard Sgt. Flowers calling for officers cause they had had a fight. Couldn't get nobody so he told me to call base to notify them of the fight and that's what I did. "DEARIXON: That's all I have, John. Thank you very much." Response to Order To Show Cause Why a Writ of Habeas Corpus Should Not Be Granted, Exhibit T (Transcripts of Inmate Interviews), p. 31.
If the total time required for Green to respond to Flowers' instruction and for the base to send out a distress call in response to Green's call amounted to a mere 15-17 seconds, O'Neal running at top speed would have had 8-10 seconds to wash his hands and still would have been able to arrive in the dining room some 26 seconds after the distress call.
18 In the District Court, Schlup attempted to supplement the record with several detailed affidavits from inmates attesting to his innocence. For example, Lamont Griffin Bey, a black inmate, submitted an affidavit in which he stated: "The first thing I saw of the fight was Rodney [sic] Stewart throw liquid in Arthur Dade's face, and O'Neal stab him. . . . I knew Lloyd Schlup at that time, but we were not friends. Lloyd Schlup was not present at the scene of the fight." Affidavit of Lamont Griffin Bey, pp. 2-3 (Apr. 7, 1993). Griffin Bey also stated: "When this happened, there was a lot of racial tension in the prison. . . . I would not stick my neck out to help a white person under these circumstances normally, but
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