Stumpf v. Mitchell

During a home-invasion robbery, John David Stumpf (appellant) and Clyde Wesley pulled guns on Norman and Mary Jane Stout; Stumpf shot and wounded Norman (who survived) while Mary Jane was killed by shots fired in another room. Because Wesley was separately fighting extradition, the two were tried at different times: the prosecutor first argued at Stumpf's plea and sentencing that ballistics proved Stumpf's gun killed Mary Jane, and a three-judge panel sentenced Stumpf to death based partly on that finding. Seven months later, using a jailhouse informant's testimony that Wesley confessed to shooting Mary Jane with Stumpf's dropped gun, and ballistics evidence suggesting Wesley's own gun jammed after one shot, the same prosecutor convinced a jury Wesley was the actual shooter, resulting in a 20-years-to-life sentence for Wesley. Stumpf appealed his own conviction and death sentence, arguing the prosecutor's use of these directly conflicting theories violated due process.