Matthews v. Warden, Madison Correctional Institution, 3:16-cv-00381

Petitioner Anson J. Matthews was a passenger in a vehicle stopped after its license plate was found to be registered to a different car; officer checked identities and learned of prior drug histories for Matthews and the driver.
Officer Soutar detained the vehicle about 33 minutes while awaiting a drug-detection dog; the dog alerted and officers found >27g but <100g of cocaine.
Matthews moved to suppress, arguing the stop was racial profiling and unduly prolonged, and that there was no evidence the K-9 or handler were trained/certified to establish probable cause; the trial court denied suppression.
Matthews pleaded no contest, was sentenced to eight years, and appealed; the Ohio Second District affirmed and the Ohio Supreme Court declined review.
On federal habeas review, the magistrate judge concluded Fourth Amendment claims are barred by Stone v. Powell because Matthews had a full and fair opportunity to litigate them in state court.
The magistrate also found Matthews’ ineffective-assistance claims procedurally defaulted under Ohio res judicata for failing to raise them on direct appeal; appellate counsel’s alleged ineffectiveness was unexhausted because Matthews did not seek reopening in state court under State v. Murnahan.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Fourth Amendment: unlawful/extended stop	Matthews: stop was racial profiling and was unduly prolonged (33 min) to await K-9	State: Ohio courts provided full opportunity to litigate suppression; detention was reasonable	Habeas review barred by Stone v. Powell (state remedies adequate; full and fair opportunity existed)
Fourth Amendment: reliability of K-9 evidence	Matthews: State presented no evidence of dog/handler training or certification; probable cause lacking	State: Issue was litigated (or available) in state proceedings and rejected on appeal	Habeas review barred by Stone; claim was litigated on state record and is not cognizable on federal habeas
Ineffective assistance of trial counsel	Matthews: trial counsel failed to challenge K-9 reliability, drug purity/weight, and officer bias	State: Any failure was apparent on the record and should have been raised on direct appeal	Procedurally defaulted under Ohio res judicata for not raising on direct appeal; federal habeas barred
Ineffective assistance of appellate counsel (to excuse default)	Matthews: appellate counsel failed to raise trial counsel’s errors on appeal	State: To excuse default, ineffective-appellate-counsel claim must first be raised in state court via Murnahan reopening	Claim unexhausted / not raised in state court; time to reopen has passed; procedural default stands

Stone v. Powell, 428 U.S. 465 (bar on federal habeas review where state provided full and fair opportunity to litigate Fourth Amendment claim)
Riley v. Gray, 674 F.2d 522 (6th Cir.) (discussion of what constitutes full and fair opportunity to litigate Fourth Amendment claims in Ohio)
Edwards v. Carpenter, 529 U.S. 446 (requirement that ineffective-appellate-counsel claims be presented to state courts before they can excuse procedural default)
State v. Perry, 10 Ohio St.2d 175 (Ohio res judicata rule barring issues not raised on direct appeal)
State v. Murnahan, 63 Ohio St.3d 60 (Ohio procedure for reopening direct appeal to raise ineffective-assistance claims)
Durr v. Mitchell, 487 F.3d 423 (6th Cir.) (recognition that Ohio Perry doctrine is an adequate independent state ground)