Romanelli v. Suliene

• Citation: 615 F.3d 847
• Decision Date: 11 August 2010
• Docket Number: No. 08-1762.,08-1762.
• Parties: Ronald ROMANELLI, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Dalia SULIENE and Christopher Kuhl, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

615 F.3d 847

Ronald ROMANELLI, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.Dalia SULIENE and Christopher Kuhl, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 08-1762.

United States Court of Appeals,Seventh Circuit.

Argued May 26, 2010.

Decided Aug. 11, 2010.

Brian J. Wong (argued), Mayer Brown LLP, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Martin J. DeVries (argues), Sager, Colwin, Samuelson & Associates, S.C., Fond Du Lac, WI, for Dalia Suliene.

Jodi Shields Yin (argued), Axley Brynelson, Madison, WI, for Christopher Kuhl.

Before RIPPLE, KANNE, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

This appeal arises out of a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 lawsuit in which prisoner Ronald Romanelli claimed that Dalia Suliene, a jail physician, and Christopher Kuhl, a jail sergeant, violated his right to receive acceptable medical care during his pretrial detention at Columbia County Jail. Romanelli alleged that during his incarceration, Dr. Suliene and Sergeant Kuhl were deliberately indifferent to what Romanelli considered serious medical needs, particularly with respect to his needs for Crohn's disease treatment and replacement eyeglasses. At the conclusion of trial, the jury returned a special verdict finding that neither of the alleged health concerns constituted a serious medical condition. Romanelli raises two issues on appeal: that the district court erred in denying his three pre-trial motions for court-appointed counsel, and that the district court erred in admitting evidence of his prior felony convictions for impeachment purposes. We affirm.

I. Background

Then-Chief District Judge Barbara Crabb, who initially presided in this case, granted Romanelli leave on March 13, 2007, to proceed on his civil rights claims under § 1983 against Dr. Suliene, Sergeant Kuhl, and several other defendants. Before any of the named defendants answered the complaint, Romanelli filed a motion for court-appointed counsel. Judge Crabb denied his motion without prejudice on March 20, stating that it was premature to make such a determination, and that under Jackson v. County of McLean, 953 F.2d 1070, 1072 (7th Cir.1992), Romanelli failed to demonstrate that he had made reasonable efforts to secure counsel on his own, or conversely, that he was prevented from doing so. (Appellant App. at 22-24.)

Less than three months later, Romanelli filed a second motion for court-appointed counsel. Romanelli contended that due to his indigence and incarceration he would be unable to adequately represent himself. The district court denied his motion on June 15, with Judge Crabb concluding that Romanelli was sufficiently capable of such representation under the law. The court reasoned that the allegations made by Romanelli in his complaint were both “comprehensible and literate,” and that the case was fairly straightforward. ( Id. at 26.) The court added that under Luttrell v. Nickel, 129 F.3d 933, 936 (7th Cir.1997), civil litigants are not, as a matter of right, entitled to court-appointed counsel in federal court, and that pursuant to Farmer v. Haas, 990 F.2d 319, 322 (7th Cir.1993), only under “exceptional circumstances” will a court appoint counsel for indigent litigants. (Appellant App. at 26.) Judge Crabb observed that if a plaintiff like Romanelli received appointed counsel merely because of his indigence and incarceration, an “overwhelming number of pro se prisoner litigants would become entitled to counsel.” ( Id. at 27.)

The defendants moved for summary judgment in October 2007. That motion was granted in part and denied in part on January 10, 2008, the result being that Romanelli successfully survived Dr. Suliene's and Sergeant Kuhl's motions for summary judgment. His case against them then proceeded to trial.

Romanelli filed his third and final motion for appointment of counsel on February 4, 2008. In support of his motion, Romanelli pointed out that although he had not deposed the defendants, they had scheduled his deposition, and “it would not be equally right for the plaintiff to proceed to trial with a blind eye.” ( Id. at 28.) He also claimed that his recent diagnosis of depression and prescription of an anti-depressant gave rise to exceptionally changed circumstances. Judge Crabb denied his motion on February 12. Relying on Pruitt v. Mote, 503 F.3d 647, 654-55 (7th Cir.2007) (en banc), the court reasoned that Romanelli had competently represented himself in the case thus far, he had successfully defeated Dr. Suliene's and Sergeant Kuhl's motions for summary judgment, he had been provided detailed instructions with regard to the applicable governing law and trial procedures, and the case was not factually or legally complex. Judge Crabb also observed that “[t]he whole point of [taking anti-depressants] is to allow the person taking them to think and act rationally.” (Appellant App. at 29.) With respect to Romanelli's other claim, the court noted that Romanelli had been free throughout the proceedings to depose the defendants, and that if cost was the issue, “appointing counsel for the mere purpose of shifting cost of litigation to the lawyer is neither required nor appropriate.” ( Id. at 30.)

All parties subsequently consented to the referral of the case to Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker, and trial commenced on March 17, 2008. Before trial, the court read a series of introductory instructions to the jury, including instructions regarding witness credibility. The court stated:

A witness may be discredited by contradictory evidence, or by evidence that at some other time the witness has said or done something, or has failed to say or do something, that is inconsistent with the witness's present testimony.

If you believe any witness has been discredited, it is up to you to decide how much of the testimony of that witness you believe.

If a witness is shown to have given false testimony knowingly, that is, voluntarily and intentionally, about any important

matter, you have a right to distrust the witness's testimony about other matters. You may reject all the testimony of that witness or you may choose to believe some or all of it.

( Id. at 4.)

Romanelli delivered his opening arguments first. In the process of introducing himself to the jury, Romanelli announced that he was a convicted criminal. During the defendants' opening statements, however, counsel merely stated that the jury would be apprised of Romanelli's criminal record during the course of the trial.

Following opening arguments and outside the presence of the jury, Judge Crocker held a conference with Romanelli and the defendants. Dr. Suliene and Sergeant Kuhl moved under Rule 609 of the Federal Rules of Evidence that they be permitted to impeach Romanelli with his prior felony convictions for bail jumping and second-degree sexual assault, as well as his misdemeanor convictions for twenty-two counts of issuing worthless checks, resisting/obstructing an officer, and failing to report as a sex offender. The court considered and denied the defendants' motion to use Romanelli's convictions for resisting/obstructing an officer or failure to report as a sex offender, finding that the probative value was outweighed by the potential for unfair prejudice. However, the court allowed the use of Romanelli's other convictions.

Then, during Romanelli's case-in-chief, in a strategic decision apparently designed to preempt the defense from casting his prior convictions in a negative light, Romanelli focused on and explained at length his version of the facts underlying the sexual assault conviction. He then detailed his version of what happened during his stay at the Columbia County Jail. He claimed that he suffered from repetitive, debilitating bouts of diarrhea, but that Dr. Suliene and Sergeant Kuhl ignored his requests for medical attention. Romanelli stated that Dr. Suliene declined to perform any lab tests unless he paid for them up-front. Romanelli did not present any witnesses to corroborate his version of the events.

On cross-examination, the defendants attempted to impeach Romanelli by citing numerous inconsistencies in his testimony, his prior written and oral statements, and his evidentiary documents. Romanelli acknowledged the fact that his formal written complaints about his Crohn's disease were submitted after he was transferred to a different facility. (Appellant App. at 6.) Romanelli also conceded that Dr. Suliene had in fact met with him on several occasions prior to his transfer in order to address his alleged discomfort, and that he was simply unhappy with Dr. Suliene's diagnosis. ( Id.)

With respect to Romanelli's prior convictions, defense counsel merely confirmed with Romanelli that he had in fact been convicted for issuing worthless checks and sexual assault. Moreover, Judge Crocker specifically instructed the jury on how it should consider the evidence of Romanelli's prior crimes:

You have heard evidence that Ronald Romanelli has been convicted of a crime. You may consider this evidence only in deciding whether Ronald Romanelli's testimony is truthful in whole, in part, or not at all. You may not consider this evidence for any other purpose.

(Appellant Separate App. at 169.)

During Dr. Suliene's and Sergeant Kuhl's presentation of the case, they provided overwhelming evidence to contradict Romanelli's testimony, including but not limited to the fact that Sergeant Kuhl promptly responded to Romanelli's complaints and followed up with medical staff on Romanelli's behalf; Dr. Suliene was familiar with Crohn's disease and at the conclusion of each of three examinations she found him to be healthy, well-hydrated, and actually gaining weight; Romanelli refused a blood test when jail staff informed him that his jail account would be debited the charge for the service; Romanelli continued to use the balance of his account to purchase junk food and other spicy food from the jail commissary; and Romanelli never sought to obtain medication from home or from the jail canteen. ( Id. at 6-8.) The court...