Custer v. Frakes

• Decision Date: 07 August 2020
• Docket Number: 8:18CV224
• Parties: JASON WILLIAM CUSTER, Petitioner, v. SCOTT FRAKES, Director, NE Dept. of Corrections; and BRAD HANSEN, Warden, Tecumseh State Correctional Institution; Respondents.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Nebraska

JASON WILLIAM CUSTER, Petitioner, v. SCOTT FRAKES, Director, NE Dept. of Corrections; and BRAD HANSEN,Warden, Tecumseh State Correctional Institution; Respondents.

8:18CV224

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA

August 7, 2020

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

This matter is before the court on Petitioner Jason William Custer's ("Petitioner" or "Custer") Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. (Filing 1.) For the reasons that follow, Petitioner's habeas petition is denied and dismissed with prejudice.

I. CLAIMS

Summarized and condensed,¹ and as set forth in the court's prior progression order (filing 7), Petitioner asserted the following claims that were potentially cognizable in this court:

Claim One: Petitioner was denied effective assistance of counsel because trial counsel (1) elicited testimony from Dr. Peter Schilke regarding information in a report authored by a different expert (filing 1 at CM/ECF pp. 17, 19); (2) failedto object to the foundation of Dr. Schilke's testimony (id.); (3) failed to call Dr. Eischenschmidt to testify regarding the toxicology report he authored (id.); (4) failed to provide proper jury instructions on self-defense, assault, and terroristic threats (id. at CM/ECF pp. 3, 17); (5) failed to object to prosecutorial misconduct and/or ask for a mistrial (id. at CM/ECF pp. 17, 26-27); (6) insisted that a key state's witness, Billy Fields, was testifying falsely to information supported by the record and critical to Petitioner's self-defense claim (id. at CM/ECF pp. 18, 32); and (7) refused to call trial counsel's law partner, Kelly Breen, as a witness to testify about prior consistent statements made by Petitioner shortly after he was arrested and appointed counsel (id.).

Claim Two: Petitioner was denied the effective assistance of counsel because appellate counsel failed to raise on direct appeal the claims described in Claim One, subparts (1) through (3) and (5) through (7). (Id. at CM/ECF pp. 17-19, 27, 32.)

Claim Three: Petitioner was denied the effective assistance of counsel because the cumulative instances of ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel create the reasonable probability of a different outcome at either the trial and/or direct appeal level. (Id. at CM/ECF p. 20.)

Claim Four: Petitioner was denied his rights to due process and a fair trial because (1) the evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to sustain a conviction for First Degree Murder, because a rational trier of fact could not have concluded that Petitioner killed Adam McCormick purposely, with deliberate and premediated malice, andnot in self-defense (id. at CM/ECF pp. 17, 21); and (2) the trial court erroneously instructed the jury (id. at CM/ECF pp. 2, 17, 28).

Claim Five: Petitioner was denied due process because the State committed prosecutorial misconduct by (1) arguing his post-arrest silence, (2) introducing inflammatory, religious-themed arguments and testimony into the trial, and (3) "brow-beating" Petitioner with questions already asked and answered. (Id. at CM/ECF pp. 17, 26.)²

II. BACKGROUND

A. Convictions and Sentences

The court states the facts as they were recited by the Nebraska Supreme Court in State v. Custer, 871 N.W.2d 243 (Neb. 2015) (filing 9-1). See Bucklew v. Luebbers, 436 F.3d 1010, 1013 (8th Cir. 2006) (utilizing state court's recitation of facts on review of federal habeas petition).

The charges against Custer arose from an incident in which he shot and killed Adam McCormick outside a residence in Sidney, Nebraska, on November 3, 2012. In the information filed in the district court for Cheyenne County, Custer was originally charged with second degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony. The information was amended to upgrade the murder charge to first degree and to add a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Custer was allegedto be a habitual criminal, but the State ultimately chose not to pursue the habitual criminal enhancement.

Custer grew up in Chico, California, where he met and became friends with Billy Fields. In 2012, Custer decided to move to Humboldt, Nebraska, where his son and his son's mother lived. Fields was then living in Sidney with his girlfriend, Amber Davis. Fields invited Custer to stay with him and Davis for a time while he was in the process of moving to Humboldt. Custer arrived in Sidney on October 5. While in Sidney, Custer met various friends of Davis, including McCormick and Syrus Leal.

After Davis told Custer and Fields they needed to move out of her house, Fields arranged for the two to stay at another friend's apartment. At around this time, in mid-October, McCormick gave Custer $150. Although Custer testified that the money was a loan to help Custer pay his share of rent and utilities at the new apartment, Fields and Leal testified that McCormick gave Custer the money to purchase drugs and that after Custer failed to deliver the drugs, McCormick wanted his money back. Custer testified that he intended to pay McCormick back after he received an unemployment check on October 16, 2012, but that he ended up using the money from the check to pay other expenses. On or around October 20, McCormick came to the apartment where Custer and Fields were staying to collect the money. After Custer told McCormick he would pay him from his next check, Fields, who was upset that McCormick had come to confront Custer, told McCormick that he would pay McCormick by the end of the week. In the following days, McCormick exchanged threatening text messages and telephone calls with Custer and Fields.

On or about October 26, 2012, Custer and Fields attended Halloween parties at some local bars. While they were walking between bars, McCormick confronted them, demanding his money. Fields testified that when McCormick approached them, it looked like McCormick was reaching into his pocket for something, and that Fields thought it was a knife that he knew McCormick carried. Custer and Fieldstold McCormick they could not repay the $150 at that time, but in order to calm McCormick, Fields paid him $40 for another debt he owed. Fields testified that he later met up with Leal, who told him that the money McCormick gave Custer was actually Leal's and that the money should be repaid to him rather than to McCormick. Custer thought the matter had been resolved by agreeing to pay Leal, but McCormick later sent text messages to Custer and Fields suggesting that the matter could be resolved if they both left town.

A few days later, on November 1, 2012, McCormick sent Fields text messages threatening physical violence if the debt was not repaid soon. The text messages prompted Custer to arrange with McCormick to meet in a park for a fight. Custer and Fields went to the park at the arranged time. McCormick did not show up, but he continued to exchange confrontational text messages and telephone calls with Custer and Fields.

Custer and Fields went to Davis' house that night and told her about the ongoing conflict with McCormick. Other friends of Davis were at her house and heard about the conflict. Evidence at trial showed that the gun that was later used to shoot McCormick belonged to one of Davis' friends, but there was a conflict in the evidence as to how the gun came into Custer's possession. Fields testified that at Davis' house on November 1, 2012, Custer had talked to this friend about obtaining a gun and that after the shooting, Custer told Fields that prior to the shooting, he had kept the gun stashed in a culvert behind the apartment building where they were staying. In contrast, as will be discussed further below, Custer testified that he found the gun in Fields' truck immediately before the shooting and that he had not known before that time that the gun was in the truck.

The next night, November 2, 2012, Davis hosted a gathering at her house. A conflict arose when Davis saw that McCormick had come to her house with Leal. Davis insisted that McCormick leave. Davis sent text messages to Custer and Fields, who were not at Davis' house, letting them know about her confrontation with McCormick. She also let them know that the gathering was relocating to Leal'shouse, that McCormick would be there, and that although Custer and Fields should not fight McCormick there, they could "be waiting and watching for him." The conflict between Davis and McCormick continued at Leal's home. Throughout the evening, Davis updated Custer and Fields through text messages and telephone calls regarding McCormick's activities and whereabouts. Around 11:20 p.m., Custer responded to one of Davis' updates with a text message stating that he and Fields were coming over to handle matters with McCormick.

Custer testified that throughout the night of November 2, 2012, he had also been exchanging text messages and telephone calls with McCormick and that although Custer tried to explain to McCormick that Fields was going to repay the money, McCormick continued to threaten him. Around 11:35 p.m., Custer asked McCormick whether they could "FINISH THIS RIGHT NOW ONE ON ONE." McCormick responded in the affirmative about 15 minutes later. In the same timeframe, Custer was exchanging texts with Davis to see whether anyone at Leal's home would have a problem if Custer came there to resolve things with McCormick. Custer testified that in light of mixed messages he received from both Davis and McCormick, he determined it would be better to wait until McCormick left and then come to resolve things with Leal instead of with McCormick.

Shortly after midnight on November 3, 2012, Davis texted Custer saying that McCormick was leaving the gathering at Leal's house. Custer borrowed Fields' truck to drive to Leal's house. Fields did not accompany Custer. When Custer arrived at Leal's house, he saw that McCormick, Leal, and Joshua Wright were standing outside on the lawn. Thereafter, an incident ensued in which Custer shot McCormick twice. The testimony at trial presented differing stories...