Leach v. Kolb

• Decision Date: 24 August 1990
• Docket Number: No. 88-2490,88-2490
• Citation: 911 F.2d 1249
• Parties: William LEACH a/k/a William Martin, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Darrell KOLB, Acting Superintendent, and Attorney General of the State of Wisconsin, Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 1249

911 F.2d 1249

William LEACH a/k/a William Martin, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Darrell KOLB, Acting Superintendent, and Attorney General of the State of Wisconsin, Respondents-Appellees.

No. 88-2490.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Jan. 18, 1990.

Decided Aug. 24, 1990.

William Leach, Waupun Correctional Institution, Waupun, Wis., Allen E. Shoenberger, Loyola Law School, Chicago, Ill., for petitioner-appellant.

Donald J. Hanaway, Atty. Gen., Thomas Balistreri, Asst. Atty. Gen., Office of the Atty. Gen., Wisconsin Dept. of Justice, Madison, Wis., for respondents-appellees.

Before BAUER, Chief Judge, COFFEY, Circuit Judge, and ESCHBACH, Senior Circuit Judge.

COFFEY, Circuit Judge.

Petitioner William Leach, currently serving a 48-year sentence in the Waupun Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, appeals the district court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254. Leach was convicted in Wisconsin state court on four counts of armed robbery and one count each of attempted armed robbery, attempted murder and false imprisonment. We affirm.

I.

Leach's convictions on the above charges stem from four distinct incidents of criminal activity occurring on four separate days within a one-month time period in the City and County of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in reviewing Leach's convictions, summarized these incidents as follows:

"On January 7, 1982, the defendant picked up Stanley Blalock and drove to 3424 North 12th Street in Milwaukee. They stayed there for a short time. Sometime later that day, Blalock and the defendant burglarized a home taking among other things a color television set. They returned to the North 12th Street apartment where the defendant argued with Blalock and accused him of appropriating the proceeds of the crime. The defendant left and returned 15 to 20 minutes later.

Sometime in the early morning hours of January 8, 1982, Blalock asked the defendant if he could retrieve his boots from the defendant's car. Blalock testified the defendant had a 'strange' look on his face, 'as if he was up to something.' The defendant and Blalock went to defendant's car and as Blalock reached into the car, the defendant shot him in the back. Blalock pulled back and asked what he was doing, whereby the defendant responded 'You know what I am doing.' Blalock lunged at the defendant. Because his left hand was paralyzed from the wound, Blalock hit the defendant with his right hand. The defendant then shot Blalock in the shoulder. Blalock pushed the defendant back and ran. The defendant shot him again, hitting him in the right thigh. Blalock ran into a house across the street and told [the residents] what had happened. The next thing Blalock remembered was the inside of the ambulance.

Blalock was hospitalized for about two weeks. The doctors decided not to try to remove the bullet from his back because it was lodged too close to a blood vessel leading to his heart.

On January 29, 1982, Gregory Greenwood, a friend and two young women were out on a double date. At approximately 11:30 p.m., Greenwood parked his father's automobile on the northwest side of Milwaukee in an area commonly used by high school students for socializing. A short time later the two females left the car. As the females were returning to the car, they were approached by the defendant and asked what they were doing there. One of the girls stated that they were not doing anything and started to walk away from the defendant, but he followed them. Because the two females did not want to get their dates in trouble, they decided not to return to the car. Greenwood testified he saw the two females followed by the defendant walking a short ways away not returning to the car but proceeding down the road. Greenwood became concerned and called to the females to come back. He approached the two young women and the defendant and asked what was going on. The defendant said nothing was going on, pulled out a gun and ordered them into the car.

The defendant instructed Greenwood to drive. At various times the defendant told Greenwood to stop the car. At one point the defendant told Greenwood to stop the car and pointing the revolver at Greenwood's head, demanded money from those in the car. They claimed they had no money and the defendant searched the females' purses. The defendant then told them they had three seconds to come up with some money. Fearing for their lives, Greenwood and his companions gave the defendant most of their cash.

The defendant then ordered Greenwood to keep driving, periodically telling Greenwood to stop the car. About two hours after they first met, the defendant ordered the driver to stop the car and all its passengers out. The defendant took the car, and Greenwood went to the nearest house to call the police.

On February 6, 1982, Mrs. Shang Yu Huei Lee was working as desk clerk at the North Shore Inn in Glendale awaiting the arrival of the usual desk clerk. The defendant, having stayed at the hotel for three days, entered the hotel lobby. Conversation took place; the defendant left and returned sometime later. He approached the desk and pointed a gun at Mrs. Lee's head and demanded the motel's money. She opened a cash register and handed him its contents. At that point, one of the maids entered the lobby. The defendant demanded more money. Mrs. Lee opened another money drawer and handed the defendant its cash. The defendant ordered Mrs. Lee and the maid into the office closet.

Shortly thereafter, Dale Tech reported for duty as desk clerk. Upon entering the lobby, the defendant pointed his gun at Tech and asked whether he had a car and where it was parked. Tech responded he had a car and it was in the parking lot. The defendant reached into Tech's pocket, took his wallet and instructed Tech to pick up the defendant's bags and go to the car. On the way out, the defendant ripped the phone lines out of the motel room and off the switchboard and handset.

When they got to the car, the defendant put his luggage into the trunk and told Tech to drive. Still pointing his gun at Tech, the two drove for some time. The defendant then told Tech to stop the car and get into the trunk. Tech refused three times, claiming it was too cold and that he had cooperated with the defendant and the defendant should cooperate with him. The defendant told Tech he had shot people before and again ordered Tech to the trunk. Tech again refused and the defendant allowed him to lay on the floor in the back seat. The defendant proceeded to drive the car and finally parked it in a garage at 3323 North 22nd Street. The defendant exited the car, removed his luggage and instructed Tech to remain in the car for ten minutes. The defendant then threw the keys up onto the opened garage door. Tech waited ten minutes, retrieved his car keys and notified the police of what had just happened.

Two days later, at approximately 11:55 p.m. on February 8, 1982, the defendant entered the Park Avenue Nightclub. He entered the upstairs office, pulled a gun on the secretary in the outer office, and ordered her into the manager's office. The general manager, David Watt, testified the defendant waved his gun in his face and told him and the secretary to lie on the floor.

The defendant asked Watt where the money was and he answered it was in the next office. The defendant told Watt to get up and take him there. The defendant, Watt and his secretary entered the small room whereupon the defendant ordered Watt to open the safe. Watt complied and the secretary proceeded to put the paper currency from the safe into the defendant's folder. She finished putting the money into the folder and Watt offered it to the defendant. As the defendant reached for it, Watt let it drop to the floor. The defendant reached down to pick it up and Watt grabbed the defendant's hand which was holding the gun. A struggle ensued and Watts' [sic] secretary screamed for help and ran out of the room. The defendant dropped the gun and ran out of the office. The day maintenance man heard the commotion and as the defendant ran past him he grabbed him and forced him to the ground. Watt and the maintenance man subdued the defendant until the police arrived."

State v. Leach, 124 Wis.2d 648, 652-56, 370 N.W.2d 240, 244-45 (1985).

After Leach's arrest at the Park Avenue Nightclub, the state filed four criminal informations charging Leach with seven criminal offenses. The first information alleged that Leach attempted the first-degree murder of Stanley Blalock on January 8, 1982. The second information charged Leach with the attempted armed robbery of David Watt on February 8, 1982, and the armed robbery of Gregory Greenwood and Christine Guenther, one of Greenwood's three companions in the automobile, ¹ on January 29, 1982. In the third information, the state charged Leach with the armed robbery and false imprisonment of Dale Tech on February 6, 1982. The final information alleged that Leach committed the armed robbery of Shang Yu Huei Lee on February 6, 1982. Upon the state's motion for joinder of all counts at Leach's arraignment, the trial court consolidated the four informations for trial.

Leach entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect to all charges, see Wis.Stat. Sec. 971.15, thus triggering Wisconsin's statutory scheme for a bifurcated criminal trial on the issues of guilt and insanity. See Wis.Stat. Sec. 971.165. ² The trial court appointed Dr. William Crowley, a psychiatrist, to examine Leach regarding his special plea. In his report, Dr. Crowley expressed some doubt as to Leach's competency to stand trial, and further recommended an inpatient psychiatric examination. Subsequently, the court ordered an inpatient psychiatric examination by the Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services. The Department's examining physician concluded that there was no...