Stedcke v. Shinn
| Decision Date | 31 March 2022 |
| Docket Number | CV-20-0346-TUC-RCC (BGM) |
| Parties | William R. Stedcke, Petitioner, v. David Shinn, et al. Respondents. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Arizona |
William R. Stedcke, Petitioner,
v.
David Shinn, et al. Respondents.
No. CV-20-0346-TUC-RCC (BGM)
United States District Court, D. Arizona
March 31, 2022
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
Honorable Bruce G. Macdonald United States Magistrate Judge
Currently pending before the Court is Petitioner William R. Stedcke's pro se Petition Under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for a Writ of Habeas Corpus by a Person in State Custody (“Petition”) (Doc. 1). Respondents have filed a Limited Answer to Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (“Answer”) (Doc. 17), and Petitioner replied (Doc. 34). The Petition (Doc. 1) is ripe for adjudication.
Pursuant to Rules 72.1 and 72.2 of the Local Rules of Civil Procedure,[1] this matter was referred to Magistrate Judge Macdonald for Report and Recommendation. The Magistrate Judge recommends that the District Court deny the Petition (Doc. 1). .
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
A. Initial Charge, Trial, and Sentencing
The Petitioner's Arizona Presentence Report stated the facts[2] as follows:
CR-20163933: On March 15, 2016, Tucson Police Department detectives conducted an undercover operation to locate and identity [sic] individuals interested in sexual relations with children. The detectives placed an ad on Craigslist in Sierra Vista, Arizona. The ad was placed in the casual encounters section of the site and was titled “Taboo?”
After the ad was placed, detectives received numerous responses. On May 5, 2016, at 2:46 a.m., a response to the ad was received from [Stedcke] which read, “Do you do more than just talk about it?”
On July 5, 2016, detectives responded, “maybe,” to which [Stedcke] reported, “Please elaborate.”
On July 27, 2015, a detective responded stating he did not wish to discuss over email and [Stedcke] sent his cell phone number indicating he wished to continue the conversation and possible [sic] meet if an agreement could be reached
On July 30, 2016, a detective contacted [Stedcke] and a conversation ensued
The detective asked [Stedcke] what his taboo was, and he stated he liked younger women and threesomes. When asked how young, [Stedcke] stated he was open. The detectives told him he had a 12-year-old girl and [Stedcke] said, “Awesome.”
Between August 1 and August 23, 2016, the conversation continued. On August 23, 2016, the parties agreed to meet at a park located in the 4500 block of North 1st Avenue. Upon [Stedcke's] arrival, he was detained. During a post Miranda interview with [Stedcke], he admitted he had been talking with “Paul” about having sex with his 12-year-old daughter but had no intention of following through.
CR-20165348: On August 24, 2016, Tucson Police Department officers responded to [Stedcke's] residence regarding a burglary. When they arrived, they found a male [named G.R.] in [Stedcke's] apartment, but when they contacted [Stedcke] at the Pima County Jail, [Stedcke] indicated [G.R.] had no right to be there.
[G.R.] was arrested, and during a search of his person a thumb drive was found in his possession. [G.R.] stated the thumb drive had been given to him by [Stedcke] for safekeeping. A forensic review of the thumb drive revealed images containing child sex abuse. The images depicted prepubescent boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 14. The images included child erotica, bestiality, acts of masturbation, children performing oral sex on adults, digital, anal and penile penetration.
Answer (Doc. 17), State v. Stedcke, Nos. CR-20163933 & CR-20165348-001, Stedcke Presentence Rpt. (Pima Cnty. Super. Ct. Feb. 12, 2018) (Exh. “A”) (Doc. 17-1) at 7.[3]
On September 6, 2016, a Tucson Police Department Detective from the Internet Crimes Against Children's section testified before the grand jury regarding Petitioner's August 23, 2016, arrest. Petition (Doc. 1), State v. Stedcke, No. CR20163933, Grand Jury Tr. (Pima Cnty. Super. Ct. Sept. 6, 2016) (Exh. “D”) (Doc. 1-5). The detective testified:
Mr. Stedcke was interviewed and post Miranda he admitted that he sometime looked at - sometimes looked at images of younger girls, although he denied that any of these images were on his cellphone. He indicated that he often masturbates to the thought of getting together with younger people and often reached out to younger people, but he denied that he'd ever do anything with a younger person.
When asked if he ever masturbated to images of young girls, he indicated that he only uses them for stimulation and instead masturbates to the thought of getting together with younger girls. When asked about ages of persons in the photos he had looked at, he said he had seen images of children as young as infants, but he wasn't into that. When asked what he most like to look at, he said he'd like to look at images of females age 14 and up.
Id. at 9-10.
On December 5, 2016, at a second grand jury hearing, the detective testified about the images found on the thumb drive and Petitioner's computer as follows:
[G.R.] provided officers with a San Disk Cruzer thumb drive that he said was given to him by Stedcke on August 11, 2016. He said that Stedcke told him to hold onto the drive, but didn't give him a reason. He said he never looked at what was on the thumb drive, and never plugged it into his computer for fear that the computer would be infected with a virus. He admitted that he watches pornography on his computer but he doesn't view pornography involving children.
The thumb drive was placed into evidence, and in October of 2016, I obtained a search warrant to view the contents of that drive.
Upon doing this, I located hundreds of images depicting prepubescent children engaged in sex acts and exploitative exhibition of their genitals. Images were all categorized in different folders. A forensic preview of Mr. Stedcke's computer revealed that numerous devices had previously been connected to his computer. The computer registry showed that one of those devices was a San Disk Cruzer USB device that was last attached to the computer on August 13, 2016, at 9:13 in the evening, and the serial number of that device was noted as 2005173923078C, as in Charges, 01437B, as in boy. And it was mounted to the computer - or I'm sorry - when it was mounted to the computer, it was mounted as drive letter G.
A forensic preview analysis of the thumb drive given to officers by Reyes revealed that it was the same model and exact same serial number as the drive that was attached to Stedcke's computer on 8/13/2016 at 9:13 in the evening. The forensic preview analysis also revealed that a San Disk Cruzer had previously been mounted as drive letter G in Stedcke's computer.
A preview analysis of Stedcke's actual computer using a forensic software tool revealed numerous files depicting child erotica in the Windows thumbnail cache. The Windows thumbnail cache is a hidden section of Windows that is used to store thumbnail images for Windows Explorer Thumbnail View. The purpose of this is to speed up the display of images, as the smaller images don't need to be recalculated every time the user views the folder.
The images I located depicted various female children who appeared to be prepubescent and who were wearing lingerie and underwear. I also found one image that depicted child sexual abuse in this area of the computer.
Count 1 relates to that image on Stedcke's computer in the thumbnail cache. File name is 1ald7d2298719bfb.jpg. This is an image file that depicts a prepubescent female child who is of Asian decent [sic], and she is seen lying nude on a bed with her legs spread apart and her genitals exposed. She appears to be between 11 and 14 years of age.
The scan of Mr. Stedcke's computer located approximately 735 hits on the
key work “teen.” A large number of these hits were related to images downloaded to the G drive in a folder named “pix.”
Upon analyzing contents of the thumb drive given to officers by [G.R.], the last time any files were added to the drive was on August 13, 2016, the same date that it was last mounted on Mr. Stedcke's computer. The last file added to the drive was the file related to Count 1 of this indictment.
Upon analyzing the actual thumb drive further, a folder was located named MISC, and in this folder I located three additional sub-folders in deleted space. The names of these folders were Articles of Organization, Tax Lien Investing, and Penny Stocks. When the original warrant was served at Mr. Williams [sic] Stedcke's home to obtain his computer, documents related to penny stocks were seen in his home, and information regarding penny stocks were also found in his computer.
Petition (Doc. 1), State v. Stedcke, No. CR20165348, Grand Jury Tr. (Pima Cnty. Super. Ct. Dec. 5, 2016) (Exh. “E”) (Doc. 1-6) at 5-8.
The State asserted that it performed a forensic analysis of G.R.'s computer and “did not locate any files related to child pornography, which corroborated his statement about [Stedcke] giving him the thumb drive[;] [h]owever, it was noted that the computers [sic] operating system had been installed more than a month after the investigation date, which may have removed possible artifacts related to the USB drive.” Answer (Doc. 17), State's Response to Def.'s Pro-Se Pet. for Post-Conviction Relief at 100, State v. Arizona, Nos. CR20165348-001 & CR20163933-001 (Pima Cnty. Super. Ct. July 19, 2019 (Exh. “M”) (Doc. 17-1).
On September 6, 2016, Petitioner was indicted on one (1) count of luring a minor for sexual exploitation in violation of A.R.S. §§ 13-3554(A) & (C), 13-705(E) and one (1) count of sexual conduct with a minor in the second degree in violation of A.R.S. §§ 131405, 13-705(O). See Answer (Doc. 17), State v. Stedcke, No. CR20163933-001, Indictment (Pima Cnty. Super. Ct. Sept. 6, 2016) (Exh. “B”)...
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