U.S. ex rel. Shiflet v. Lane, 86-1138

• Decision Date: 25 March 1987
• Docket Number: No. 86-1138,86-1138
• Citation: 815 F.2d 457
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America ex rel. John SHIFLET, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Michael LANE, Director, Illinois Department of Corrections, and James Thieret, Warden, Menard Illinois Correctional Center, Respondents-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 457

815 F.2d 457

55 USLW 2582

UNITED STATES of America ex rel. John SHIFLET, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Michael LANE, Director, Illinois Department of Corrections, and James Thieret, Warden, Menard Illinois

Correctional Center, Respondents-Appellants.

No. 86-1138.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued Sept. 3, 1986.

Decided March 25, 1987.

Josette M. Skelnik, Robinson & Skelnik, Elgin, Ill., for petitioner-appellee.

Terence M. Madsen, Ill. Atty. Gen. Office, Chicago, Ill., for respondent-appellants.

Before CUDAHY, EASTERBROOK and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges.

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

Appellee John Shiflet was convicted of the murder of his wife after a trial by jury in an Illinois state court. Mr. Shiflet was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment. The appellate court affirmed his conviction, People v. Shiflet, 125 Ill.App.3d 161, 80 Ill.Dec. 596, 465 N.E.2d 942 (1984), and the Illinois Supreme Court denied leave to appeal. Having exhausted the available state remedies, Mr. Shiflet petitioned the district court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254 for a writ of habeas corpus. Mr. Shiflet claimed that the government's use of information obtained in violation of the attorney-client privilege violated his sixth and fourteenth amendment rights to the effective assistance of counsel and to a fair trial. The district court granted the petition for habeas corpus. We reverse.

The factual background of this case is set forth in detail in the opinion of the Appellate Court of Illinois, People v. Shiflet, 125 Ill.App.3d 161, 80 Ill.Dec. 596, 465 N.E.2d 942 (1984), and in the opinion of the district court, United States ex rel. Shiflet v. Lane, 625 F.Supp. 677 (N.D.Ill.1985). We shall therefore include only those facts necessary to the disposition of the issues before us.

I.

A. The Investigation and State Court Proceedings

1. The Discovery of the Crime

Mr. Shiflet reported that his wife was missing on the night of September 30, 1980. Early the next morning, her body was discovered along a road about three miles from the apartment she shared with her husband. She was wearing a shirt and blue jeans and was barefoot. A police investigator noted that her hands and feet were very clean and that there were blood stains on the shirt and a black tar-like substance on the jeans. The investigator went to the apartment complex where the Shiflets had lived. He found a blood-spotted leaf next to the victim's automobile, blood spots on the rear portion of the car and also on the steps leading to the Shiflet apartment.

2. The Initial Interview with the Defendant

Later that morning, police officers interviewed the defendant with respect to the prior evening's events. He told the police that the victim was upset when she had returned from work at 4:45 p.m. Later, at about 8:00 p.m., while the couple was watching a television movie, the victim became emotional and, according to Mr. Shiflet, threw a glass of ice tea on the floor and left the apartment saying, "I've got to get out of here."

The defendant stated that, when his wife did not return, he drove around looking for her. He then called her sister and brought her to the apartment. The victim's mother later joined them. Mr. Shiflet also told the officers that he called the police at 11:30 p.m. and again at 5:00 a.m. At that time, an officer was dispatched to take a missing person report.

At about noon, the defendant attempted to remove his wife's car from its parking place. When an officer stopped him, he stated that he was removing the car on the advice of counsel.

3. The Autopsy

An autopsy of the victim's body disclosed a large wound on the top of the head that penetrated the skull. However, little blood was found on the victim's hair and skull. The examining physician therefore concluded that the victim's head had been washed. The examination also revealed small scratches on the neck and hemorrhages on the neck and face. The doctor was unable to take fingernail scrapings from the victim; her nails had been cut too short. He did, however, remove a tar-like substance from her body. He concluded that Mrs. Shiflet had died from loss of blood. There was also evidence of strangulation but it could not be determined whether it contributed to her death.

4. The Initial Search--Warrant # 3218

On October 1, the state court issued a warrant for the search of the Shiflet apartment. The search was conducted at 5:45 p.m. A pair of blue jeans and a shirt were seized. The pants were damp and laboratory tests confirmed the presence of blood.

Earlier that day, the police conducted a search of a vacant apartment below the Shiflet's apartment. Traces of blood were found on the bathroom fixtures and blood and hair were found in the closet.

5. Mr. Shiflet Consults an Attorney--the Subsequent Unethical Disclosure

On October 1, at about 1:00 p.m., Mr. Shiflet consulted an attorney, Charles Kaeding, who agreed to represent him during the investigation of his wife's murder. Mr. Kaeding instructed Mr. Shiflet to provide John Ylisela, a private investigator, with the details concerning his wife's death. Mr. Ylisela often worked for Mr. Kaeding and shared office space with him. During an interview with Mr. Ylisela, Mr. Shiflet divulged information about how he had killed his wife and disposed of her body.

On the evening of October 1, Mr. Ylisela contacted Paul Dungan, a deputy sheriff for DuPage County, at the sheriff's office and informed Detective Dungan that he possessed important information regarding Mrs. Shiflet's death. Mr. Ylisela and Detective Dungan had served as fellow police officers and had known each other for six to eight years. At a secret meeting in a parking lot, Mr. Ylisela told Detective Dungan that Mr. Shiflet had killed his wife. Mr. Ylisela then related his understanding of how Mr. Shiflet had killed his wife and disposed of her body. Mr. Ylisela related that while watching a loud movie on television, the defendant struck his wife on the head with a hammer that had a new handle; she fell to the floor, but had not died, so he choked her. She scratched him repeatedly on his arms and upper body. The defendant placed a plastic bag over her head and clipped her fingernails. He then cleaned up the carpet with soap and water, drying it with a hair dryer. He placed the body in the trunk of her car, then called the police to advise them that his wife was missing. Thereafter, the defendant drove into the country and deposited the body near the road. When the defendant returned to the apartment, he called his wife's family and brought his sister-in-law back to the apartment. While she was there, he noticed blood on his pants and cleaned them in the sink.

Detective Dungan inquired as to the source of Mr. Ylisela's information and was told "You don't want to know." 625 F.Supp. at 680. Mr. Ylisela also said he would deny having met with Detective Dungan or telling him anything.

After receiving this information, Detective Dungan falsely informed Sergeant George Weihofen that an unknown informant had provided him with the details of the murder. In the police report he prepared, Detective Dungan falsely indicated that he had spoken to an unknown male who would not reveal his identity and whom Detective Dungan had never before seen. Detective Dungan's superiors later ordered him to file a second report disclosing the identity of the informant. The record does not make clear how his superiors discovered the falsity of the first report. However, Sergeant Weihofen had been advised that Mr. Kaeding was Mr. Shiflet's attorney and he later learned that Mr. Ylisela shared office space with Mr. Kaeding. Detective Dungan then rewrote the report naming Mr. Ylisela as the source, describing him as a citizen who was not a paid informant.

On October 2, Mr. Ylisela was summoned to the sheriff's office. When questioned about the possibility that he provided police officers with information about the murder, Mr. Ylisela denied having given the officers any information, but admitted that he knew some of the officers. On the morning of October 3, Al Botti, a local attorney apparently affiliated with Mr. Kaeding, told an assistant state's attorney, Thomas Knight, that questioning Mr. Ylisela on any matter pertaining to Mrs. Shiflet's death would constitute a breach of the attorney-client privilege.

6. Search of the Victim's Car--Warrant #3215

On the morning of October 2, police officers searched Mrs. Shiflet's car pursuant to a second search warrant. The officers seized a hatchet handle and tarp, both of which tested positive for the presence of blood. Tests also indicated traces of blood on both the trunk's carpeting and the plastic molding on the trunk's interior.

7. The Second Search of the Shiflet Apartment--Warrant # 3219

On October 3, Detective Dungan applied for a third search warrant. The warrant authorized the seizure of "blood stains, fingernail clippings, hammer with a new handle." All of these items were seized during the search and admitted into evidence at the trial. The affidavit submitted in support of the application for a warrant was described by the Appellate Court of Illinois as follows:

The complaint and affidavit initially stated that Detective Dugan [sic] had been contacted by and met with John Ylisela on October 1, 1980. It then repeated the detailed information given to Dugan [sic] by Ylisela relating to the killing of defendant's wife as earlier noted, identifying Ylisela as an ordinary citizen who is not a paid police informant.

The next paragraphs of the complaint stated "that independently of this above-mentioned conversation with John Ylisela, your affiant, being assigned the investigation of this homicide is informed as follows:". There followed a recitation of purported facts known to the affiant through his personal observation and the investigative efforts of other officers, in which the affidavit stated, inter alia:

That decedent's body was...