Wilson v. Firkus
| Decision Date | 20 October 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 06cv00199.,06cv00199. |
| Citation | 457 F.Supp.2d 865 |
| Parties | Robert WILSON, Petitioner, v. Greg FIRKUS, Acting Warden, Logan Correctional Center, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
Karen L. Daniel, Jane E. Raley, Northwestern University School Of Law, Chicago, IL, for Petitioner.
Colleen M. Griffin, Chief of Criminal Appeals, Illinois Attorney General's Office, Chicago, IL, for Respondent.
Illinois prisoner Robert Wilson ("Petitioner") is serving a 30-year sentence for first degree attempted murder. (R. 1, Pet. for Writ of Hab. Corp. at 1.) He has filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 claiming that was denied his right to present a defense under the Sixth Amendment when the state court excluded evidence that someone else committed the crime with which he was charged. (Id. at 5-6.) Respondent argues that the Court cannot reach Petitioner's claim on the merits because it is procedurally defaulted. (R. 19, Ans. at 7-14.) After carefully considering the petition (R. 1) and memorandum in support thereof (R. 15-1), the answer (R. 19), reply (R. 22), and all supporting documents submitted by the parties, we find that Petitioner's Sixth Amendment claim is not procedurally defaulted, and further that he has satisfied the standards for relief set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). As a result, we grant the petition for federal habeas relief.
In reviewing a petition for federal habeas relief, the court must presume that the state court's factual determinations are correct unless the petitioner rebuts those facts by clear and convincing evidence. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1); Todd v. Schomig, 283 F.3d 842, 846 (7th Cir.2002). We have gleaned the facts of this case from the petition and appendix thereto, along with portions of the state court record Respondent provided pursuant to Rule 5 of the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases in the United States District Courts.
At approximately 7:45 p.m. on February 28, 1997, June Siler, a 24-year-old white woman, was ending her shift as a nurse at Michael Reese Hospital on Chicago's south side. (R. 21, Record, Ex. I (Report of Proceedings 11/2/99) at C60-C62.)1 Following her usual routine, she walked two blocks to a bus stop at 29th and King Drive. (Id. at C61, C92.) Shortly after she entered the bus shelter, a man approached from the south. (Id. at C63.) He walked into the shelter and asked Siler how long she had been waiting for the bus. (Id. at C63, C66.) Siler responded that she had just arrived but had seen the # 7 bus pass. (Id. at C66.) She then turned to look down the street to see if another bus was coming. (Id. at C68.) As she turned back, the man grabbed her from behind and put her in a headlock. (Id. at C69-C70.) As she struggled to escape, the man pulled out a box-cutter and cut her several times in the face and neck. (Id. at C71-C73.) She eventually broke free and fell to the ground, screaming as loud as she could. (Id. at C73-C76.) The man dropped the box-cutter, then picked it up and ran south down King Drive, the same direction from which he had come. (Id. at C75-76.)
Siler made her way back to Michael Reese Hospital. (Id. at C77.) Upon reaching the emergency room, she met up with an attending nurse, who asked her what happened. (Id. at C77-C78, C122-C124.) Siler responded, "He came up and cut me and I don't know why." (Id. at C122.) Siler was bleeding profusely from her face and neck. (Id. at C126, C129-C130.) During her treatment in the emergency room she was given a number of medications, including sedatives, morphine, an antibiotic and a tetanus shot. (Id. at C131-C132.) After being stabilized she was transferred to another hospital to undergo surgery. (Id. at C126.)
At approximately 1:30 a.m. on March 1, 1997, when Siler was recovering from surgery, she spoke to two police officers and gave them a description of her attacker. (Id, at C79-C80.) She described him as a black male in his 20s, about 5 feet 7 inches, thin build, with a mustache and a medium complexion. She said he was wearing a stocking cap, a hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled over the stocking cap, dark pants, a black three-quarter-length jacket and black velcro gym shoes. (Id. at C79-C81.)
Chicago Police Detective James O'Brien was one of the officers assigned to investigate the attack on Siler. (Id. at C136.) On March 1, 1997, the evening following Siler's attack, Detective O'Brien and his partners began conducting a rolling surveillance of King Drive from 26th to 35th Street in unmarked police cars. (Id. at C144.) At approximately 7:50 p.m., the officers saw Petitioner standing at the same bus stop where Siler had been attacked. (Id, at CI45.) He fit the same general description given by Siler in that he was a black male, approximately the same height and build described by Siler, and he was wearing dark clothing. (Id. at C145-C146.) The officers immediately stopped Petitioner and patted him down. They discovered a .38 caliber revolver in his jacket pocket and a "butterfly type knife" with a broken handle in his back pants pocket. (Id. at C147.) They placed him under arrest and transported him to the police station. (Id, at C148-C149.)
Upon arriving at the police station, Petitioner was photographed and interviewed by police. (Id. at C149.) He was questioned about the attack on Siler but denied any involvement. At approximately 9:00 p.m., Detective O'Brien and the other officers returned to the hospital to speak with Siler. (Id, at C82-83, C150.) Detective O'Brien showed Siler photographs of five different men, including the photograph taken of Petitioner. (Id. at C83-C85, C150-C151.) Siler identified Petitioner as the man who had attacked her. (Id. at C85.)
Following Siler's identification, the officers returned to the jail to question Petitioner further. (Id. at E97, C149-C150.) Over the course of the next 24 hours, Petitioner was questioned extensively by various police officers and two prosecutors, and was told that Siler had positively identified him as her attacker. (Id, at E97-98.) Some time later, the officers informed Petitioner that another victim had come forward, a man named Kenneth Frost, who had apparently seen Petitioner's photograph on the evening news2 and had come to the police station to report that he had an altercation with Petitioner on a bus on the city's west side in early February 1997. (Id. at C6-C31, E1-11.) Frost picked Petitioner out of a photographic line-up while at the police station. (Id. at C9.)
Approximately 28 hours into his detention, Petitioner was interviewed by Assistant State's Attorney ("ASA") William Healy. (Id. at D8, D38.) Prior to his interview with Petitioner, ASA Healy had spoken with one of the officers involved in the investigation and had read several police reports regarding the details of Siler's attack. (Id. at D7.) During his interview with ASA Healy, Petitioner agreed to make a statement. (Id. at D10.) After Petitioner made an oral statement, ASA Healy prepared a detailed written statement of the confession. (Id. at D14.) After ASA Healy wrote out the statement, Petitioner reviewed and signed it. (Id. at D14-D17.)
At approximately 2:00 a.m. on March 3, 1997, Petitioner's written confession was completed, and stated as follows: At the time of his arrest, Petitioner was 41 years old and lived in an apartment by himself at 1815 W. Monroe in Chicago. (Id. at D20.) At 7:45 p.m. on February 28, 1997, he left his girlfriend's apartment at 2822 S. Calumet and walked to the bus stop at 29th and King to catch the bus home. (Id. at D21.) Petitioner saw a young woman wearing a green coat and a red backpack standing alone at the bus stop. He walked past her and stood inside the bus shelter. He asked her how long she had been there and she said not long, and that the # 4 bus had just gone by. (Id. at D21-D22.) He was smoking a cigar and blew smoke in her direction, whereupon she told him "those things cause cancer." (Id. at D22.) This angered Petitioner so much that he wrapped his arm around her neck, pulled out a utility blade from his back pocket, and cut her in the face and neck three or four times. (Id. at D22-D24.) He then ran west away from the bus stop, and threw the utility knife on the ground as he ran. (Id. at D24.) Although he had the butterfly knife in his back pocket, he did not use this knife in the attack because the blade was too dull. (Id. at D23.) He rode the bus part of the way home and walked the rest of the way. (Id. at D25.) When he got home, he called his girlfriend and then went to bed. (Id.) The following day, he arrived at his girlfriend's house around 6:00 p.m. and left to return home around 6:45 p.m. (Id.) He was wearing the same clothes as the day before. (Id.) He was at the bus stop at 29th and King Drive waiting to catch the bus when police arrested him. (Id.)
Despite Petitioner's confession, there was no physical evidence linking him to the attack on Siler. Police searched Petitioner's and his girlfriend's apartments, but never found the box-cutter or any bloody clothing belonging to the Petitioner, nor did they find any black velcro gym shoes like those described by Siler. (See id. at B14, C48, C168.)
At approximately 8:20 p.m. on the evening of March 1, 1997—less than an hour after Petitioner was arrested—a man was attacked while waiting for a bus at 35th and King Drive, six blocks from where the attack on Siler occurred. (Id. at B5-B6, D3-D37; R. 6, Pet. Ex. J (Portion of Common Law Record) at CL46-CL48, CL60-CL64.) The victim, Manual Guzman, reported to police that while he was at the bus stop, a man approached from the south and upon entering the bus shelter asked him, "How long have you been waiting for...
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