Jane L. Wheel v. Stuart Robinson, Superintendent of Chittenden County Correctional Center

34 F.3d 60, 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 23757
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedAugust 25, 1994
Docket618, Docket 93-2307
StatusPublished
Cited by80 cases

This text of 34 F.3d 60 (Jane L. Wheel v. Stuart Robinson, Superintendent of Chittenden County Correctional Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jane L. Wheel v. Stuart Robinson, Superintendent of Chittenden County Correctional Center, 34 F.3d 60, 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 23757 (2d Cir. 1994).

Opinion

MAHONEY, Circuit Judge:

Petitioner-appellant Jane Wheel appeals from an order entered April 1, 1993 in the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, Fred I. Parker, Chief Judge, that denied Wheel’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Wheel sought to overturn her Vermont state court conviction on three counts of perjury in violation of Vt.Stat.Ann. tit. 13, § 2904. 1

The statements that led to the perjury charges occurred during an inquest proceeding held to investigate Wheel’s possible misconduct while she was an assistant judge in Vermont. The initial focus of the investigation was whether Wheel had filed vouchers in order to be paid for days when she did not work. Subsequently, the investigation fo-cussed on whether she had altered court documents to make it appear that she had heard cases on the days indicated by the suspect vouchers. The alleged perjury resulted from her various denials at the inquest proceeding that she had done so. Her conviction by a jury on the three perjury counts was affirmed by the Vermont Supreme Court. See State v. Wheel, 155 Vt. 587, 587 A.2d 933 (1990).

On this appeal, Wheel contends that the district court erroneously denied her habeas petition because: (1) she was denied a fan-trial by juror bias and prejudice; (2) the state trial court admitted evidence (including *62 hearsay testimony) of prior bad acts in violation of due process; (3) the evidence underlying her conviction on the second perjury count was legally insufficient because the signature of her name that was the subject of the alleged perjury was not recognizable as her handwriting; (4) the Vermont inquest procedure was unconstitutional because (a) Wheel’s inability to have counsel present during the inquest was a violation of due process, and (b) a “perjury trap” was created in violation of due process because, in view of the prosecution’s knowledge that it could not prosecute Wheel for the false vouchers, the sole purpose of the inquest was to induce Wheel to make false statements; and (5) the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence from Wheel in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963).

We conclude that Wheel is not entitled to habeas relief, and affirm the order of the district court.

Background

The facts of this case are extensively detailed in the opinion of the Vermont Supreme Court, see Wheel passim, and are set forth in this opinion only as necessary to elucidate the issues presented on appeal. From 1975 to 1987, Wheel was an assistant judge in Chittenden County, Vermont. Wheel, 155 Vt. 587, 587 A.2d at 936. As an assistant judge, Wheel was entitled to compensation for days when she attended court, and for performance of other “official duties.” See Vt.Stat.Ann. tit. 32, § 1141(b). 2 During late 1985, the Attorney General of Vermont began an investigation into whether Wheel had improperly submitted false pay vouchers for days on which she did not work. Wheel, 155 Vt. 587, 587 A.2d at 936. The investigation disclosed several case files where it appeared that Wheel’s signature or initials had been added in her handwriting to the docket entries on the file jacket. Id.

Three inquests followed pursuant to Vt. Stat.Ann. tit. 13, §§ 5131-5137 (one in January 1986, one on May 6, 1986, and one on May 13,1986) to assist in the investigation of possible misconduct by Wheel and the other Chittenden County assistant judge. Wheel, 155 Vt. 587, 587 A.2d at 936. Wheel testified at both of the latter inquests, specifically testifying under oath at the May 6, 1986 inquest that: (1) she had never written her name on a file jacket other than contemporaneously with work performed on the case in the jacket; (2) with respect to a particular file entry dated “10/1/85,” she had no recollection of having added her signature to the file jacket; and (3) with respect to a file entry dated “12/20/85,” the “Judge Wheel” signature on the file jacket was not written by her. Id. 155 Vt. 587, 587 A.2d at 946-47.

Wheel was subsequently prosecuted for perjury with respect to the foregoing testimony. Following a jury trial, she was convicted and sentenced to forty-five days imprisonment and 1800 hours of community service. On direct appeal, the Vermont Supreme Court affirmed her conviction, id., 155 Vt. 587, 587 A.2d at 936, and subsequently denied a motion for reargument. She then sought to conduct posttrial discovery by deposing a lawyer who had participated in the inquest on behalf of the State of Vermont, anticipating a motion for a new trial. The trial court disallowed the discovery, and the Vermont Supreme Court affirmed this decision. State v. Wheel, 157 Vt. 648, 596 A.2d 372 (1991). Wheel began serving her prison sentence on August 19, 1991. That same day, she filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in the United States District Court for the District of Vermont.

The petition was referred to Magistrate Judge Jerome J. Niedermeier, whose report and recommendation proposed that the petition be denied. The grounds for this recommendation were: (1) the jury bias claim did not warrant habeas relief because the trial court’s conclusion that no bias existed was a *63 finding of historical fact sufficiently supported by the record; (2) the Vermont Supreme Court’s affirmance of the trial court’s evidentiary rulings rested on independent and adequate state law grounds that precluded habeas review, and in any event could not constitute adequately serious error to warrant habeas relief; (3) the evidence regarding the legibility of Wheel’s signature was sufficient to support her conviction concerning the entry dated “10/1/85;” (4) the inquest procedure was constitutional because (a) Wheel was not in custody and accordingly was not entitled to have counsel present at the inquest, and (b) no “perjury trap” occurred because the inquest had a proper investigative purpose; and (5) there was no Brady violation because Wheel failed to show that any withheld information concerning the likelihood of a successful prosecution for filing false vouchers was material to her conviction on the false swearing charges.

Judge Parker adopted the report and recommendation of Magistrate Judge Nieder-meier and entered an order denying Wheel’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Wheel then appealed to this court, and Judge Parker provided a certificate of probable cause pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253 and Fed. R.App.P. 22(b).

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Bluebook (online)
34 F.3d 60, 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 23757, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jane-l-wheel-v-stuart-robinson-superintendent-of-chittenden-county-ca2-1994.