Tony P. Rogers v. Jason Wells

96 F.4th 1006
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedMarch 22, 2024
Docket17-2903
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 96 F.4th 1006 (Tony P. Rogers v. Jason Wells) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tony P. Rogers v. Jason Wells, 96 F.4th 1006 (7th Cir. 2024).

Opinion

In the

United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 17-2903 TONY P. ROGERS, Petitioner-Appellant, v.

JASON WELLS, Warden, Respondent-Appellee. ____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. No. 1:17-CV-00446 — William C. Griesbach, Judge. ____________________

ARGUED DECEMBER 5, 2023 — DECIDED MARCH 22, 2024 ____________________

Before HAMILTON, BRENNAN, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges. BRENNAN, Circuit Judge. The State of Wisconsin prosecuted Tony Rogers for repeatedly sexually assaulting his daughter, DAR, relying primarily on evidence and testimony from her. A jury found Rogers guilty, and he appealed his convictions. He argued that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to move for in camera review of DAR’s medical records. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals rejected Rogers’s claim, and the Supreme Court of Wisconsin denied review. 2 No. 17-2903

On federal habeas review, Rogers asked the district court to find the state court decision contrary to, or an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law. The district court declined. Given the record here and the applicable standard of review, we affirm the district court. I Rogers is a state prisoner serving a lengthy sentence for repeatedly sexually assaulting his biological daughter, DAR, between 2005 and 2010. DAR lived mostly with her mother but sometimes had overnight visits with Rogers. When DAR visited Rogers, she stayed at a home he shared with his mother and grandfather. DAR stopped visiting Rogers in 2010. In 2012, DAR gave her mother a letter accusing Rogers of molesting her during her prior visits and expressing how that trauma was affecting her. In the letter, she says she: • “need[s] mental health”; • is “on the verge of committing suicide”; • “hate[s] having too much responsibility”; • feels “like a single parent, trying to juggle school, little people, and other responsibilities”; • “decided to tell [her mom] now, [because she] ha[s] gone to school crying about all the stress almost every day of the school year”; • is “always hearing voices and thinking negative thoughts and feel no one loves me”; • thinks “about running away, committing suicide, and first-degree murder … .” No. 17-2903 3

Response to Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Ex. 14 at 34– 35, ECF 10-14. DAR’s mother reported the accusations of sexual abuse to the police. Later, Rogers was charged in Wisconsin state court with four counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of incest. Rogers pleaded not guilty and went to trial. The State moved in limine to prevent defense counsel from offering evidence that DAR was diagnosed with and re- ceived inpatient treatment for a mental illness. Rogers’s attor- ney opposed the motion, contending his investigator learned that DAR was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The State re- sponded that this contention was unsupported and that DAR’s mother said DAR was diagnosed with depression. The prosecutor argued: without medical records and without defense counsel bringing forth some reason why they should be able to cross-examine the victim about her actual mental health history and diagnosis, [DAR’s hospitalization, treatment, and diagnosis are not] relevant [and are] overly prejudicial. Response to Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Ex. 10 at 7, ECF 10-10. The trial court granted the State’s motion. Because neither party intended to call a psychologist or other expert witness qualified to testify on DAR’s mental health and treatment, there was no foundation for such testimony. But the court ruled that evidence of DAR hearing voices and other infor- mation in the letter was admissible. 4 No. 17-2903

At the November 2013 trial, among the witnesses who tes- tified were DAR, her mother, her friend, and a police officer. DAR read her letter into the record, and it was admitted into evidence. Rogers’s attorney posed questions about DAR’s mental health and proclivity to lie. He focused on the details in the letter, including how overwhelmed she was with housework and other responsibilities. He asked DAR about “hearing voices,” her “negative thoughts,” her acting out, her lying, and her suicidal thoughts. Following trial, Rogers was convicted on all counts. The court sentenced him to 25 years in prison followed by 15 years of extended supervision. After sentencing, Rogers sought postconviction relief in state trial court, arguing that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to obtain DAR’s medical records or for not at least asking the court to review them. Such a motion, at the time governed by State v. Green, 646 N.W.2d 298 (Wis. Ct. App. 1993), and State v. Shiffra, 499 N.W.2d 719 (Wis. Ct. App. 1993), seeks in camera review of medical records. To prevail on that motion, a defendant must set forth a “specific factual basis demonstrating a reasonable likelihood that the records [sought] contain relevant information necessary to a determi- nation of guilt or innocence and is not merely cumulative to other evidence available to the defendant.” Green, 646 N.W.2d at 310. The state trial court denied relief, ruling that Rogers failed, at trial and in post-conviction motions practice, to meet his burden for in camera review of DAR’s medical records, and thus that his trial counsel was not ineffective. Rogers appealed to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, which rejected his claims and affirmed the judgment. That court ruled Rogers had not shown that his trial counsel No. 17-2903 5

performed deficiently or that he suffered any prejudice under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). Because Rogers could not make the preliminary showing of materiality under Shiffra/Green to obtain DAR’s medical records, a motion for in camera review would have been meritless, and Rogers’s counsel was not ineffective for failing to file it. The appellate court also noted that Rogers’s counsel asked to refer to DAR’s mental health during trial, and that after a hearing, the trial court permitted his counsel to question DAR about any mat- ter in her letter. In addition, because Rogers’s claims were without merit and they would not have affected the trial out- come, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals held that he was not prejudiced by the lack of a motion. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin denied Rogers’s petition for review. Rogers then petitioned for habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, asserting that his state court conviction and sentence were imposed in violation of the Constitution. Rogers argued that his trial counsel was ineffective because he failed to obtain DAR’s medical records or at least file a motion for in camera review. The district court denied Rogers’s petition, concluding that Wisconsin’s standard for Shiffra/Green mo- tions did not contravene federal law (i.e., Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, 480 U.S. 39 (1987)), and that the application by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals of both Strickland and Ritchie to Rogers’s case was not unreasonable. But the district court granted Rogers a certificate of appealability, stating: Reasonable jurists could debate whether counsel could have met the initial burden under Ritchie to require the trial court to perform such a review, and thus I con- clude Rogers has made a substantial showing of the de- nial of a constitutional right. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2). 6 No. 17-2903

Decision and Order at 10–11, ECF 13. Rogers timely appealed.

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Bluebook (online)
96 F.4th 1006, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tony-p-rogers-v-jason-wells-ca7-2024.