Wisconsin ex rel. Robinson v. Buchler

936 F. Supp. 590, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10862, 1996 WL 428513
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedJuly 26, 1996
DocketNo. 93-C-1453
StatusPublished

This text of 936 F. Supp. 590 (Wisconsin ex rel. Robinson v. Buchler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wisconsin ex rel. Robinson v. Buchler, 936 F. Supp. 590, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10862, 1996 WL 428513 (E.D. Wis. 1996).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

CURRAN, District Judge.

Eddie B. Robinson, a prisoner in state custody, has filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254. At the time he filed his petition, Robinson was in the custody of Dan Buchler, Superintendent of the Racine Correctional Institution. Robinson is serving a life term of imprisonment after being convicted in the Circuit Court of Kenosha County (Wisconsin) of first degree intentional homicide while using a dangerous weapon in violation of Sections 940.01(1), 939.05, 939.63(l)(a)(2) & 939.63(l)(c) of the Wisconsin Statutes. The sole ground for relief raised by Robinson is that his trial and appellate counsel was ineffective because he failed to move for a severance of Robinson’s trial from that of his codefendant who presented an “antagonistic defense.”

The Respondent has answered and has submitted copies of transcripts of the proceedings in the state courts. The parties have completed briefing of the issues' raised. This court, which is located in the district where Robinson was convicted, is empowered to consider the petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254.

I. FACTS AND PRIOR STATE PROCEEDINGS

Robinson has not requested an evidentiary hearing and it appears that none of the parties dispute the facts set forth by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. That court recounted the prior history and facts of the case as follows:

This matter arose out of the shooting death of Dorsey Carr outside of a Kenosha tavern on October 10,1984. Robinson was charged as the principal perpetrator of the shooting and a codefendant, Jimmie Campbell, was charged as party to the crime. In February of 1985, Robinson and Campbell were tried jointly. The jury convicted Robinson but acquitted Campbell.

State v. Robinson, 177 Wis.2d 46, 49, 501 N.W.2d 881, 833, rev. denied, 505 N.W.2d 140 (Wis.1993).

The state relied primarily on the testimony of Lorraine Gardner, an eyewitness to the shooting, and expert scientific witnesses in its principal case against Robinson and Campbell. Gardner testified that she was with Carr outside of the tavern when they encountered Robinson, Campbell and others. Gardner claimed that she saw Campbell pass a gun to Robinson, who then stepped back six to eight feet and fired a shot at Carr. However, the state’s pathologist testified that the gun was fired at close range, no further than a foot away, and could have been touching Carr’s pants when fired. Robinson’s defense was premised on discrediting Gardner, the only eyewitness called by the state, by using the state’s expert witnesses to establish that Robinson could not have fired the fatal [593]*593shot based on where Gardner said he was standing.
A more detañed account of the incident was provided by witnesses called for Campbell’s defense by his attorney, Geoffrey Dowse. Johnnie Steel testified that he observed Campbell and others whom he could not identify wrestling with the victim in an attempt to take away a sawed-off shotgun which Carr had been carrying. Steel also testified that he saw Robinson standing in the street near a parked car with a shotgun and saw him shoot Carr during the struggle over Carr’s gun. However, according to Steel, Robinson was seven to ten feet away from Carr at the time he allegedly fired the shot. Steel further claimed that he overheard Camp-beü say to Robinson, “You done shot him, get out of here.”
Dowse also called Johnnie Freeman, another eyewitness, who did not see the shooting but testified that he saw Robinson at the tavern with a sawed-off shotgun and heard shots approximately fifteen minutes later from what he believed to be a .12 gauge shotgun. Dowse1 then called a firearms expert who corroborated the state’s expert witness, testifying that the victim was shot with a .20 gauge shotgun at or near contact with the victim, not six to eight feet away.

Robinson, 177 Wis.2d at 58-54, 501 N.W.2d at 834-35.

[After being convicted,] Robinson brought a posteonvietion motion for a new trial prior to sentencing on the grounds that new exculpatory evidence was discovered from statements Campbell had given to investigators after the trial. Campbell was unavailable as a witness during the trial because he exercised his constitutional right under the fifth amendment not to testify. Robinson asserted that as a result of Campbeñ’s unavañability to testify, he was substantially prejudiced and denied the right to a fair trial. On April 2, 1985, the trial court denied Robinson’s motion. The court sentenced Robinson to life imprisonment plus ten years, consecutive. No direct appeal was taken from the judgment of conviction.
On March 17, 1986, Robinson filed a posteonvietion motion for relief pursuant to sec. 974.06, Stats., alleging prosecutorial misconduct. Robinson claimed that the state deliberately charged and tried he and Campbell jointly in order to deny his constitutional rights to present a defense, to confront his accusers, and to a fair trial. The trial court denied this motion, concluding that the essence of the allegations was already considered and denied on April 2, 1985 and that the appropriate remedy was an appeal from that order, not a sec. 974.06, Stats, motion.
On June 30, 1992, Robinson, through new counsel, filed a second posteonvietion motion under sec. 974.06, Stats. Robinson alleged that his trial counsel and first appellate counsel, Myron Keyes, provided ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to request a severance of the defendants. The state objected to the motion on the basis that Robinson’s posteonvietion motion was barred by sec. 974.06(4), which generally requires a prisoner to raise all questions avaüable to him in one motion. See State ex rel. Dismuke v. Kolb, 149 Wis.2d 270, 273, 441 N.W.2d 253, 254 (Ct. App.1989). On September 1, 1992, the trial court, bypassing the state’s procedural objection, decided the motion on the merits and entered an order dated September 14, 1992 denying posteonvietion relief.

Robinson, 177 Wis.2d at 49-51, 501 N.W.2d at 833 (footnote omitted).

When Robinson’s second posteonvietion motion reached the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, that court ruled that his second petition should be heard despite Robinson’s fañ-ure to raise his ineffectiveness of counsel issue in his first petition. The court explained that:

We hold that in circumstances where a defendant is represented by the same counsel both at trial and on appeal, the inability of the defendant’s trial counsel to assert his own ineffectiveness constitutes a “sufficient reason” under sec. 974.06(4), [594]*594Stats., for not asserting the matter in the original see. 974.06 motion. Accordingly, we conclude that Robinson’s successive sec. 974.06 motion alleging ineffective assistance of counsel is appropriate.

Robinson, 177 Wis.2d at 53, 501 N.W.2d at 834 (footnote omitted).

Turning to the merits of Robinson’s motion, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals employed the standard for ineffectiveness of counsel set forth in Strickland v. Washington,

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Bluebook (online)
936 F. Supp. 590, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10862, 1996 WL 428513, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wisconsin-ex-rel-robinson-v-buchler-wied-1996.