Court Opinion

ID: 9410672
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-24 05:00:39.675164+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:59.343294
License: Public Domain

In the

       United States Court of Appeals
                  For the Seventh Circuit
                      ____________________
No. 20-3151
ROBERTO MATA,
                                                 Petitioner-Appellant,
                                  v.

TYRONE BAKER, Warden ∗
                                                Respondent-Appellee.
                      ____________________

          Appeal from the United States District Court for the
            Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
            No. 1:12-cv-01376 — Andrea R. Wood, Judge.
                      ____________________

       ARGUED FEBRUARY 7, 2023 — DECIDED JULY 19, 2023
                  ____________________

    Before HAMILTON, BRENNAN, and JACKSON-AKIWUMI, Cir-
cuit Judges.
    BRENNAN, Circuit Judge. In 2005, Roberto Mata was con-
victed on two counts of ﬁrst-degree murder and one count of
aggravated battery with a ﬁrearm. In this appeal from the

   ∗  Tyrone Baker, the present warden of Hill Correctional Center, was
substituted for Christine Brannon-Dortch as the respondent in this case.
FED. R. APP. P. 43(c).
2                                                          No. 20-3151

denial of his habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, Mata
argues his trial counsel provided ineﬀective assistance by fail-
ing to pursue a hearing on his motion to suppress his vide-
otaped confession. Because Mata procedurally defaulted this
claim and he does not show cause to excuse the default, we
aﬃrm the district court’s denial of his petition.
                            I. Background
    A. Underlying Crime and Investigation
    In the early morning of March 16, 2002, Mata ﬁred shots at
Adrian Padilla, Sandar Mosqueda, 1 and Edwin Delgado, kill-
ing Padilla and Mosqueda and injuring Delgado. Chicago po-
lice oﬃcers arrested Mata that evening, and the following day
Mata agreed to give a videotaped statement.
    In the statement, Mata explained he had attended a
housewarming party with his girlfriend on the evening of
March 15. After leaving the party, Mata was walking down
the street when he heard his friend Reynaldo Mares call out
his name from behind. He turned around and saw two men
holding Mares by his arms while two other men surrounded
him. Mata took out his gun and ﬁred one shot in their direc-
tion. The men backed away, but one man reached for his
pocket. Believing the man intended to draw a weapon, Mata
ﬁred ﬁve more shots in the group’s direction. He then ran to-
ward his girlfriend’s car. According to Mata, all the men were
walking away with their backs to him when he ﬁred the

    1 Throughout the federal and state courts, this individual’s last name
was spelled “Mosqueada.” Upon review of the entire record, the correct
spelling is “Mosqueda,” which we use here.
No. 20-3151                                                  3

additional ﬁve shots, and he never saw any of them with a
weapon.
    Prior to the videotaped statement, several times investiga-
tors apprised Mata of his Miranda rights. Detective Kevin Bor
read Mata his Miranda rights following his arrest, and Mata
said he understood them. Later, at the police station, Detec-
tive Patrick Smith and Assistant State Attorney Lisa Mojica in-
terviewed Mata on separate occasions, during which they
again informed Mata of his Miranda rights. In both instances,
Mata stated he understood his rights.
    After those interviews, Mata agreed to give the vide-
otaped statement. He began by conﬁrming on camera that
Mojica had advised him of his constitutional rights. Mojica
then read Mata his Miranda rights again on tape. Mata said he
understood his rights and conﬁrmed he wanted to make the
statement on camera. After detailing the events surrounding
the shooting, he closed the 22-minute video by saying the po-
lice had treated him “well and fairly,” and that he had been
given food, water, and bathroom access. He aﬃrmed he gave
the statement “freely and voluntarily” without any threats or
promises by the police or the detectives.
      1. Motion to Suppress
   Before trial, defense counsel moved to suppress Mata’s
“oral, videoed, and written statements” as well as any evi-
dence seized at his home after his arrest. Counsel alleged that
Mata’s videotaped “confession was not voluntary” because
he “was subjected to physical and mental abuse by the Chi-
cago Police Department for two days prior to being given any
Miranda warnings;” “was poked and profaned by the Chi-
cago police;” and “was forced to stand handcuﬀed to a cell
4                                                  No. 20-3151

wall for hours.” Counsel also claimed Chicago Police oﬃcers
threatened Mata but identiﬁed no speciﬁc threats.
    The trial court held a hearing on the suppression motion
but addressed only the evidence obtained at Mata’s home. Be-
cause Mata had not consented to a home search, the trial court
suppressed the evidence seized there. At a later date, Mata’s
counsel asked the trial court to resolve his request to suppress
Mata’s oral, written, and videotaped statements, including his
videotaped confession. The trial court said it would decide
when to hear the remaining portion of the suppression mo-
tion at an upcoming status conference. At that status confer-
ence, Mata’s trial counsel ﬂagged the unresolved “other half
of [Mata’s] Motion To Suppress.” The trial court made no
statement about the suppression motion and instead said the
parties had agreed to a trial date.
       2. Trial
    The State called Delgado as its sole eyewitness at trial. He
testiﬁed he was walking down the street with his friend Pa-
dilla when Padilla spotted Mata and Mares and asked them
who they were. Mares ran toward Delgado and struck him in
the chest, and Delgado pinned Mares to the ground. When
Mares called for Mata’s help, Mata drew a gun and pointed it
at Delgado, prompting Delgado to let go of Mares and back
away. Delgado claimed Mata then shot him in his buttocks.
As Delgado ran away, he heard six shots ﬁred in his direction
and witnessed Padilla fall “like a brick” after getting hit by
gunﬁre. Delgado also witnessed Mata shoot his other friend,
Mosqueda.
    As part of its case, the State played Mata’s videotaped con-
fession. Bor, Smith, and Mojica each testiﬁed they had
No. 20-3151                                                    5

informed Mata of his Miranda rights before the video and that,
each time, Mata aﬃrmed he understood them. Smith further
testiﬁed he had not threatened Mata in any way. In addition,
the state presented medical evidence consistent with Padilla
being shot in the back while trying to run away.
    Mata chose to testify. He did not contest that he shot Del-
gado, Padilla, or Mosqueda. Instead, he argued the need to
defend his friend Mares justiﬁed the use of deadly force. If
deadly force was unreasonable given the circumstances, Mata
contended he was guilty of only second-degree, as opposed
to ﬁrst-degree, murder.
    In contrast to his videotaped confession, Mata testiﬁed he
witnessed the men kicking and punching Mares. He then
ﬁred a warning shot in the air at which point the men backed
up but did not leave. When he saw one of the men reach for
his waist, Mata ﬁred a few more times. He said he heard gun
shots as he ran toward his girlfriend’s car. Once inside the car,
he testiﬁed he saw a man running down the street shooting a
gun.
   The jury found Mata guilty on two counts of ﬁrst-degree
murder and one count of aggravated battery with a ﬁrearm.
Mata was sentenced to life in prison for the ﬁrst-degree mur-
der convictions and 10 years’ imprisonment for the aggra-
vated battery conviction. On direct appeal, the Illinois
Appellate Court rejected Mata’s claim that his trial counsel
provided ineﬀective assistance by failing to impeach Delgado
with prior inconsistent statements.
   B. State Postconviction Proceedings
   In 2008, Mata ﬁled a pro se postconviction petition, claim-
ing his trial counsel was ineﬀective for failing to pursue the
6                                                 No. 20-3151

motion to suppress his videotaped confession. He also
claimed his appellate counsel was ineﬀective for not raising
trial counsel’s failure on direct appeal. Mata did not allege
new facts or provide new evidence outside the trial record to
support his claims. The Illinois Circuit Court summarily de-
nied his petition.
     The Illinois Appellate Court aﬃrmed. Citing People v. Har-
ris, 862 N.E.2d 960 (Ill. 2007), the court ﬁrst determined that
Mata waived his ineﬀective assistance of trial counsel claim
by not raising it on direct appeal. Because the State played
Mata’s videotaped confession at trial and Mata testiﬁed at
trial about his earlier statements to the state’s attorney and
police, the appellate court considered “[t]he motion to sup-
press and [Mata’s] videotaped confession … matters in the
trial record.” As such, Mata “could have raised the present
claim” of trial counsel’s ineﬀective assistance “on direct ap-
peal.” By not doing so, Mata waived the claim.
    The state appellate court then addressed Mata’s claim for
ineﬀective assistance of appellate counsel. The court reasoned
that the motion to suppress Mata’s videotaped statement
would not have succeeded because the record contradicted
Mata’s claims of abuse. Bor, Smith, and Mojica all testiﬁed
they had advised Mata of his Miranda rights and that, each
time, Mata conﬁrmed he understood them. Mata also
acknowledged on video that Mojica had informed him of his
constitutional rights. Because the motion would not have suc-
ceeded, trial counsel presumably abandoned the motion as
part of a sound trial strategy. Consequently, appellate counsel
was not ineﬀective for failing to raise trial counsel’s ineﬀec-
tiveness on direct appeal.
No. 20-3151                                                         7

    Mata petitioned for leave to appeal to the Illinois Supreme
Court, raising only his ineﬀective assistance of trial counsel
claim. That court denied his petition in 2011.
   C. Federal District Court
    In 2012, Mata sought a writ of habeas corpus in federal
court, raising claims for ineﬀective assistance of trial and ap-
pellate counsel. The district court concluded that Mata had
procedurally defaulted his claim that trial counsel was inef-
fective because the Illinois Appellate Court’s ﬁnding of
waiver served as an independent and adequate state proce-
dural ground for the claim’s dismissal. As to the other claim,
the district court determined that the state court did not un-
reasonably apply Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984),
in deciding that appellate counsel was not ineﬀective. Accord-
ingly, the district court denied Mata habeas relief.

    At Mata’s request, we granted a certiﬁcate of appealability
under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2) on the issue of whether he proce-
durally defaulted his ineﬀective assistance of trial counsel
claim. 2

                            II. Analysis
    Mata challenges the district court’s denial of his habeas pe-
tition. He argues his Sixth Amendment right to counsel was
violated when his trial counsel failed to pursue a hearing on
the motion to suppress his videotaped confession. “When re-
viewing a district court’s ruling on a habeas corpus petition,

   2  The court thanks Mata’s court-appointed counsel Michael Rayfield
and Mariham Yaft of Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP for their excellent advo-
cacy on Mata’s behalf.
8                                                               No. 20-3151

we review the district court’s factual ﬁndings for clear error
and rulings on issues of law de novo.” Sanders v. Radtke, 48
F.4th 502, 508 (7th Cir. 2022) (quoting Lee-Kendrick v. Eckstein,
38 F.4th 581, 585–86 (7th Cir. 2022)).
   We ﬁrst consider whether Mata procedurally defaulted his
ineﬀective assistance of trial counsel claim. Because we con-
clude that he did, we examine whether Mata shows cause to
excuse that default. “As to whether a claim is procedurally de-
faulted, our review is de novo.” Wilson v. Cromwell, 69 F.4th
410, 418 (7th Cir. 2023).
    A. Ineﬀective Assistance of Trial Counsel
    Federal courts “may not review federal claims that were
procedurally defaulted in state court—that is, claims that the
state court denied based on an adequate and independent
state procedural rule.” Davila v. Davis, 137 S. Ct. 2058, 2064
(2017); 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1)(A). Federal review is precluded
because “a habeas petitioner who has failed to meet the State’s
procedural requirements for presenting his federal claims has
deprived the state courts of an opportunity to address” the
merits of “those claims in the ﬁrst instance.” Coleman v.
Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 732 (1991). The Illinois Appellate
Court was the last state court to consider Mata’s claim of in-
eﬀective assistance of trial counsel. 3 It ruled that Mata waived
the claim by not raising it on direct appeal because it stemmed
from “matters in the trial record.”

    3  The Illinois Supreme Court denied Mata’s petition for leave to ap-
peal without comment. We therefore look to the Illinois Appellate Court’s
decision. See Wilson v. Sellers, 138 S. Ct. 1188, 1192 (2018) (holding that fed-
eral courts on habeas review look to the “last related state-court decision
that [ ] provide[s] a relevant rationale”).
No. 20-3151                                                     9

    A state law procedural ground satisﬁes the independence
prong when “the court actually relied on the procedural bar
as an independent basis for its disposition of the case.” Lee-
Kendrick, 38 F.4th at 587 (quoting Garcia v. Cromwell, 28 F.4th
764, 774 (7th Cir. 2022)). Mata does not contest that waiver
served as an independent basis for the dismissal of his inef-
fective assistance of trial counsel claim.
   The parties disagree as to whether the Illinois Appellate
Court’s application of the waiver doctrine constitutes an ade-
quate state law procedural ground. A state ground is “ade-
quate” if it is “ﬁrmly established and regularly followed.”
Wilson, 69 F.4th at 419 (quoting Clemons v. Pﬁster, 845 F.3d 816,
820 (7th Cir. 2017)). And the state ground “must not have been
applied in a manner that ‘impose[s] novel and unforeseeable
requirements without fair or substantial support in prior state
law’ or ‘discriminate[s] against claims of federal rights.’” Id.
(quoting Clemons, 845 F.3d at 820). When examining ade-
quacy, we limit our review to whether the state ground “is a
ﬁrmly established and regularly followed state practice at the
time it is applied, not whether the review by the state court
was proper on the merits.” Id. (quoting Lee v. Foster, 750 F.3d
687, 694 (7th Cir. 2014)).
    We have repeatedly held that “[a] ﬁnding of waiver by [an
Illinois] postconviction court is enough to establish an ade-
quate and independent state ground.” Sturgeon v. Chandler,
552 F.3d 604, 611 (7th Cir. 2009); see also Daniels v. Knight, 476
F.3d 426, 431 (7th Cir. 2007); Schaﬀ v. Snyder, 190 F.3d 513, 526
(7th Cir. 1999). “Under Illinois law, ‘[f]ailure to raise a claim
which could have been addressed on direct appeal is a proce-
dural default which results in a bar to consideration of the
claim’s merits in a post-conviction proceeding.’” Sturgeon, 552
10                                                    No. 20-3151

F.3d at 611 (quoting People v. Erickson, 641 N.E.2d 455, 458 (Ill.
1994)). Illinois law provides an exception “where the facts re-
lating to the claim do not appear on the face of the original
appellate record.” Id. (quoting People v. Whitehead, 662 N.E.2d
1304, 1312 (Ill. 1996)). In those instances, “such a claim could
not have been considered by the reviewing court because the
claim’s evidentiary basis was de hors,” or outside, “the rec-
ord.” Id. (quoting Whitehead, 662 N.E.2d at 1312).
    In examining Illinois state court decisions, we have also
recognized Illinois’s ﬁrmly established practice of applying
its waiver doctrine to ineﬀective assistance of counsel claims.
See, e.g., Sturgeon, 552 F.3d at 611; Smith v. Gaetz, 565 F.3d 346,
351 (7th Cir. 2009); Martin v. Evans, 384 F.3d 848, 855 (7th Cir.
2004). Thus, when an Illinois postconviction court declines to
consider a claim for the ineﬀective assistance of trial counsel
because it could have been raised on direct appeal, that deter-
mination is an “adequate … state ground” for the claim’s dis-
missal which precludes federal habeas review. Sturgeon, 552
F.3d at 611.
    For example, in Sturgeon, the Illinois Appellate Court con-
cluded that a defendant waived his ineﬀective assistance of
trial counsel claim by not raising it on direct appeal. 552 F.3d
at 611. In federal court, the defendant argued that the state
court’s waiver decision was not based on an adequate and in-
dependent state ground because he presented “extra record
evidence” in his postconviction petition. Id. But by the de-
fendant’s own admission, his claim relied on evidence
“within the scope of the appellate court’s review on direct ap-
peal.” Id. His claim therefore did not fall within the waiver
exception articulated in Whitehead for “matters which … de-
pended upon facts not within the trial record.” Id. (quoting
No. 20-3151                                                   11

Whitehead, 662 N.E.2d at 1314). We concluded that the “Illinois
Appellate Court’s determination that [the defendant’s] inef-
fective-assistance-of-trial-counsel claim was waived [was]
thus an adequate and independent state ground,” barring re-
view of the claim on federal habeas. Id.
    Similarly, in Smith v. Gaetz, the Illinois Appellate Court
ruled that a defendant waived his ineﬀective assistance of trial
counsel claim because “although available to [the defendant]
on direct appeal, he did not raise it.” 565 F.3d 346, 351 (7th
Cir. 2009). This court determined that the state court’s deci-
sion not to review the defendant’s claim based on waiver
“rest[ed] upon a ground that is both independent of the fed-
eral question and adequate to support the judgment.” Id.
(quoting Willis v. Aiken, 8 F.3d 556, 561 (7th Cir. 1993)). A
similar conclusion was reached in Martin v. Evans, another in-
stance where an Illinois postconviction court concluded a de-
fendant waived his ineﬀective assistance of trial counsel claim
because the claim “involved matters of record which could
have been raised on direct appeal.” 384 F.3d at 855. “The
[state] court’s express reliance on the established rule of
waiver render[ed] the claims procedurally defaulted” under
the independent and adequate state ground doctrine. Id. As in
Sturgeon, Smith, and Martin, the Illinois Appellate Court’s con-
clusion of waiver here constitutes an adequate state law
ground.
   Mata argues the Illinois Appellate Court’s waiver decision
departed from the state’s ﬁrmly established practices, as Illi-
nois state courts have “repeatedly noted that a default may
not preclude an ineﬀective-assistance claim for what trial
counsel allegedly ought to have done in presenting a defense.”
People v. West, 719 N.E.2d 664, 670 (Ill. 1999) (emphasis added).
12                                                   No. 20-3151

For support, Mata relies on the Illinois Supreme Court’s state-
ment in People v. Erickson that a “claim based on what ought
to have been done may depend on proof of matters which
could not have been included in the record precisely because
of the allegedly deﬁcient representation.” 641 N.E.2d at 459.
Since Mata alleges his trial counsel ought to have pursued the
motion to suppress, he submits he did not waive his claim.
    West and Erickson do not support Mata’s argument. As he
points out, claims about what counsel ought to have done
may depend on evidence outside the record. Erickson and
West recognize as much. But Mata misunderstands the proper
focal point of those cases. The exception to Illinois’s waiver
rule turns on whether a claim is based on evidence outside the
trial record—not on whether the claim makes allegations
about what counsel ought to have done. To avoid default on
postconviction review, a petitioner must present evidence
“not in the trial record” supporting the claim and must
demonstrate “why the claim it supports could not have been
raised on direct appeal.” Id. at 458. Here, the Illinois Appellate
Court did not deviate from its ﬁrmly established practice of
asking whether Mata supported his claim for ineﬀective as-
sistance of trial counsel with evidence outside the trial record.
Because Mata did not, the state appeals court considered the
claim waived on postconviction review.
    Mata also contends his postconviction petition asserted
facts outside the trial record because it pointed to “evidence
of coercion that was not developed” at trial, such as allega-
tions that the Chicago police oﬃcers made promises and
threats related to his girlfriend and child. But federal courts
may not “reexamine state-court determinations on state-law
questions.” Kimbrough v. Neal, 941 F.3d 879, 882 (7th Cir. 2019)
No. 20-3151                                                    13

(quoting Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 67–68 (1991)); Miller v.
Zatecky, 820 F.3d 275, 277 (7th Cir. 2016) (“A federal court can-
not disagree with a state court’s resolution of an issue of state
law.”). This prohibition extends to a state’s application of a
state’s procedural rules. Oaks v. Pﬁster, 863 F.3d 723, 727 (7th
Cir. 2017) (noting that “arguments about the state courts’
applications of state procedural rules do not avoid the proce-
dural default”). We may examine only whether a state proce-
dural rule is a ﬁrmly established and regularly followed state
law practice, not whether the application of such a rule to the
defendant’s case was proper on the merits. Id.; see also Lee, 750
F.3d at 694.
    Here, Mata did not allege any new facts about the volun-
tariness of his videotaped confession in his postconviction pe-
tition. He ﬁrst claims oﬃcers made threats about his girlfriend
and his child in his federal habeas petition, not his postcon-
viction petition. Given the lack of new factual allegations in
Mata’s postconviction petition, the Illinois Appellate Court
did not apply the state’s waiver doctrine in a “novel and un-
foreseeable” manner. We therefore conclude that the court’s
waiver determination served as an adequate and independent
state ground to dismiss Mata’s ineﬀective assistance of trial
counsel claim. So, his claim is procedurally defaulted, pre-
cluding our review of the claim’s merits.
   B. Ineﬀective Assistance of Appellate Counsel
    Mata initially argued that—even if he defaulted his inef-
fective assistance of trial counsel claim—the failure of his ap-
pellate counsel to raise that claim on direct appeal excused the
procedural default. Federal courts may review a procedurally
defaulted claim if a petitioner demonstrates “cause for the de-
fault and actual prejudice as a result of the alleged violation
14                                                    No. 20-3151

of federal law.” Wilson, 69 F.4th at 421 (quoting Coleman, 501
U.S. at 750). “Attorney error that constitutes ineffective assis-
tance of counsel is cause to set aside a procedural default.”
Smith, 565 F.3d at 352. But “[t]he assertion of ineffective assis-
tance as a cause to excuse procedural default in a § 2254 peti-
tion, is, itself, a constitutional claim that must have been
raised before the state court or be procedurally defaulted.” Id.;
see also Edwards v. Carpenter, 529 U.S. 446, 451–52 (2000).
    Before seeking federal habeas relief, state prisoners must
“exhaust[] the remedies available in the courts of the State.”
28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1)(A); Davila, 137 S. Ct. at 2064. Accord-
ingly, Mata had to raise his ineﬀective assistance of appellate
counsel claim “at each level of state court review,” including
“in his initial post-conviction petition before the trial court, in
his appeal to the Illinois Appellate Court, and in his Petition
for Leave to Appeal (PLA) to the Illinois Supreme Court.”
Smith, 565 F.3d at 352. A failure to raise a claim for “one com-
plete round of state court review” results in procedural de-
fault. Id. at 351.
    The State argues Mata failed to raise his claim of appellate
counsel’s ineﬀectiveness in his petition for leave to appeal. Af-
ter review of the record, we agree. Mata did not allege that his
appellate counsel provided ineﬀective assistance in his peti-
tion for leave to appeal with the Illinois Supreme Court.
Instead, he argued the Illinois trial court erred in summarily
dismissing Mata’s pro se petition because he made a colorable
claim that his “trial attorney acted ineﬀectively in abandon-
ing, without explanation, a written motion to suppress”
which had “arguable merit.” As mentioned, “[t]o exhaust
state remedies in the Illinois courts, the prisoner must include
his claims in a petition for leave to appeal to the Illinois
No. 20-3151                                                             15

Supreme Court.” Snow v. Pﬁster, 880 F.3d 857, 864 (7th Cir.
2018). Because Mata did not include his claim for ineﬀective
assistance of appellate counsel in his petition for leave to ap-
peal, he procedurally defaulted the claim.
    In his reply brief before us, Mata conceded he “defaulted
his appellate-ineﬀectiveness claim by failing to raise it in his
petition for leave to appeal.” He has therefore abandoned the
argument on appeal. 4 We acknowledge we need not “accept a
concession when the point at issue is a question of law.” Deen
v. Darosa, 414 F.3d 731, 734 (7th Cir. 2005). But our independ-
ent review of the record conﬁrms that Mata defaulted this
claim by not exhausting the state remedies available. Thus,
any alleged error by Mata’s appellate counsel cannot excuse
the procedural default on his trial counsel claim.
                           III. Conclusion
    The Illinois Appellate Court dismissed Mata’s ineﬀective
assistance of trial counsel claim on an adequate and inde-
pendent state ground, so the claim is procedurally defaulted.
As to the ineﬀectiveness of Mata’s appellate counsel, Mata did
not raise the claim for one complete round of state court re-
view, so that claim is also procedurally defaulted. For these
reasons, we AFFIRM the district court’s denial of Mata’s peti-
tion for federal habeas relief.

    4 At oral argument, Mata’s counsel confirmed his decision to concede
procedural default on the ineffective assistance of appellate counsel claim
and abandon the good cause argument on appeal. Oral arg. at 8:53–9:12,
10:32-10:53.