Court Opinion

ID: 9480015
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:35:27.35353+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:25.798383
License: Public Domain

MANION, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the majority. I also concur in the majority’s opinion except for the discussion of Rogers’ hearsay argument at pages 3-6. As the majority notes, the Illinois appellate court expressly found that Rogers had waived the hearsay issue by failing to object to Brooks’ alleged hearsay statement at trial and by failing to raise the issue in his post-trial motion. This “plain statement” was sufficient under Harris v. Reed, - U.S. -, 109 S.Ct. 1038, 103 L.Ed.2d 308 (1989) to foreclose federal habeas review absent a showing of cause for, and preju*284dice resulting from, Rogers’ procedural default. See id. 109 S.Ct. at 1043.
The majority bypasses the cause and prejudice analysis and reviews Rogers’ hearsay argument on the merits because the Illinois appellate court went on to consider whether admitting the hearsay was plain error. I do not think the Illinois court’s plain error analysis bars the state from standing on its procedural rules on collateral attack. The Supreme Court in Harris said that when a state court gives alternative holdings — first, invoking a procedural bar, and then going on to hold that the claim fails on the merits anyway — federal review is barred. See 109 S.Ct. at 1044 n. 10. That is all the court did here. It found Rogers had waived his hearsay argument, and then it found that the alleged hearsay, if error at all, was harmless. The court did not use the words “alternative holding” to preface its plain error discussion, but it clearly stated that Rogers had waived his hearsay argument. That is enough, in my view, to constitute a “plain statement” that the court is relying on a procedural bar to decide the case.
In any event, plain error itself is nothing more than an analysis to determine whether or not to forgive a procedural default. It seems to follow that a holding that an error is not “plain” is nothing more than a holding that the state court finds that case an inappropriate case to forgive the default. In other words, a holding that error is not plain error is a holding that the state court is relying on the defendant’s procedural default to decide a case — not a holding on the merits.
In Phillips v. Lane, 787 F.2d 208, 211-15 (7th Cir.1986), we held that an Illinois court’s finding of waiver is an independent and adequate basis for deciding an issue even when the court goes on to analyze the issue for plain error. The fact that the state court has the discretion to disregard procedural defaults where plain error exists does not mean the state loses its right to stand on its procedural rules on collateral attack when the state court decides that no plain error exists. If a state court’s review for plain error allowed federal courts to review the merits of issues that would otherwise be procedurally barred, states might become reluctant to exercise their discretion to correct plain errors. This is a result we ought not encourage.
Phillips dictates that we decide this case on the merits only if Rogers has shown cause and prejudice. Since failing to object to Brooks’ alleged hearsay statement was a reasonable tactical decision, Rogers cannot show cause for his procedural default. See Murray v. Carrier, 477 U.S. 478, 485, 106 S.Ct. 2639, 2643, 91 L.Ed.2d 397 (1986). Therefore, I agree with the majority that the district court correctly refused to grant Rogers habeas corpus on this ground.