Starks, Adrian v. Meisner, Michael

Filing 58

ORDER granting 56 motion to extend the deadline for filing in state court; granting 57 motion for an order directing the Dane County medical examiner to release certain evidence. Petitioner must present his claims in state court by March 23, 20 18. The Dane County Medical Examiner's Office is directed to provide Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin, Inc., 22 East Mifflin Street, Suite 1000, Madison, Wisconsin 53703, with slides cut from the tissue blocks collected at the autopsy of Michael Ace, Dane County Medical Examiner Case #050707 and UW Autopsy #W05-227-F and complete copies of the autopsy report, coroner's report, and toxicology report related to the same autopsy. Signed by District Judge James D. Peterson on 1/22/2018. (jef),(ps)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

ADRIAN ALEXANDER STARKS,
Petitioner,
v.
MICHAEL MEISNER, Warden,

ORDER
14-cv-844-jdp

Respondent.
In an October 24, 2017 order, I stayed proceedings in this habeas case so that petitioner
Adrian Alexander Starks could present claims based on new evidence in state court. Dkt. 54. I
appointed counsel and ordered Starks to present his claims in state court within 90 days.
Starks, through counsel, has filed two unopposed motions: a motion to extend the deadline for
filing in state court by 60 days, Dkt. 56, and a motion for an order directing the Dane County
medical examiner to release certain evidence to Starks, Dkt. 57. I will grant the first motion
and extend the deadline for Starks to present his claims in state court to March 23, 2018.
And I will grant the second motion. Starks asks the court to order the Dane County
medical examiner to provide him with tissue slides from the autopsy of Michael Ace and
complete copies of the autopsy report, coroner’s report, and toxicology report from the same
autopsy. “A habeas petitioner, unlike the usual civil litigant in federal court, is not entitled to
discovery as a matter of course.” Bracy v. Gramley, 520 U.S. 899, 904 (1997). Rule 6(a) of the
Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases provides that the court “may, for good cause, authorize a
party to conduct discovery under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and may limit the extent
of discovery.” Discovery is not appropriate in every habeas case, but here, it appears that
everyone is on board with Starks’s request: respondent does not object and the medical

examiner’s deputy coroner would agree to release the items to Starks as long as the procedural
formality of a court order is fulfilled. Id. at 2. And the items Starks seeks go to the heart of his
unexhausted claims. So I will grant direct the Dane County medical examiner to release the
requested evidence.

ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. Petitioner Adrian Alexander Starks’s motion to extend the deadline for filing in state
court, Dkt. 56, is GRANTED. Petitioner must present his claims in state court by
March 23, 2018.
2. Petitioner’s motion for an order directing the Dane County medical examiner to
release certain evidence, Dkt. 57, is GRANTED.
3. The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office is directed to provide Federal
Defender Services of Wisconsin, Inc., 22 East Mifflin Street, Suite 1000, Madison,
Wisconsin 53703, with slides cut from the tissue blocks collected at the autopsy of
Michael Ace, Dane County Medical Examiner Case #050707 and UW Autopsy
#W05-227-F and complete copies of the autopsy report, coroner’s report, and
toxicology report related to the same autopsy.
Entered January 22, 2018.
BY THE COURT:
/s/
________________________________________
JAMES D. PETERSON
District Judge

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