Sigur v. Fisher

JASON STEPHEN SIGUR, Petitioner, v. RAYTHEL FISHER, Warden, Valley State Prison,¹ Respondent.

No. 2:17-cv-00663-JKS

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

April 21, 2021

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Jason Stephen Sigur, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, filed a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus with this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Sigur is in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and incarcerated at Valley State Prison. Respondent has answered, and Sigur has not replied.

I. BACKGROUND/PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

On March 15, 2012, Sigur was charged with 11 counts of contacting or communicating with a minor, kidnapping for purpose of lewd act on a child, 9 counts of first-degree burglary, 20 counts of lewd and lascivious acts upon a child under fourteen, and failure to register as a transient offender. The information further alleged various enhancement allegations. Sigur entered not guilty pleas, denied the allegations, and proceeded to a jury trial. On direct appeal of his conviction, the California Court of Appeal recounted the following facts underlying the charges against Sigur and the evidence presented at trial:

A.B. testified that she was born in June 1997. A.B.'s parents, D.B. (mother) and C.B. (father), were divorced and A.B. alternated every other week between her mother'sand father's homes. At the time of her contacts with [Sigur], A.B. had a cell phone with Internet access and had access to a home computer at her mother's home. When she stayed at her father's home, she was not allowed to use her cell phone except to call her mother, and she did not have access to a computer there. When A.B. stayed at her mother's home, she occupied the front bedroom, her grandmother occupied the rear bedroom, and mother slept on the sofa in the living room.

A.B. testified that in late 2009, when she was 12 years old, she began visiting an online chat room on the airG Web site. Because airG required users to be at least 14 to create a profile and chat, A.B. created a profile listing her age as 14. She would visit the "singles" and "20's" chat rooms to chat with others online every day. Her parents were unaware of her participation in these chat rooms.

In late August 2010, when A.B. was 13, she met [Sigur] in a chat room when she asked whether anyone in the 916 or 530 area codes was in the chat room and [Sigur] responded. A.B. viewed [Sigur's] profile, which indicated he was in his 20's. A.B. and [Sigur] began chatting privately, and A.B. then gave [Sigur] her cell phone number. [Sigur] sent A.B. a text message and they communicated by text messages for about 90 minutes. During this initial conversation, A.B. revealed that she was actually 13 and [Sigur] revealed that he was actually 35, and the two agreed to meet in person. A.B. asked [Sigur] to visit her, and later that same day, [Sigur] met A.B. outside her mother's home. He arrived in a purple Ford Ranger pickup. Thereafter, [Sigur] and A.B. took a 20-minute walk together. They agreed that if they ran into someone who questioned their age difference, they would say [Sigur] was A.B.'s uncle.

A.B. testified that she and [Sigur] continued to communicate via text messages daily, and [Sigur] came to visit her at her mother's house several days later. They walked to a more secluded area where [Sigur] and A.B. kissed for a while and at [Sigur's] request, A.B. orally copulated him. During this visit, [Sigur] told A.B. that he wanted to have sex with her. A.B. was a virgin at that time and she told him she was worried that it was not the right time for her and that her mother would find out. She also told him that she was worried he would leave her afterward, and [Sigur] reassured her and told her that he loved her. A.B. then went to stay at her father's house for a week, but she and [Sigur] continued to send each other text messages when she was able to use her cell phone. They discussed their feelings for each other and agreed to become a couple.

When A.B. returned to her mother's home the following week, she and [Sigur] arranged to meet a third time. [Sigur] asked if he could come visit A.B. at her mother's house, and she said yes. This time, [Sigur] came to her bedroom window at night. [Sigur] pulled off the window screen and A.B. sat on the window sill. A.B. testified that she and [Sigur] kissed and [Sigur] touched her breast and vagina. [Sigur] again told A.B. that he wanted to have sex with her and she felt somewhat pressured but said she was not ready. [Sigur] was outside A.B.'s window for several hours and then came inside her room to say good night. A.B. promised him that she would have sex with him the next time he visited her.

A.B. again went to her father's house for a week, and she and [Sigur] continued to send each other text messages and spoke over the phone. She told [Sigur] she would "keep [her] promise." A.B. testified that she felt like she had to keep her promise to havesex with [Sigur] because she did not know him very well and "for a while [she] was scared that he was going to try to hurt [her] or pull a weapon on [her]." The next week when A.B. returned to stay with her mother, [Sigur] and A.B. planned for him to come over for the fourth time, again at night while A.B.'s mother was sleeping. A.B. testified that when [Sigur] arrived, she "just told him to come in" and [Sigur] climbed through A.B.'s bedroom window. [Sigur] kissed and fondled A.B. and removed her clothing. A.B. orally copulated him and then [Sigur] had vaginal intercourse with her. After this fourth visit, [Sigur] made five or six similar visits to A.B. between September and October 15, 2010, and they had vaginal intercourse and she performed oral sex on [Sigur] each time.

At some point during this time period, A.B.'s father, found messages from [Sigur] on A.B.'s cell phone and confronted her about them. A.B. told her parents that [Sigur] was a 14-year-old boy who skateboarded in the neighborhood. After that, A.B. was not allowed to bring her cell phone to her father's home and her mother would confiscate the phone at night while A.B. was staying at her mother's home.

Father testified he had a phone conversation with a person who identified himself as Jason^FN2 and sounded like an adult. Father asked Jason if he knew A.B. was a minor, and the man said A.B. told him she was 18. Father told him not to call back because she was only 13. He also told the man he would involve the sheriff's office if the man contacted A.B. again. Father told A.B. he did not appreciate her talking to an adult and not to contact him again. Father took A.B.'s phone from her.

FN2. Father initially recalled that he interrupted a phone conversation A.B. was having, took the phone from her and spoke to Jason at that time. Later, he acknowledged he had told a deputy sheriff he had seen inappropriate text messages and called the number associated with those messages. Ultimately, he said he was not sure who initiated the call.

A.B. testified that on October 14, 2010, she was supposed to return to stay with her father, but she told [Sigur] that she did not want to go there and wanted to stay with [Sigur] instead. [Sigur] had previously told A.B. that he wanted her to come live with him. [Sigur] agreed to take A.B. that night to stay with him. When [Sigur] arrived, A.B. again opened her window to let [Sigur] come into her room. A.B. packed her clothing and possessions, and [Sigur] brought her a bag to carry them and helped her pack. A.B. did not pack her cell phone because her mother had it in the living room. She left with [Sigur] through the window around midnight, and they replaced the window screen. [Sigur] drove a white Yukon, which he said he borrowed because his pickup was out of gas. They planned to tell others that A.B.'s father could no longer take care of her and [Sigur] was a friend of her father's. They stopped at Walmart for various sundries for A.B. on the way to [Sigur's] home, which was in a trailer park in Woodland. When they arrived at [Sigur's] trailer, [Sigur] and A.B. had vaginal intercourse. [Sigur] then returned the Yukon, which he had borrowed from his estranged wife. Afterward, they returned to the trailer and had vaginal intercourse a second time.

A.B. testified that the next morning, October 15, she and [Sigur] woke up early and went for a walk, during which A.B. met [Sigur's] former roommate, Brandon K. A.B. testified that [Sigur] received two or three phone calls, and A.B. saw that one of them was her mother calling from A.B.'s cell phone. [Sigur] then went to school, leaving A.B. alone in his trailer.

Mother testified that when she discovered A.B. was missing on the morning of October 15, she called 911 and called father. Suspecting that A.B. was with [Sigur], who she thought to be a 14 year old in the neighborhood, Mother then called his number from A.B.'s phone and left a message that she was looking for A.B. After a deputy sheriff arrived at Mother's home in response to her 911 call, Mother checked the household computer and found a conversation with [Sigur] on A.B.'s instant messenger account, which she provided to the deputy.

Deputy Laura Bradshaw testified that after interviewing father and mother and obtaining [Sigur's] cell phone number, she received authorization to ping the cell phone and found its location in Dunnigan. She then contacted the Yolo County Sheriff's Office and requested a welfare check at that address. Deputies Roman Keister and Matthew Davis conducted the welfare check and spoke with a woman who informed them that [Sigur] was her stepmother's husband but no longer lived there. She told the deputies that [Sigur] lived at a nearby trailer park and drove a purple truck. The deputies went to the trailer park and found a purple Ford Ranger with a license plate registered in [Sigur's] name parked next to a trailer. Deputy Keister testified that A.B. responded to their knock on the trailer door. She asked Deputy Keister

...