[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 23-10215 ____________________

REGINALD BERTRAM JOHNSON, Petitioner-Appellant, versus SECRETARY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF FLORIDA,

Respondents-Appellees.

____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 1:19-cv-23494-JLK ____________________ USCA11 Case: 23-10215 Document: 53-1 Date Filed: 03/25/2025 Page: 2 of 24

2 Opinion of the Court 23-10215

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and GRANT and LUCK, Circuit Judges. WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge: This appeal requires us to decide whether admission of a medical report without the author’s testimony to support a state prisoner’s convictions for kidnapping and sexual battery violated his constitutional right to confront the witnesses against him. See U.S. CONST. amend. VI. In 2000, after a man raped 14-year-old C.A., the police took her to a rape treatment center where Dr. Scott Silla examined her. Dr. Silla prepared a report of his findings and about the biological specimens he collected from her. He then gave the specimens and a copy of the report to Detective Steven Signori who sent the specimens to a laboratory for testing. Eight years later, a match in a DNA database linked Reginald Bertram Johnson to the specimens collected from C.A. At trial, the prosecution proved the DNA match through testimony about the collection and testing of the specimens and introduced Dr. Silla’s report to bolster the chain of custody for the specimens. Johnson objected that admission of the report violated the Confrontation Clause be- cause Dr. Silla did not himself testify. The jury convicted Johnson. He later filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the district court, which denied the petition. See 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Because Johnson cannot prove actual prejudice, we affirm. I. BACKGROUND In 2000, Reginald Bertram Johnson abducted 14-year-old C.A. at gunpoint and raped and robbed her. When C.A. returned USCA11 Case: 23-10215 Document: 53-1 Date Filed: 03/25/2025 Page: 3 of 24

23-10215 Opinion of the Court 3

home, her mother called the police to report what had happened. The police escorted C.A. to the crime scene so that she could pro- vide more details. And then they brought her to the rape treatment center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. At the rape treatment center, Dr. Scott Silla conducted a gy- necological examination of C.A. and collected biological specimens from her. Nurse Valerie Carter assisted Dr. Silla during this exami- nation. She provided tools and signed a report as a witness. But Nurse Carter did not examine C.A. Dr. Silla completed a standard report of his findings. The front page of the report included C.A.’s personal information, a de- scription of the assault, the police case number, a drawing of her vaginal tears, and a description of the findings from the pelvic ex- amination. The back page of the report included lis