Bandy v. White

609 F. Supp. 132, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20356
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedApril 26, 1985
DocketNo. 83-0149-CV-W-1-R
StatusPublished

This text of 609 F. Supp. 132 (Bandy v. White) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bandy v. White, 609 F. Supp. 132, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20356 (W.D. Mo. 1985).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOHN W. OLIVER, Senior District Judge.

I.

Petitioner currently confined at the Missouri Training Center for Men located at Moberly, Missouri amended his petition for a writ of habeas corpus so that his unexhausted claims are no longer mixed with his exhausted claim.1 Petitioner challenges his incarceration pursuant to his plea of guilty to the offense of murder in the second degree. That plea was tendered to and accepted in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri on July 19, 1979.2 It is conceded that petitioner has exhausted his available State court postconviction remedies in regard to the claim presented in the amended petition before the Court. See Bandy v. State, 639 S.W.2d 136 (Mo.Ct. App.1982).

We have considered the briefs of the parties, the filings and exhibits in the case, [133]*133and conclude that the petition should be denied.

II.

Petitioner implicitly contends that this Court may properly make an independent appraisal of the evidence presented in prior proceedings in the trial and appellate courts of the State of Missouri and thereafter make findings of fact inconsistent with those made by the State courts.3 Petitioner’s contention is untenable. See Maggio v. Fulford, 462 U.S. 111, 113, 103 S.Ct. 2261, 2262, 76 L.Ed.2d 794 (1983).

Section 2254(d) of Title 28, U.S. Code, provides that the State court’s determination of the merits of a factual issue made in an appropriate State court proceeding “shall be presumed to be correct,” subject only to the establishment of one of the eight exceptions set forth in that section.4 See the Eighth Circuit’s most recent review of the standards established by Section 2254(d) in Corcoran v. Wyrick, 757 F.2d 207, 208-09 (8th Cir.1985) (citing Wainwright v. Witt, — U.S. —, —, —, 105 S.Ct. 844, 853-54, 83 L.Ed. 841 (1985); Sumner v. Mata, 455 U.S. 591, 592, 102 S.Ct. 1303, 1304, 71 L.Ed.2d 480 (1982)). We review the State court proceedings in light of the standard provided in Section 2254(d).

Petitioner’s Missouri Rule 27.26 motion presented the same question as that presented in his pending federal habeas corpus petition. After conducting an appropriate evidentiary hearing, the State trial court denied petitioner’s postconviction motion. The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, affirmed the State trial court’s denial of petitioner’s Missouri Rule 27.26 motion. Bandy v. State, supra. In so doing, the Missouri Court of Appeals accurately stated that “Bandy’s sole point on appeal is that the trial court erred because his pleas of guilty were not knowingly and voluntarily made, he did not understand the nature of the charges against him, and there was no factual basis for the pleas.”

The State trial court’s findings of fact, which the Missouri Court of Appeals concluded were “not clearly erroneous,” were set forth in the following portion of the Missouri Court of Appeals opinion:

After considering all of the evidence, Judge Hanna in this 27.26 proceeding found as follows: “The Court finds that the movant was fully aware of the factual basis for the plea to the charge of murder second degree as well as the [134]*134charge of capital murder and to the charge of assault. The Court finds that those facts had been discussed repeatedly with his attorney before the plea, the movant understood that those were the facts and . that they constituted the crimes charged.” Judge Hanna then concluded: “The Court can only conclude and does, that at the time the pleas were given the defendant understood the nature of the charges against him; the range of punishment for each of the offenses; that the pleas were made understandingly and knowingly; * * * The Court further concludes that the defendant entered his pleas of guilty of his own free will and volition, understood all of his constitutional rights and freely and voluntarily waived those rights.”

Petitioner more or less concedes that the presumption of correctness mandated by 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), must be given the factual determinations made by the State courts as stated in the opinion of the Missouri Court of Appeals. Petitioner relies, however, on Beavers v. Anderson, 474 F.2d 1114 (10th Cir.1973), in support of an argument that a “degree of uncertainty exists as to the voluntariness of the guilty plea which the presumption of the validity of the state court proceedings does not dispel without further inquiry.” Pet. Brief at 2. We disagree. Beavers, does not support petitioner’s implicit argument that this Court is free to make an independent review of the State court’s findings of fact following petitioner’s plea of guilty and Rule 27.26 hearing.

Beavers, supra, involved a claim that Beavers’ guilty plea was coerced by the sheriff. There was no transcript of record of the State court guilty plea proceeding nor, apparently; was Beavers ever afforded a State court postconviction evidentiary hearing. Id. at 1116. Beavers has been limited to its apparent facts and has been distinguished in the only Eighth Circuit decision which cites that case. Subsequent decisions in both the Sixth and Tenth Circuits have accorded Beavers the same treatment. See Stephens v. Wyrick, 659 F.2d 94, 97 (8th Cir.1981) (citing Sumner v. Mata, 449 U.S. 539, 101 S.Ct. 764, 66 L.Ed.2d 722 (1981)); Roddy v. Black, 516 F.2d 1380, 1383-84 (6th Cir.), cert, denied, 423 U.S. 917, 96 S.Ct. 226, 46 L.Ed.2d 147 (1975); Hopkins v. Anderson, 507 F.2d 530, 532 (10th Cir.1974), cert, denied, 421 U.S. 920, 95 S.Ct. 1586, 43 L.Ed.2d 788 (1975).

The record of the State court proceedings before this Court establishes that the claims that petitioner attempts to raise in this Court were all considered and rejected by both the State trial court and by the Missouri Court of Appeals. Petitioner’s brief in the Missouri Court of Appeals presented the same arguments and cited most of the cases contained in his current federal habeas corpus brief. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the State trial court’s determination that petitioner’s guilty plea was voluntary and supported by an appropriate factual basis. We cannot say that the factual determination made by the Missouri courts was not fairly supported by the record within the meaning of Section 2254(d)(8).

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Related

Sumner v. Mata
449 U.S. 539 (Supreme Court, 1981)
Sumner v. Mata
455 U.S. 591 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Maggio v. Fulford
462 U.S. 111 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Wainwright v. Witt
469 U.S. 412 (Supreme Court, 1985)
David Corcoran v. Donald Wyrick
757 F.2d 207 (Eighth Circuit, 1985)
Bandy v. State
639 S.W.2d 136 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1982)
Hopkins v. Anderson
507 F.2d 530 (Tenth Circuit, 1974)
Lentz v. Estelle
421 U.S. 920 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1975)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
609 F. Supp. 132, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20356, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bandy-v-white-mowd-1985.