Bresnahan v. Patterson

352 F. Supp. 1180, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15484
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedJanuary 8, 1973
DocketCiv. A. No. C-3671
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 352 F. Supp. 1180 (Bresnahan v. Patterson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bresnahan v. Patterson, 352 F. Supp. 1180, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15484 (D. Colo. 1973).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WINNER, Judge.

On January 5, 1965, when 16 years old, Bresnahan pleaded guilty to the murder of his mother and father on August 3, 1964, and he was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences. By petition for a writ of habeas corpus, filed by his guardian ad litem, he seeks release from confinement in the Colorado State Penitentiary. He asserts that his pleas were constitutionally infirm because:

(a) The pleas were involuntary in that they rested on improper persuasion on the part of his maternal grandparents and his attorney.
(b) His attorney had a conflict of interest because he was being paid by the maternal grandparents.
(c) His attorney failed to pursue a valid defense [not guilty by reason of insanity] and his attorney misadvised petitioner as to the consequences of the guilty pleas.
(d) The trial judge should have held a competency hearing on his own motion.
(e) The guilty pleas were not intelligently entered.

Before discussing petitioner’s contentions, we summarize the long history of the case subsequent to imposition of the sentences. In an interpleader action concerning life insurance proceeds, Edward L. Wood was appointed guardian ad litem, and he commenced post conviction proceedings in the state courts advancing essentially the same contentions there that he makes here. The case first went to the Colorado Supreme Court in Bresnahan v. Luby (1966) 160 Colo. 455, 418 P.2d 171. It was there held that the trial judge did not have to disqualify himself because of Bresnahan’s claim that he was going to call Judge Luby as a witness. The next report of the case is Bresnahan v. District Court (1967) 164 Colo. 263, 434 P.2d 419, in which Judge Luby was ordered to make available to Bresnahan’s counsel, “all documents, letters and reports which were before him as of the time he permitted Bresnahan to plead guilty to murder of the first degree.” Following this order, a hearing was held before Judge [1182]*1182Luby on September 17, 1968, and he took the matter under advisement. The judge retired without deciding the case, and Harold A. Grant, who had been district attorney at the time of Bresnahan’s guilty pleas was appointed to replace Judge Luby. Judge Grant disqualified himself, and Judge Shannon was appointed to decide the ease based on the reporter’s transcript of the hearings before Judge Luby. He ruled against Bresnahan on November 7, 1969, and in doing so, he made full findings of fact supporting his conclusions that Bresnahan was not entitled to relief. Once more the case went to the Colorado Supreme Court, and in Bresnahan v. People (1971) Colo., 487 P.2d 551, Judge Shannon’s decision was affirmed in a full opinion by the Colorado Court. It was there held:

1. In a Colorado Rule 35(b) proceeding [which is similar to a proceeding under 28 U.S.C. § 2255] Petitioner has the burden of proof, and the state is under no duty to present any evidence if it believes that petitioner has failed to meet that burden.
2. Although a trial court should act with great caution in accepting a guilty plea from a 16-year old, such a defendant is competent, and the record shows “that the trial judge carefully and properly handled this phase of the proceedings. The trial judge fully complied with the requirements of McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.S. 459, 89 S.Ct. 1166, 22 L.Ed.2d 418.”
3. The trial judge committed defendant for psychiatric observation, and the reports he received showed that the defendant was sane although emotionally disturbed. The information available to the trial judge showed that defendant was above average for a person of his years, and there was no reason for the trial judge to question Bresnahan’s competency.
4. The pleas were voluntary and intelligent under the tests of Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 90 S.Ct. 1463, 25 L.Ed.2d 747. The Colorado Court’s opinion details much of the evidence on which this conclusion is based, and we do not repeat it here.
5. The fact that defendant’s grandparents employed his attorney didn’t result in a conflict of interest, especially when defendant had full knowledge of the circumstances of the employment, and when he knew he could have court appointed counsel. “That the grandparents were not inherently adverse parties to defendant is clearly indicated by their concern for defendant’s welfare as expressed by voluntarily assuming the burden of hiring counsel for him, by their frequent trips to visit defendant on which occasions they supplied him with items which he desired, and by their letters to him during the pendency of proceedings.”
6. Counsel’s advice as to sentence possibilities was not error, particularly when “he indicated with probable accuracy the paths which defendant might follow and the probable consequences.”
7. Counsel’s failure to pursue the insanity defense resulted from the desire of defendant. "... defendant was unhappy with counsel for entering that very plea originally. Defendant testified that one of his reasons for avoiding the insanity plea was the possibility that he might be successful and spend his life in a mental institution even though counsel had not foreclosed the possibility that defendant might be released in a few years.”

Five months after the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision in Bresnahan v. People, this case was filed, and four [1183]*1183days’ testimony has been received.1 The evidence fully supports and we agree with the findings of Judge Shannon .as affirmed by the Supreme Court of Colorado, but we consider and make findings and conclusions as to petitioner’s various positions in the course of this opinion.

Bresnahan was arrested shortly after the bodies of his parents were discovered. His maternal grandparents employed Williams to represent him. Williams had done some title work and estate work for members of the grandparents’ family, but there was no long or close relationship between Williams and the grandparents. Over Bresnahan’s initial objection, Williams entered pleas of not guilty by reason of insanity for him. In accordance with Colorado law, Bresnahan was sent for psychiatric evaluation. Three psychiatrists at the University of Colorado Medical Center examined him in late August and early September, 1964. Drs. Macdonald, Red-man and Langsley, in separate reports, all reported that he was legally sane at the time of the commission of the offense and at the time of their examination, although comment was made that he had a character disorder and needed psychiatric treatment.2 Comment was made that he was above average in intelligence, and this comment is fully supported by the Court’s observation of petitioner and by his testimony at time of trial.

Williams met with Bresnahan at the jail in Leadville, Colorado, on several occasions, and on October 14, 1964, he wrote him a six page letter outlining the problems with which petitioner was faced. Among others, the letter discussed these points:

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Bluebook (online)
352 F. Supp. 1180, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bresnahan-v-patterson-cod-1973.