Carpenter v. Crouse

279 F. Supp. 275, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7245
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJuly 29, 1966
DocketNo. 3944 H.C.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 279 F. Supp. 275 (Carpenter v. Crouse) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carpenter v. Crouse, 279 F. Supp. 275, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7245 (D. Kan. 1966).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

TEMPLAR, District Judge.

The above entitled cause came on regularly for trial and the Court having duly considered the evidence and being [276]*276fully advised in the premises now finds the following:

FINDINGS OF FACT

I. Petitioner was charged, tried by a jury, and convicted of burglary with explosives in the District Court of Reno County, Kansas, which verdict was rendered on the 17th day of November 1960. A Motion for new trial was filed by petitioner, which was heard and overruled on the 9th day of December 1960. On said date petitioner was sentenced by said Court to the state penitentiary for a. period of not less than ten nor more than thirty years. He is presently confined in the Kansas State Penitentiary.

II. Pending, trial of the Reno County charge petitioner was released on bond. Thereafter, but prior to the time of trial of the Reno County charge the petitioner was charged in the District Court of Sedgwick County, Kansas, with third degree burglary, possession of burglary tools, second burglary and larceny.

III. On March 22, 1961, the petitioner was convicted by a jury in Cases No. B-5245 and B-5278 (consolidated) in the District Court of Sedgwick County, Kansas, of burglary in the third degree, possession of burglary tools, burglary in the second degree, and larceny. On March 31, 1961 the Court sentenced him to concurrent terms of five to ten years for second degree burglary and not more than five years for larceny. Consecutive to those two sentences, the Court sentenced him to concurrent terms of not more than five years for third degree burglary and one to three years for possession of burglary tools.

IV. The petitioner’s sentences have not been commuted by the Governor of Kansas.

V. In this habeas corpus proceeding, the petitioner claims that:

(A) His retained attorney, in collusion with the county attorney of Sedgwick County, betrayed him by dismissing an appeal from his Reno County conviction, and

(B) Evidence introduced against him was the product of an illegal search and seizure.

VI. In September of 1960 the petitioner retained Mr. Earl Clarkson of Wichita to defend him against the charges pending in Reno County and Sedgwick County. Mr. Clarkson received a fee of $1,750 in advance. For this fee, he agreed to represent the petitioner at trial in both counties. It was agreed between the two of them that in the event petitioner was convicted, Mr. Clark-son would continue to represent him for the purpose of doing whatever was necessary to protect his best interests, including an appeal to the Supreme Court of Kansas if this was advisable. It was also agreed betweeh the two of them that the fee of $1,750 would not cover services rendered by Mr. Clarkson subsequent to trial, but that Mr. Clarkson would not require payment in advance for such services.

VII. The Reno County case was tried first. On December 13, 1960 three days after the petitioner was sentenced in that case, Mr. Clarkson filed a notice of appeal. Mr. Clarkson also ordered a transcript and made application to the Supreme Court of Kansas for a stay of execution of the sentence pending appeal. On December 19, 1960, the Supreme Court entered its order staying execution of the sentence upon filing of an appeal bond by the petitioner. Bond was filed and the petitioner was permitted to go free pending his appeal. On March 8, 1961, while the charges in Sedgwick County were still pending, Mr. Clarkson filed a motion in the Supreme Court to continue the hearing of petitioner’s appeal, which had been set for early in April 1961. This motion recited as grounds for the continuance that the petitioner had only recently acquired sufficient funds to pay for the transcript of the trial, which was true. Another reason for the motion, not stated in the motion itself, was that the Sedgwick County charges were then pending and were shortly scheduled to come up for trial. On March 8, 1961, the Su[277]*277preme Court ordered the petitioner’s appeal continued to the May 1961 session and specified that the case would be dismissed if the petitioner’s abstract and brief were not filed by April 8, 1961.

VIII. On March 14, 1961, the Sedgwick County case came on for trial. This trial lasted until March 22, 1961, when the jury returned a verdict of guilty on all four counts. After the verdict of guilty in Sedgwick County, it was Mr. Clarkson’s opinion that the petitioner had virtually no chance of securing a reversal on all the counts in Sedgwick County, as well as the count in Reno County, that it would be a waste of the petitioner’s resources for him to continue with the Reno County appeal; and that it would be better for the petitioner to begin serving his sentences. He so advised the petitioner. The petitioner agreed with this view of his situation, accepted Mr. Clarkson’s advice, and consented to the dismissal of his pending appeal.

IX. Subsequent to this conviction, but prior to the time of sentencing, Clarkson discussed with the county attorney, Keith Sanborn, the subject of the sentence petitioner was to receive. In an attempt to discourage the county attorney from introducing evidence of the Reno County conviction and invoking the habitual criminal act, Mr. Clarkson stated that he and the petitioner did not feel that it would be to the petitioner’s advantage to pursue the Reno County appeal. This statement was volunteered by Mr. Clarkson and was not made in response to any request by the county attorney for any kind of assurance that the appeal would not be pursued. Mr. Clarkson was not requested to, and did not, promise the county attorney that he would drop the Reno County appeal.

X. Sentence was imposed in the Sedgwick County case on March 31, 1961. At this time it was definitely agreed between Clarkson and the petitioner that an appeal from petitioner’s convictions would not be to his benefit and that instead petitioner should use his resources to secure parole or clemency later. The petitioner was then taken to the penitentiary. On April 7, 1961, he wrote to Clarkson from the penitentiary, thanking him for his services, commending him for the quality of these services, and stating that he would like to retain him in the future for the purpose of obtaining executive clemency.

XI. Clarkson did not file an abstract and brief in the Reno County appeal. On April 10, 1961, the state moved to dismiss this appeal on the ground that the abstract and brief had not been filed by April 8, 1961, as required in the court’s previous order. This motion was granted and the Supreme Court dismissed the Reno County appeal on April 12, 1961. The mandate of the order of dismissal was received by the Reno County District Court in the first part of May 1961.

XII. Sometime subsequent to the above events, the petitioner changed his mind about the advisability of pursuing appeals from his convictions. Petitioner prepared in longhand and filed pro se a notice of appeal in the District Court of Sedgwick County, Kansas. from his conviction in that Court. In this appeal petitioner recited that he gave “timely notice of intention to appeal from the judgment entered by the District Court.” He did not recite in his notice of appeal that he was appealing from the order overruling his motion for a new trial. Petitioner, through the efforts of his mother, finally retained an attorney in Wichita to present such appeal.

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Bluebook (online)
279 F. Supp. 275, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7245, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carpenter-v-crouse-ksd-1966.