Crawford v. Cox

307 F. Supp. 732, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8706
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedNovember 5, 1969
DocketCiv. A. No. 68-C-12-C
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 307 F. Supp. 732 (Crawford v. Cox) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crawford v. Cox, 307 F. Supp. 732, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8706 (W.D. Va. 1969).

Opinion

OPINION and JUDGMENT

DALTON, Chief Judge.

On May 31, 1955, Moses Crawford, petitioner, was tried on three counts of robbery in one consolidated trial held in [734]*734the Circuit Court of Albemarle County. At the trial, Crawford was represented by counsel engaged by Crawford’s parents and entered an initial plea of not guilty. He was convicted by a jury and received a sentence of ten years on each count, indictments numbered 928, 929 and 930, with the terms running consecutively.

Petitioner did not make a direct appeal of his conviction, but he did file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Virginia courts on April 13, 1967. This petition attacked his conviction under indictment #929. A full plenary hearing was granted petitioner in the Circuit Court of Albemarle County on March 21, 1968, and on June 6, 1969, that court denied and dismissed the petition. On December 6, 1968, Crawford’s petition for a writ of error to the lower court’s judgment was rejected.

Contemporaneous with the filing of the petition in the Virginia courts, Crawford filed a petition on April 15, 1968, with the United States Eastern District Court of Virginia. The petition was transferred to this court. The petitioner was apparently attacking the convictions under indictments #928 and #930; he stated that the state courts would not hear these claims. On April 23, 1968, this court dismissed the petition for failure to exhaust state remedies. On that same day, Crawford filed another petition in the Eastern District, which was subsequently transferred to this court. By order dated April 26, 1968, that petition, which alleged the same grounds as the previous petition, was incorporated with the prior petition and similarly dismissed. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit remanded the case for a determination on petitioner’s claims made as to the conviction on indictment #928, the fully served sentence. The court held that under Virginia law a fully served sentence may not be attacked in a habeas corpus proceeding and that this court’s dismissal as to conviction on indictment #928 was improper. See, Memorandum Decision No. 12,513 (filed Nov. 19, 1968).

Two further petitions were filed in the Eastern District Court and have been transferred here. The first was filed on February 12, 1969, and challenged the conviction on indictment #929; the second was filed on July 22, 1969, and attacks the conviction on indictment #930.

Petitioner has exhausted his state remedies as to those claims directed specifically to conviction under indictment #928. Also, petitioner has exhausted his remedies as to those claims on indictment #929 on which a plenary hearing and judgment were given. Because Crawford was given one trial on the three counts, all factual and legal allegations raised, to date, as to conviction on one of the indictments is equally applicable to the other two convictions. Therefore, once Crawford’s claims have been fully presented to the state courts on one conviction, the identical claims are exhausted as to the other convictions. In an analogous situation, the Supreme Court in Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 73 S.Ct. 397, 97 L.Ed. 469 (1953), held that § 2254 does not require repetitious applications to the state courts. Although Brown decided whether petitioners must seek collateral relief on the same grounds which they used on direct appeal, the underlying principle is the same. Once the highest court of the state has heard a claim, the remedies as to that factual and legal claim have been exhausted. Therefore, any claims petitioner makes under indictment #930, which have already been presented to the state courts on conviction under indictment #929, will be heard and determined. Also, any determination this court makes today will have equal weight and be binding as to the convictions on all three indictments.

In accord with the order remanding this case from the Fourth Circuit, all previous orders dismissing petitions of Crawford for failure to exhaust state remedies are hereby rescinded and the [735]*735claims raised will be given another consideration.

Petitioner alleges that he was given ineffective representation by counsel. Specifically, petitioner claims that his counsel failed to obtain witnesses although advised of those who could prove his innocence; that counsel incorrectly allowed petitioner to change his plea midway through the trial; and, that in counsel’s closing argument, he told the jury that his client should get some time. The Albemarle Circuit Court heard evidence on these claims and in its April 13, 1967, order stated that “petitioner was granted the .effective assistance of counsel.”

It was not disputed that counsel had Crawford take the stand and admit his guilt. It is further not disputed that counsel stated that his client should get some time. But these are matters which are trial tactics and within counsel’s discretion. In Snead v. Smyth, 273 F.2d 838, 842 (4th Cir. 1959), it was held:

It is generally held that mere mistakes or errors of counsel are not sufficient to establish a violation of the defendant’s constitutional right. It is only in such extreme instances where the representation has been so inadequate as to make a farce of the trial that it can be said that the prisoner was deprived of his constitutional rights. It has been repeatedly held that in case of counsel selected by the defendant the commission of what retroactively may appear to be errors of judgment on the part of the attorney does not constitute a constitutional lack of due process and does not defeat the jurisdiction of the trial court.

That counsel’s discretion was not abused so as to amount to a lack of due process was amply demonstrated to the state court. Crawford’s counsel at the hearing testified:

The plan from the beginning was to ask for a jury — to plead not guilty but then admit that they had done it. But then bring in mitigated circumstances to try to soften the punishment. (p. 36)

The Commonwealth’s Attorney also testified at the hearing on the trial. He stated:

I was kind of surprised with really the lightness of the sentence, (p. 49)
I was expecting a considerable more severe penalty. As Your Honor knows robbery — two counts were robbery — and the minimum in those days under the statute were (sic) 8 years. Ha’s (sic) got two years above the minimum on the two. Of course the second — the Massey Trye was an attempted robbery accompanied by actual shooting. The man did not die from it of course, (p. 50)

As to the allegation that counsel did not call favorable witnesses, the state court obviously did not believe petitioner’s account. At the plenary hearing, Crawford’s counsel testified:

Each time I saw them — I saw the petitioner and his brother James together * * * My files as to all the things they told me are incomplete, in that they told me — and this is very clear in my memory — first one story and then another. And they would tell me the story in great detail. I would take notes on them. Then I would go check it out and find out it wasn’t true. Get enough evidence that would convince them that it was very obviously not going to be accepted. Then I would come back and confer with them again.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
307 F. Supp. 732, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8706, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crawford-v-cox-vawd-1969.