Davis v. United States

210 F.2d 118
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 25, 1954
DocketNo. 14799
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 210 F.2d 118 (Davis v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis v. United States, 210 F.2d 118 (8th Cir. 1954).

Opinion

COLLET, Circuit Judge.

Appellant entered a plea of guilty, June 3, 1935, in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, to an indictment charging that he conspired with others to, and did, kidnap Edward George Bremer at St. Paul, Minnesota, and transport him into the State of Illinois. Sentence was deferred until June 7, 1935, at which time he was sentenced to life imprisonment by Judge Matthew M. Joyce. Appellant did not have counsel. He was thereafter confined at Alcatraz. In 1940 he sought a writ of habeas corpus in the Northern District of California upon the ground that he was deprived of his liberty without having the assistance of counsel. The writ was denied. In December, 1952, appellant filed a motion in the sentencing court of Minnesota under Sec. 2255, Title 28 U.S.C.A., for an order vacating and setting aside his sentence of June 7, 1935. The grounds of his motion were that he was sentenced without the advice of counsel, that he did not know of his right to counsel, did not waive counsel, was led to believe that if he entered a plea of guilty he would be given a term of years, that he was not taken before a United States Commissioner, was not given a copy of his indictment, and was held incommunicado.

The trial court denied the motion without a hearing, upon the files and record in the sentencing court and the record in the California habeas corpus proceedings. The court found, in a memorandum opinion, that appellant was fully apprised of his constitutional right to counsel and freely and intelligently waived his right to counsel; that there was no support for his claim that he would be given a term of years if he entered a plea of guilty; that since appellant was arrested pursuant to a grand jury indictment, there was no necessity that he be taken before a United States Commissioner; that the indictment was read to him before he entered his plea of guilty; and that he was not held incommunicado prior to his trial.

The record before us discloses the denial in the habeas corpus proceedings of appellant’s claim that he did not waive the benefit of counsel, and several affidavits which purport to be at least part of the evidence in the District Court of California in that proceeding. That evidence in the habeas corpus proceeding supports the trial court’s conclusion that appellant was apprised of his right to counsel, waived counsel, and was not misled or mistreated.

Accompanying the filing of the motion to set aside the sentence was a petition for a writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum for appellant’s presence at the hearing on the motion. That petition was not granted, appellant was not present at the hearing on the motion and had no opportunity to offer testimony in support of his motion. The procedure was, as heretofore indicated, under Sec. 2255 of the Judicial Code. 28 U.S.C. (Supp. [120]*120IV) § 2255, 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255. By express provision of See. 2255 the motions under that section, such as this one, may be determined without requiring the production of the movant prisoner 1. It is equally clear from the Supreme Court’s opinion in United States v. Hayman, 342 U.S. 205, 223, 72 S.Ct. 263, 274, 96 L.Ed. 232, that — “whether the prisoner should be produced depends upon the issues raised by the particular case.”

In the Hayman case the dominant issue was whether the movant “enjoyed -the effective assistance of counsel guaranteed defendants in federal courts by the Sixth Amendment.” Specifically, in 'that case the movant alleged that a principal witness against him-at his trial, and a defendant in'A related' case, was represented by the samé-lawyer .as mov-ant, that he was not told of the' dual representation and had no-way-of discovering the conflict until after the trial -was over. -It appeared, from court records that the witness' entered a plea of guilty in the related case;and did testify against movant. - Since such a conflict of interest might have prejudiced movant, the trial court and the Court of Appeals found that the allegation warranted a hearing under the pertinent provision of Sec. 2255-that:

“Unless the motion and the files and records of the case conclusively show that the prisoner is entitled to no relief the court shall * * * grant a prompt hearing * * *, determine the issues and make findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect thereto.” In the Hayman case the hearing was ex parte, the trial court found that mov-ant’s counsel had represented both parties with the knowledge and consent and at the instance and request of movant, and denied the motion to vacate the sentence. The Supreme Court did not reconsider the concurrent finding of the trial court and the Court of Appeals that the motion raised substantial issues of fact calling for an inquiry into their verity, but proceeding to the question of the propriety of the hearing being ex. parte, held that under the circumstances of that case, in view of the nature of the issue raised, the hearing on the motion should not have been ex parte andf that movant should have had an opportunity to be present.

In the present case the motion was; denied without a formal hearing upon, the ground that the files and records of the case conclusively showed that' the.prisoner was not entitled to relief.

Several of the grounds of the motion were obviously susceptible of determination from the files and records' of the case. The date of the arraignment and plea, as shown by the records .arid the motion, demonstrated th.at at thdt time there was no requirement that appellant be furnished with a copy of the indictment. Cuckovich v. United States,. 6 Cir., 170 F.2d 89. The files and records of the case also showing that appellant was arrested under a warrant pursuant to a grand jury indictment, it conclusively appeared therefrom that it was not necessary that he be taken before a United States Commissioner. Anri the complaint that appellant was held: incommunicado may,, under the circumstances of this case, be treated as incidental to his claim that he did not know of his right to counsel, and did riot waive that right. It need not therefore-be given separate consideration.

Did the allegations that appellant did not know of his constitutional rights to counsel, and, not knowing of' those rights, did not waive them by voluntarily entering his plea of guilty without the benefit of the advice of counsel, “raise substantial issues of fact calling-for an inquiry into their verity” ? United States v. Hayman, 342 U.S. 205, 210, 72 S.Ct. 263, 268. However convincing an ex parte showing might be that the-allegations were without merit in fact, if appellant has been denied an opportunity to be heard on such an issue he [121]*121“"has lost something indispensable”. United States v. Hayman, supra. That the allegation of lack of knowledge of his constitutional right to counsel, that he was not apprised of that right, and not knowing of the right did not waive it, is such a substantial issue as to require an inquiry into the validity of the claimed deprivation is not open to serious question. Walker v. Johnston, 312 U.S. 275, 61 S.Ct. 574, 85 L.Ed. 830; United States v. Hayman, supra; Moth-ershead v. King, 8 Cir., 112 F.2d 1004. Therefore, unless, as Sec.

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Bluebook (online)
210 F.2d 118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-united-states-ca8-1954.