Ewing v. Wyrick

535 S.W.2d 442, 1976 Mo. LEXIS 321
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedApril 14, 1976
Docket59237
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 535 S.W.2d 442 (Ewing v. Wyrick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ewing v. Wyrick, 535 S.W.2d 442, 1976 Mo. LEXIS 321 (Mo. 1976).

Opinion

HOLMAN, Judge.

Habeas corpus proceeding wherein the petitioner asserts that he is being unlawfully confined in the penitentiary by reason of an order and judgment of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, which revoked his probation.

*443 On August 18, 1970, petitioner entered a plea of guilty on two counts of first degree robbery in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri. On November 6, 1970, after a pre-sentence investigation, petitioner was, in each case, sentenced to ten years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, the sentences to run consecutively. Execution of the sentences was stayed and petitioner was placed on probation under the supervision of the Missouri State Board of Probation and Parole for a period of five years in each case. With the permission of the probation department petitioner began service of his probationary period in St. Louis, Missouri.

On August 29, 1972, petitioner was arrested in East St. Louis, Illinois, for the armed robbery of a Hill Brother’s Shoe Store. On February 12, 1973, petitioner was also arrested by Brentwood, Missouri police for the armed robbery of a Schnuck’s supermarket (hereinafter Brentwood robbery). After arraignment and having failed to post bond, petitioner was confined in the St. Louis County jail on February 13, 1973, to await the preliminary hearing on the charge of armed robbery arising from the Brentwood robbery. On February 21, 1973, the Circuit Court of Jackson County issued a capias warrant for the petitioner’s arrest based on probation violations. Counsel was appointed to represent petitioner in the proceedings on the Brentwood robbery. A preliminary hearing on the Brentwood charge was held on March 6, 1973, in the Magistrate Court of the First District in St. Louis County. The Magistrate found there was probable cause and ordered petitioner bound over to the circuit court.

On April 16, 1973, petitioner appeared before the Circuit Court of Jackson County and counsel was appointed to represent him in the revocation proceedings. At that time petitioner was given written notice of the probation violations with which he was charged.

Petitioner applied for bail in the Circuit Court of Jackson County on May 8, 1973, which application was denied. Sometime in May, 1973, petitioner was returned to the St. Louis County jail to await trial on the Brentwood robbery charge. Prior to August 20, 1973, petitioner was returned to Jackson County for probation revocation proceedings. On August 20, 1973, petitioner, in the presence of his counsel and a probation officer, made a written request to the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole that a preliminary revocation hearing be held. The following day, August 21,1973, a revocation hearing was held in the Circuit Court of Jackson County. At the conclusion of that hearing the trial judge revoked petitioner’s probation. Petitioner’s motion for reconsideration of probation revocation was denied on August 30, 1973.

On October 13, 1975, upon the petition of Ewing this court issued its writ of habeas corpus in this cause. Respondent timely filed his return. The case was subsequently briefed, argued and submitted.

We will first consider the question as to whether there was sufficient evidence presented at the revocation hearing to support a revocation of petitioner’s probation. The probation reports submitted by petitioner’s probation officer specified two violations of the conditions of probation which had been imposed. The two named violations were: “Failure to obtain advance permission before leaving the state, or the area in which [petitioner] was living” and “Failure to obtain advance permission from the probation officer regarding ownership or possession of a firearm.” At the revocation hearing the supervising probation officer testified that petitioner’s probation officer had given petitioner permission to travel in Illinois only while he was engaged in his occupation as a cab driver. The petitioner testified at the hearing that he had gone to East St. Louis to apply for employment as a janitor with the 189th School District on the day that he was arrested for the Hill Brother’s Shoe Store robbery. A police officer from the Brentwood Police Department also testified as to the circumstances surrounding petitioner’s arrest for the Brent-wood robbery. He stated that he arrested petitioner a short distance from Schnuck’s supermarket approximately five minutes *444 after receiving a report of the robbery and that at the time of the arrest petitioner was holding a pistol and had another pistol tucked in the waistband of his trousers. The officer further testified that a brown paper sack which was recovered from underneath the car in which petitioner was riding contained $909.03 in cash which was the exact amount of money taken in the Schnuck’s robbery. Petitioner denied possession of a gun and any knowledge concerning the money under the car.

The degree of proof for a probation revocation is less than that required to sustain a criminal conviction. The hearing judge need only be reasonably satisfied that the terms of the probation have been violated. State v. Wilhite, 492 S.W.2d 397 (Mo.App.1973). The trial judge concluded that petitioner violated both of the conditions named by the petitioner’s probation officer. We find the above evidence sufficient to support revocation.

Petitioner contends that he was denied procedural due process because of an unreasonable delay in holding a preliminary hearing to determine if there was probable cause to believe petitioner had violated the conditions of his probation. The petitioner relies on Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972) and Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778, 93 S.Ct. 1756, 36 L.Ed.2d 656 (1973) to support his contention that a reasonably prompt hearing must be held to determine if there is probable cause to believe that the probationer has violated his probation.

In Morrissey, supra, the United States Supreme Court dealt with the procedure to be followed in administrative parole revocations. In Gagnon the court extended the minimum due process requirements set forth in Morrissey to administrative probation revocations. In Missouri probation is controlled by the judiciary. See Section 549.071, 1 Moore v. Stamps, 507 S.W.2d 939 (Mo.App.1974).

While neither Morrissey nor Gagnon apply directly to judicial probation the general thrust of the decisions is to require that certain minimum standards in probation revocations be followed to satisfy due process.

In Moore v. Stamps, supra, the court discussed Morrissey and Gagnon in some detail and specified the minimum due process requirements applicable to revocation proceedings. Among other requirements, the cases state that probation should not ordinarily be revoked until after a two-stage hearing, i.

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535 S.W.2d 442, 1976 Mo. LEXIS 321, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ewing-v-wyrick-mo-1976.