Francis Hamilton Griswold v. Frank A. Eyman, Warden, Arizona State Prison

452 F.2d 923

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Decided: January 10, 1972
• Docket: 25930
• Status: Published

Opinions

KILKENNY, Circuit Judge:

Griswold appeals from the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. On March 18, 1966, he plead guilty to a charge of second-degree murder, reduced from the prior charge of murder in the first degree. His sentence was affirmed by the Arizona Supreme Court. State v. Griswold, 101 Ariz. 577, 422 P.2d 693 (1967).

In April, 1968, appellant filed a petition for a writ of coram nobis in the Arizona Supreme Court. The court issued the writ and directed the superior court of Apache County to hold a hearing and decide two issues: (1) whether Gris-wold fully understood his rights and the consequences of his plea of guilty at the time it was entered, and (2) whether Griswold voluntarily entered his plea of guilty to the crime of second-degree murder. The lower court held a full-fledged evidentiary hearing, made findings on the issues presented and returned them to the supreme court. Upon review of the entire record, the supreme court ratified the findings of the lower court, quashed the writ of coram nobis and affirmed the conviction. State v. Griswold, 105 Ariz. 1, 457 P.2d 331 (1969). Since the state court’s decisions outline the facts, we need not here restate them.

ISSUES

(1) Whether Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969), should be applied retroactively to govern appellant’s plea of guilty?

(2) Whether the district court erred in refusing appellant an evidentiary hearing ?

(1) Issue number one has been resolved against appellant. Spencer v. Eyman, 439 F.2d 1136 (9th Cir.1971); Benn v. Eyman, 436 F.2d 1074 (9th Cir. 1971); and Moss v. Craven, 427 F.2d 139 (9th Cir.1970), cf. Halliday v. United States, 394 U.S. 831, 89 S.Ct. 1498, 23 L.Ed.2d 16 (1969).

(2) The district court had before it the entire state record. We, too, have independently examined that record, including the two decisions of the supreme court of Arizona, as required by Valdez v. State of California, 439 F.2d 1405, 1406 (9th Cir.1971) and Selz v. State of California, 423 F.2d 702, 703 (9th Cir.1970). Where, as here, the full record is available and an independent review is made by the trial court, an evidentiary hearing is not usually necessary. Little v. Rhay, 439 F.2d 765 (9th Cir.1971). In these circumstances, we are required to utilize the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), which provide, with some exceptions, for the presumptive correctness of factual determinations made by the state courts. Our independent review of the state court records leads us to the conclusion that appellant has not brought himself within any one of the mentioned exceptions.

Although the state court’s findings should not serve as a model in future litigation, the entire state court record, including the decisions of the Arizona Supreme Court, fully supports the conclusion and ultimate judgment that appellant (1) understood his rights and the consequences of his plea of guilty at the time it was entered, and (2) voluntarily entered a plea of guilty to the crime of second-degree murder.¹

Moreover, we are unable to find a significant distinction between the facts here presented and those before the Supreme Court in North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 91 S.Ct. 160, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970). True enough, the trial judge in Alford held a hearing before accepting the guilty plea. On the other hand, Alford at the time of entering his plea disclaimed all guilt and indicated he was pleading guilty only under the threat of the death penalty. There, the Supreme Court held that an accused may voluntarily, knowingly and understandingly consent to the imposition of a prison sentence even though he is unwilling to admit participation in the crime, and affirmatively asserts his innocence, when, as here, he intelligently concludes that his best interests require a guilty plea, rather than going to trial.

Judgment affirmed.

1 . At the conclusion of the hearing, the state trial judge said : “ * * * To me the Defendant in this case was extrmely [sic] aware of what was going on. He said at one time T read Section 13’; he knew the penalty, he was extremely aware of the deatli penalty, and he fully understood the rights and consequences of the plea of guilty. He said himself at the time he entered his plea he took all of these things into consideration; he was represented by thoroughly competent counsel, he weighed his chances and came to a decision, and rather than take the chance of the death penalty he did enter a plea of guilty to second degree murder. I have heard nothing in his testimony, the Petitioner’s testimony, that would indicate otherwise.

The second question, did the Defendant voluntarily enter a plea: He said he did, that in view of all of the things no one made any promise, he never said they did, except it would be second degree. So on those grounds the court is going to deny the motion.”