Gibson v. State

471 So. 2d 440, 1983 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 4241
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMarch 29, 1983
Docket3 Div. 568
StatusPublished

This text of 471 So. 2d 440 (Gibson v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gibson v. State, 471 So. 2d 440, 1983 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 4241 (Ala. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

LEIGH M. CLARK, Retired Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment denying this appellant’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus after a hearing thereon at which evidence was presented by the parties. On a previous appeal in the same case, the trial court had denied the petition without an evidentiary hearing, which judgment was reversed and the proceeding remanded “for an evidentiary hearing by the trial court to develop the facts essential for determining whether or not the action of a disciplinary board as challenged in the petition was proper in its decision “to deprive appellant of two years of ‘good time’ for an alleged ‘escape’ from a Decatur work release facility.” Gibson v. State, Ala.Cr.App., 411 So.2d 1297, 1298 (1982). At the time the petition was filed, on November 22, 1981, petitioner was an inmate at G.K. Fountain Correctional Center. Appellant’s attorney, his appointed attorney by reason of indigency of the petitioner-appellant, the same attorney who represented him on the hearing, has filed a well prepared and orderly brief in which he advances four propositions as a basis for his contention that the judgment of the trial court should be reversed. In appellee’s brief, also well prepared and orderly, there are correspondingly numbered counter-propositions. We next consider said propositions and counter-propositions.

I

Appellant says:

“The Failure of State Prison Officials to Permit Petitioner to Have Witnesses of his Choice Present at a Prison Disciplinary Hearing Which resulted in the Loss of Earned Good Time was Viola-tive of Due Process.

Appellant relies upon Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974), for his argument as to his first proposition. In Wolff v. McDonnell, at 418 U.S. 566, 94 S.Ct. 2979, the court held that an inmate had a right to call witnesses for a disciplinary hearing “when permitting him to do so will not be unduly hazardous to the institutional safety or correctional goals” and would not “create a risk of reprisal or undermine authority.” For factual support of this proposition, appellant correctly states that on the evidentiary hearing in this cause petitioner testified that before the disciplinary hearing, “the officer told me I could not have a witness from Decatur because of the distance involved so I couldn’t call any.”

Appellee’s response to appellant’s proposition is thus stated in appellee’s brief:

“THE RECORD OF APPEAL IS SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT A RULING BY THE TRIAL COURT THAT APPELLANT DID NOT REQUEST ANY WIT[442]*442NESSES AT THE DISCIPLINARY HEARING.”

Appellee’s argument as to the first issue is as follows:

“The disciplinary bears Appellant’s signature, and it indicates he did not desire any witnesses at the hearing. This is a sufficient basis for the trial court to rule that Appellant’s due process right to have the opportunity to have desired witnesses present (assuming there would be no security risk involved) was not violated. Williams v. Davis, 386 So.2d 415 (Ala.1980).”

The cited case of Williams v. State, furnishes us the prime precedent, which we are glad to follow as to the troublesome issues resolved therein, but there is not involved therein any issue as to whether petitioners-appellants desired witnesses for a hearing. In the instant case the transcript shows as to such question the following:

“During the cross-examination of the petitioner-appellant at the evidentiary hearing:
“Q. Mr. Gibson, is this your signature right here on this disciplinary?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. All right. And these are the statements of fact that you saw before you signed that; correct?
“A. That’s not a statement of fact.
“Q. Excuse me. Up here.
“A. That’s just the charge that I have been charged with.
“Q. Right. And you know about that?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. At that time. And this is your signature down here after the disciplinary was concluded; is that correct?
“A. No. What you do there ... This part is not filled in. The action of the disciplinary Board is not filled in at that time. All I did when I signed there was that I was present at the hearing.
“Q. And you didn’t want any witnesses; is that correct?
“A. Well, they wouldn’t bring them to me because they told me they would not bring them from Decatur.
“Q. Well, it says witnesses desired and is checked none.
“A. Well, I could not get witnesses from Decatur.
“Q. Is that contrary to what you said then?
“A. Pardon?
“Q. Is that contrary to what you signed your name to?
“A. I did not call any from Kilby. The officer told me I could not have a witness from Decatur because of the distance involved so I couldn’t call any.
“Q. And your statement is you were only served one disciplinary after you were recaptured?
“A. That is correct.”

According to the previous opinion in the instant case, in which the judgment of the trial court was reversed and the cause remanded with directions, appellant did not claim any “Failure of State Prison Officials to Permit Petitioner to have Witnesses of his Choice Present,” at the disciplinary hearing. The transcript in the instant case does not show as clearly as it should whether there was any denial of any right “to have Witnesses of his Choice Present” at the disciplinary hearing, as claimed by appellant in the first issue presented. Appellant argues in his brief:

“Prior to the hearing, petitioner was denied the right to subpoena any witnesses from Decatur. (R. 17-18). He was further told that he could not call any witness from Decatur ‘because of the distance involved.’ (18) Petitioner contends that this denial of his right to subpoena witnesses to testify at his disciplinary hearing violated his right to due process.”

We have quoted above the parts of the transcript on pages 17 and 18 to which reference is made by appellant in his brief. The quoted excerpt from the transcript indicates, at least, that appellant had signed a statement to the effect that there were no “witnesses desired” by him. It is clear [443]*443that the writing on the subject was before the trial judge at the time, but it is not contained in the transcript of the proceedings. According the trial court the presumption to which it is entitled, we are not willing to conclude that defendant was denied due process by reason of the position taken by appellant in the first issue presented by him. We think that appellant’s contention that such a conclusion is inconsistent with Wolff v. McDonnell is not well taken.

II

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Related

Wolff v. McDonnell
418 U.S. 539 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Williams v. Davis
386 So. 2d 415 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1980)
Washington v. State
405 So. 2d 62 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1981)
Gibson v. State
411 So. 2d 1297 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
471 So. 2d 440, 1983 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 4241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gibson-v-state-alacrimapp-1983.