Glouser v. United States

318 F. Supp. 175, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9868
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Iowa
DecidedOctober 14, 1970
DocketCiv. No. 9-2422-C-2
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 318 F. Supp. 175 (Glouser v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Glouser v. United States, 318 F. Supp. 175, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9868 (S.D. Iowa 1970).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER.

HANSON, District Judge.

This ruling is predicated upon petitioner’s motion pursuant to Title 28, U.S.C., Section 2255, to vacate and set aside his conviction and sentence.

Petitioner Glouser was found guilty on January 9, 1959, by a jury on three criminal counts and sentenced to five years on each count. The conviction and sentence imposed upon petitioner were not directly appealed, but have been subjected to a series of collateral attacks, ultimately to no avail. Glouser v. United States, 296 F.2d 853 (8th Cir. 1961), cert. den., 369 U.S. 825, 82 S.Ct. 840, 7 L.Ed.2d 789 (1962); Glouser v. United States, 340 F.2d 436 (8th Cir. 1965). The instant motion, which is based upon petitioner’s contention that he was denied effective assistance of counsel during the appeal stage following his conviction, was overruled earlier by this court in the belief that the issue of counsel abandonment had been previously decided by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

On appeal of this Court’s order denying relief, the Eighth Circuit concluded that petitioner had never had a plenary hearing on his contention that his appointed counsel abandoned him for purposes of appeal and consequently vacated the order. The cause was remanded to this Court for a plenary hearing which was held on September 9, 1970, in Des Moines, Iowa.

I

Petitioner generally alleges that his then court-appointed counsel, Mr. Roy Meadows, failed to file a notice of appeal despite petitioner’s timely instruction that he desired to appeal his conviction. Petitioner concedes that, following the expiration of the 10-day period within which notice of appeal may be filed pursuant to Rule 37, Mr. Meadows did act in petitioner’s behalf as retained counsel, seeking a reduction in petitioner’s sentence. At least part of an agreed-upon fee was paid to Mr. Meadows for this service by petitioner’s mother. It is the alleged failure of Mr. Meadows in his capacity as court-appointed counsel, to file proper notice of appeal upon petitioner’s alleged timely request that is attacked as abandonment of counsel.

Recent criminal decisions have established that failure of counsel to take the simple step of filing a notice of appeal when requested by his client to do so constitutes ineffective assistance of counsel. Swenson v. Bosler, 386 U.S. 258, 87 S.Ct. 996, 18 L.Ed.2d 33 (1967) affirming 363 F.2d 154 (8th Cir. 1966); Douglas v. People of State of California, 372 U.S. 353, 83 S.Ct. 814, 9 L.Ed.2d 811 (1963); Williams v. United States, 402 F.2d 548 (8th Cir. 1968). Furthermore, these cases have held that such a rule applies retroactively.

[177]*177ii

At the instant hearing, petitioner testified that, upon pronouncement of judgment on January 9, 1959, he was incarcerated immediately in the Polk County Jail until January 26 when he was removed to the federal penitentiary. He stated that Attorney Meadows visited him in the County Jail sometime between the 13th and 20th. days of January, 1959, to inform him of the trial court’s denial of the motion for new trial. Petitioner could not be more specific as to the date.

Petitioner’s version of that conversation with his counsel was:

(1) that Mr. Meadows told him that three substantial errors had occurred at trial which could provide the basis for appeal;

(2) that petitioner then informed Mr. Meadows that he wanted to appeal, but was told that, as the court appointment had terminated, Mr. Meadows would inquire Seven Hundred Fifty dollars to prosecute the appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals;

(3) that petitioner did not have any funds;

(4) that while Mr. Meadows was yet at the Polk County Jail, petitioner telephoned his mother, Mrs. Evelyn Smith, at Omaha, Nebraska, to request funds, which his mother informed him were not immediately available;

(5) that in his presence, Mr. Meadows then discussed the matter over the telephone with petitioner’s mother and, after closing the telephone conversation, Mr. Meadows told petitioner in essence that some arrangement would be “worked out” with his mother and that petitioner should not worry any more about the matter of his appeal.

Petitioner testified that he was not contacted again by anyone until some time in March 1959 when his mother informed him that she had not been able to come up with the funds demanded by Mr. Meadows for prosecuting an appeal, but for a lesser sum Mr. Meadows had agreed to present a motion for reduction of petitioner’s sentence. This action subsequently resulted in the third of petitioner’s three consecutive sentences being reduced to probation.1 Petitioner also testified that he did not then know of the 10-day requirement for filing notice of appeal pursuant to Rule 37, but discovered this only as he began to proceed pro se in his later attempts to attack the judgment.

Petitioner’s mother appeared on his behalf and testified in substance that Mr. Meadows told her that he would need Seven Hundred Fifty dollars in order to appeal her son’s case and that she could not raise the money. She further testified that as a result of further conversations among herself, Mr. Meadows and the mother of petitioner’s co-defendant, it was agreed that Mr. Meadows would present a motion for reduction of sentence on behalf of both defendants. Petitioner’s mother stated that she paid Thirty-five dollars to Mr. Meadows as partial payment for this service but found herself unable to pay the balance which continues unpaid.

Attorney Meadows appeared as the only witness for the government. His testimony was substantially that he had little or no independent recollection of the events following petitioner’s conviction in January, 1959. On direct examination, he did state that a memorandum within his file on petitioner’s case indicated that he had spent about half an hour in conference with petitioner on January 14, 1959. Mr. Meadows further added that he had no recollection of discussing the possibility of appeal with petitioner although he felt that he would have advised petitioner that an appeal would be unsuccessful. Neither could Mr. Meadows recall during direct examination that he discussed the perfection of an appeal with petitioner’s mother although he had some memory of agreeing to attempt to reduce sentence and that money was still due him for this service.

[178]*178Testifying from his records, Mr. Meadows said that he had no personal contact with petitioner following January 14, 1959, and that the only subsequent communication consisted of a letter dated May 19, 1959, from petitioner (Respondent’s Exhibit No. 1) to which he replied on May 25 (Respondent’s Exhibit No. 2). Attorney Meadows concluded that his present opinion was that, had petitioner requested him to perfect an appeal, he would have filed a notice of appeal.

On cross-examination, Mr. Meadows stated that he had no specific recollection of advising petitioner as to the time requirements for appeal.

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Bluebook (online)
318 F. Supp. 175, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9868, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/glouser-v-united-states-iasd-1970.