Gray v. Rose

627 F. Supp. 1
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 4, 1983
DocketCiv. A. No. 3-83-0007
StatusPublished

This text of 627 F. Supp. 1 (Gray v. Rose) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gray v. Rose, 627 F. Supp. 1 (M.D. Tenn. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION, ORDER AND CERTIFICATE

NEESE, Senior District Judge.

The petitioner Mr. Malcolm Gray, III, applied pro se for the federal writ of habe-as corpus, claiming that he is in the custody of the respondent-warden pursuant to the judgment of April 3, 1980 of the Criminal Court of Montgomery County, Tennessee, in violation of his federally-guaranteed rights against self-incrimination, Constitution, Fifth Amendment;1 to the assistance of counsel, Constitution, Sixth Amendment;2 against the introduction against him at his trial of evidence obtained by an unreasonable search and seizure, Constitution, Fourth Amendment;3 and to trial by an impartial jury, Constitution, Sixth Amendment.4 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a). He claims the exhaustion of his available state-remedies in an appeal of his judgment of conviction and, upon its affirmance on February 3, 1982 by the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, by applying unsuccessfully to the Supreme Court of Tennes[2]*2see for permission to appeal further. 28 U.S.C. §§ 2254(b), (c).

Annexed to such petition is the applicant’s affidavit that he is unable to pay the fees and costs hereof or give security therefor and his belief that he is entitled to redress. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a). Accordingly, he hereby is

AUTHORIZED to commence and prosecute this proceeding without prepayment of fees or costs or the giving of security therefor. Id.

The applicant’s claim of deprivation of his rights against self-incrimination and to the assistance of counsel relate to a purported confession of the crime charged to law-enforcement officials. It appears from the exhibits annexed to the applicant’s petition that the first aforenamed Court herein-above in State of Tennessee v. Malcolm Gray, III. determined factually after a hearing on the merits that he was not so deprived. That determination is evidenced by the written opinion of March 24,1982 of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee disposing of the applicant’s and his (then) co-defendant’s petition for a rehearing in State of Tennessee, appellee, v. Malcolm Gray, III., and Larry Simpson, appellants, no. 80—184—III (Montgomery County), and is presumed to be correct. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d).5

The applicant is in vigorous disagreement with the determination thus made as well as with the conclusion of law thereon by the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, claiming that the latter tribunal sought thereby “ * * * to make a new rule in regards [sic] to the decision in Miranda v. State of Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966)], as appears from the opinion of the Criminal Court of Appeals [of Tennessee] filed March 24, 1982, on petitions [sic] petition to rehear. >lc * >)

The State-Court concluded on all the evidence and the totality of the circumstances revealed in an adversary hearing between the applicant and the state of Tennessee that the confession of Mr. Gray, III. was voluntary; obviously, if his confession was voluntary, it did not constitute testimony he was compelled in a criminal case to give as a witness against himself, see Constitution, Fifth Amendment, supra. This met the requirements of the federal habeas corpus statute, providing inter alia that the State-Court’s determination made on the merits of the factual issue after a hearing and evidenced by adequate written indicia is to be presumed correct. Cf. LaVallee v. Delle Rose, 410 U.S. 690, 93 S.Ct. 1203, 35 L.Ed.2d 637 (1979).

For such reason, this Court cannot entertain the applicant’s claim of deprivation under the Constitution, Fifth Amendment, and Sixth Amendment (Assistance of Counsel Clause). Neither can his claim under the Constitution, Fourth Amendment, be entertained:

“ * * * A claim of illegal search and seizure under the [Constitution,] Fourth Amendment^] is crucially different from many other constitutional rights; ordinarily the evidence seized can in no way have 'been rendered untrustworthy by the means of its seizure and indeed often this evidence establishes beyond virtually any shadow of a doubt that the defendant is guilty. * * ” Kaufman v. United States, 394 U.S. 217, 237, 89 S.Ct. 1068, 1079, 22 L.Ed.2d 227 (1969) (from the dissent of the late Justice Black). In quoting approvingly from that [3]*3dissent, the Supreme Court observed subsequently inter alia:

The disparity in particular cases between the error committed by the police officer and the windfall afforded a guilty defendant by application of the rule [excluding all evidence of the fruits of an unlawful search] is contrary to the idea of proportionality that is essential to the concept of justice.

Stone v. Powell, 428 U.S. 465, 490, 96 S.Ct. 3037, 3050, 49 L.Ed.2d 1067 (1976).

[I]n the ease of a typical Fourth Amendment claim, asserted on collateral attack [such as the applicant seeks to do here], a convicted defendant is usually asking society to redetermine an issue that has no bearing on the basic justice of his incarceration.

Ib., 428 U.S. at 491, n. 31, 96 S.Ct. at 3051, n. 31. Thus,

where the State has provided an opportunity for full and fair litigation of a Fourth Amendment claim [footnote reference omitted], a state prisoner may not be granted federal habeas corpus relief on the ground that evidence obtained in an unconstitutional search or seizure was introduced at his trial.

Ib., 428 U.S. at 494, 96 S.Ct. at 3052[8],

The applicant contends that “ * * * no hearing was conducted on the admissibility of this shotgun [which was the evidence he claims was obtained in an unconstitutional search and seizure and was introduced at his trial].” Nevertheless, he conceded that, in a related matter, the Supreme Court of Tennessee had ruled “ * * * that petitioner had consented to the search in which the shot-gun had been found. * * * ” Obviously, again, the federal constitutional right of the applicant in this regard was considered and adjudicated by the courts of Tennessee.

It is clear that: “ * * * A search to which an individual consents meets Fourth Amendment requirements, Zap v. United States, 328 U.S. 624, 66 S.Ct. 1277, 90 L.Ed. 477. * * *” Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 358, n. 22, 88 S.Ct. 507, 515, n. 22[22], 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967).

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Bluebook (online)
627 F. Supp. 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gray-v-rose-tnmd-1983.