Hale v. State

346 So. 2d 489, 1977 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1355
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama
DecidedMarch 29, 1977
Docket4 Div. 508
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 346 So. 2d 489 (Hale 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
Hale v. State, 346 So. 2d 489, 1977 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1355 (Ala. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

CLARK, Supernumerary Circuit Judge.

This appeal is from the denial of a petition for writ of error coram nobis.

In January, 1976, appellant was confined in Covington County jail on a warrant returnable to The Intermediate Court of Cov-ington County. On February 17, 1976, pursuant to Code of Alabama, Tit. 15, § 260, he made known to the Circuit Court of Coving-ton County, by written petition, that he desired to plead guilty. In accordance with § 261-262, the court ordered the District Attorney to prefer and file an information against defendant for the criminal offense for which he was being held, and appointed counsel to represent defendant. An information was brought and verified by the District Attorney, and on February 24, a hearing in open court, attended by defendant, his counsel and counsel for the State, was conducted on the information and defendant’s plea of guilty, and a colloquy ensued between the court and defendant wherein the requirements of Boykin appear to have been met. Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274. Defendant was found guilty by the court and sentenced to imprisonment for six years.

Defendant duly appealed from his conviction and sentence. Such appeal has been dismissed by this Court pursuant to Code Tit. 15, § 266, which provides, “Such defendant shall not have the right of appeal from the action of the court” in cases governed by Tit. 15, §§ 260-266. Rogers v. State, 44 Ala.App. 331, 208 So.2d 240.

After the dismissal of his appeal from the judgment of conviction and sentence, appellant commenced his coram nobis proceeding that resulted in the adverse action of the trial court that constitutes the basis of this appeal.

Appellant urges that the judgment of the trial court should be reversed for three separate alleged reasons:

1. The information was defective in that it constituted a variance or departure from the affidavit that furnished a basis for the warrant upon which defendant was held;
2. Defendant did not receive effective assistance of counsel prior to entering his guilty plea, and
3. Appellant’s decision to plead guilty was unduly influenced by promises and hints of reprisal by law enforcement officers.

Appellee joins issue with appellant as to his contentions and, in addition, urges that relief should not be granted via coram no-bis, unless petitioner alleges and proves that he had a valid defense to the original charge for which he now stands convicted. Upshaw v. State, 50 Ala.App. 172, 277 So.2d 917, cert. den. 291 Ala. 800, 277 So.2d 919; Clements v. State, 52 Ala.App. 294, 291 So.2d 748; Burden v. State, 52 Ala.App. 348, 292 So.2d 463.

[491]*491The petition does not allege, and the evidence does not show, that defendant had any defense to the charge of obtaining personal property of the value of twenty-five dollars or more under false pretense, in that he “did intentionally, unlawfully and falsely pretend . . . with the intent to defraud, that he had a current and valid Gulf credit card.”

Although the petition is treated by all concerned as one for a writ of error coram nobis, the petition moves in the alternative for “other appropriate post-trial relief.”

The appellant’s contentions as herein-above narrated are substantially the same as those made by him in his petition and on the hearing thereof. The State’s contentions were to the contrary, and its answer consisted only of denials of the allegations contained in the petition. The ruling of the trial court was with reference to the issues joined between the parties on the hearing.

The affidavit that furnished the basis for the warrant for defendant’s arrest charged that defendant “with intent to defraud Gulf Oil Corporation, . . . used for the purpose of obtaining” listed items of personal property “a credit card of another which he knew to have been mislaid, stolen or delivered . . ..”

The language of the information was unquestionably clearer and more definite than that of the affidavit. Title 15, § 261 requires that it “shall accuse the defendant, with the same certainty as an indictment, of the criminal offense for which he is being held.” Although different in language and inartfulness, there was no material variance between the information and the affidavit. Both refer to the same transaction, the same parties and the same property, except that the information did not contain all of the items listed in the affidavit, and it alleges that the items listed in the information were of a total value of, to-wit $75.00.

As to appellant’s second complaint that he was not furnished effective assistance of counsel, the record shows that an able attorney, with forty years experience at the local bar, was appointed to represent defendant on the hearing of his plea of guilt. The petitioner on the hearing of the coram nobis proceeding testified that his attorney did not talk with him over ten minutes. This is not specifically denied by the attorney in his testimony on the hearing of the coram nobis proceeding. Nevertheless, the attorney testified to a comprehensive conversation between him and defendant relative to the charges against defendant, the determination of defendant to plead guilty, the circumstances indicating his guilt, and the probable consequences of a judgment finding defendant guilty. Furthermore, the record shows that before the court accepted defendant’s guilty plea, the following occurred in the presence of defendant’s attorney:

“THE COURT: Have you talked to him [defendant’s attorney] today?
“MR. HALE: Yes, sir.
“THE COURT: Have you had plenty of time to talk to him?
“MR. HALE: Yes, sir.
“THE COURT: Do you want the Court to continue this cause to another day in order that you can talk to him on more than one occasion?
“MR. HALE: No, sir.
“THE COURT: Do you need any more time to talk to him before we proceed any further?
“MR. HALE: No, sir.”

Notwithstanding the short time of the conference between defendant and his counsel, we doubt not that much greater time employed in such conversation would not have been of any benefit to defendant. In this connection, it is to be observed that defendant himself initiated a petition to plead guilty, that he was 54-55 years of age at the time, that he had had two years of college education, but that he was a repeater, having been previously convicted of grand larceny of an automobile and sentenced to two years in prison, convicted of burglary and sentenced to two years and fifteen months, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment for having set off explosive dynamite.

[492]*492Appellant’s third contention that he was unduly influenced by promises and hints of reprisal by law enforcement officers is not sustained by the evidence.

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Bluebook (online)
346 So. 2d 489, 1977 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 1355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hale-v-state-alacrimapp-1977.