Hamby v. State

454 S.W.2d 894, 1970 Mo. LEXIS 949
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 8, 1970
Docket54324
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 454 S.W.2d 894 (Hamby v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hamby v. State, 454 S.W.2d 894, 1970 Mo. LEXIS 949 (Mo. 1970).

Opinions

HOLMAN, Judge.

Movant (hereinafter referred to as defendant) has appealed from an order of the circuit court, made after an evidentiary hearing, overruling his motion to vacate filed pursuant to S.Ct. Rule 27.26, V.A. M.R.

Defendant’s difficulties with the law began in September 1964 when he was ordered confined in the Training School for Boys at Boonville, Missouri. In May 1965 he was paroled. He was arrested on April 16, 1966. After questioning by the officers he admittedly confessed to having committed “six or eight” burglaries. On May 16, 1966, he entered a plea of guilty to the charge here in question (burglary) and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. He was released on parole in May 1967, but two months later was again arrested for another burglary committed while on parole. In November 1967, after several conferences with his court-appointed attorney, defendant entered a plea of guilty to that charge of burglary and was again sentenced to the penitentiary where he is now confined. His three-year sentence had expired prior to the hearing of the instant motion but defendant elected, as he had a right to do, to proceed therewith nevertheless.

Defendant in his pro se motion, alleged that his constitutional rights were violated in that (1) he was a juvenile at the time he was sentenced and that he was tried as an adult rather than under juvenile law, (2) he was not afforded a preliminary hearing, and (3) he was denied the assistance of counsel.

The facts are that defendant was 16 years old at the time of his arrest on April 16, 1966. He was confined in the county jail and, on April 18, a petition relating to defendant’s conduct was filed in the juvenile court. On May 1, 1966, defendant became 17 years of age. The juvenile court, on May 2, 1966, made the following order in defendant’s case: “Minor appears with parents. Evidence adduced. Petition dis[896]*896missed by Court, and minor ordered prosecuted under general law for burglaries and stealing.” Shortly thereafter a complaint was filed in the magistrate court charging the burglary here in question and the record indicates that defendant appeared and waived his preliminary hearing. Thereafter an information was filed in the circuit court and defendant appeared for arraignment on May 16, 1966, before Judge Goodman (now deceased), and the following occurred:

“Q (By Court to defendant): Willie Earl, you are charged here actually with burglary and stealing. You are being arraigned now only on the charge of burglary. The charge is that on or about the 7th day of April, 1966, in this county and state, you wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously, and burglariously broke into and entered the building of Birdie Hearn with the intent to steal goods and merchandise found in that building. Now, that is a felony under the laws of Missouri, punishable by imprisonment by not less than two nor more than ten years. You are entitled to have a trial on this charge if you want it, which would include a trial by jury, where the jury would decide whether you are innocent or guilty and would fix the punishment if they find you guilty. A trial by jury is often very helpful to persons charged with a crime such as burglary. If you want to have a jury trial you would be allowed all the time you need to prepare for it. You are also entitled to the services of an attorney to advise with you and to represent you before you take any action in this case. You are not required to take any action today, that is, you don’t have to do anything today. The services of an attorney are often very helpful to persons charged with a crime such as this. If you have no attorney and are unable to obtain one, the Court will appoint an attorney for you if you want one. Do you understand that, Willie?
“A Yes, sir.
“Q Do you have an attorney?
“A No, sir.
“Q Do you want an attorney?
“A No, sir.
“Q Do you want to have a trial on this charge?
“A No, sir.
“Q Do you know now what you want to do in connection with this charge of burglary ?
“A Plead guilty.
“Q You want to plead guilty at this time, is that right?
“A Yes, sir.”

Thereafter, the prosecuting attorney made a statement relating to the charge and the court, as stated, sentenced defendant to three years’ imprisonment.

At the time it overruled the motion to vacate the trial court made detailed findings. We see no necessity of stating those findings but observe that they were in all important respects contrary to the defendant’s contentions.

Upon this appeal the only point relied on reads as follows: “The trial court erred as a matter of law in failing to sustain the motion to vacate in that the evidence conclusively shows that appellant was taken into custody on April 14, 1966, when he was subject to the provisions of the Juvenile Code and that he was not taken immediately before the juvenile authorities. The evidence conclusively shows that while appellant was so illegally held he was questioned by police authorities and that such questioning ultimately led to his entering a plea of guilty.” In support of that point defendant cites § 211.061,1 State v. Shaw, 93 Ariz. 40, 378 P.2d 487, and State v. Arbeiter, Mo.Sup., 408 S.W.2d 26.

[897]*897It is provided in § 211.061 that when a child under the age of 17 years is taken into custody he shall immediately be taken before the juvenile court or delivered to the juvenile officer. Also, it is provided in §§ 211.141 and 211.151 that a child taken into custody may, pending disposition of his case, be kept in a jail only on order of the juvenile court. The record in this case does not affirmatively show that the aforementioned sections of the Juvenile Code were complied with. Therefore, under the Shaw and Arbeiter cases, supra, a confession obtained while defendant was in custody (prior to May 2, 1966) would not have been admissible in the event of a trial.

Defendant testified that he had completed the ninth grade in school; that while sitting in a car with patrolman Link, after his arrest, Link threatened him by saying “he had ways of persuading people to change their minds” (the trial court expressly found that that testimony was not true); that although he was not guilty the threat frightened him and caused him to decide to confess; that his parents came to see him in a day or so after his arrest, and he thought they were present when he later entered his plea of guilty.

As indicated, defendant, on this appeal, says that the judgment should have been vacated by the trial court because he had been illegally held in custody and while so held was questioned by the officers, and that such led to his entering a plea of guilty. We think it should be implied from that assignment that he is contending that his plea was not understandingly and voluntarily entered.

The fact that defendant made an oral confession which would not have been admissible in the event of a trial would not, in and of itself, invalidate his subsequent plea of guilty.

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Related

Shaw v. State
766 S.W.2d 676 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1989)
State v. Simon
680 S.W.2d 346 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1984)
State v. Kemper
535 S.W.2d 241 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1975)
Coney v. State
491 S.W.2d 501 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1973)
Burse v. State
491 S.W.2d 570 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1973)
State v. Edwards
486 S.W.2d 224 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1972)
Tucker v. State
481 S.W.2d 10 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1972)
Geren v. State
473 S.W.2d 704 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1971)
Redus v. State
470 S.W.2d 539 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1971)
McClure v. State
470 S.W.2d 548 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1971)
Hamby v. State
454 S.W.2d 894 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
454 S.W.2d 894, 1970 Mo. LEXIS 949, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hamby-v-state-mo-1970.