Haynes v. Ciccone

248 F. Supp. 898, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6052
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedDecember 6, 1965
DocketCiv. A. No. 15633-3
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 248 F. Supp. 898 (Haynes v. Ciccone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haynes v. Ciccone, 248 F. Supp. 898, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6052 (W.D. Mo. 1965).

Opinion

BECKER, Chief Judge.

This is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by a convict confined at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners at Springfield, Missouri.

The petitioner mistakenly designated the United States of America respondent in this cause. On the initiative of the Court, under Rule 21, F.R.Civ.P., the United States of America was dropped [900]*900as a party, and Dr. J. D. Harris, Warden, was added as a party respondent in this cause. Dr. J. D. Harris has been succeeded by Dr. Pasquale J. Ciccone, with the title “Director of the United States Medical Center”. On the initiative of the Court, under Rule 25, F.R. Civ.P., Dr. Pasquale J. Ciccone is hereby substituted for Dr. J. D. Harris as party respondent in this cause.

Petitioner states that he pleaded guilty to a charge of “Forgery and Interstate Transportation of Forged Securities, (one $20 American Express Traveler’s check)” and was sentenced by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, on December 13,1963, “to serve 6 years under the Federal Youth Corrections Act section 5010(B), Title 18, United States Code”. Petitioner further states that no appeal was taken from this judgment and sentence.

Thereafter, petitioner filed a motion to vacate, set aside or correct the judgment and sentence under Section 2255 of Title 28, U.S.C.A.

Petitioner has filed a certified copy of the record of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which shows that on December 11, 1964, the petitioner was granted an evi-dentiary hearing by the committing court. In the supplement to the questionnaire form of petition for habeas corpus filed in this case, petitioner states that he had “refused another of the Court’s hand-picked attorneys to conduct the hearing for him”. After the evi-dentiary hearing, petitioner’s motion to vacate under Section 2255 was denied by the committing court.

A copy of the record in the committing court submitted by petitioner shows that on December 29, 1964, petitioner was denied leave to appeal in forma pauperis from the denial of his motion under Section 2255 and that his application for provision of a free transcript of the record of the hearing was denied by the committing court. A certified copy of the record of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit submitted by petitioner shows that on March 25, 1965, a motion filed by counsel for the petitioner for leave to appeal in forma pauperis was considered by the Court of Appeals and denied.

Petitioner states in his petition for habeas corpus that he attempted to file a petition for writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court of the United States, but the Clerk refused to file the petition because it did not substantially comply with the Supreme Court Rule which governs proceedings in forma pauperis in the Supreme Court.

Briefly summarized, the grounds petitioner states in the case at bar for the granting of the writ are the following:

(1) Coercion was used to obtain a confession from petitioner, which confession was considered by the Judge in imposing sentence.
(2) Petitioner’s bail was excessive and the inability to make bail caused him to come to court physically and mentally unable to protect his rights and assist in his defense.
(3) Petitioner was denied the effective assistance of counsel.
(4) Petitioner was denied a fair and speedy trial.
(5) The Judge who sentenced petitioner was prejudiced against him.
(6) Petitioner’s guilty plea was entered without petitioner’s being informed of the maximum possible sentence.
(7) The Federal Youth Corrections Act is “discriminatory, illegal, and unconstitutional”.

Petitioner states that each of the above grounds was presented to the committing court in his motion under Section 2255 of Title 28, U.S.C.A.

Section 2255 of Title 28, U.S.C.A., in part, reads as follows:

“An application for a writ of habe-as corpus in behalf of a prisoner who is authorized to apply for relief by motion pursuant to this section, shall not be entertained if it appears that the applicant has failed to apply for [901]*901relief, by motion, to the court which sentenced him, or that such court has denied him relief, unless it also appears that the remedy by motion is inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention.”

Petitioner states that his motion under Section 2255 was inadequate and ineffective to test the legality of his detention for the following reasons:

(1) The trial Judge was prejudiced against petitioner and harassed him throughout the hearing with constant references to his having refused a court appointed lawyer to assist him at the hearing, with requests that petitioner “hurry his case”, and with statements that if petitioner “ ‘did not watch himself’ he would find himself defending against another charge”.
' (2) The harassment by the trial Judge rendered petitioner unable to effectively present his case.
(3) Petitioner was denied leave to appeal in forma pauperis from the denial of his Section 2255 motion by the sentencing court and the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
(4) An appeal was taken but dropped because petitioner could not pay for printed briefs.
(5) Petitioner attempted to file a petition for a writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court, but it was not accepted for filing by the Clerk of the Supreme Court because “he says it isno (sic) good and doesnt (sic) meet the requirements of Rule 53”.
(6) The petition for a writ of cer-tiorari was the best of which petitioner, a layman, was capable.

Petitioner’s claim that- a motion under Section 2255 was inadequate and ineffective to test the legality of his detention is a legal conclusion of the petitioner, which is contrary to the controlling law. It has been established by a recent controlling decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that the denial of a prior application for relief under Section 2255 is of controlling weight only if (1) the same ground presented in the subsequent application was determined adversely to the applicant on the prior application, and (2) the prior determination was on the merits, and (3) the ends of justice would not be served by reaching the merits of the subsequent application. Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. 1, 83 S.Ct. 1068, 10 L.Ed.2d 148. In the same case it was held that conventional notions of finality of litigation have no place where liberty is at stake and any infringement of constitutional rights is alleged. Sanders v. United States, supra, l.c., 373 U.S. 8, 83 S.Ct. 1073, 10 L.Ed.2d 157.

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Related

State ex rel. Sullivan v. Kaufman
708 P.2d 322 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1985)
Downs v. Ciccone
307 F. Supp. 1309 (W.D. Missouri, 1969)
Cagle v. Ciccone
299 F. Supp. 550 (W.D. Missouri, 1969)
McDowell v. Ciccone
275 F. Supp. 957 (W.D. Missouri, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
248 F. Supp. 898, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6052, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haynes-v-ciccone-mowd-1965.