Hilburn v. State

226 S.W.3d 859, 2007 Mo. App. LEXIS 852, 2007 WL 1672757
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 12, 2007
DocketNo. WD 67137
StatusPublished

This text of 226 S.W.3d 859 (Hilburn v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hilburn v. State, 226 S.W.3d 859, 2007 Mo. App. LEXIS 852, 2007 WL 1672757 (Mo. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

ROBERT G. ULRICH, Judge.

Richard Hilburn appeals the denial of his Rule 24.035 motion by the Lafayette County Circuit Court. Mr. Hilburn was convicted of first-degree statutory sodomy following his guilty plea and was sentenced to seven years confinement. In his sole point on appeal, Mr. Hilburn claims the motion court’s judgment was error because the constitutional convention delegates charged with writing a new Missouri Constitution in 1945 violated their duty to accede to the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution when they adopted article 1, section 17, of the prospective 1945 Missouri Constitution allowing felony prosecution by information in lieu of indictment. The point is denied, and the judgment of the motion court is affirmed.

Facts

On May 16, 2005, the prosecuting attorney of Lafayette County, Missouri, initiated prosecution against Richard Hilburn for first-degree statutory sodomy, a felony, by an information and not by indictment. Mr. Hilburn subsequently entered his guilty plea in the Lafayette County Circuit Court. He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

On September 22, 2005, Mr. Hilburn filed a Rule 24.035 post-conviction relief motion. The sole claim of error was as follows:

The duly elected and qualified ‘Constitutional Convention’ delegates for the people of Missouri failed to act consistent with their legal duty to demean themselves faithfully to their oath of affirmation to support the United States Constitution, by adopting Article I, Section 17, of the 1945 Missouri Constitution, proposing to authorize movant to be prosecuted for felony by an Information without an Indictment.
As a result, movant has been denied his immunity from prosecution for a cap-itel or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, as guaranteed by (a) Article VI, Clause 3, of the United States Constitution, and/or (b) Article XV, Section [861]*8613, of the 1875 Missouri Constitution (as amended November 2nd, 1920), in conjunction with (a) Article VI, Clause 2, of the United States Constitution, (b) Article V of the United States Constitution, and (c) the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Mr. Hilburn asserted the following pertinent facts in support of his motion:

1) In 1942, the people of Missouri voted to call a ‘Constitutional Convention’ to write a new Missouri Constitution.
2) In 1943, the ‘Constitutional Convention’ delegates were assembled and duly sworn upon an oath or affirmation to support the United States Constitution, and to discharge faithfully their duties as delegates to the convention.
3) In 1944, the duly elected and qualified ‘Constitutional Convention’ delegates for the people of Missouri, adopted a provision proposing to authorize persons be prosecuted for felony by Indictment or Information, as concurrent remedies, in Article I, Section 17, of the prospective 1945 Missouri Constitution.
4) In February 1945, a majority of people in Missouri voted to approve the ‘Constitutional Convention’ delegates’ proposal to authorize persons be prosecuted for felony by Indictment or Information, as concurrent remedies, in Article I, Section 17, of the 1945 Missouri Constitution.
9) Article VI, Clause 3, of the Constitution of the United States, declares, “The members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, of the several states, shall be bound, by oath or affirmation, to support the Constitution of the United States of America.”
10) Article XV, Section 3, of the 1875 Missouri Constitution (as amended November 2nd, 1920), declares, “Upon convening all ‘Constitutional Convention’ delegates shall take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States, and to discharge faithfully their duties as delegates to the convention.”
12) Article VI, Clause 2, of the Constitution of the United States, declares, “The United States Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance of the United States Constitution, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound by the United States Constitution, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.”
14) The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, declares, “No person shall be held to answer for a capítol or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury.”

On January 18, 2006, the motion court entered judgment denying Mr. Hilburn’s Rule 24.035 motion. Relevant to this appeal, the court made the following conclusions of law:

3) The sole issue facing this court is whether the failure of the State to proceed by Indictment deprived this Court of jurisdiction. There are two components to Movant’s claim. First, Movant expressly claims that the United States and Missouri Constitutions give him immunity from prosecution except upon Indictment. Second, Movant implicitly claims that such immunity is not waivea-ble. Movant must succeed on both claims to prevail.
5)As to the first issue, Movant claims, in part, that the Missouri Constitution should be read as requiring an Indictment. Movant’s theory is based in part on the 1875 Constitution. The 1945 Constitution clearly authorizes proceed[862]*862ing by information. Mo. Const, art I, Section 17. Movant attempts to claim that this decision in the enactment of the 1945 Constitution was invalid based on the Supremacy Clause and related provisions of the United States Constitution. While the Supremacy Clause may require Missouri to comply with the United States Constitution in day-to-day procedures, it does not require the People of Missouri to adopt similar clauses in its Constitution. As such, this Court holds that the Missouri Constitution does not require an indictment.
6) There remains the issue of whether an indictment is required by the United States Constitution. While Movant cites to the Fifth Amendment, the original Bill of Rights did not apply to the states and were a limit on federal action only. After the enactment of the Fourteenth Amendment, the issue arose as to the effect of that Amendment on the applicability of the Bill of Rights to the States. In Hurtado v. California, 110 U.S. 516, 4 S.Ct. Ill, 28 L.Ed. 232 (1884), the United States Supreme Court held that a State could authorize proceeding by information instead of indictment. Since that time, the United States Supreme Court has not re-examined its holding nor has it given any indication that it is interested in reviewing this issue again. As such, this Court is bound by Hurtado. Even though Hurtado was decided well prior to any of the cases on selective incorporation of the Bill of Rights, it is still the last decision by the United States Supreme Court on this issue. As such, this Court, as a State Court, is without jurisdiction to overrule a decision of the United States Supreme Court. Therefore, this Court is required to hold that the United States Constitution does not establish a right to an Indictment in a state criminal proceeding.

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Related

Hurtado v. California
110 U.S. 516 (Supreme Court, 1884)
State v. Debler
856 S.W.2d 641 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1993)
Wilson v. State
813 S.W.2d 833 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1991)
State v. Taylor
929 S.W.2d 209 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1996)
State v. Cooper
344 S.W.2d 72 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1961)
State v. Newlon
216 S.W.3d 180 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2007)
State v. Tokar
918 S.W.2d 753 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
226 S.W.3d 859, 2007 Mo. App. LEXIS 852, 2007 WL 1672757, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hilburn-v-state-moctapp-2007.