In re LaFountaine

468 P.2d 871, 155 Mont. 250, 1970 Mont. LEXIS 363
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 6, 1970
DocketNo. 11873
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 468 P.2d 871 (In re LaFountaine) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re LaFountaine, 468 P.2d 871, 155 Mont. 250, 1970 Mont. LEXIS 363 (Mo. 1970).

Opinion

MEMO OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Petitioner is an inmate of the Montana State Prison confined there under a 15 year sentence for first degree burglary. He appears herein pro se by handwritten petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking release from custody based on alleged violation of his constitutional rights resulting in his guilty plea and subsequent sentence.

[251]*251It appears that petitioner was arrested on or about November 10,1967 by the deputy sheriff in Ronan on charges of using an automobile without the owner’s consent. Petitioner had been drinking. He was brought to the Lake county jail in Poison and searched. The search unearthed $78.80 in currency and change stuffed in his socks. He was not advised of his constitutional rights at that time nor questioned.

The following morning petitioner became a strong suspect in a burglary of the canteen at the Kicking Horse Job Corps camp. The Lake county sheriff took petitioner out of his cell to interrogate him about this burglary and secured petitioner’s oral “confession” prior to advising petitioner of his constitutional rights. Thereafter petitioner was advised of his constitutional rights and charged with burglary.

Petitioner was taken before the justice of the peace, waived his right to counsel and to a preliminary hearing, and was bound over to district court. Bail was fixed in the sum of $1500 which petitioner did not post.

On November 15, 1967 an Information was filed in the district court of Lake county charging petitioner with the crime of burglary in the first degree involving the canteen located at the Kicking Horse Job Corps camp. Petitioner appeared without counsel, waived counsel, entered a guilty plea, waived additional time for sentencing, and was thereupon sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in the state prison, the maximum prison sentence on that charge. Petitioner was not charged with any prior conviction of a felony, but an FBI “rap sheet” showing 5 prior convictions was shown to the court and petitioner was subjected to questioning under oath concerning them, all prior to sentencing.

On February 14, 1968 petitioner applied to the Sentence Review Division of this Court for review of his sentence. On March 27, 1968 the Sentence Review Division denied his relief, stating as a reason therefor “that the long prior record of this [252]*252prisoner of repeated offenses is such that in the opinion, of the board no deduction of sentence would be justified.”

Thereafter on June 26, 1969, petitioner filed a handwritten petition for writ of habeas corpus with the district court of Lake county. This petition is substantially similar, although not identical, to the petition now before us in the instant case. The district court appointed the public defender to represent petitioner, issued the writ and set an evidentiary hearing on the petition, and the matter was heard in said court before the Hon. Jack L. Green, district judge, sitting without a jury. Following the hearing, Judge Green entered judgment ‘ that the Petition is without merit” and ordered petitioner returned to the state prison.

Transcripts of the proceedings on arraignment, plea, and sentencing of petitioner in the district court on November 15, 1967 and of the hearing on the petition for habeas corpus on July 16, 1969 were prepared and filed for petitioner’s use in his instant application to this Court. The complete district court files in both proceedings are also before us.

Petitioner’s instant application for a writ of habeas corpus alleges that his constitutional rights were violated in the following particulars: (1) He was arrested on a charge of using an automobile without the consent of the owner, taken to jail, searched, subjected to a'one-man identification lineup, and only later charged and held for burglary in question, all without counsel or advice concerning his constitutional rights. (2) Information concerning the burglary in question was secured from him while he was intoxicated, in custody, without counsel, -and in ignorance of - his constitutional rights, -which information - was. later used by the prosecution to coerce a guilty plea from him. (3) He was coerced and importuned by the authorities- into-pleading guilty to the. burglary in question without benefit of counsel by these threats and promises (e) to charge him with, prior felony convictions (b) to use the illegally obtained information and identification (c) if he plead guilty and waived [253]*253coiiiisel; he would receive the minimum sentence for burglary,' he would not have to take the witness stand, and his prior convictions would not be brought to the attention of the court. (4)- His prior convictions were “inferm” in that in 4 out of 5 of them he was not represented by counsel while the 5th involved procedural-1 irregularities; thus in fact he stood before the Court in the instant case without any prior convictions but was not aware of this , at that time.

Petitioner’s application prays for the issuance of a writ of habeas :corpus, a full evidentiary hearing thereon, and subsequent release from his alleged illegal confinement in the state prison. ■

At the outset we note that petitioner acknowledges that his instant application contains the same allegations as were heretofore presented to the district court by his petition of June 1969. The instant petition for writ of habeas corpus alleges, among other thangs:

“Petitioner did then file back into the trial court, the Fourth Judicial District, in the County of Lake, on or about 24, June, 1969 for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, alleging the same allegations herein contained, State cause No. 7486.” (Emphasis added)

Petitioner was given a full evidentiary hearing by the district court on his petition at that time. Thus we must look to the transcript of the evidence adduced at that hearing, including the transcript of proceedings upon árraignment, plea, and sentencing introduced in evidence therein, to determine the merits of petitioner’s instant application.

The main thrust of petitioner’s testimony at that hearing is illustrated by the following testimony of petitioner upon cross-examination by the county attorney:

“Q.- Do you remember entering a plea of guilty to the charge. A. Yes. Well, the point of the whole thing and what I am getting- at in my Petition, is that if I pled guilty, I was promised I would get a break, and that is why I did it. I would [254]*254have been awful stupid to plead guilty if I didn’t.have that impression in my mind.”

and again:

“Q. Mr. LaFountaine, to review your Complaint then, the main basis of your Complaint is that some statements were made that caused you to believe that you would get a break?
A. Yes.
‘‘ Q. And you’re not, at this time, as I understand it, attempting to say that anyone defined what that break would be ? A. No, but then in Court like this, everybody knows what that means.
“A. What does it mean? A. Well, a break, you plead guilty (or copping out as they say) normally; a break everybody knows you get a lesser sentence than what it calls for. ’ ’

and once again in redirect examination by the public defender:

“Q.

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Related

State Ex Rel. Union Bank & Trust Co. v. District Court
91 P.2d 403 (Montana Supreme Court, 1939)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
468 P.2d 871, 155 Mont. 250, 1970 Mont. LEXIS 363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-lafountaine-mont-1970.