Jerome Erving, Jr. v. Maurice H. Sigler, Warden of the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex

453 F.2d 843, 1972 U.S. App. LEXIS 11832
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 14, 1972
Docket71-1242
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 453 F.2d 843 (Jerome Erving, Jr. v. Maurice H. Sigler, Warden of the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jerome Erving, Jr. v. Maurice H. Sigler, Warden of the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex, 453 F.2d 843, 1972 U.S. App. LEXIS 11832 (8th Cir. 1972).

Opinions

ROSS, Circuit Judge.

This is an action by Jerome Erving, Jr., a prisoner in the Nebraska State Penitentiary, for a writ of habeas corpus. After an evidentiary hearing in the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, Judge Urbom refused to grant the writ, Erving v. Sig-ler, 327 F.Supp. 778 (D.Neb.1971), and entered an order dismissing the petition. We affirm that order of dismissal.

In May 1965, Erving and one other codefendant, Donald Davis, Jr., were [844]*844convicted in a jury trial of murder in the perpetration of a robbery in Omaha, Nebraska. Another codefendant, Deborah Boston, was acquitted in the same trial. A fourth party, Nathaniel Hall, pleaded guilty to the same crime. The convictions of Davis and Erving were affirmed on appeal to the Supreme Court of Nebraska, State v. Erving, 180 Neb. 824, 146 N.W.2d 216 (1966), cert, denied, 386 U.S. 998, 87 S.Ct. 1320, 18 L.Ed.2d 348 (1967), and State v. Davis, 180 Neb. 830, 146 N.W.2d 220 (1966) cert, denied, 386 U.S. 998, 87 S.Ct. 1320, 18 L.Ed.2d 348 (1967).

Davis was later successful in securing a writ of habeas corpus in a case decided by this Court in 1969. Davis v. Sig-ler, 415 F.2d 1159 (8th Cir. 1969). In that case we held that the admission of the extrajudicial confessions of Erving and Boston were incriminating and prejudicial to Davis and therefore not admissible against Davis under Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968).

In this case, Erving makes five separate contentions as follows:

I. The procedure followed by the trial court, and approved by the Nebraska Supreme Court, in ruling petitioner’s confession admissible and voluntary does not satisfy the requirements of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
II. Appellant’s right to counsel under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments was violated, and the [state] district court committed reversible error in permitting appellant’s admissions to be received into evidence over his numerous objections.
III. The totality of the circumstances of appellant’s detention, interrogation, and confession violated appellant’s rights to due process and against self-incrimination under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
IV. The refusal of the trial court, on proper and timely motion of appellant, to sever his trial from those of his co-defendants or to require witnesses to delete hearsay references to appellant from testimony as to the oral and written admissions of co-defendants prejudicial to appellant and in violation of his rights to fair trial and to be confronted with the witnesses against him under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, notwithstanding cautionary instructions to the jury by the trial court.
V. In the consolidated trial of the three co-defendants, the admission and presentation before the jury of the prejudicial oral and written confessions of co-defendants Boston and Davis did not constitute harmless error beyond a reasonable doubt as against appellant.

Erving’s first contention is one which involves several facets, all but one of which have been adequately dealt with by the.memorandum opinion of the trial court. The question of whether the state trial court complied with the requirements of Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908 (1964), in determining Erving’s confession admissible requires further discussion.

The trial of this case was in May of 1965, almost a year after the opinion of the Supreme Court was rendered in Jackson v. Denno, supra. In March of 1965, the Supreme Court of Nebraska decided State v. Longmore, 178 Neb. 509, 134 N.W.2d 66, 72-73 (1965), in which the applicable law was stated to be as follows: [845]*845tion to taking it in the presence of the jury, whether or not it has been sufficiently shown that the confession was voluntarily made. The question to be determined by the court is that of whether or not the affirmative evidence shows that the confession was voluntarily made and that this evidence excludes any other hypothesis. It is sufficient to establish affirmatively all that occurred immediately prior to and at the time of making the confession, provided such affirmative proof shows it to have been freely and voluntarily made and excludes the hypothesis of improper inducements or threats. Holthus v. State, 138 Neb. 200, 292 N.W. 603; Gallegos v. State, 152 Neb. 831, 43 N.W.2d 1, affirmed, 342 U.S. 55, 72 S.Ct. 141, 96 L.Ed. 86. Before the confession is received in evidence, the defendant may introduce evidence to show that the confession is involuntary and for this purpose may show all of the circumstances under which the confession was made. Counsel for the defendant, before the confession is admitted, has a right to cross-examine the witnesses who propose to testify to it as to the circumstances surrounding the making of it, and may also call at the same time independent witnesses and examine them, going thoroughly into the whole matter as to how the confession came to be made, the parties present, and the physical condition and state of mind of the prisoner at the time it was made; and then the court, with all these facts before it, is to pass upon its admission. Stagemeyer v. State, 133 Neb. 9, 273 N.W. 824; Tramp v. State, 104 Neb. 222, 176 N.W. 543.

[844]*844“ ‘In a criminal trial a confession of guilt alleged to have been made by the defendant is not competent in evidence, unless first shown to have been voluntarily made.’ Parker v. State, 164 Neb. 614, 83 N.W.2d 347, cases there cited. The court must first determine on evidence taken out of the presence of the jury, if there is objec-
[845]*845“Under Nebraska procedure, the admission of the confession in evidence constitutes the court’s independent determination that the confession is voluntary. See Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908.”

At the trial, the state court excused the jury upon the first mention of a possible confession and conducted an extensive hearing outside the jury’s presence on the circumstances surrounding the confession. At this hearing, the court heard testimony of the officer who interrogated Erving and secured the confession, as well as the testimony of Erv-ing and of Erving’s mother. Most of this testimony related directly to many of the same grounds alleged by Erving in the habeas corpus action. At the conclusion of the testimony of Erving, his trial counsel made the following motion:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Corbin v. State
627 P.2d 862 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1981)
United States v. Efrain Medina A/K/A Frank Medina
552 F.2d 181 (Seventh Circuit, 1977)
Gregg v. Wyrick
391 F. Supp. 1217 (W.D. Missouri, 1974)
Arthur Lee Taylor v. Harold R. Swenson, Warden
458 F.2d 593 (Eighth Circuit, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
453 F.2d 843, 1972 U.S. App. LEXIS 11832, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jerome-erving-jr-v-maurice-h-sigler-warden-of-the-nebraska-penal-and-ca8-1972.