Kitchens v. Mississippi

290 F. Supp. 856, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9372
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedOctober 3, 1968
DocketCiv. A. No. 1468
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 290 F. Supp. 856 (Kitchens v. Mississippi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kitchens v. Mississippi, 290 F. Supp. 856, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9372 (S.D. Miss. 1968).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

NIXON, District Judge.

Petitioner, Jimmy Kitchens, incarcerated at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus with the United States District Court in the Northern District of Mississippi, alleging that his detention was in violation of due process under the United States Constitution. This petition was transferred to the Southern District pursuant to 28 U.S.C. sec. 2241 (d). The writ issued and petitioner received a hearing on September 19, 1968, [857]*857appearing before the District Court in Biloxi without the assistance of counsel.

At the time of issuance of the writ of habeas corpus, petitioner was serving a seven-year sentence imposed by the Circuit Court of Jasper County, Mississippi, for burglary. The conviction was affirmed by the Mississippi Supreme Court. State v. Kitchens, 135 So.2d 180 (1961).

A key witness against the petitioner at the Jasper County trial was Benny C. Cochran, who was implicated along with Kitchens, Johnny Pearson, and Troy Jenkins in the burglary of the Jasper Co-operative in Stringer, Mississippi. Cochran entered a plea of guilty to the charges against him and subsequently received a suspended sentence of one year for his part in the crime. At Kitchens’ trial Cochran testified in detail as to the events of the night of January 28, 1961, and of the early morning hours of January 29, the alleged time of the burglary. His testimony clearly implicated Kitchens, Pearson and Jenkins as co-eonspirators in the crime. There was some discrepancy, however, in statements by Cochran prior to the trial as to Jenkins’ involvement. Cochran initially indicated that Roy Strickland was the fourth participant in the burglary along with Kitchens, Pearson and Cochran. But Cochran retracted this statement and named Jenkins as the fourth co-conspirator instead of Strickland, his confusion arising from the similarity in the first names of Strickland and Jenkins, that is, “Roy” Strickland and “Troy” Jenkins.

Although Cochran testified that he had been drinking heavily and had passed out twice during the time period before and after the burglary took place, he testified in detail as to events surrounding the burglary, and this testimony was corroborated by other witnesses.

The petitioner here relies upon an affidavit made on October 25, 1965, by Benny C. Cochran which states that Kitchens was not involved in the burglary. Petitioner would show that a deputy sheriff promised Cochran a light sentence if he would implicate Kitchens and that Cochran did so. The affidavit names Roy Strickland as the fourth participant in the burglary in place of Kitchens. Petitioner argues that the Cochran affidavit shows that he was convicted on the basis of false testimony secured by promises of leniency to Benny Cochran and that his conviction was thus obtained in violation of the principles of due process as guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

Prior to resort to federal habeas corpus, the petitioner filed three habeas corpus writs in the Circuit Court of Jasper County, Mississippi, which were ignored, and a “motion for leave to file motion for new trial and other relief” in the Mississippi Supreme Court, which was denied. The State, however, alleges that Kitchens has not exhausted his state remedies as required by 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254 because he has not filed a petition for Writ of Error Coram Nobis in the Mississippi Supreme Court. The Court finds this contention without merit, but holds that the petitioner is not entitled to relief in this proceeding.

I.

The petitioner appeared before this Court without counsel. Although he did not request counsel nor object to proceeding without counsel, the Court deemed the question of representation by counsel of sufficient import to raise the issue sua sponte.

The United States Supreme Court has not interpreted the Sixth Amendment right to counsel to require representation at postconviction proceedings such as habeas corpus. It has often been suggested that the right to counsel does not obtain in the habeas proceeding because habeas corpus is not criminal but primarily civil in nature. See Juelich v. United States, 342 F.2d 29 (5th Cir. 1965); Barker v. State of Ohio, 330 F.2d 594 (6th Cir. 1964). The Sixth Amendment guarantees counsel only in “criminal prosecutions.” However, it has also been recognized that [858]*858the mere categorization of habeas corpus as a civil or criminal proceeding should not necessarily be determinative of the right to the constitutional guarantees accorded the criminal defendant. See Smith v. Bennett, 365 U.S. 708, 81 S.Ct. 895, 6 L.Ed.2d 39 (1961). Nonetheless, when the issues raised by habeas corpus are well developed in the state court record, or the factual issues simple, there is no need to appoint counsel to aid in the prosecution of a habeas corpus petition. United States ex rel. Wissenfeld v. Wilkens, 281 F.2d 707 (2d Cir. 1960). Such is the case here. The testimony in controversy was fully developed in the state court and is preserved in the record of the trial. The affidavit by Benny C. Cochran recanting his testimony is before the Court. The Court is faced with a clear-cut question, one which does not depend upon development by an attorney for adequate presentation. Indeed, the State’s attorney did not deem it necessary to argue on the merits of petitioner’s writ.

This Court determined therefore that the appointment of counsel would not have materially aided petitioner’s cause, and did not appoint counsel. Had the petitioner requested counsel, and/or the issues been complicated, the Court may have reached a different conclusion on this point. Petitioner, himself, stated in open Court that he did not feel that he needed counsel to assist him in presenting his case or developing any point in support thereof.

II.

The petitioner is required by 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254 to exhaust all remedies available in state court before seeking habeas corpus relief in the federal court. This rule is grounded on the principle of comity and embraces only those “state remedies still open to applicant at the time he files his application for habeas corpus.” Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391, 399, 83 S.Ct. 822, 827, 9 L.Ed.2d 837 (1963).

The postconviction remedies generally available to a criminal defendant in Mississippi do not include habeas corpus, which lies only where the convicting court was without jurisdiction. “A petitioner is not entitled to be released on a writ of habeas corpus, so long as the trial court has jurisdiction under a valid law and renders a valid judgment.” Ledbetter v. Bishop, Miss., 210 So.2d 880, 882 (1968). However, Mississippi procedure does include two mechanisms by which a criminal defendant may secure postconviction review of his sentence: writ of error coram nobis, see Rogers v. Jones, 240 Miss. 610, 128 So.2d 547 (1961), and by motion before the Supreme Court asking leave to file a motion for new trial in the convicting court, see Lang v. State, 230 Miss. 147, 92 So.2d 670 (1957).

The latter remedy was thoroughly considered in the Lang case in an excellent opinion by Judge Gillespie.

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Related

Summerville v. Cook
311 F. Supp. 931 (N.D. Mississippi, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
290 F. Supp. 856, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9372, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kitchens-v-mississippi-mssd-1968.