Lydy v. Beto

270 F. Supp. 301, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8695
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedJune 27, 1967
DocketCiv. A. No. CA 3-1768
StatusPublished

This text of 270 F. Supp. 301 (Lydy v. Beto) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lydy v. Beto, 270 F. Supp. 301, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8695 (N.D. Tex. 1967).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WILLIAM M. TAYLOR, Jr., District Judge.

Petitioner in this habeas corpus proceeding, William E. Lydy, is confined in the Texas Department of Corrections serving sentences under five convictions for robbery.

On March 26, 1962, Lydy was found guilty by a jury in Cause No. D-6978IH in Dallas County and his punishment assessed at five years. Thereafter, on April 17, 1962, a Dallas County jury found him guilty in Cause No. D-6063-IH and set his punishment at 35 years confinement in the penitentiary. The court in the latter case ordered these sentences to run consecutively.

On May 21, 1962, the petitioner entered pleas of guilty in eases numbered D-6977-IH and D-6976-IH, also in Dallas County. The trial court assessed a punishment of 40 years in each case and ran these two sentences concurrent with the sentences imposed in D-6978IH and D-6063-IH.

Lydy was then incarcerated in the Huntsville penitentiary. On December 7, 1962, he was taken from Huntsville to Waco, Texas, in McLennan County, where he entered a plea of guilty in Cause No. 15037. The court sentenced him to 17 years, such sentence to run concurrent with his previous sentences.

Petitioner attacks the validity of his convictions in all five cases on the grounds that (1) he was aggrieved by an unreasonable search and seizure, the fruits of which were introduced into evidence against him in the two cases in which he pleaded not guilty; (2) these illegal fruits were used by the police to extract involuntary confessions from him which were offered in evidence against him; and (3) the three guilty pleas were induced by the illegal evidence and involuntary confessions so as to render such pleas void.

It is well settled that where a habeas corpus petitioner is in custody under more than one judgment and sentence, the validity of any one such judgment and sentence will render the petitioner’s application premature and preclude him from obtaining the relief he seeks. Mc-Nally v. Hill, 293 U.S. 131, 55 S.Ct. 24, 79 L.Ed. 238 (1934); Brown v. Beto, 377 F.2d 950 (5 Cir. 1967); Wilson v. Gray, 345 F.2d 282 (9 Cir. 1965); Crawford v. Taylor, 290 F.2d 197 (10 Cir. 1961).

Because a guilty plea is conclusive as to the defendant’s guilt, admits all the facts charged, and waives all non-jurisdictional defects in the prior proceedings against him, Busby v. Holman, 356 F.2d 75 (5 Cir. 1966), petitioner’s burden in vitiating the convictions in which he plead guilty is necessarily greater than in those cases in which he plead not guilty. For this reason the guilty pleas wil be first considered. If any of these convictions are valid, the application for habeas corpus must be dismissed.

Petitioner does not allege that his guilty pleas should be voided merely because the state had previously obtained a [303]*303confession from him which he claims is involuntary, Brown v. Beto; Busby v. Holman, supra, but rather contends that the involuntary nature of the confession, together with the knowledge on his part that the state would use the confession against him if he plead not guilty as it had in his previous trials, created such duress upon his mind that his guilty pleas were the product of coercion. Smith v. Wainwright, 373 F.2d 506 (5 Cir. 1967); Doran v. Wilson, 369 F.2d 505 (9 Cir. 1966); Gladden v. Holland, 366 F.2d 580 (9 Cir. 1966).

Lydy was arrested on the evening of February 22, 1962, by an officer of the Grand Prairie Police Department. The records in Cases D-6978-IH and D-6063-IH reflect that on that evening Lydy was seen by the officer as he ran a red light. After issuing Lydy a citation, the officer searched his car and found a loaded gun, a mask, and $165.00 in cash concealed in the automobile.

On February 22, February 23, and February 25, Lydy gave confessions to the four Dallas County robberies. At the evidentiary hearing, he testified that on March 13, an officer of the Waco Police Department, Joe Rodriguez, visited him in the Dallas jail. At that time Rodriguez told him that he had a Waco robbery he wanted to get cleared up. Petitioner replied that he knew nothing of a Waco robbery. Rodriguez then told him that he had the goods on him and that his method of operation was the same in both Dallas and Waco. Lydy testified that the officer told him that since the Dallas courts were going to give him time for the offenses in that county, if he would just give him a confession to the Waco robbery he would not be indicted in that city. Rodriguez’ only purpose in this respect was “to get his cases solved.” Lydy confessed.

When petitioner arrived in Waco on December 7 to stand trial for the confessed robbery in that city, the court appointed him an attorney. Lydy told the attorney that he was not to have been indicted for that offense, whereupon the lawyer conferred with the judge on the matter. The judge told petitioner that the law did not permit such deals and that he would have to stand trial. Following this conversation with the judge, Lydy entered a plea of guilty. Neither Rodriguez, the court-appointed attorney, nor the trial judge testified at the evidentiary hearing. Petitioner’s testimony was uncontradicted.

In Gladden v. Holland, 366 F.2d 580 (9 Cir. 1966), the petitioner was arrested at 11:00 P.M. for the offense of rape. He was questioned continuously until 4:00 A.M., at which time he confessed. A few hours later, he was taken before a state circuit judge where he waived presentment of an indictment and his right to counsel. He entered a plea of guilty and consented to an immediate sentencing. Within twelve hours of his arrest he stood convicted and sentenced.

In affirming the district court’s discharge of petitioner the Ninth Circuit said, at 366 F.2d 583:

“A conviction on a plea of guilty based on a confession extorted by mental coercion is invalid under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. * * * The confession given by Holland having been determined to be of this nature, the problem is to determine whether the guilty plea was based thereon. . The problem is analogous to that presented when a second confession, not itself imbedded in coercive circumstances, is claimed to be vitiated by an earlier [coerced] confession * * * It is apparent to us from the totality of circumstances in our case that the conditions which rendered Holland’s confession involuntary had not been substantially removed at the time he entered his plea of guilty.”

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270 F. Supp. 301, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8695, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lydy-v-beto-txnd-1967.