Montez v. Eyman

275 F. Supp. 554, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8631
CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedNovember 16, 1967
DocketNo. Civ. 5889
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 275 F. Supp. 554 (Montez v. Eyman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Montez v. Eyman, 275 F. Supp. 554, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8631 (D. Ariz. 1967).

Opinion

OPINION UPON MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION OF PETITIONER’S APPLICATION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

CRAIG, District Judge.

Petitioner is in state custody, serving a prison sentence imposed August 31,1959, by the Superior Court of the State of Arizona, upon conviction by a jury on four counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery. No appeal from the judgment of conviction was taken.

On February 24, 1966, petitioner was permitted to file in forma pauperis an application for writ of habeas corpus in this Court.

On March 21, 1966, this Court entered its order denying petitioner’s application, and granted petitioner leave to appeal.

Petitioner appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The latter Court reversed and remanded for further proceedings. Montez v. Eyman, 372 F.2d 100. In remanding the case, the Court of Appeals stated:

“ * * * The cause is remanded to the District Court with instructions to hold the proceedings in abeyance for such reasonable period of time as the District Court may determine in order to afford appellant an opportunity to move the Supreme Court of Arizona for a delayed appeal, and if such motion be filed, for such additional period of time as may be required to afford the Supreme Court of Arizona an opportunity to act upon such motion and, if granted, to determine the merits of appellant’s delayed appeal. If appellant fails to file such motion, or if such motion be filed and denied, or if granted and the decision of the Supreme Court of Arizona on the delayed appeal is unfavorable to the appellant, then on the happening of any of said events the District Court shall reconsider the appellant’s petition in light of the. views expressed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963), and Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391, 83 S.Ct. 822, 9 L.Ed.2d 837 (1963). If the decision of the Supreme Court of Arizona grants to appellant a new trial, the proceedings before the District Court should be dismissed as moot.”

This Court, upon receipt of the certified copy of judgment from the Court of Appeals, remanded the case to the jurisdiction of the State of Arizona for further proceedings, consistent with the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

On February 28, 1967, the Supreme Court of Arizona directed the Attorney General of the State of Arizona to move the Court for further consideration of the cause in light of the decision of the Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit dated [556]*556February 7,1967. On March 6, 1967, the Attorney General filed his motion for further consideration with the Supreme Court of Arizona.

Tom Karas, Esquire, the court appointed counsel who prosecuted the appeal to the Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit, was appointed to represent petitioner before the Supreme Court of Arizona. Mr. Karas joined the Attorney General in moving the Supreme Court of Arizona for further consideration.

On May 2, 1967, in response to the motion of the Attorney General, and Mr. Karas on behalf of petitioner, the Supreme Court of Arizona ordered, the entire record, including the reporter’s transcript of evidence be forwarded to the Supreme Court of Arizona within fifteen days from the date of said order.

After a review of the entire record, the Supreme Court of Arizona, on October 5, 1967, in a unanimous opinion upon petitioner’s application for writ of habeas corpus, treated by the Supreme Court as an application for delayed appeal, again denied the petitioner’s application. State of Arizona v. Montez, No. 1662, October 5, 1967, 102 Ariz. 444, 432 P.2d 456.

Thereafter on October 23, 1967, petitioner filed his motion for reconsideration of the application for writ of habeas corpus. The matter was argued and submitted to the Court.

This Court has reviewed the record in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona for the County of Maricopa, including the reporter’s transcript at the trial of petitioner, as well as the transcript of the proceedings upon the first hearing of petitioner’s application on March 15, 1966.

From the record in this case it appears that petitioner was, on August 12-20, 1959, tried before a jury on information filed by the County Attorney of Maricopa County, Arizona, which information consisted of five counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery. At the conclusion of the trial the jury returned a verdict of guilty on four robbery counts and the attempted robbery count, and a verdict of not guilty on one of the robbery counts. Petitioner, at the time of trial, was represented by Court appointed counsel, Charles A. Filler, Esquire.

A review of the record in this case discloses that, throughout the course of the trial, counsel for petitioner exhaustively cross-examined each witness called by the State with particular emphasis on the issue of identification of petitioner in the course of the several robberies and the attempted robbery. In four of the robberies the victims were severely pistol-whipped by the assailant. In the attempted robbery, one of the victims was either pistol-whipped or shot.

In attacking the validity of identification of the petitioner through fingerprints taken by the identification officer of the Phoenix Police Department, counsel for the defendant, on cross-examination, made the following inquiry with respect to the identification card forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation:

“Q Would you tell me what specifically you did with regard to this ?
A Well, I took his fingerprints, had him sign it, then I signed it. I had him sign it first then took his fingerprints on it, and I signed my signature and the date is on there.
Q In other words, the only thing that you did here is actually apply the fingers to the pad and take the prints, plus signing it and having him sign it, is that right ?
A That’s right.
Q In other words, the rest of it was done by someone else, is that correct?
A Just the information I had there was done by the typist.
Q All the typing?
A No, I typed the majority of the material on that.
Q I want to know what you put on there.
A I put all the typing on there because he had a previous record. If he hadn’t had a previous record—
[557]*557MR. FILLER: If the Court please, I would like to approach the bench.” (Tr. 286-287)

At this point counsel moved for a mistrial. The Court denied the motion for mistrial, and instructed the jury as follows:

“THE COURT: At this time the jury is instructed to disregard the last remark of the witness. Treat it as though you had never heard of it.” (Tr. 288)

It is suggested that this elicitation constituted error upon which petitioner might have had grounds for appeal.

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310 F. Supp. 1001 (D. Minnesota, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
275 F. Supp. 554, 1967 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8631, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montez-v-eyman-azd-1967.