Moore v. Beto

320 F. Supp. 469, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9375
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedNovember 30, 1970
DocketCiv. A. No. 70-H-752
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 320 F. Supp. 469 (Moore v. Beto) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moore v. Beto, 320 F. Supp. 469, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9375 (S.D. Tex. 1970).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

NOEL, District Judge.

Petitioner, a prisoner in state custody, has filed a petition for the writ of habeas corpus. Respondent has filed an answer with state court pleadings attached and has moved to dismiss the petition. The motion to dismiss is well taken.

This Court has jurisdiction. 28 U.S. C. §§ 2241, 2254. The state concedes that available state remedies have been exhausted, and her concession is correct.

On March 1, 1967, petitioner was tried for the offense of robbery by assault; found guilty and on May 5, 1967 sentenced to life imprisonment. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction on March 8, 1968.

Petitioner levies numerous attacks against this conviction in his instant petition. These claims will be stated and considered below.

Claim One

Petitioner contends that he was denied his due process rights to a fundamentally fair trial because he was convicted by a jury which contained a “tainted” juror. The tainted juror allegedly was a friend or business acquaintance of the prosecution’s chief witness — the robbery victim. The peti[471]*471tion does not reflect whether (1) the juror informed the trial court of his presumably prejudicial aequaintainship during voir dire or (2) petitioner’s counsel knew of the allegedly prejudicial relationship and elected not to strike the juror as part of his trial strategy.

The pleadings do not allege how the tainted juror’s presence on the convicting panel prejudiced petitioner. It is a reasonable inference to believe that all twelve jurors obeyed the trial court’s instructions, did not mention or consider improper evidence during their deliberations, and did not allow personal feelings to color their individual determinations that Moore was guilty. Hilliard v. State of Arizona, 362 F.2d 908, 910 (9th Cir. 1966); Cohen v. United States, 297 F.2d 760, 764 (9th Cir. 1962).

It is clear that petitioner believes that the presence of the allegedly tainted juror on the panel created an irrefutable presumption that he was denied a fair trial. His belief is incorrect.

Due process does not guarantee an accused that the jury which hears his case will be one which hears absolutely no inadmissible evidence during the trial or during their deliberations, or one which will be composed of jurors who have absolutely no preconceived impressions about the accused or the state’s witnesses. The Supreme Court has held that an accused may be deprived of a fair trial when he is unable to confront and to cross-examine persons who present evidence to the trier of facts which is adverse to his interest and/or when it is shown that the jury panel was composed of partial or biased jurors. Parker v. Gladden, 385 U.S. 363, 87 S.Ct. 468, 17 L.Ed.2d 420 (1966) (per curiam); Turner v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 466, 85 S.Ct. 546, 13 L.Ed.2d 424 (1965); Mattox v. United States, 146 U.S. 140, 147-150, 13 S.Ct. 50, 36 L.Ed. 917 (1892). In these cases the Court distinguished between the degree of adversity which improper evidence of influence could be presumed to have upon an accused’s interests. The Court held that only significantly adverse influences or improper evidence would be presumed to have unduly prejudiced the jury against the accused, and therefore to have denied him due process. In essence, the Court held that minor insignificant infractions of the general rules enunciated in their opinions would not violate due process. The high court left to the lower federal courts the duty to ascertain when significant infractions have occurred. Id.

In these cases the Supreme Court found the infraction so significant that it presumed the accused could not have received a fair trial by an impartial jury. In each case trial court personnel charged with the duty to care for the jury during trial made adverse comments about the accused while formally testifying from the stand or while informally caring for the jury. The high court emphasized the weight which jurors would attribute to remarks of court personnel and inferred that statements by other persons would not be so apt to deprive an accused of due process. In each instance the statements of the court personnel were highly prejudicial, and it would be difficult to imagine how the jury would not have been adversely influenced by them.

In comparison to the Supreme Court cases, the facts alleged by Moore, if true, do not justify this Court in presuming that the jury verdict was the result of unfair or improper bias. The fact that one juror knew the victim of a crime who testified at the trial does not —without allegations of how this knowledge affected the jury’s determinations or an allegation that this juror mentioned his acquaintanceship in such a manner as to bolster the credibility of the witness — state a constitutional claim. Instead, it is more reasonable to infer that every juror obeyed the Court’s instructions and considered only the proper evidence adduced in open court. Hilliard v. State of Arizona, supra ; Cohen v. United States, supra.

In numerous federal cases lower federal courts have considered allega[472]*472tions of jury irregularity similar to petitioner’s and have held that they did not state a meritorious due process claim. This Court is bound by these decisions. See and compare: Government of Virgin Islands v. Bodle, 427 F.2d 532 (3rd Cir. 1970); Richard v. United States, 315 F.2d 331 (1st Cir. 1963); United States v. Crosby, 294 F.2d 928, 948-950 (2nd Cir. 1962), cert. denied sub nom. Mittleman v. United States, 368 U.S. 984, 82 S.Ct. 599, 7 L.Ed.2d 523 (1962); Fook v. United States, 82 U.S.App.D.C. 391, 164 F.2d 716, 717 (1947), cert. denied 333 U.S. 838, 68 S.Ct. 608, 92 L.Ed. 1122 (1948); Brant v. Scafati, 301 F. Supp. 1374, 1378-1379 (D.Mass.1969); Subilosky v. Scafati, 294 F.Supp. 18 (D. Mass.1968); Bertsch v. Beto, 254 F. Supp. 257, 262 (S.D.Tex.1966).

Claim Two

Petitioner’s contention that he was denied due process because the state denied his sixth amendment rights to have compulsory process to compel the attendance of witnesses for his defense is without merit. Moore contends that because a witness he believed had committed the crime left the city prior to trial and was unavailable to testify, he was denied due process. He admits, however, that the sheriff subpoenaed the witness prior to trial, and does not allege that the state trial court refused either to grant a continuance until the witness could be found or refused to order the sheriff to make a reasonable search for the witness.

In Washington v. Texas, 388 U.S. 14, 87 S.Ct. 1920, 18 L.Ed.2d 1019 (1967), the Supreme Court incorporated the sixth amendment provisions requiring that an accused have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses into the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment.

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Related

In re Bizzard
559 F. Supp. 507 (S.D. Georgia, 1983)
McGarrity v. Beto
335 F. Supp. 1186 (S.D. Texas, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
320 F. Supp. 469, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9375, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-beto-txsd-1970.