Panko v. McCauley

473 F. Supp. 325, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10698
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedJuly 31, 1979
DocketCiv. A. 78-C-311
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 473 F. Supp. 325 (Panko v. McCauley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Panko v. McCauley, 473 F. Supp. 325, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10698 (E.D. Wis. 1979).

Opinion

REYNOLDS, Chief Judge.

This is an action challenging the revocation on April 23, 1976, of petitioner Robert Lee Panko’s parole. The matter is presently before the court on the petitioner’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. This court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. For the reasons hereinafter stated, the petition will be granted.

On July 14, 1974, the petitioner was released on parole after serving two years and nine months of a seven-year sentence. Two special conditions of Panko’s parole were that he not drink or enter any drink *326 ing establishments. These two special conditions were lifted when Agent Dennis M. Schuehardt became Panko’s parole agent in November 1974. Panko later signed an amended parole agreement on February 11, 1975, after being involved in two incidents in taverns, which prohibited Panko from “frequenting” taverns. Almost a year later on the night of February 17, 1976, the petitioner, his wife, and several friends visited two taverns while celebrating Panko’s birthday. Panko was accused of committing a theft in one of these taverns that evening but was later acquitted of the charge. While Panko was in jail for the alleged theft, Agent Schuehardt questioned the petitioner and discovered that Panko had been in the taverns. Agent Schuchardt, along with his superior officer, moved to have petitioner’s parole revoked in an administrative hearing on April 2, 1976. The examiner revoked Panko’s parole on April 23, 1976. This decision was upheld both by the Circuit Court for Outagamie County and by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which adopted the Circuit Court’s opinion, in a per curiam opinion.

The first issue presented is whether the petition is moot because the petitioner was released from institutional confinement on May 16, 1978. The Court finds that it is not. The United States Supreme Court in Carafas v. LaVallee, Warden, 391 U.S. 234, 88 S.Ct. 1556, 20 L.Ed.2d 554 (1968), held, that federal jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 is not defeated in a district court once it has attached merely because the petitioner is no longer incarcerated. This Court has also held on two occasions that a writ of habeas corpus is not rendered moot by the prisoner’s release from prison so long as the petition was filed while the petitioner was incarcerated and there are still possible adverse collateral consequences. Burbey v. Burke, 295 F.Supp. 1045 (E.D.Wis. 1969), and Cresci v. Schmidt, 403 F.Supp. 348 (E.D.Wis.1975).

In the present case, the writ was filed while the petitioner was still incarcerated, and as stated in Cresci, supra, parole revocation could have adverse future consequences. As stated by the Seventh Circuit in Hahn v. Burke, 430 F.2d 100, 102 (7th Cir. 1970):

“As to mootness, although petitioner is not presently serving his challenged Wisconsin sentence, this appeal is not moot. The probation revocation affixes a permanent blemish to petitioner’s record. If petitioner ever has future difficulties with the law in Wisconsin, the judge could take into account the fact that petitioner’s probationary status was at one time revoked. * * * Therefore, there are collateral consequences in allowing petitioner’s Wisconsin burglary conviction and parole revocation to remain on his record. (Citations omitted.)”

Although Hahn, supra, concerns a probation revocation, its rationale is equally applicable to parole revocations.

Respondent also contends the “petitioner has failed to exhaust his state remedies * * * in that he did not argue that the condition that he not ‘frequent’ taverns was unconstitutionally vague to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.” (Respondent’s return to petition for writ of habeas corpus, filed June 8, 1978, at page 2.) The Wisconsin Supreme Court, however, explicitly addressed this issue in its per curiam opinion: “ ‘The petitioner next argues that the prohibition against “frequenting establishments whose primary function is dispensing alcoholic beverages” is unconstitutionally vague. * * * State ex rel. Panko v. Carballo, No. 76-525 (unpublished opinion, filed March 17, 1978, at page 4.)

This Court does not find that the condition forbidding the petitioner to “frequent” establishments which sell alcoholic beverages is unconstitutionally vague per se; however, it finds that the condition was unconstitutionally vague as applied.

Connally v. General Construction Company, 269 U.S. 385, 46 S.Ct. 126, 70 L.Ed. 322 (1926), enunciates the general rule as to when a rule will be held unconstitutionally vague by stating that men of common intelligence must know the law’s meaning without having to guess at it. According to Webster’s Third International Dictionary, *327 the term “frequent” means to associate with, be in, or resort to often or habitually. In the present case, the state courts held the petitioner had broken the condition against “frequenting” taverns by patronizing two taverns on February 17, 1976, with his wife and friends to celebrate his birthday. There is no indication in the record that petitioner had gone into a tavern on any other occasion since the condition had been imposed a year earlier. Thus, if “frequent” is given its common meaning, this one incident does not constitute “frequenting” taverns. The real question, however, as indicated by the state trial court, is whether or not the parolee understood the condition. The state trial court found that “[a] history of the restrictions upon the petitioner clearly disclose that he [Panko] understood the terms of restriction. * * ’ ” Decision of Circuit Judge Gordon Myse, as quoted in State ex rel. Panko v. Carballo, supra, at page 4.

Contrary to respondent’s contention, a federal district judge, in deciding a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, may make an independent review of the facts, particularly where questions of ultimate fact are involved. United States ex rel. Rutherford v. Deegan, 406 F.2d 217 (2d Cir. 1969); Linden v. Dickson, 287 F.2d 55 (9th Cir. 1961); United States ex rel. Goins v. Sigler, 162 F.Supp. 256 (E.D.La.1958). After reviewing the entire record of this case, the Court cannot find any evidence that the petitioner understood that the term “frequent” really meant “enter.” First, the circuit court fails to cite any evidence substantiating its assertion that Panko understood the term. Secondly, when Panko was first paroled, one special parole condition was that he did not drink or enter taverns.

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Bluebook (online)
473 F. Supp. 325, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/panko-v-mccauley-wied-1979.