Pope v. United States

287 F. Supp. 214
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedOctober 31, 1967
DocketCiv. A. No. 67-17-W
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 287 F. Supp. 214 (Pope v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pope v. United States, 287 F. Supp. 214 (W.D. Tex. 1967).

Opinion

287 F.Supp. 214 (1967)

Lawrence C. POPE
v.
UNITED STATES of America.

Civ. A. No. 67-17-W.

United States District Court W. D. Texas, Waco Division.

October 31, 1967.

*215 William S. Sessions, Waco, appointed by the Court, for petitioner.

Ernest Morgan, U. S. Atty., Ralph Harris, III, Asst. U. S. Atty. San Antonio, Tex., for respondent.

*216 MEMORANDUM

ROBERTS, District Judge.

This is a motion pursuant to Section 2255 of Title 28, United States Code attacking a sentence imposed by Judge Ben H. Rice, Jr., in Waco Criminal Number 4900. Petitioner, LAWRENCE C. POPE, was convicted of bank robbery, 18 United States Code 2113(d), by a jury in March, 1961, and sentenced to imprisonment for twenty five (25) years. He entered a plea of "not guilty by reason of insanity", and was found guilty and appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on only one (1) point— the Court's denial of a requested instruction on insanity. The conviction was affirmed. Pope v. United States, 298 F. 2d 507 (5th Cir. 1962).

Petitioner's motion and amended motion raises twenty nine (29) specific points of error. These points are:

1. Denial of effective assistance of counsel by the low quality of counsel's representation and effectiveness;

2. Violation of Rule 43, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, by petitioner's absence at four (4) stages of the proceedings;

3. Government interference with efforts to gather information on which to base the 2255 motion;

4. Judge Rice too deaf to hear the courtroom proceedings and thus denial of due process;

5. Prejudicial error in attention of jury being called to pre-trial competency hearing;

6. Error for petitioner to be moved from San Antonio to Waco by Government prior to trial;

7. Error for trial court to require defendant's attorney to question lay witness about mental attitudes of defendant in terms of M'Naughten Rule;

8. Denial of defense by denial of Durham Rule questions by defense;

9. Government use of statement by defendant taken in absence of his attorney;

10. Use of statement over objection that it was taken by coercion and duress;

11. Government's use of perjured testimony against defendant;

12. Violation of right against self-incrimination by presence of United States Marshal during psychiatrists' examination;

13. Prejudicial error for Defense Counsel, Trial Court and United States Attorney not to call Dr. Davis, who would have testified for defendant's insanity;

14. Number 13 constitutes suppression of evidence by the Government;

15. Error for jury to know of defendant's prior crimes through the Government's evidence;

16. Error for United States Attorney to elicit opinions from lay witnesses as to defendant's sanity where witnesses had known defendant only a short time;

17. Abuse of Court's discretion to place all defense witnesses under "the Rule" at competency hearing while only two (2) Government witnesses were so placed;

18. Abuse of Trial Court's discretion in favoring Government in rulings and action on motions and objections.

19. Due process violated in Government's closing argument, making false remarks, and using misstated evidence and facts not in evidence;

20. Due process violated by Court giving incorrect charge on insanity;

21. Title 18, Section 2113 unconstitutional because without a basis today;

22. Title 18, Section 2113 unconstitutional because interference with police power of states and an unwarranted usurpation of authority of Congress;

23. Act unconstitutional because indictment did not allege defendant's moving across state line, crime by organized gangsters, or local police unable to cope with the problem;

24. Act unconstitutional because enacted by Congressmen, some of whom were officers in Armed Forces Reserves *217 and thus in violation of Article I, Section 6, Clause 2 of the Constitution;

25. Grand and petit juries selected in violation of law;

26. Prejudicial error to not list jurors on list of Criminal Number 4900 in same order as drawn from jury box as shown by the venire lists drawn for February, 1961;

27. Government's withholding evidence from defendant that jury was not selected in accordance with law;

28. Trial Court's lack of jurisdiction because jury picked in violation of law; and

29. Violation of Rule 32(c) (1), Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure by trial judge's seeing pre-sentence report before verdict.

The specific points are urged collectively under petitioner's one general question: "Whether the constitutional and procedural errors in petitioner's trial were so numerous and so prejudicial as to `shock the conscience of the court and make the proceedings a farce and a mockery of justice' and hence deny petitioner due process of law."

Considering the twenty-nine specific questions collectively as parts of petitioner's one general question, the Court finds from the record as a matter of law, as a whole, that petitioner was afforded every legal right and due process to which he was entitled under the Constitution, and that petitioner was given a fair trial.

Considering the twenty-nine specific questions separately, the Court holds that points 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 concern matters which cannot be raised by a collateral proceeding such as a Section 2255 motion. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case of Manley v. United States, 352 F.2d 515 (5th Cir. 1965), stated the area which is cognizable in a collateral proceeding under Section 2255 of Title 28, United States Code.

"Section 2255 authorizes the trial court to `vacate, set aside or correct the sentence' if it is established that `the sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States, or that the court was without jurisdiction to impose such sentence, or that the sentence was in excess of the maximum authorized by law, or is otherwise subject to collateral attack.' Under this section errors that may be a ground for reversal upon direct appeal, may nevertheless not be available on a collateral attack such as is made under Section 2255."

As a general rule only such basic errors as absence of jurisdiction and denial or infringement of constitutional rights can render the judgment subject to collateral attack. Haynes v. United States, 339 F. 2d 30 (5th Cir. 1964), cert. denied, 380 U.S. 924, 85 S.Ct. 926, 13 L.Ed.2d 809.

Additionally, in regard to points 13 and 14, the question of whether or not to call Dr. Herman Davis was a decision of petitioner's attorneys and a matter of trial strategy, Williams v. Beto, 354 F.2d 698 (5th Cir. 1965); United States v. Garguilo, 324 F.2d 795 (2d Cir. 1963); O'Malley v. United States, 285 F.2d 733 (6th Cir. 1961), and the record reflects that such testimony was not in any way suppressed by the Government. Petitioner's attorneys knew what the testimony would be and had the power to subpoena Dr. Davis.

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287 F. Supp. 214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pope-v-united-states-txwd-1967.