Powell v. Rose

581 F. Supp. 60, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17971
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedApril 5, 1983
DocketCiv. A. No. 1-83-0021
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 581 F. Supp. 60 (Powell v. Rose) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Powell v. Rose, 581 F. Supp. 60, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17971 (M.D. Tenn. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION, ORDER AND CERTIFICATE

NEESE, Senior District Judge, Sitting by Designation.

This is a petition on behalf of Mr. Johnny E. Powell for relief through federal writ of habeas corpus. It is claimed he is in the custody of the respondent-warden pursuant to the judgment of October 16, 1978 of the Circuit Court of Giles County, Tennessee in State of Tennessee, plaintiff, v. J.E. Powell, defendant, docket no. 1368, in violation of the Constitution, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a). The applicant appears to claim therein also that he exhausted the remedies available to him in the courts of Tennessee, 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b),1 by applying to the aforenamed [62]*62Court for post-conviction relief, which was denied on May 20, 1981, which denial was affirmed January 19, 1982 by the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, with permission for him to appeal further being denied by the Supreme Court of Tennessee on April 21, 1982; however, it is not made to appear therein whether determinations of any factual issues possibly implicated herein were made by those courts as evidenced by reliable and adequate written indicia, 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d).

On preliminary consideration, it appears plainly from the face of such application and the exhibit annexed to it that the petitioner is not entitled to relief in this Court. Rule 4, 28 U.S.C. fol. § 2254:

I

One ground for relief in such petition is that the ineffective assistance of the applicant’s trial counsel in no. 1368, supra, resulted in a deprivation of his federal rights to an impartial jury and to due process of law. “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to * * * trial * * * by an impartial jury * * * ’ and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.” Constitution, Sixth Amendment. “No State shall * * * deprive any person of * * * liberty * * * without due process of law * * *.” Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment, § 1.

The applicant was tried under an indictment charging him with a felony. “ * * * [A] defendant who must face [a] felony charge[ ] in state court without the assistance of counsel has been deprived of due process of law. * * * ” Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 343, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 1715[7], 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980). “* * * [T]he right to counsel is the right to the effective assistance of counsel. * * * ” McMann v. Richardson, 397 U.S. 759, 771 n. 14, 90 S.Ct. 1441, 1449 n. 14[10], 25 L.Ed.2d 763 (1970).

There is not presented by the applicant in this regard a viable claim of federal constitutional violation for multiple reasons: first: “ * * * Habeas corpus is not the proper place to raise objection to [the] selection of [an] individual juror[]. * * * ” Layman v. Tollett,2 memo. op. & ord. of October 8, 1971 (D.C.Tenn.), judgment aff’d., 473 F.2d 912 (table) (6th Cir.1973), cert. den., 412 U.S. 908, 93 S.Ct. 2302, 36 L.Ed.2d 974 (1973), citing and quoting from In re Lollis, 291 F.Supp. 615, 618[8] (D.C.Tenn.1968), citing 39 Am.Jur.2d 220, Habeas Corpus § 58 (“Mere errors or irregularities in the selection or formation of petit jurors cannot be inquired into in habeas corpus proceedings. [Footnote reference omitted.] Thus, disqualification of a juror is not available as a ground for release on habeas corpus, being a mere error or irregularity [citing in n. 16 inter alia Ex parte Sullivan, 83 F.2d 796 (9th Cir.1936) ]”.]

Secondly: “ * * * ‘In essence, the right to jury trial guarantees to the criminally accused a fair trial by a panel of impartial, “indifferent” jurors.’ * * * ” Groppi v. Wisconsin, 400 U.S. 505, 509, 91 S.Ct. 490, 492, 27 L.Ed.2d 571 (1971). “ * * * ‘Impartiality is not a technical conception. It is a state of mind. For the ascertainment of this mental attitude of appropriate indifference, the Constitution lays down no particular tests and procedure is not chained to any ancient or artificial form.’ * * * ” Dennis v. United States, 339 U.S. 162, 172, 70 S.Ct. 519, 523[4], 94 L.Ed. 734 (1950), reh. den., 339 U.S. 950, 70 S.Ct. 799, 94 L.Ed. 1364 (1950).

Brief encounters between a juror and another person, as opposed to a continuous and intimate association throughout a long trial, do not violate the accused’s right to trial by an impartial jury. Cf. Turner v. State of Louisiana, 379 U.S. 466, 473, 85 S.Ct. 546, 550, 13 L.Ed.2d 424 (1965). Finally, in this connection, the purported failure of the applicant’s trial counsel to voir [63]*63dire the juror, whose fidelity to her oath he now questions, more thoroughly reflects mere speculative hindsight as to how the unsuccessful defense of the applicant might have been improved. Guzzardo v. Bergston, 643 F.2d 1300, 1305[10] (7th Cir.1981), cert. den., 452 U.S. 941, 101 S.Ct. 3085, 69 L.Ed.2d 955 (1981).

For all those reasons, the applicant’s federal constitutional claims of the ineffectiveness assistance of his (presumably, retained) counsel, leading to a deprivation of his rights to an impartial jury and due process of law, is insufficient to create a factual issue. No evidentiary hearing thereon is indicated. Rule 8(a), 28 U.S.C. fol. § 2254.

II

Neither was it violative of the Constitution, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, supra, if the jurors in no. 1368, supra, were allowed to separate “ * * * without the supervision of a guard during a sequestered trial * * A judicial order, sequestering a jury after the commencement of the trial, is but one variety of many protective measures by which any prejudicial information about a defendant “* * * can be kept from a jury * * Gannett, Inc. v. DePasquale, 443 U.S. 368, 378, 99 S.Ct. 2898, 2905[4], 61 L.Ed.2d 608 (1979). This “ * * * enhances * * * and emphasizes the elements of the jurors’ oaths * * *.” Nebraska Press Ass’n v. Stuart, 427 U.S. 539, 564, 96 S.Ct. 2791, 2805, 49 L.Ed.2d 683 (1976).

Jurors are not permitted in Tennessee to separate in criminal prosecutions in which a death sentence may be imposed. T.C.A. § 40-18-116. The applicant was tried for murder in the first degree (although convicted of the lesser-included-offense of murder in the second degree), and a death penalty could have been imposed on conviction of the greater offense charged in the prosecution. T.C.A. § 39-2-203(g).

Even assuming arguendo

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Powell v. Rose
581 F. Supp. 60 (M.D. Tennessee, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
581 F. Supp. 60, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17971, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/powell-v-rose-tnmd-1983.