Randall v. Beto

369 F. Supp. 984, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11990
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedSeptember 10, 1973
DocketNo. CA 3-4688-C
StatusPublished

This text of 369 F. Supp. 984 (Randall v. Beto) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Randall v. Beto, 369 F. Supp. 984, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11990 (N.D. Tex. 1973).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

WILLIAM M. TAYLOR, Jr., Chief Judge.

A Texas State Court jury convicted Herman Randall of murder with malice on August 5, 1969, and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed,1 citing two State cases as authority.2 That Court held — correctly, in my view — that whatever Miranda3 or State law4 imperfections there may or may not have been in Randall’s written confession that was introduced at his trial, he was doomed not by that statement but rather by his own testimony. Taking the stand in flagrant disregard of his counsel’s unequivocal warning not to,5 Randall told the jury not only that he killed his common law wife by hitting her with a board, but also that he previously had been convicted and jailed on three separate occasions for aggravated assault of a female.

Randall now seeks a Federal writ of habeas corpus6 to spring to freedom from a branch of the “poisonous tree.” (The State has agreed that Randall has exhausted his effective State remedies and that the matter is properly before this Court.)

Randall’s contentions are more easily understood after the fact situation is reviewed in moderate detail. Two uniformed Dallas, Texas, police officers patrolling in a marked police car received a radioed assignment to investigate a reported “unconscious person” about 1:00 A.M. on March 4, 1969. Finding Randall crouched over his wife’s body, the officers asked him to be seated in their car (the weather was cold and rainy). There they questioned him some ten or fifteen minutes. They neither warned him of his rights nor formally arrested him. Besides conducting what might be termed general on-the-scene questioning, the police also learned from Randall where the body had been originally. There they found the murder weapon, which was introduced (erroneously, he contends) at Randall’s trial.

The uniformed officers summoned two plainclothes homicide detectives. One of them, Detective Johnson, testified at the examining trial that based on what the officers told him, he formulated the opinion that Randall killed his wife before even asking Randall a single question. Not until after Randall admitted [986]*986to Johnson, in Johnson’s unmarked police car, that Randall killed his wife did the officer read the Miranda, warnings to the suspect. A few hours later, at the downtown police station, Randall signed the written statement typed by Johnson (bearing the legend VOLUNTARY STATEMENT in bold letters at the top) that was admitted at trial.

At Randall’s pre-indictment examining trial, the justice of the peace sustained Randall’s attorney’s objection to use of the oral admission. The oral statement was never alluded to at Randall’s trial. Following “but for” logic, Randall now would have this Court rule that he would not have given a written confession but for an unlawfully obtained oral admission, and that he would not have testified but for the introduction of what he brands the unlawfully obtained written confession.

This I decline to do, despite the well prepared arguments submitted by Randall’s attorney. Instead, I find it clear that Randall’s decision to testify, contrary to advice of counsel (advice the correctness of which he now does not challenge), gave the jury sufficient, independent and untainted reason to return its verdict of “guilty.”

Randall first argues that it is not — or ought not to be — the law in Texas that a defendant who voluntarily mounts the witness stand thereby waives any preceding error that he otherwise might preserve for appeal.

The first case that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals cited in its one-page affirmance of Randall’s conviction is Johnson v. State, 445 S.W.2d 211 (Tex. Cr.App.1969). There the Court held that the on-the-stand admission of the offense charged, made by a defendant who pleaded guilty in a non-jury case, was sufficient to corroborate the defendant’s written statement showing that he committed the offense. The other case is Vaughns v. State, 172 Tex.Cr.R. 465, 358 S.W.2d 133 (1962). There, too, the defendant testified in his own behalf. He contended on appeal his written statement was improperly admitted because he had not been warned of his rights under the Texas predecessor of Miranda, Article 727 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Court rejected the argument.

Three later cases should resolve any doubt about Texas law on this point. In Mullane v. State, 475 S.W.2d 924 (Tex. Cr.App.1971), the defendant took the stand and testified to all material facts necessary to prove the crime. The Court wrote:

Where, as here, a defendant, represented by counsel, testifies in his own behalf, we will presume this act to be undertaken voluntarily and with full knowledge of his rights.
* * # * * *
The appellant’s judicial confession voluntarily made before the jury would constitute a waiver of any possible error [involving “fruit of the poisonous tree” where the “tree” is an allegedly improperly secured oral confession]. 475 S.W.2d at 926.

It should be noted that in Mullane, unlike Johnson, the defendant pleaded not guilty.

Again, the Court repeated its stance with vigor in Humphrey v. State, 479 S. W.2d 51 (Tex.Cr.App.1972). There the defendant walked into a police station and excitedly admitted a killing. On appeal, he contended his statement should not have been used against him in evidence because he had not been warned in accordance with State requirements. Rejecting his argument (and citing, among other cases, Randall’s own case), the Court said:

When a defendant testifies to the same facts as contained in his extrajudicial statement, any objection to the admission of the statement is waived. 479 S.W.2d at 53.

Still more recently, in Jones v. State, 484 S.W.2d 745 (Tex.Cr.App.1972) the Court took the same position. There the defendant admitted on the stand that he had some marihuana on him when he was arrested. This admission, the Court [987]*987held, waived any right he may have had under State law to have the trial judge submit to the jury a charge on the legality of the search which disclosed the forbidden marihuana.

But Randall goes on, even if his trial was in accord with Texas standards, he was deprived of rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. He relies principally on two Supreme Court decisions.

Harrison v. United States, 392 U.S. 219, 88 S.Ct. 2008, 20 L.Ed.2d 1047 (1968), a Federal murder prosecution, does have several similarities to Randall’s ease, but also a number of significant differences. For one thing, the opinion does not make it clear whether the Supreme Court was exercising its supervisory powers over the Federal Court system or was ruling on Constitutional grounds.

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Related

Wong Sun v. United States
371 U.S. 471 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Fahy v. Connecticut
375 U.S. 85 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Harrison v. United States
392 U.S. 219 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Mullane v. State
475 S.W.2d 924 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1971)
Humphrey v. State
479 S.W.2d 51 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1972)
Vaughns v. State
358 S.W.2d 133 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1962)
Jones v. State
484 S.W.2d 745 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1972)
Randall v. State
464 S.W.2d 836 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1971)
Johnson v. State
445 S.W.2d 211 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1969)

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Bluebook (online)
369 F. Supp. 984, 1973 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11990, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/randall-v-beto-txnd-1973.