State Ex Rel. Thunstrom v. Tahash

167 N.W.2d 139, 283 Minn. 239, 1969 Minn. LEXIS 1141
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedApril 18, 1969
Docket40991
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 167 N.W.2d 139 (State Ex Rel. Thunstrom v. Tahash) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Thunstrom v. Tahash, 167 N.W.2d 139, 283 Minn. 239, 1969 Minn. LEXIS 1141 (Mich. 1969).

Opinion

Sheran, Justice.

Appeal from an order of the district court discharging a writ of habeas corpus.

On January 28, 1963, petitioner, represented by counsel of his own selection, entered a plea of guilty to the crime of burglary in the third degree. He was sentenced according to law for an indeterminate term. Execution of the sentence was stayed, however, upon condition that petitioner spend 1 year in the Hennepin County workhouse. He submitted to confinement there but disappeared on June 2, 1963. About 2 years later, he was apprehended in the State of Nebraska. On July 22, 1965, the January 28, 1963, stay of sentence was revoked. He was arrested in Nebraska 5 days later and returned to Minnesota. A motion to set aside the conviction and vacate the plea of guilty was denied on October 1, 1965. He has since served the sentence imposed on January 28,1963.

Petitioner applied to the Washington County District Court for a writ of habeas corpus, which was issued. After a hearing on January 26, *241 1967, the court ordered the writ discharged by order dated June 8 of that year and this appeal followed.

We consider the claims of petitioner to relief on this appeal notwithstanding the prior denial of his motion to vacate the plea of guilty or the fact that his sentence has now been served. 1 Procedure in these matters is now governed by the Postconviction Remedy Act, effective May 10, 1967. 2

In summary, petitioner contends: (1) His plea of guilty should be vacated because it was not tendered voluntarily; (2) the sentence imposed on January 28, 1963, was defective for failure to accord him the right to speak before sentence was pronounced; (3) the order of July 22, 1965, did not justify his subsequent confinement because he was not given the notice and hearing required by Minn. St. 609.14, subd. 2.

Petitioner’s claim that his plea of guilty should be vacated is based upon the theory that it was tendered involuntarily because (a) he believed that certain inculpatory statements made by him while in police custody between January 5, 1963 (when he was arrested pursuant to an order revoking a stay of execution of a prior sentence for a gross misdemeanor), and January 10, 1963 (when a complaint was filed charging him with the crime of burglary), could and would be used against him in the event of trial; (b) he believed that certain evidence taken from his automobile by the police on January 8, 1963, which linked him to the burglary of which he was accused, could and would be used against him were he to persist in his original plea of not guilty; (c) he believed representations that were made to him to the effect that he could, in the event of trial, be convicted on the testimony of an accomplice, an apprehension which was erroneous if neither the statements made by him nor the evidence obtained as a result of the search were receivable in evidence; (d) he was threatened by Minneapolis police officers with prosecution by Federal authorities if he did not plead guilty; (e) the attorney he retained did not represent him adequately.

Our precedents dealing with the showing which must be made to jus *242 tify vacating a plea of guilty are reviewed in Chapman v. State, 282 Minn. 13, 162 N. W. (2d) 698, supplemented by State v. Linehan, 282 Minn. 254, 164 N. W. (2d) 616. 3 It must be made to appear that manifest injustice will result from failure to vacate the plea.

We do not decide whether the statements secured from petitioner were obtained as the result of an illegal confinement and in circumvention of the attorney then representing petitioner. 4 The record is clear that the inculpatory statements taken by the police were not to be used against petitioner unless he signed them after consultation with his attorney. Upon advice of counsel, petitioner did not sign the statements. We do not accept petitioner’s present assertion that he believed that these statements could or would have been, offered and received against him at the time of trial and that he entered his plea of guilty because of this fact in view of this testimony:

“Q. Did you make a statement that was transcribed by a reporter?

“A. Yes.

“Q. But you didn’t sign it?

“A. No.

“Q. Youthen * * * gave your statement to the police?

“A. That’s right. They stated they would not use it or anything unless it was approved — until after the attorney seen it.

“Q. Until what?

“A. Until after the attorney had seen it and viewed it. They wouldn’t make it a part of the record or anything else.

“The Court : He [counsel] told you not to sign it, didn’t he?

*243 “The Petitioner: Yes.

“The Court: And you didn’t sign it?

“The Petitioner: No.”

The incriminating evidence obtained from petitioner’s car was secured pursuant to a search warrant. This being so, there would have been no basis for rejecting the evidence which was the fruit of the search. Petitioner was apparently present at the time this search was made. He claimed at the habeas corpus hearing that it appeared to him that someone had searched the car previously, the implication being that the police officers had done so and had obtained the search warrant only because of discoveries then made. The trial court was not required to accept this belated claim on the part of the petitioner, particularly in view of the fact that before the search warrant was secured he had apparently given an oral consent to inspection of the vehicle.

Successful prosecution of the charge of burglary in the third degree did not depend upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice. The materials discovered in petitioner’s automobile during the course of the search made in his presence by police officers acting pursuant to a search warrant would have been sufficient corroboration under our statute. 5

The claim of petitioner that he was threatened with a Federal prosecution by Minneapolis police officers if he persisted in his plea of not guilty to the charge of burglary in the third degree does not have adequate support in the record.

The present claim of inadequacy of counsel is inconsistent with petitioner’s prior testimony and with the results achieved. For example, on October 1, 1965, petitioner testified with respect to his counsel that he did not “want to reflect on him as a competent attorney as such. I think possibly it may have been my fault — I never asked him for opinions on this. As I stated before, * * * I did want to get the thing over with.” Furthermore, the limited sentence originally imposed refutes the claim of incompetency. Petitioner had come into the hands of the police *244 after violating a stay of execution of a prior sentence.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
167 N.W.2d 139, 283 Minn. 239, 1969 Minn. LEXIS 1141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-thunstrom-v-tahash-minn-1969.