Tadlock v. State

181 So. 2d 510, 43 Ala. App. 125, 1965 Ala. App. LEXIS 310
CourtAlabama Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 21, 1965
StatusPublished

This text of 181 So. 2d 510 (Tadlock v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alabama Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tadlock v. State, 181 So. 2d 510, 43 Ala. App. 125, 1965 Ala. App. LEXIS 310 (Ala. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

JOHNSON, Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Perry County denying appellant’s petition for writ of error coram nobis.

On July 22, 1961, appellant was convicted in the Circuit Court of Perry County of the offense of grand larceny. The record before us shows that he waived indictment, and was charged by information with the crime of grand larceny; that on July 22, 1961, appellant and counsel employed by him appeared in open court; that on that day appellant, upon advice of said counsel, entered a plea of guilty to the charge in the information, and was adjudged guilty by the court and sentenced to four years in the State penitentiary.

Appellant alleges in his petition for writ of error coram nobis that he was denied a constitutional right in that “He was’forced into trial by the State of Alabama on a felony for which his liberty was in jeopardy without sufficient or adequate counsel.” He further alleges in his petition that the court erred at the original trial by:

“1. Failing to appoint him with counsel for his defense.
“2. Failing to permit him inspection of a certified copy of the indictment before pleading.
' “3. Permitting the Circuit Solicitor to use perjured and fabricated testimony and evidence, knowing the same to be perjured and fabricated.”

A hearing on appellant’s-petition for writ of error coram .nobis was held on November 5, 1964. Appellant was represented by court-appointed counsel at the hearing.

Appellant sought to establish at the hearing that he was not represented by counsel when his plea of guilty was entered and accepted by the court. He contends that a plea of guilty had already been accepted by the court prior, to July 22, 1961, when he formally entered a plea in open court. Appellant gave the following testimony on direct examination:

“Q. Would you please explain to the Court what you mean by having already entered a plea of guilty?
• “A. I wrote Judge L. S. Moore, and the Solicitor, Blanchard McLeod, a letter telling them that I wanted to plead • guilty and to be tried, and I never heard from either letter. So I wrote the Attorney Generel, McDonald Gallion, and he, in turn, wrote the Prosecuting At-' torney, Mr. McLeod, and sent me a copy of the letter, and in the letter he said to Mr. McLeod: apparently the defendant is ready to plead guilty. You may proceed under Title 15, Section 263 or 265, I forget which.
“MR. ARBUTHNOT: .Your Honor, I object to that testimony in that the [127]*127letter is the best evidence of what took place.
“THE COURT: Well, you don’t have the letter now?
“THE PETITIONER: Yes, sir; I have the letter at Kilby. I don’t have it here.
“THE COURT: I will overrule and let him testify.
“BY MR. DAVIS:
“Q. Now, Mr. Tadlock—
“A. (Interrupting) In this letter the date was set for the hearing — no; that’s wrong, I was mistaken. There was no date set. He was advising the Prosecuting Attorney to accept my plea, and then they set the date, "the date here that I was sentenced on. So, I sent after Mr. Locke, and he come and we had a talk and he told me that they had done set my date for hearing, and that is when I hired him as my counsel, after I had entered my plea of guilty and the State accepted it.
“Q. You considered that when you wrote those letters that you had entered a plea of guilty. Is that your contention ?
“A. That’s right.
“BY MR. DAVIS:
“Q. And you actually employed Mr. Locke after you had indicated your intention to plead guilty to, I believe you testified, the Attorney General, Mr. McDonald Gallion, and Mr. Blanchard McLeod, the Solicitor. Is that correct?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. And did you so inform Attorney Locke of that fact at the time you employed him?
“A. Mr. Locke already knew that I had already entered a plea of guilty. The word defense was never brought up in our conversation. I asked him to talk to the Judge for me, and he said he would.”

Upon examination by the court appellant gave the following testimony:

“Q. Now, when you got over here to Court that day, the day you entered a formal plea of guilty in open Court, that was the 22nd of July, 1961, and Mr. Locke was with you. Was he not ?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. And he appeared as your attorney. Did he not ?
"A. Yes, sir.
“Q. And evidence was taken. Is that right?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. And you did not enter your plea until after the evidence was taken, did you ?
“A. No, sir; my plea was entered and accepted by the Court — -
“Q. Did you enter a plea after the evidence was taken or before the evidence was taken that day?
“A. I entered a plea of guilty both times, before and after.
“Q. The only plea you entered that day was after the evidence was taken. Is that right? Let me read you a part of the Court order here: (Reading) ‘The Defendant having heretofore made known to the Court that he desires to waive an indictment in this cause and enter a plea of guilty.’ Now, that is dated July 22nd. You had made known to the Court that you desired to waive an indictment in this case. Had you not?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. All right. That part of the order is true, isn’t it?
“A. Yes, sir.
[128]*128“Q. (Reading) ■ ‘And .the Court having ordered the Solicitor to prepare and file an information charging the Defendant with the offense with the •same certainty as an indictment.’ That information was filed, was it not? I show you the information in this case, and ask you if it wasn’t read to you in Court that day? You see this information here, that information had been prepared and filed in that case, had it not, the day it was heard — that’s the charge against you that was presented by the Solicitor?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. So that much of the Court order is true, isn’t it?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Continuing reading from the Court’s order: (Reading) . ‘And the Defendant appearing in Court in his ■own proper person and attended by his attorney Hon. Judson C. Locke.’ That’s true, isn’t it?
“A. Yes, sir; that’s true.
“Q.

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181 So. 2d 510, 43 Ala. App. 125, 1965 Ala. App. LEXIS 310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tadlock-v-state-alactapp-1965.