Toler v. Wyrick

430 F. Supp. 545
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedApril 4, 1977
DocketNo. 77-47C(2)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 430 F. Supp. 545 (Toler v. Wyrick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Toler v. Wyrick, 430 F. Supp. 545 (E.D. Mo. 1977).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

REGAN, District Judge.

Petitioner Earl William Toler, Jr., a Missouri state prisoner, pled guilty on January 20, 1975 in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County to two counts of robbery in the first degree with a dangerous and deadly weapon. He was sentenced to two concurrent terms of thirteen years imprisonment. Toler commenced this action in forma pauperis for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Respondent Donald W. Wyrick, Warden, Missouri State Penitentiary, has filed copies of the state court records.

Petitioner alleges that his state imprisonment is unlawful, being in violation of the Constitution of the United States, because his guilty pleas were the products “of coercion and duress that resulted from the [state trial] court involving itself in plea discussions and passing judgment upon movant prior to any trial.”

On October 2, 1975 petitioner filed a motion under Missouri Supreme Court Rule 27.26 to set aside these convictions upon the same allegations. The motion was denied without a hearing on October 7, 1975. On August 31, 1976 the denial of relief was affirmed on appeal. Toler v. State of Missouri, 542 S.W.2d 80 (Mo.App.1976). A motion for a rehearing and for transfer to the Supreme Court of Missouri was denied by the Court of Appeals on September 30, 1976. On November 8, 1976 the Supreme Court of Missouri denied a motion to transfer. Therefore, petitioner has exhausted all available state remedies, as required by 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b), (c).

Petitioner argues that the trial court’s participation in the plea bargain process coerced him into pleading guilty. He argues that it was error for the Rule 27.26 trial court not to grant him a hearing on this allegation and he seeks a hearing in this Court. Of course, a federal habeascourt must grant an evidentiary hearing, if the facts are in dispute and the petitioner did not receive a full and fair evidentiary hearing in the state court. Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 312, 83 S.Ct. 745, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963). A hearing is not required when the record of the state court proceedings is uncontested and provides all the necessary data for a satisfactory determination of the issues. United States ex rel. McGrath v. LaVallee, 319 F.2d 308, 312 (2nd Cir. 1963). Although it is his position that the participation of the state trial court in the plea bargaining was inherently coercive, he argues that the denial of a hearing precluded him from establishing his mental state at the time of the guilty plea. In his brief before the Missouri Court of Appeals, when making this argument, petitioner stated:

The movant was not allowed to present any evidence in court or to testify himself as to his memory of the incidents complained of. He was not allowed a forum to express or establish his frame of mind at the time of the plea. The movant’s entire contention rests on the question of whether or not he acted under duress. It is not enough that defendant at the time of the plea states that he is not under threats or being coerced. The fact that the defendant in open court states that the plea is not coerced does not foreclose inquiry as to its involuntariness. The movant was entitled to an evidentiary hearing and the denial of such a hearing was error. [Citations omitted.]

(Resp. Exh. C, 13).

As shown below, the resolution of petitioner’s allegations hinges upon whether [547]*547or not his guilty pleas were made voluntarily. In a voluntariness determination the focus of attention is turned upon the subjective mind of the person making the guilty plea. Griffith v. Wyrick, 527 F.2d 109, 113 (8th Cir. 1975). This focus, however, is not so much influenced by a defendant’s after the fact testimony concerning the state of his mind at the time of the plea as it is by an examination of those factors which allegedly made the plea involuntary. United States ex rel. Robinson v. Housewright, 525 F.2d 988, 991-992 (7th Cir. 1975); Calabrese v. United States, 507 F.2d 259, 260 (1st Cir. 1974); Ford v. United States, 418 F.2d 855, 858 (8th Cir. 1969).

Nowhere in the entire record of the state post-conviction proceedings and in the pleadings filed in this action does petitioner allege any facts relating to his guilty pleas which the denial of an evidentiary hearing prevented him from proving, other than his mental state at the time of the guilty pleas.

Petitioner’s plea hearing transcript, quoted liberally below, indicates with apparent completeness all the plea bargain factors considered by the court, the prosecutor, and by petitioner when the pleas were entered. Petitioner has alleged the existence of no other conversations or representations to him which affected his decision to plead guilty. Therefore, the Court is of the opinion that the claim of involuntariness may be resolved without further evidentiary hearing.

Attached to the instant petition as an exhibit is a photocopy of the opinion in United States v. Werker, 535 F.2d 198 (2nd Cir. 1976). In Werker the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted the United States a writ of mandamus which prevented the District Court from informing the defendant in a pending criminal action what sentence would be imposed, if he should plead guilty, prior to the actual entry of the plea. The writ was granted by the Court of Appeals in the exercise of its supervisory authority over the District Court. The Court was not only concerned with the possible adverse effect which the trial court’s participation in the guilty plea might have upon the plea’s voluntariness, but also with possible delays in the action while awaiting a pre-sentence investigation report and the possible need for substitution of judges should the defendant reject the plea bargain. In its procedural aspects and facts Werker is inapposite to the instant case.

It cannot be doubted that the influence of a trial judge in plea bargaining negotiations may have a profound effect upon the ability of the defendant to make a reasoned choice. United States v. Tateo, 214 F.Supp. 560, 567 (S.D.N.Y.1963); United States ex rel. Elksnis v. Gilligan, 256 F.Supp. 244, 254 (S.D.N.Y.1966). But not all judicial participation in plea bargaining is improper and causes a guilty plea to be involuntary. United States ex rel. Robinson v. Housewright, supra, at 991. The real issue is whether or not the plea was voluntarily made as indicated by its factual context. Id.

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Bluebook (online)
430 F. Supp. 545, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/toler-v-wyrick-moed-1977.