United States ex rel. Durso v. Pate

299 F. Supp. 647, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8571
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMay 28, 1969
DocketNo. 68 C 1780
StatusPublished

This text of 299 F. Supp. 647 (United States ex rel. Durso v. Pate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States ex rel. Durso v. Pate, 299 F. Supp. 647, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8571 (N.D. Ill. 1969).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PERRY, District Judge.

This matter comes on upon the petition for writ of habeas corpus by petitioners, Thomas Durso and Michael Gargano, the return to rule to show cause of respondent, Frank J. Pate, Warden, Illinois State Penitentiary, Joliet-Stateville Branch, and petitioners’ answer to respondent’s return.

In their petition, petitioners allege as follows:

“2. Petitioners are presently in custody in the Illinois State Penitentiary at Stateville, Joliet, Illinois, having been remanded there pursuant to the order and sentence imposed by the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Criminal Division at Chicago, Illinois, with respect to cause No. 64-1317 wherein they were charged with the crime of murder, found guilty after trial by jury, and sentenced on November 24, 1964 to 100 to 150 years in the aforesaid penitentiary.
“3. Petitioners were represented by privately engaged counsel in the trial court, i. e., Petitioner Durso was represented by Julius L. Echeles and Petitioner Gargano was represented by Robert J. McDonnel, both counsel located in Chicago, Illinois, who duly filed on Petitioners’ behalf a written motion for new trial which was denied and who duly filed on Petitioners’ behalf notice of appeal directly to the Illinois Supreme Court on the ground that the cause involved constitutional issues. The Supreme Court, over the objection of the People of the State of Illinois, heard the direct appeal and affirmed the convictions by written opinion handed down on May 29, 1968 [People v. Durso, 40 Ill.2d 242, 239 N.E.2d 842]. Said opinion has not as yet been reported. We attach a copy hereto as Exhibit ‘1’. A petition for rehearing was duly filed with the Illinois Supreme Court on June 19, 1968, which petition was denied on September 24, 1968, a copy of which order is attached hereto as Exhibit ‘2’.
“4. Petitioners’ grounds hereinafter alleged in support of this petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus were specifically raised by Petitioners’ counsel in their written motion for a new trial [649]*649and, in addition, they were specifically raised in Petitioners’ briefs and petition for rehearing in the Illinois Supreme Court. Petitioners have not filed any other proceedings either in the state or federal courts with respect to their conviction other than the Illinois Supreme Court proceedings above described, the rulings with respect to which are attached hereto as Exhibits T and ‘2’.
“5. Petitioners were denied due process of law in violation of their state and federal constitutional rights during their state trial because:
“(a) The People secreted a police report which contained evidence favorable to the Petitioners and thereby violated the rule laid down by the United States Supreme Court in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 at 87 [83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215] (1963); Giles v. Maryland, 386 U.S. 66 at 74 [87 S.Ct. 793, 17 L.Ed. 2d 737] (1967) ; and U. S. v. Felton [United States ex rel. Felton v. Rundle 410 F.2d 1300] (3rd Cir. 1968) (Opinion filed July 11, 1968, not yet reported, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit ‘3’).
“(b) The People were allowed to introduce over objection evidence of violations of the Illinois Narcotic Drug Act, not by Petitioners, but by others out of the presence of the Petitioners and in so doing so inflamed the passion and prejudice of the jury as to deny to Petitioners a fair trial for the crime with which they were charged.”

In their petition, petitioners state that they have not filed any other proceedings in the State or Federal courts with respect to their conviction other than the Illinois Supreme Court proceeding described in their petition. Actually, since that time, they have filed with the United States Supreme Court a petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Illinois, which has been denied. Durso v. Illinois, 393 U.S. 1111, 89 S.Ct. 923, 21 L.Ed.2d 807. They have made no effort to seek post conviction hearings under the laws of the State of Illinois, nor have they filed petitions for the issuance of habeas corpus writs in the courts of the State of Illinois. Thus they had not exhausted their remedies at the time of the filing of their petition herein and they have not done so to this date. Their failure to do so would require this court to deny their petition. However, since the petition, affidavits, exhibits, return, and answer thereto are all before the court, full consideration will be given to them by the court and the court will rule upon the merits thereof.

The petitioners rely upon two grounds in their petition herein, namely sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 5, set forth in full above. The court will first consider the allegations set forth in paragraph 5(b), again set forth as follows:

“(b) The People were allowed to introduce over objection evidence of violations of the Illinois Narcotic Drug Act, not by Petitioners, but by others out of the presence of the Petitioners and in so doing so inflamed the passion and prejudice of the jury as to deny to the Petitioners a fair trial for the crime with which they were charged.”

No constitutional question whatsoever is raised in this allegation. No constitutional right is charged to have been violated. The whole subject matter of this allegation is one of relevance of evidence that is exclusively for the discretion of the trial court. If submitted to a jury it is a question of fact for the jury to consider and weigh in arriving at its verdict. All of the subject matter has been raised upon review before the Supreme Court of Illinois and the conviction of the defendants by that court affirmed. Furthermore, the petition of petitioners for a writ of certiorari to be issued by the Supreme Court of the United States to the Supreme Court of Illinois has been denied. The question [650]*650is now res adjudicata. There is no ground for a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to issue from this court on that subject matter.

The court now considers the only-other ground relied upon by petitioners, namely paragraph 5(a) of their petition. In that paragraph petitioners charge that the prosecution suppressed evidence favorable to their case which, if revealed to them before or at trial, would have enabled them to present material evidence before the jury that might well have affected the jury in a manner favorable to them.

The record reveals that petitioners’ claim is utterly without merit. The prosecution offered to produce the document sought, but Mr. Julius L. Echeles, counsel for petitioner Durso, made the following response:

“Mr. Echeles: If the Court please, I respectfully ask the opportunity to ask the witness questions with respect to statements, and then I’ll make a demand, Your Honor. I prefer to do it on the record rather than to be given anything gratuitously by Mr. Flynn, Sir.” (Rec. 817).

Mr. Robert J. McDonnell, attorney for petitioner Gargano, made no objection.

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Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Giles v. Maryland
386 U.S. 66 (Supreme Court, 1967)
The PEOPLE v. Durso
239 N.E.2d 842 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1968)
Durso v. Illinois
393 U.S. 1111 (Supreme Court, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
299 F. Supp. 647, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8571, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-ex-rel-durso-v-pate-ilnd-1969.