Wooten v. United States

307 F. Supp. 80, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8636
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 29, 1969
DocketCiv. A. No. 5420
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 307 F. Supp. 80 (Wooten v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wooten v. United States, 307 F. Supp. 80, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8636 (E.D. Tenn. 1969).

Opinion

OPINION

FRANK W. WILSON, District Judge.

This is a post-conviction proceeding brought pursuant to § 2255, Title 28 U. S.C. By this action the petitioner, Jimmy O. Wooten, seeks to set aside a conviction and sentence in the criminal case of United States of America v. Jimmy Otis Wooten, Criminal Docket No. 12,-117. More specifically, the present petition is directed toward the petitioner’s conviction and sentence upon Counts Six and Eight in the said criminal proceedings. The case is before the Court upon the petitioner’s complaint and the government’s response thereto. The single ground raised in the complaint as the basis for attacking the legality of the petitioner’s aforesaid conviction is that the petitioner’s Sixth Amendment right to confront and cross-examine witnesses was violated in the course of his criminal trial. The petitioner relies in this regard upon the recent cases of Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (decided May 10, 1968) and Roberts v. Russell, 392 U.S. 293, 88 S.Ct. 1921, 20 L.Ed.2d 1100 (decided June 10, 1968).

As the present petition is predicated entirely upon the record made upon the criminal trial in Docket No. 12,117, no evidentiary hearing will be necessary. Rather, the Court may proceed to decide the case upon the allegations of the complaint, the government’s response thereto, and the record upon the criminal trial. That record reflects the following matters: Upon October 26, 1964, the petitioner, Jimmy O. Wooten, along with four other individuals, was indicted upon an 8-count indictment. The first count charged a conspiracy on the part of the petitioner and his co-defendants to violate the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act (18 U.S.C. § 371). The remaining seven counts charge the various defendants with substantive violations of the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 2312-13). The petitioner was charged with substantive violations in Counts Two, Four, Six and Eight, with Counts Three, Five and Seven relating only to other defendants.

The initial trial of the criminal case was commenced upon February 26, 1965, but on the second day of the trial a mistrial was granted due to two jurors having read a newspaper account of the trial in which it was stated that Mr. Wooten had been tried in another federal court upon similar charges, but had been acquitted on a “technicality”. The case was then retried upon March 26, thru March 31, 1965, the trial resulting in the petitioner being found guilty by the jury upon each of the counts of the indictment in which he was charged. Thereupon the petitioner was sentenced to imprisonment for five years on Count One and was sentenced to imprisonment for two years on each of Counts Two, Four, Six and Eight. The sentences were ordered to run consecutively. An appeal was perfected on behalf of the petitioner and he was released upon bail pending the appeal. A motion to revoke bond pending the appeal was filed by the government upon March 28, 1966. The petitioner failed to appear in response to a show cause order on this mo[82]*82tion and his bond was revoked. However, the petitioner was not taken into custody until after his bond had been forfeited and he was arrested upon another charge in another jurisdiction. Meanwhile, the petitioner’s appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeals upon April 28, 1966. The petitioner was eventually taken into custody upon May 19, 1966, and commenced serving the sentences now under attack. It appears that a petition for certiorari may have been filed with the United States Supreme Court, but, if so, the same was denied. The next proceeding in the case was upon January 9, 1968, when the petitioner filed a motion for modification of his sentence. This motion was denied. The present petition is the first petition for post-conviction relief filed by the petitioner. As noted, the relief sought herein is limited to the petitioner’s convictions upon Counts Six and Eight of the indictment. Count Six charges the petitioner with having received and concealed a 1963 Chevrolet Impalla which was traveling in interstate commerce, knowing the same to have been stolen. Count Eight charges the petitioner with having received and concealed a 1961 Ford Galaxie which was traveling in interstate commerce, knowing the same to have been stolen.

The transcript of the record upon the criminal trial reflects that there was received into evidence upon the trial out-of-court statements made by two of the co-defendants, Marie Estep and Robert Ward. Neither of these co-defendants took the stand and testified in the case. The petitioner accordingly contends that as held by the Supreme Court in the case of Bruton v. United States, 391 U. S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476, his Sixth Amendment right to confront and cross-examine the witnesses Estep and Ward was violated by the admission of their out-of-court statements, even though the jury may have been instructed to consider such evidence only as it pertained to the defendants alleged to have made the statements and to disregard such evidence with respect to the petitioner. The petitioner also relies upon Roberts v. Russell, 392 U.S. 293, 88 S.Ct. 1921, 20 L.Ed.2d 1100, wherein the decision in the Bruton case was made retroactive in its application.

Before considering whether the rule in the Bruton case would be applicable so as to entitle the petitioner to the relief which he seeks, a more careful examination of the record on the criminal trial must be made. In brief summary, the record upon that trial reflects that as a result of information received in regard to the theft of a 1962 Cadillac in Atlanta, Georgia, on the evening of October 4, 1964, six agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation engaged in a surveillance of the defendant’s automobile repair shop located at his home on Dalton Pike near Cleveland, Tennessee, on the morning of October 5, 1964. This surveillance commenced in the early morning hours and continued for some three or four hours. During this time the suspected Cadillac was observed being delivered to the petitioner’s residence and the petitioner was observed inspecting it. During this surveillance three other stolen vehicles were also observed being delivered to the petitioner’s home. The co-defendants were among those who made the deliveries. Thereupon the federal agents moved in and arrested the petitioner and his co-defendants. Each of the six federal agents who participated in the surveillance and in the arrest following the surveillance testified to these matters.

In addition, Special Agent Cook testified that co-defendant Marie Estep, after being duly advised of her rights, gave two conflicting statements as to her knowledge and participation in the delivery of the stolen automobiles. In each statement she denied any knowledge that the automobiles were stolen, but gave conflicting statements as to how she arrived at the Wooten residence and as to her acquaintance with her co-defendants (Tr., p. 211 et seq.). The statements by the defendant Estep did not implicate the petitioner beyond placing one of the stolen vehicles, the 1961 Ford Galaxie, at [83]*83the petitioner’s residence.

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Related

Carter v. State
361 N.E.2d 145 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1977)
Walden v. Neil
318 F. Supp. 968 (E.D. Tennessee, 1970)
Jimmie O. Wooten v. United States
420 F.2d 376 (Sixth Circuit, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
307 F. Supp. 80, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8636, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wooten-v-united-states-tned-1969.