Busby v. Holman

• Decision Date: 29 October 1964
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 2106-N.
• Citation: 237 F. Supp. 271
• Parties: David BUSBY, Petitioner, v. William C. HOLMAN, Warden, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Alabama

237 F. Supp. 271

David BUSBY, Petitioner, v. William C. HOLMAN, Warden, Respondent.

Civ. A. No. 2106-N.

United States District Court M. D. Alabama, N. D.

October 29, 1964.

Thomas S. Lawson, Jr., of Steiner, Crum & Baker, Montgomery, Ala., for petitioner, Busby.

Richmond M. Flowers, Atty. Gen. of Alabama, and John C. Tyson, III, Asst. Atty. Gen. of Alabama, Montgomery, Ala., for respondent, Holman.

JOHNSON, District Judge.

The petitioner Busby, by order of this Court made and entered in this case on August 5, 1964, files in forma pauperis his application for a writ of habeas corpus. On August 10, 1964, this Court, upon the request of petitioner, appointed the Honorable Thomas S. Lawson, Attorney at Law, Montgomery, Alabama, to represent petitioner upon this proceeding.

Busby alleges that he is presently incarcerated by the State of Alabama at Kilby Prison, Montgomery, Alabama, in violation of his constitutional rights. His basic complaint is that his constitutional rights were violated by the State of Alabama, acting through the Circuit Court of Walker County, Alabama, in 1956, during which year he was prosecuted and convicted in said court for the offense of rape; upon his conviction and on August 20, 1956, he was sentenced to the State penitentiary for life. The petitioner is presently serving the life sentence as imposed.

As required by the order of this Court, William C. Holman, Warden, Kilby Prison, Montgomery, Alabama, appeared in this cause through his attorney, the Attorney General for the State of Alabama, by filing a return and answer to Busby's petition. This return and answer was filed with this Court on August 22, 1964. As a part of the return and answer of the respondent Holman, a motion to dismiss the petition for a writ of habeas corpus was presented. This Court by order made and entered on August 25, 1964, determined and held that the matter was not to be disposed of on the motion to dismiss, but that a plenary hearing was to be conducted. A pretrial hearing was held in this matter on September 11, 1964, and, as reflected by the pretrial order of this Court made and entered on said date, it was determined and held that the petitioner Busby had exhausted the remedies available to him in the courts of the State of Alabama, as required by Title 28, § 2254, United States Code. Upon the pretrial hearing, it was determined that the inquiry to be conducted by this Court would be upon the following issues:¹

(1) As to whether or not Busby was forced to enter a plea of guilty in the Circuit Court of Walker County, Alabama, on August 20, 1956, to the charge of forcibly ravishing Gertrude Hogland, a woman, upon which plea he was on August 20, 1956, imprisoned in a penitentiary of the State of Alabama for life. It is understood that this contention on the part of the petitioner includes threats by the circuit solicitor and the court-appointed attorney, the obtaining by the State for the prosecution of a coerced confession, and the totality of the circumstances surrounding his arrest and incarceration.

(2) As to whether Busby was denied the effective assistance of counsel in the case resulting in his prosecution, conviction and present incarceration by the State of Alabama.

Upon this submission, this Court specifically finds that on January 9, 1956, a complaint was duly made before an authorized officer of Walker County, Alabama, against Busby for the offense he was subsequently convicted of, and, upon said complaint, a warrant was issued for his arrest; that on January 27, 1956, extradition proceedings were initiated designed to return Busby from the State of Michigan; that on January 28, 1956, Busby was indicted by a grand jury reporting to the Circuit Court of Walker County, Alabama; and that on March 14, 1956, Busby was returned from Michigan to the State of Alabama to stand trial on the offense as set out in the indictment.² The evidence reflects that while returning to Alabama in the custody of two deputy sheriffs from Walker County, Alabama, Busby denied his guilt in a casual conversation with said deputies. He was not interrogated and not mistreated or abused or threatened during this journey. The evidence further reflects that shortly after Busby's return from the State of Michigan to Walker County, Alabama, he, while lodged in the Walker County Jail at Jasper, Alabama, was interrogated by the circuit solicitor and two deputy sheriffs. He was questioned for approximately one hour by the circuit solicitor in the presence of these deputy sheriffs. The interrogation was terminated, and shortly thereafter, while drinking coffee in the kitchen of the jail with one of the jailers, Blanton Bennett, Busby advised Bennett that he desired to tell the circuit solicitor exactly what had happened in connection with the offenses for which he was then charged. The circuit solicitor was recalled to the jail and Busby related in narrative form, with very little questioning on the part of the solicitor, the facts that form the basis for the confession Busby now says was made involuntarily. The facts as related at this time by Busby were taken down by the solicitor and reveal that Busby confessed fully his guilt to both charges. This Court specifically finds from the credible evidence that at no time material to this case was Busby threatened or mistreated in any way by the circuit solicitor, by either of the deputy sheriffs, or any other official of the State of Alabama, in order to elicit from him a confession of his guilt. As a matter of fact, Busby was specifically advised by the circuit solicitor that he was not required to make any statement concerning the matter. At no time prior to or during his interrogation did Busby make any request for...