Edwards v. Holman
Decision Date | 17 March 1965 |
Docket Number | No. 21557.,21557. |
Citation | 342 F.2d 679 |
Parties | Charles EDWARDS, Appellant, v. William C. HOLMAN, Acting Warden of Kilby Prison, State of Alabama, Appellee. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Charles R. Crowder, Birmingham, Ala., for appellant.
Richmond M. Flowers, Atty. Gen., John C. Tyson, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., Montgomery, Ala., for appellee.
Before RIVES, WISDOM and BELL, Circuit Judges.
Edwards was tried in the Circuit Court of Shelby County, Alabama, on April 27, 1957, convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He did not appeal from the judgment of conviction. After serving nearly five years, Edwards filed a petition for writ of error coram nobis in the court in which he was convicted. The court appointed counsel to represent the petitioner and ordered Edwards brought to the Shelby County Jail in order that he and his court-appointed counsel might have an opportunity to confer and prepare for the hearing. Thereafter the court denied the application, stating:
Twenty days after that order, Edwards filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Alabama. There was another full hearing following which the court denied the petition for habeas corpus. That judgment and the judgment denying coram nobis were both affirmed by the Supreme Court of Alabama on the same day, February 28, 1963.1 In the coram nobis proceeding certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court of the United States.2 Edwards then filed the present petition for habeas corpus in the United States District Court.
The court appointed able counsel to represent Edwards. Since findings of fact and conclusions of law had not been made in the State coram nobis proceeding, the federal district court granted a full evidentiary hearing.3 The issues as framed in a formal pretrial order and as decided by the court were:
Upon the hearing, the petitioner Edwards testified in his own behalf, and the respondent introduced the deposition of the State judge who presided at Edwards' trial for murder and the testimony of eight witnesses ore tenus. The district court entered full findings of fact and conclusions of law comprising some five pages of the typed record, and denied the petition for habeas corpus.
Upon appeal, this Court appointed different counsel to whom we are indebted for an unusually vigorous and able presentation of the issues in behalf of Edwards. Each of the questions decided in the district court against Edwards was based upon the court's findings of fact which cannot be set aside as clearly erroneous.4 Indeed after a careful study of the record, we are in full agreement with those findings.
Resourceful counsel, however, by putting a different gloss upon the first issue, present as a question of law — the contention that under Escobedo v. State of Illinois, 1964, 378 U.S. 478, 84 S.Ct. 1758, 12 L.Ed.2d 977, Edwards should have been provided "the assistance of counsel" as soon as he became a suspect in the murder case. The state court had appointed counsel after the indictment was returned but prior to arraignment. Understanding and consideration of this issue require a brief statement of some of the essential facts.
Edwards had previous convictions for "violation of prohibition law" and for "white slavery." He was arrested in Jefferson County, Alabama, in October 1956 on a warrant charging him with burglary. He was held in the jail at Birmingham for two weeks, during which time he was questioned about various burglaries of which he was suspected. The interrogation was extensive. Tom Ellison, a criminal investigator for the sheriff's office, testified that he was with Edwards as much as sixteen hours a day "for a purpose." However, Edwards himself testified:
Edwards further testified:
"We stayed in jail a week before they ever commenced to question about a murder in Birmingham."
As to the reason for Edwards removal from Jefferson County to adjacent Shelby County, Tom Ellison testified:
Edwards had testified:
Tom Ellison testified (and his testimony was not disputed) that while Edwards was in Birmingham jail he was advised of his rights to remain silent, to consult an attorney, and that any statement he made could be used against him.5
After arrival at the Shelby County jail, Edwards was questioned about the murders.6 There was no finding as to the exact period of questioning prior to Edwards' oral confession. The estimates of various witnesses ranged from forty-five minutes to four hours. Two hours seems to be the most frequently stated time. At the time of his confession the prime suspect of the murder was his woman companion, Inez Able. As testified by Sheriff Sims:
After Edwards had orally confessed, he was taken to the scene of the murders where he gave further details. He was then taken back to the jail where his statement was taken down and signed. Over objection, that statement was introduced in evidence at his trial.
No preliminary trial was ever conducted, nor was Edwards ever carried before a committing magistrate. Edwards was not advised by an attorney until after his indictment on April 10, 1957. The admissibility of Edwards' confession, however, was not affected by his subsequent detention before his indictment.7 The federal rule requiring an arrested person to be taken without unnecessary delay before a committing magistrate has no application to one arrested on a state charge and in the custody of state officers.8
The circumstances under and extent to which the Supreme Court has advanced the point where the criminal process shifts from investigatory to accusatory need not be restated, but can best be determined by a...
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