Flowers v. State of Oklahoma, 8513.
| Citation | 356 F.2d 916 |
| Decision Date | 01 March 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 8513.,8513. |
| Parties | Ruben J. FLOWERS, Appellant, v. The STATE OF OKLAHOMA and Ray Page, Warden, State Penitentiary, Appellee. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit) |
William A. Hillhouse, II, Denver, Colo., for appellant.
Charles L. Owens, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Charles Nesbitt, Atty. Gen., on the brief), for appellee.
Before LEWIS, BREITENSTEIN and HILL, Circuit Judges.
Appellant, presently confined in the Oklahoma Penitentiary, appeals from a denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
The undisputed record shows that he was charged in the District Court of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, with the crime of burglary in the second degree, after conviction of a felony. A jury trial was had and a verdict of guilty resulted. Under Oklahoma procedure,1 a two-stage trial is required when an accused is charged as Flowers was and such a two-stage trial was had in this case. In the first stage the state presents evidence as to the guilt of the accused of the particular crime charged which was second degree burglary and the jury then returns a verdict upon that phase of the accusation. If a guilty verdict is then returned, evidence of prior felony convictions is presented to the same jury for its consideration. The jury in this case first returned a verdict of guilty as to the crime of second degree burglary and after hearing evidence of former felony convictions again retired and then returned a verdict of "guilty of burglary in the second degree after a prior conviction of a felony" and assessed his punishment at twenty years imprisonment in the state penitentiary. No appeal was taken from this judgment of conviction and sentence.
After incarceration in the penitentiary Flowers filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals pro se alleging that he had received an excessive sentence of twenty years because the statutory maximum penalty for the crime for which he was convicted was seven years. That court, after examining the pleadings and record, found that although Flowers had been tried, convicted and sentenced for the crime of burglary in the second degree, after a felony conviction, the journal entry of judgment recited that the accused was found guilty of second degree burglary without further reciting "after a felony conviction". That court denied the writ but directed the sentencing court to conduct a nunc pro tunc proceeding and correct the original court records. Such a proceeding was had in the sentencing court and the records were corrected.
Appellant attempted to compel his presence at the nunc pro tunc proceeding but his requests were denied. He then filed his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, which was denied upon the...
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United States v. York
...corpus is a civil proceeding and so not within the "criminal prosecutions" language of the sixth amendment, e. g., Flowers v. Oklahoma, 356 F.2d 916 (10th Cir. 1966); Dorsey v. Gill, 80 U.S.App.D.C. 9, 148 F.2d 857, 877, (D.C.Cir) cert. denied, 325 U.S. 890, 65 S.Ct. 1580, 89 L.Ed. 2003 (19......
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Bethea v. Crouse, 2-68
...no one has a constitutional right to assistance of counsel in the prosecution or defense of a civil action. See Flowers v. State of Oklahoma, 356 F.2d 916 (10th Cir. 1966); Knoll v. Socony Mobil Oil Co., Inc., 369 F.2d 425 (10th Cir. 1966); Garrison v. Lacey, 362 F.2d 798 (10th Cir. 1966); ......
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Gallegos v. Turner
...to the appointment of counsel in habeas corpus cases, citing Rider v. Crouse, 357 F.2d 317 (10th Cir. 1966) and Flowers v. State of Oklahoma, 356 F.2d 916 (10th Cir. 1966). We have here a situation where counsel was in fact appointed and where the difficulties that would have been involved ......
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Sampson v. State, 930056
...United States, 426 F.2d 1358, 1360 (5th Cir.) cert. denied, 398 U.S. 932, 90 S.Ct. 1831, 26 L.Ed.2d 97 (1970); Flowers v. State of Oklahoma, 356 F.2d 916, 917 (10th Cir.1966); People v. Smith, 35 Mich.App. 349, 192 N.W.2d 626, 627 (1971). Sampson would have had no probability of success adv......