Neal v. Culver

• Decision Date: 23 January 1961
• Docket Number: No. 52,52
• Citation: 5 L.Ed.2d 445,81 S.Ct. 413,365 U.S. 109
• Parties: Elijah McNEAL, Jr., Petitioner, v. R. O. CULVER, as State Prison Custodian
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

365 U.S. 109

81 S.Ct. 413

5 L.Ed.2d 445

Elijah McNEAL, Jr., Petitioner,

v R. O. CULVER, as State Prison Custodian.

No. 52.

Argued Dec. 6, 1960.

Decided Jan 23, 1961.

Mr. Sam Daniels, Miami, for petitioner.

Mr. Odis M. Henderson, for respondent.

Mr. Justice WHITTAKER delivered the opinion of the Court.

Upon an information charging 'Assault to Murder in the First Degree,' petitioner was put to trial, without counsel, before a jury in Florida court, was convicted of 'Assault to Murder in the Second Degree' and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 20 years which he is now serving. No appeal was taken, but within a year from his conviction petitioner filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Court of Florida.

In that rather inartfully drawn petition, prepared in the penitentiary, at least the following allegations were made with reasonable clarity: When brought before the court for trial, petitioner, an indigent, ignorant and mentally ill Negro then 29 years of age, advised the court that he was without, and unable to obtain, counsel to conduct his defense and asked that counsel be appointed to represent him. The judge declined to do so, saying (1) '(S)ince this is not a capital offence you are not entitled to a court appointed attorney,' and (2) 'you won't need a Lawyer in this case.' Immediately, a jury was impaneled, the trial began, and petitioner was left to conduct his own defense. But, having 'never before appeared in any court on a felony, and * * * not understand(ing) court procedure or know(ing) how to defend himself,' petitioner was unable effectively to conduct and present his defense, and, in consequence, the court's denial of his request for counsel deprived him of due process of law guaranteed by both the Florida and the United States Constitutions.

The Florida Supreme Court issued a provisional writ of habeas corpus directing respondent to make a proper return. Respondent's return denied that 'petitioner's constitutional right were violated by the court's alleged refusal to appoint counsel in his behalf,' attached a copy of (1) a partial transcript of proceedings at the trial (2) the judgment of conviction and sentence, and (3) the commitment, and asserted that petitioner was being lawfully imprisoned under the latter document. Finding nothing 'in this record of the trial to show whether or not any request was made of the trial judge to appoint counsel to aid the petitioner in his defense,' and believing 'that the issues were (not) so complex, or (that) the petitioner was (not) so young, ignorant and inexperienced, as to bring into play the exception to the rule requiring appointment of counsel only in capital cases and to require further inquiry into the procedure culminating in his conviction and sentence,' the Florida Supreme Court, without any hearing upon petitioner's allegations, discharged the writ and remanded petitioner to custory. 113 So.2d 381, 382. We granted certiorari to determine whether the allegations in the habeas corpus petition, as supplemented by other portions of the record, are such as entitled him to a full hearing thereon, and, if so and if those allegations be found true, whether petitioner was denied due process of law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. 362 U.S. 910, 80 S.Ct. 662, 4 L.Ed.2d 618.

It is thoroughly settled that:

"Where the gravity of the crime and other factors—such as the age and education of the defendant, the conduct of the court or the prosecuting officials, and the complicated nature of the offense charged and the possible defenses thereto—render criminal proceedings without counsel so apt to result in injustice as to be fundamentally unfair,' the Constitution requires that the accused must have legal assistance at his trial.' Cash v. Culver, 358 U.S. 633, 637, 79 S.Ct. 432, 436, 6 L.Ed.2d 557, and cases cited.¹ The record shows that petitioner was involved in a minor altercation with the proprietors—two men named Scurry—of what is referred to as a 'jook,' called the 'Blue Chip,' located in the 'colored quarters' of Lake Wales, Florida, during the evening of December 10, 1957, and was ordered to leave the place, which he did. Soon afterward, petitioner, 'without shirt or shoes' and armed with a shotgun, approached the 'Blue Chip' and, although a number of persons, including one of the Scurrys, were standing on the sidewalk, petitioner fired the gun in their direction. Some of the pellets struck the lower legs of four persons, but Scurry was not hit. City police officers immediately arrested petitioner. They stated that, in the course of transporting him to jail, petitioner said that 'he was sorry he shot these other boys, he intended to kill Scurry.' On this premise, petitioner was charged with and tried for 'assault to Murder in the First Degree.'

Although the record does not disclose the extent of petitioner's education, there is abundant evidence that it was slight.² Moreover, the record shows that he suffered head injuries in the Army in 1952, and ever since has been subject to 'blackout spells' when excited. For a period of months following April 8, 1956, he underwent treatment for his mental condition in the Veterans Hospital at Bay Pines, Florida, and during four months of that period he was detained in the psychopathic ward. In October 1956, he was released, apparently to his mother as his guardian,³ but he continued to return to the hospital to 'get pills.'

The record shows that petitioner was incapable of questioning witnesses and otherwise unable to conduct his defense. The State produced four witnesses—the complaining witness, Ellix Scurry, and three police officers. Petitioner asked two questions of the witness Scurry and obtained answers thereto. His third 'question' was precluded by the judge, although not objected to by the State, because 'that is testifying and it isn't time for you to testify.' Petitioner asked no further questions of Scurry, did not cross-examine the other three witnesses, nor did he make a single objection during the trial. When the State rested, the judge said to petitioner: 'All right, now, Elijah, that is the State's case. If you want to, you can take the stand and tell your side of it. If you don't want to, you don't have to * * *.' Petitioner then took the stand and, after mentioning his head injury, 'blackout spells' and hospital treatment for his mental illness, testified that he must have suffered a 'blackout spell' preceding and during the shooting incident as 'that part is a complete blank,' but that he is sure he did not 'intend to kill anybody.' He then attempted to put in evidence a doctor's statement which he said verified his claim of suffering 'blackout spells.' Although the State did not object, the judge said 'This statement would not be admissible. You could put the doctor on and have him testify; but we cannot admit any statement like this,' and the statement was not received in evidence. At the conclusion of petitioner's testimony, the judge said to petitioner: 'Now, Lige, if you had an attorney, he would argue the case before the jury' and advised petitioner that, if he desired, he could 'plead (his) case.' Petitioner replied: 'Well, sir, I don't quite understand the meaning of that,' and he did not make any argument to the jury.

These facts tend strongly to show that petitioner's ignorance, coupled with his mental illness and complete unfamiliarity with the law and court procedures, and the scant, if any, help he received from the court, made the trial fundamentally unfair.

In addition to this showing of petitioner's lack of education and mental illness and his consequent inability to defend himself, the record at least implicitly discloses a number of highly complex legal questions, beyond the comprehension of almost any layman.

The Florida assault law appears to be replete with distinctions and degrees. Mayhem, bare assault, assault and battery, aggravated assault and assault with intent to commit felony are all statutory offenses.⁴ Assault with intent to commit felony—apparently the crime intended to be charged against petitioner—incorporates by reference all Florida felonies and the degrees thereof.⁵ The Florida homicide statutes appear to create four separate offenses—manslaughter,⁶ and murder in the first, second and third degrees.⁷ In considering the interplay between homicide and assault with intent to commit felony, the Florida courts have held that, although one may be guilty of assault with intent to commit manslaughter, Lassiter v. State, 98 Fla. 370, 123 So. 735, there is no such thing as assault with intent to commit murder in the second or third degree because inasmuch as those crimes do not require a finding of 'intent'—such would be 'an assault with intent to commit an act without intent.' Tillman v. State, 81 Fla. 558, 564, 88 So. 377, 380.

To establish the requisite 'intent' to commit any of the grades or degrees of unlawful homicide 'it will not be sufficient to show that the killing, had it occurred, would have been unlawful and a felony, but it must be found that the accused committed the assault with intent to take life, for although an unintentional or involuntary killing may in some cases be unlawful and a felony, no man can intentionally do an unitentional act; and without the intent the assault can not be punished under this statute, even though the killing, had it been committed, would have amounted to a felony * * *.' Williams v. State, 41 Fla. 295, 298, 26 So. 184, 185.

If, in firing the gun, petitioner did not have this felonious 'intent to kill,' his greatest possible crime would have been 'Aggravated Assault'—an assault 'with a deadly weapon, without intent to kill.'⁸ This is not an academic distinction, for 15 years' difference in punishment is involved.⁹ The only testimony in this record of 'intent to kill' was that of the police officers who testified that while transporting...