Jackson v. Caldwell
| Decision Date | 13 June 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 71-2129.,71-2129. |
| Citation | 461 F.2d 682 |
| Parties | Wilburn JACKSON, Petitioner-Appellee, v. E. B. CALDWELL, Warden, Georgia State Prison, Reidsville, Georgia, Respondent-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., Dorothy T. Beasley, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harold N. Hill, Jr., Executive Asst. Atty. Gen., Courtney Wilder Stanton, Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, Ga., for respondent-appellant.
Robert G. Fierer, Garland & Garland, Edward T. M. Garland, Atlanta, Ga., for petitioner-appellee.
Before JOHN R. BROWN, Chief Judge, and BELL and SIMPSON, Circuit Judges.
The State of Georgia appeals from the district court's grant of habeas corpus relief to Wilburn Jackson, an inmate of the Georgia State Prison, Reidsville, Georgia, where he is confined under a 1959 life sentence for the murder of his wife. In granting the writ, the district court held: (1) the state judge who presided at Jackson's 1959 murder trial should have ordered, sua sponte, that a hearing be held concerning Jackson's competency to stand trial; and (2) in this habeas proceeding Georgia failed to establish that Jackson was competent to stand trial on or near his trial date, July 30, 1959. Review of the record leads us to conclude that the court below was in error in its first holding. We reverse the judgment of the district court on that basis.
In about mid-May, 1959, the petitioner-appellee, Wilburn Jackson, a black, thirty-two year old rural resident of near Temple, Haralson County, Georgia, following an argument with his wife, Louise Jackson, beat her severely with a claw hammer and a rifle butt. She died later the same day. Jackson buried his wife's body in a field together with linens stained with her blood. A few days thereafter he ploughed the field where the body was and sowed it to field peas. Almost three weeks later, Jackson took a bottle of deodorizer and sprinkled its contents on the ground over his wife's body to prevent odor. The body was discovered and reported to authorities June 5, 1959. He gave Sheriff Allen of Haralson County a long statement that day. The statement, largely self-inculpatory was coherent and calm in tone, if not in content.
The grand jury of Haralson County indicated Jackson for murder in the first degree, a capital offense. Two local attorneys, Robert A. Edwards and E. B. Jones, were appointed to represent him. His jury trial for murder began July 30, 1959, in the Haralson Superior Court before the Honorable W. A. Foster, Jr. The principal defense interposed in Jackson's behalf was that of temporary insanity at the time the alleged murder took place. The jury found Jackson guilty as charged with a recommendation of mercy. Because of the recommendation the trial judge imposed a life sentence. Following the imposition of sentence, Jackson's counsel moved for a new trial. This motion was withdrawn the next day. According to counsel, Jackson's avoidance of the death penalty constituted a victory which should not be jeopardized in a second trial. No appeal was taken from the judgment and sentence.
It should be emphasized that never during the murder trial did counsel for Jackson claim that the accused was incompetent to stand trial. All the testimony introduced by the defense bearing upon Jackson's emotional and mental health was in support of a claim that Jackson was temporarily insane when he killed his wife. Because that testimony is crucially significant to our decision, in the light of Pate v. Robinson, 1966, 383 U.S. 375, 86 S.Ct. 836, 15 L.Ed.2d 815, and this Court's en banc ruling in Lee v. State of Alabama, 5 Cir. 1967, 386 F.2d 97, cert. denied 1969, 395 U.S. 927, 89 S.Ct. 1787, 23 L.Ed.2d 246, we set out pertinent excerpts verbatim.
Mr. William Baskin, Jackson's brother-in-law called as a State witness in the murder trial, testified as follows on cross-examination:
On re-direct examination Mr. Baskin testified:
Sheriff L. P. Allen, a witness for the state, testified on direct examination:
On cross-examination Sheriff Allen testified:
The following testimony was given by Sheriff Allen on re-direct examination:
The principal witness at the trial on the question of Jackson's mental condition was Dr. Thomas Leland, who testified on direct examination as follows:
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