Maglaya v. Buchkoe, 73-2073

• Decision Date: 21 April 1975
• Docket Number: No. 73-2073,73-2073
• Citation: 515 F.2d 265
• Parties: Vincent MAGLAYA, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Raymond J. BUCHKOE, Warden, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 265

515 F.2d 265

Vincent MAGLAYA, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Raymond J. BUCHKOE, Warden, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 73-2073.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

April 21, 1975.

Vincent Maglaya, pro se.

Frank J. Kelley, Atty. Gen. of Michigan, Robert A. Derengoski, Sol. Gen., Thomas A. Carlson, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent-appellee.

Before McCREE, LIVELY and ENGEL, Circuit Judges.

ENGEL, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from denial by the district court without an evidentiary hearing of appellant Vincent Maglaya's petition for writ of habeas corpus, filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The petition, as filed in the district court, alleged eight grounds for relief from Maglaya's conviction by a Detroit Recorder's Court jury of armed robbery of a Kroger Store on May 23, 1966. ¹ We affirm.

Maglaya's principal contentions relate to the credibility of one Patrick Logan who testified for the prosecution at the trial. It is acknowledged that Maglaya's conviction was almost completely dependent upon Logan's testimony and consequently his credibility. The actual robbery itself was carried out by Logan and thus eyewitnesses to the holdup could not identify Maglaya. According to Logan, Maglaya's role in the robbery, had included planning it, furnishing the robbery note and gun, driving Logan and McGath to the vicinity of the store, assisting Logan in his getaway, and finally sharing the proceeds.

Logan had been confined in a state mental hospital from January 1963 to July 1965 when he was released on convalescent status. About four months later, after having been given a psychiatric examination, he was certified as competent and completely discharged.

On September 2, 1966 Logan turned himself in to the police and confessed to involvement in a number of crimes. His confession implicated Maglaya and one Ross McGath in the May 23, 1966 armed robbery involved here, and as well involved Maglaya and one Reece Hayes in the armed robbery of a Food Giant Supermarket in Detroit on April 1, 1966. In consequence of Logan's confession, Maglaya was arrested for both robberies. On December 16, 1966 a preliminary examination was held in both cases, resulting in Maglaya's being bound over for trial on both armed robbery charges. On May 12, 1967 a Detroit Recorder's Court jury found Maglaya guilty of the April 1, 1966 robbery and his conviction was affirmed by the Michigan Court of Appeals in People v. Maglaya, 17 Mich.App. 379, 169 N.W.2d 530. Maglaya's jury trial on the May 23, 1966 robbery commenced in Recorder's Court on October 26, 1967 and resulted in his conviction, and a sentence of not less than 25 years nor more than 40 years by then Recorder's Court Judge Robert E. DeMascio. This conviction was affirmed by the Michigan Court of Appeals, People v. McGath and Maglaya, 31 Mich.App. 351, 187 N.W. 904 (1971). Leave to appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court was denied.

Prior to the preliminary examination on December 16, 1966 before examining magistrate Daniel J. Van Antwerp, Maglaya made a motion for the appointment of a sanity commission to examine Logan. This was denied by Judge Van Antwerp since Logan had already been examined by a Recorder's Court Psychiatric Clinic in connection with a charge on which he was then awaiting sentence. Judge Van Antwerp also denied a defense motion to produce the Psychiatric Clinic's files on Logan. It is the denial by the magistrate of Recorder's Court clinic records relating to Logan's mental condition which Maglaya claims constitutes a denial of due process under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and subsequent cases. In Brady, it was held that "the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to the accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution." 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. at 1197.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the appellant, a careful review of the record confirms the district court's finding that although the existence of the medical reports was known to Maglaya and his counsel, no effort was made to subpoena them in the trial of the May 23 robbery. Maglaya seeks to justify his failure to subpoena the records and witnesses on the basis that the effort would have been futile in view of his earlier experience in the trial of the April 1 robbery. While we do not have the record of that trial, it is apparent from references to it in Maglaya's brief that at the earlier trial he had subpoenaed six witnesses who were either psychologists or psychiatrists, including those who participated in the examination of Logan at the Recorder's Court Clinic.

In post-conviction proceedings in the Recorder's Court, two of the requested reports were ultimately produced. The June 3, 1966 report of psychiatrist Aloysius S. Church stated in part:

"Psychiatric Evaluation

This individual reveals emotional instability with passive-aggressive and compulsive features. There is evidence of paranoid trends. There is a history of a suicidal attempt.

Recommendation:

We recommend a period of institutionalization, to be followed by supervision."

The report of psychiatrist Roger T. Costello, prepared for Recorder's Judge John A. Ricca on October 10, 1966, provided:

"The patient resumed (after leaving the Detroit House of Correction in July) the commission of robberies with a loaded gun. From the Chatham Supermarket alone, the two men and one woman handed over $2200. The patient allegedly split with a buddy and used the balance to buy items for his wife including a hi-fi and French poodle.

The patient has a sociopathic personality disturbance with underlying schizophrenia. He is egocentric, unreliable and undependable.

We would recommend a maximum period of institutionalization."

The Recorder's Court Clinic was established under the authority of Michigan Public Act No. 369 of 1919, § 3, M.C.L.A. 725.3 which grants the court "power to make provision for a psychopathic department of the court and have medical and psychopathic investigations and examinations and treatment of persons coming before said court . . . " Appellant claims that he was entitled, as a matter of Michigan law, to access to the records concerning Logan to assist him in his defense at the trial, relying upon People v. Saccoia, 268 Mich. 132, 255 N.W. 738 (1934) where it was stated:

"The psychopathic department of the court is a part of the court. Its reports are public reports, authorized by law, and the defendant had a right to have access thereto and to learn their contents." 255 N.W. at 740.

Other than to note that in People v. Saccoia, supra, the issue was the defendant's right to access to his own psychiatric records for use in his defense against a murder charge, we do not find it necessary to decide here whether, as to Maglaya, Logan's psychiatric records were properly declared confidential or privileged or were otherwise properly denied under Michigan law.

So far as the record in the state proceedings which led to Maglaya's conviction of the May 23, 1966 robbery, there is no further indication that after the denial of the request during the preliminary examination stage, Maglaya ever again sought to have this information produced. Indeed he does not even make such a claim. Instead, he claims that the unavailing efforts of his counsel to have such information produced at his earlier trial for the April 1, 1966 robbery demonstrate the futility of seeking it in the trial involved here, and thus excused his further efforts. In essence, he argues that the asserted error of the trial court in his trial of the earlier robbery can be raised in a federal court collateral attack upon the validity of an entirely distinct trial involved an entirely separate offense. We find this claim to be completely untenable. At issue here is whether the appellant's constitutional rights to due process and the fundamental fairness implicit therein were denied him in the trial and conviction involved here. We find they were not.

A careful examination of the state court record is convincing that Maglaya's claims are substantially overstated. Contrary to appellant's assertion, no effort to deceive either Maglaya or the jury concerning Logan's background and credibility was made out. On its own initiative, the prosecution brought out at the trial that Logan had previously been institutionalized at Ionia State Hospital and had been released on July 6, 1965; that he had been certified as mentally competent and had had his rights of citizenship restored on February 26, 1966. Admissibility of evidence in a state trial does not normally raise constitutional questions unless it impugns fundamental fairness, Gemmel v. Buchkoe, 358 F.2d 338 (6th Cir. 1966), cert. denied, 385 U.S. 962, 87 S.Ct. 402, 17 L.Ed.2d 306, reh. denied, 385 U.S. 1021, 87 S.Ct. 723, 17 L.Ed.2d 561; Burks v. Egeler, 508 F.2d 672, 6th Cir. Further, we are shown no authority which holds that the denial of discovery at the preliminary examination stage of criminal proceedings rises to the level of a constitutional deprivation. Indeed, we have held in this circuit that there is no constitutional right to a preliminary hearing at all. Dillard v. Bomar, 342 F.2d 789 (6th Cir. 1965). Even assuming the highly doubtful proposition that the evidence sought was admissible, the rights protected under Brady v. Maryland, supra, are not violated when a defendant in a criminal trial has full knowledge of the existence of the evidence prior to trial and makes no effort to obtain its production. In addition, we note that the facts concerning Logan's prior mental history were exhaustively covered at the trial.

Closely akin to the Brady issue is the claim that the prosecution knowingly permitted Logan to testify falsely at the trial in violation of Maglaya's right to due process as protected under Mooney v. Holohan, 294 U.S. 103, 55...