Cremeans v. Chapleau

• Decision Date: 14 August 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-5609,94-5609
• Citation: 62 F.3d 167
• Parties: Richard Harrison CREMEANS, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Walt CHAPLEAU, Warden, and Commonwealth of Kentucky, Respondents-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 167

62 F.3d 167

Richard Harrison CREMEANS, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Walt CHAPLEAU, Warden, and Commonwealth of Kentucky,

Respondents-Appellants.

No. 94-5609.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Submitted July 28, 1995.

Decided Aug. 14, 1995.

Richard Harrison Cremeans, LaGrange, KY, pro se.

C. William Swinford, Jr. (briefed), Lexington, KY, for petitioner-appellee.

Laura Early (briefed), Office of Atty. Gen., Frankfort, KY, for respondents-appellants.

Before: ENGEL, NELSON, and SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judges.

SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judge.

Appellee Richard Cremeans was granted federal habeas corpus relief in April 1994. The district court granted relief on the ground that the length of delay from the time Cremeans pleaded guilty in October 1977 to the time an evidentiary hearing was held on the issue of Cremeans' competency at the time he pleaded guilty denied Cremeans due process of law. For the reasons that follow, we REVERSE.

I.

Police officers arrested Cremeans in September 1975, after Cremeans broke into a drug store in Cave City, Kentucky. Cremeans was indicted for burglary, theft by unlawful taking, possession of burglar's tools and illegal possession of controlled substances. Cremeans pleaded guilty in October 1975, but requested that a jury impose the penalty after the Commonwealth refused to recommend any penalty other than the maximum sentence. The jury recommended a sentence of five years on each of three counts and twelve months on a remaining count, and Cremeans was sentenced to fifteen years.

Following the judgment, Cremeans filed a motion to set aside, vacate or correct the judgment, claiming the conditions of confinement prior to trial coupled with his withdrawal from drugs caused him to plead guilty in the hope that he would receive medical treatment for his addiction. The state trial court denied the motion without a hearing; however, in September 1977, the state court of appeals ordered the trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing on the issue of Cremeans' competency. The trial court set an evidentiary hearing for October 28, 1977. On October 13, 1977, Cremeans filed a motion for a continuance which the court granted. When Cremeans was discharged on parole on January 9, 1978, no evidentiary hearing had been held. According to Cremeans, while he was on parole he contacted the public defender's office on numerous occasions regarding the hearing.

In 1984, Cremeans returned to prison as a parole violator. He then inquired about the status of his case and learned that the public advocacy office could not handle his case due to a possible conflict of interest and that another attorney was hired to represent Cremeans. Cremeans filed a writ of mandamus, and on August 29, 1984, the state court of appeals issued an order directing the state trial court to appoint counsel for Cremeans and to hold an evidentiary hearing on the question of his competency to enter a guilty plea. The evidentiary hearing was held September 19, 1984, almost seven years after the initial order and nine years after the plea.

At the evidentiary hearing, Cremeans testified that he was addicted to drugs for three or four years prior to his arrest. Shortly after his arrest, Cremeans passed out from an overdose of drugs he took while in the drugstore. He was hospitalized and discharged the next morning. Cremeans testified that he requested treatment for his addiction, and that he experienced withdrawal symptoms on the date of his trial. Cremeans stated that he had scabs and abscesses on his arms from infection that resulted from drug injections. Cremeans also introduced medical evidence regarding his addiction. His medical expert, Dr. Bogart, testified during a 1977 deposition that the passage of two weeks time between Cremeans arrest and the time of his plea would have been sufficient to facilitate Cremeans' awareness of the effect of his plea.

At the evidentiary hearing, the arresting officers testified that they were familiar with drug withdrawal symptoms and that they did not observe any such symptoms in the defendant during the plea and sentencing. The defendant's trial attorney and the trial judge testified to the same, and both noted that the defendant actively participated in his defense. Defense counsel stated that Cremeans acted as if he had a hangover for approximately four to six days after his arrest. This symptom was not apparent at the time Cremeans entered his plea or during the sentencing proceeding. The transcript of the 1975 jury proceeding supports their testimony. After hearing all the evidence, the state trial court found that Cremeans was competent to enter his guilty plea.

II.

We review the district court's decision in a habeas corpus case de novo. United States v. Ferguson, 918 F.2d 627, 630 (6th Cir.1990)(per curiam). We give complete deference to state court findings unless they are clearly erroneous. Sumner v. Mata, 455 U.S. 591, 597, 102 S.Ct. 1303, 1306-07, 71 L.Ed.2d 480 (1982); 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254(d). The deference applies to historical facts not mixed question of law and fact. Smith v. Jago, 888 F.2d 399, 407-08 (6th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 495 U.S. 961, 110 S.Ct. 2572, 109 L.Ed.2d 754 (1990). The focus of the inquiry is whether Cremeans was mentally and physically competent at the time he pleaded guilty. The question of whether Cremeans was competent to waive trial is a mixed question of law and fact. Drope v....