Horace v. Wainwright, 85-3343

• Decision Date: 14 February 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-3343,85-3343
• Citation: 781 F.2d 1558
• Parties: Willie Wesley HORACE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Louie L. WAINWRIGHT, Secretary, Department of Corrections, State of Florida, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1558

781 F.2d 1558

Willie Wesley HORACE, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Louie L. WAINWRIGHT, Secretary, Department of Corrections State of Florida, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 85-3343.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

Feb. 14, 1986.

Howard W. Skinner, Jacksonville, Fla., for petitioner-appellant.

Kurt L. Barch, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, Fla., for respondent-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Before HILL, Circuit Judge, TUTTLE and HENDERSON, ^* Senior Circuit Judges.

TUTTLE, Senior Circuit Judge:

Horace appeals from the dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus by which he seeks a reversal of his conviction of robbery and a sentence to life imprisonment in the Circuit Court in Alachua County, Florida on January 7, 1966. Horace was subsequently placed on life probation, and is therefore not now in custody.

I. STATEMENT OF THE CASE

A. Historical Background

On August 5, 1950, Horace was duly adjudged to be incompetent (dementia praecox) and was committed to the Florida State Hospital by a county judge for Leon County, Florida, pursuant to Sec. 394.20, Florida Statutes (1940). In December 1953, Horace escaped from the institution. A certified search of the records in Leon County, Florida in March 1977, reveals that Horace's formal adjudication of incompetency remained in effect at all times material hereto.

Subsequently, on March 14, 1955, Horace was convicted on pleas of guilty to three charges, and was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. These convictions were reversed by the Florida Supreme Court by an opinion which contained the following language:

Respondent recognizes the rule of our cases holding that a person adjudged to be insane is presumed to remain in that condition until it is shown that sanity has returned. While the presumption raised by the adjudication is not conclusive, the effect of the decisions is that it must be recognized unless and until it is overcome by a contrary finding or proof that at a particular time the party previously adjudged incompetent was in fact of sound mind. In the situation at bar, the rule clearly requires that the judgments and sentences imposed against petitioner, as well as his plea to the charges against him, be vacated and set aside.

111 So.Rep.2d 670, 671 (1959) (footnote omitted).

Upon remand, upon receipt of a report from a doctor appointed to determine Horace's sanity, November 11, 1959, the court ordered Horace "readmitted to Florida State Hospital for a period of three to six months to more accurately determine [his' mental status.]" On August 1, 1960, the court entered an order indicating that the examination had been completed "and that [Horace] is not considered psychotic." The next record available reflects that on September 26, 1960, Horace was convicted by a petit jury of breaking and entering and received a five year sentence with credit for time served.

B. Contested Conviction ¹

In 1965, Horace was charged with robbery in Alachua County, Florida. On September 24, 1965, the Honorable James C. Atkins, Jr. appointed the public defender and the information was read to Horace. No penalties were mentioned. Appointed counsel entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. Medical doctors, Josh D. Davis and Henry L. Lyons, were appointed by the court to examine Horace. On December 6, 1965, a different public defender appeared before a different judge and copies of the doctors' reports were handed to the judge. Dr. Lyons' letter states that it was his "impression" that Horace was competent at the time of the act and "competent now" and able to cooperate with counsel in his defense. The report of Dr. Davis states that "Horace has a personality disorder which is essentially of no consequence to the court" and it was his "impression that Horace [was malingering] in contrast to being psychotic or insane." Dr. Davis' report contains no specific findings as to competency at the time of the act or competency to stand trial.

Then at the hearing, defense counsel stated: "The defendant is going to waive this sanity hearing at this time and announce his competency to be tried." The judge found Horace competent to stand trial based on the two reports and the public defender's statement. The judge said: "Whether he was crazy when he did it would be a question for the jury, I would assume. Or insane." (sic)

On January 7, 1966, the parties appeared before the trial court. Thereupon, defense counsel moved to withdraw the plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity and entered a plea of guilty. The judge asked counsel if he "discussed this matter with the defendant and the nature of the charge and all the necessary elements." Counsel responded: "Yes, Your Honor, and I have had the case thoroughly investigated." The court then asked Horace his age and counsel made a one sentence statement in mitigation referring to Horace's "long history of mental disturbance." The judge asked who the victim was. The court then adjudged Horace guilty and asked if Horace was married and how far he went in school. The judge, who apparently had his rap sheet, noted that Horace started having trouble with the law in 1945. The judge then asked about the location of an apparent 30 year sentence Horace had received. A prosecutor stated: "Levy County, I believe." The court asked Horace if he had filed a petition on the Gideon case. When Horace said "yes," the prosecutor corrected him and advised that "some time in the past there had been an adjudication of incompetency and following that the sentence was set aside by the appellate court; he was reexamined and found to be competent and a subsequent sentence was again imposed in Levy County--for I don't know what number of years." Another prosecutor remarked "five years." The judge asked if he served his time and the prosecutor said: "Yes." Thereupon, the court sentenced Horace to confinement in the Florida State Prison for the duration of his natural life. Thus, the entire guilty plea and sentencing transpired with no mention of any constitutional rights or factual basis for the plea. None of the transcripts mentioned penalty until it was imposed. No finding of sanity at the time of the act was made by the court. The court did not ask Horace if he was in fact guilty. Horace was paroled for lifetime supervision on September 24, 1974.

C. Subsequent Indictment and Competency Determination

On January 18, 1977, Horace was indicted in the United States District Court, Northern District of Florida for bank robbery. The United States District Court committed Horace to the Medical Center at Springfield, Missouri, for competency assessment. Three months later, the federal court held a competency hearing and found Horace not competent to stand trial. Horace was sent back to Springfield for further mental examinations to determine whether he was likely to regain his competency to stand trial. On February 10, 1978, United States District Judge, the Honorable William Stafford, found that there was no substantial likelihood that Horace would regain his competency within the foreseeable future, and he dismissed the federal indictment, and released Horace to the sheriff of Leon County, Florida.

II. THE ISSUES

After careful consideration of the record, we conclude that the following issues are before this Court:

1. Was Horace's mental competency adequately established at the time of the trial and at the time that his counsel conceded competency to stand trial, and competency to plead guilty and enter such a plea?

2. Does the record show that when it accepted the plea of guilty the court could know the accused had an understanding of the "consequences of the plea," the law prior to Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969)?

3. Whether Horace's contentions in regard to the above issues should be barred because of the rule of procedural default or on the ground of laches.

III. DISCUSSION

1. The State does not contest appellant's argument that an accused cannot under the law of Florida be "tried, sentenced or executed while insane." In fact, the court said as much in Horace v. Culver, 111 So.2d 670, the case which was reversed in favor of the present appellant on his earlier conviction. The court there said:

The decided cases adequately dispose of the contention that any burden might rest upon the disabled party in such circumstances to inform the court or formally plead his status. An accused cannot under our law be tried, sentenced or executed while insane, and the ignorance or good faith of the court and prosecuting officers does not serve to validate a proceeding conducted in violation of this precept.

111 So.2d at 671.

The question then becomes "was Horace 'sane' or 'insane' at the time his counsel pleaded guilty on his behalf at the trial at issue here." ² The Florida Supreme Court, again in Horace, answered that question also. The court said:

... This court has however previously approved the use of the writ of habeas corpus to set aside a judgment of conviction in circumstances very similar to those here involved, where a prior adjudication of incompetence had not, at the time of sentence, been formally controverted or overcome and we affirm the conclusions reached in that case. (Emphasis added.)

The case referred to in Horace is Perkins v. Mayo, 92 So.2d 641, at p. 644 where the court said:

It is last contended that having been adjudicated a mental incompetent by the Circuit Court of Leon County, petitioner is presumed to have remained so, until a formal adjudication of competency, and being so the adjudications and sentences imposed by the court on May 2, 1950, are illegal and void. We think there is merit to this contention.... Petitioner having been adjudicated mentally incompetent Feb. 15, 1949, he is presumed to remain in that state until a proper hearing is held and he is adjudicated to be...