Blount v. State

• Decision Date: 24 August 1990
• Citation: 572 So.2d 498
• Parties: Charles Edward BLOUNT v. STATE. CR 89-9.
• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 498

572 So.2d 498

Charles Edward BLOUNT v. STATE.

CR 89-9.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

Aug. 24, 1990.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 30, 1990.

Charles Edward Blount, pro se.

Don Siegelman, Atty. Gen., and Norbert H. Williams, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

PATTERSON, Judge.

Charles Edward Blount appeals from the summary denial of his A.R.Cr.P.Temp. 20 petition. He filed his petition on November 9, 1989, seeking post-conviction relief on the ground that he had allegedly been denied his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel during the proceedings wherein he was prosecuted in Mobile County for burglary in the third degree; convicted, as charged, by a jury on October 18, 1988; and sentenced, as a habitual offender with three prior felony convictions, to life imprisonment on December 16, 1988. He was represented in the burglary case by appointed counsel. On the date of sentence, December 16, 1988, different counsel was appointed to represent him on appeal. He appealed his conviction, and we affirmed, without issuing an opinion, on August 25, 1989. Blount v. State, 553 So.2d 136 (Ala.Cr.App.1989).

Appellant specifically contends, in his petition, that he was denied effective assistance of counsel by his trial attorney's failure to move for a judgment of acquittal on the burglary charge on the ground of insufficient evidence; by his trial attorney's failure to request that the jury be instructed on the defense of duress; and by appellate counsel's filing of an "Anders " ¹ brief even though, he says, several meritorious claims could have been raised. The state moved for dismissal of the petition on the grounds that it lacked specificity and constituted a successive petition. On January 22, 1990, the trial court entered its order denying the petition on the grounds that it was a successive petition within the meaning of Rule 20.2(b), because appellant had previously filed a Rule 20 petition alleging the same or similar grounds, and that the asserted issues either had been raised or could have been raised on appeal of the burglary conviction, Rule 20.2(a)(4) and (5).

The record shows that, while appellant's appeal on the burglary charge was pending, he filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Mobile Circuit Court, claiming that the sentence for his burglary conviction was invalid due to an erroneous application of the Habitual Felony Offender Act. The record also shows that the petition was dismissed, after an evidentiary hearing, on August 3, 1989. No appeal was taken from that ruling.

The record also shows that, on September 11, 1989, appellant filed a second petition, which was designated a Rule 20 petition, seeking post-conviction relief from his burglary conviction. He claimed that (1) his conviction was obtained by the use of evidence obtained pursuant to an unlawful arrest, (2) he was denied effective assistance of counsel, both at trial and on appeal, and (3) the sentence imposed exceeded the maximum authorized by law, or was not authorized by law. The trial court denied the petition on October 13, 1989, without a hearing. The trial court held that appellant was precluded from asserting the allegation of an invalid sentence due to an incorrect application of the Habitual Felony Offender Act because this allegation had been ruled upon in the previous habeas corpus proceedings and was, therefore, raised by a successive petition under Rule 20.2(b) and, further, that appellant either had raised the issue on appeal or could have done so. The trial court, relying on Rule 20.2(a)(4) and (5), further held that the allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel were precluded because they had been addressed on appeal and rejected and that the allegation of an unlawful arrest was precluded because it could and should have been raised on appeal. No appeal was taken from this ruling.

The instant petition is, in effect, the third petition attacking, in some respect, the burglary conviction. However, we do not agree with the trial court's denial of the present petition on the two grounds cited by the trial court: (1) that the petition was precluded as a successive petition under Rule 20.2(b); and (2) that it was precluded because the issue alleged therein, ineffective counsel, was either raised or addressed on appeal or it could have been raised on appeal and was not, Rule 20.2(a)(4) and (5). In regard to the trial court's first holding, the court relied on Rule 20.2(b), which provides the following:

"The court shall not grant relief on a second or successive petition on the same or similar grounds on behalf of the same petitioner. A second or successive petition on different grounds shall be denied unless the petitioner shows both that good cause exists why the new ground or grounds were not known or could not have been ascertained through reasonable diligence when the first petition was heard, and that failure to entertain the petition will result in a miscarriage of justice." (Emphasis added.)

We construe this rule to require that, before a subsequent petition can be deemed successive, a previous petition must have been considered on its merits. In other words, a second or successive petition on the same or similar grounds cannot be deemed procedurally barred unless the same or similar grounds asserted in a prior petition were adjudicated on their merits. In addition, a second or successive petition on different grounds cannot be procedurally barred unless the prior petition was adjudicated on its merits and petitioner shows "both that good cause exists why the new ground or grounds were not known or could not have been ascertained through reasonable diligence ..., and that failure to entertain the petition will result in a miscarriage of justice," Rule 20.2(b). Thus, the first inquiry in determining whether a subsequent petition, on the same or on different grounds, is successive is whether a prior petition was decided on its merits.

We find support for this holding in our earlier decisions concerning successive petitions for writs of error coram nobis, for cases dealing with writs of error coram nobis may be used in interpreting the Rules of Criminal Procedure governing post-conviction remedies, Ex parte Lockett, 548 So.2d 1045 (Ala.1989); A.R.Cr.P.Temp. 20. The well-settled rule was that repeated applications for writs of error coram nobis resting on the same allegations, which had been previously adjudicated, should not be entertained because of the doctrine of res judicata; however, the rule which provided that the trial court need not entertain a second or successive petition presupposed adequate consideration of the merits of the first petition and, if the judgment rendered was not on the merits, the defense of res judicata failed. See Alexander v. State, 462 So.2d 955 (Ala.Cr.App.1984), and cases cited therein. The federal courts apply a similar rule in determining whether an issue in a federal post-conviction relief petition should be barred as successive. Sanders v. United States, 373 U.S. 1, 83 S.Ct. 1068, 10 L.Ed.2d 148 (1963); Alexander v. State.

We do not view the trial court's denial without a hearing of appellant's first Rule 20 petition ² as a decision on the merits of the issues raised. As far as we can tell, the allegations in the petition were never contested by responsive pleadings filed by the state, and no evidentiary hearing was held. Moreover, it is clear from the court's order denying the first Rule 20 petition that appellant's allegations were denied on procedural grounds. Such a summary denial of the petitions cannot fairly be taken as an adjudication of the merits of the claims presented. See Mitchell v. State, 547 So.2d 1194 (Ala.Cr.App.1989). See also Hall v. Alabama, 700 F.2d 1333 (11th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 859, 104 S.Ct. 183, 78 L.Ed.2d 163 (1983). Thus, the present petition cannot be barred as successive. We consider that our interpretation in this regard is in keeping with the spirit and intent of the Rule. See Rule 1.2, Ala.R.Cr.P. (effective January 1, 1991) (which provides, in part, that the Rules "shall be construed to secure simplicity in procedure, fairness in administration, and the elimination of unnecessary delay and expense, and to protect the rights of the individual while preserving the public welfare").

We admittedly have more difficulty in reviewing the trial court's denial of the present petition on the application of Rule 20.2(a)(4) and (5), ³ for we are perplexed at the injustice and confusion that results from a broad application, in this case, of the literal wording of the two subsections. They read as follows:

"A petitioner will not be given relief under this rule based upon any ground:

"...;

"(4) Which was raised or addressed on appeal or in any previous collateral proceeding; or

"(5) Which could have been but was not raised on appeal...."

Although the effectiveness of counsel issue was raised in appellant's pro se brief on appeal, it was not properly before this court. It had not been presented to the trial court and, thus, had not been preserved for our review. See Dossey v. State, 489 So.2d 662 (Ala.Cr.App.1986); Heath v. State, 485 So.2d 1226 (Ala.Cr.App.1986). To construe subsection (4) to hold that, because appellant raised the issue of ineffectiveness of counsel on appeal although we refused to address it because it was not presented to the trial court and would be better presented in a Rule 20 petition, he is now foreclosed would be against the express dictate to construe the Rules to secure fairness in their administration. In this instance, we find "raised" to be superfluous, as against the intent and spirit of the Rules. To hold otherwise would be grossly unjust and absurd.

We further note that to be "intelligible" and easy to administer, see Committee Comments to Rule 1.2, the language "in any previous collateral proceeding" incorporates the requirements of section (b) discussed...