Cooper v. Wiman
| Decision Date | 20 September 1962 |
| Docket Number | 3 Div. 975 |
| Citation | 145 So.2d 216,273 Ala. 699 |
| Parties | Grant COOPER v. Martin J. WIMAN, Warden, Kilby Prison. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Grant Cooper, pro se.
MacDonald Gallion, Atty. Gen., and David W. Clark, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
This is an appeal from the Circuit Court of Montgomery County denying appellant's discharge in a habeas corpus proceeding.
Appellant was arrested in November of 1954 for the killing of one Larry Roger Piotrowski in Mobile County, Alabama. Subsequently, he was indicted by the Mobile County Grand Jury for murder in the first degree, and in May, 1955, pleaded guilty to said indictment and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He took no appeal from this judgment and sentence.
In June, 1961, he filed his petition for habeas corpus in the Montgomery Circuit Court, alleging that his judgment of conviction was an absolute nullity and void upon the following single ground:
'When he plead guilty and was sentenced, he was under the influence of Narcotic drugs, as a consequent thereof, his plea of guilty was incompetent and unintelligent; therefore the judgment of conviction is an absolute nullity and void.'
We think the trial court would have been justified in refusing to take jurisdiction, since the petition shows on its face that the only issue presented was a factual one that could not be reached in a habeas corpus proceeding under Alabama law. Griffin v. State, 258 Ala. 557, 63 So.2d 682; Ex parte Winnagle, 269 Ala. 668, 115 So.2d 261. However, the trial court following our suggestion in Ex parte Rockholt, 271 Ala. 68, 122 So.2d 162, saw fit to issue the writ. Subsequently, the Attorney General filed his motion to vacate the writ and remand the petitioner to the custody of respondent, Martin J. Wiman, Warden of Kilby Prison.
The Warden of Kilby Prison, where appellant is incarcerated, filed his return to the writ. This return shows a lawful complaint and warrant of arrest, a valid indictment, and a judgment of guilty and sentence thereon. The judgment entry shows that the defendant was present with his counsel, and that two days prior to the date of his trial, the defendant, in his own proper person and with his attorney, was allowed to withdraw his plea of 'not guilty' and substitute therefor his plea of guilty. The judgment entry further recites that a jury was duly empaneled and sworn according to law, and that said jury, having heard the evidence and the charges of the court, upon their oaths in open court, and in the presence of the defendant and the defendant's attorney, found:
'We, the Jury, find the defendant guilty of murder in the First Degree, as charged in the indictment, on his plea of guilty, and further find that he be imprisoned in the penitentiary for the term of his natural life.'
Appellant in his petition did not charge that any constitutional rights belonging to him were violated. His bare contention is that the judgment of conviction is an absolute nullity and void because he was under the influence of narcotic drugs. It is a well-settled principle of law in Alabama that a writ of habeas corpus cannot be used to replace a writ of error or an appeal. Warden v. State, Ala.App., 134 So.2d 783. The trial court committed no error in discharging the writ and ordering the appellant remanded to the custody of the Warden of Kilby Prison. Griffin v. State, supra; Ex parte Winnagle, supra.
Encouraged by some recent federal court decisions, the criminal of today makes a mockery of our judicial system. Finality of a criminal judgment and sentence today is as outmoded as the Model-T. State and federal courts are now being besieged by prisoners who want a rehearing or a new trial, or any type of hearing which will set them free. Guilt or innocence is no longer the paramount question to be resolved. Indeed, in most of the applications for extraordinary writs by these incarcerated prisoners, they make no claim of innocence, and the allegations of error which they set forth know no bounds except those of their own imagination. Nowhere in this proceedings does appellant assert, or even intimate, that he is not guilty of murder, to which he pleaded guilty. To illustrate further the recklessness with which charges are made, we need go no further than the instant case, for in the brief filed on this appeal, this appellant at this late date...
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Brown v. State
...nothing to lose, for they know that the very least they can obtain is a day away from their prison surroundings.' Cooper v. Wiman, 273 Ala. 699, 701, 145 So.2d 216 (1962)." (Emphasis Here, even though Brown argued that this evidence was newly discovered, he made no effort, and indeed could ......
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Summers v. State
...a competent and just judge found him guilty". Warden v. State, 41 Ala.App. 449, 451, 134 So.2d 783, 784 (1961). Also Cooper v. Wiman, 273 Ala. 699, 145 So.2d 216 (1962). The evidence presented to this Court reveals that the appellant has utterly failed to establish any reason for impeaching......
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Mayola v. State
...150 (1974). It is indeed a sad commentary when guilt or innocence is no longer the paramount question to be resolved. Cooper v. Wiman, 273 Ala. 699, 146 So.2d 216 (1962). This court finds absolutely no merit whatsoever to any of the claims advanced by the appellant. We will not allow the ap......
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Haynes v. Alfa Financial Corp.
...(Ala. 1991) (stating that Alabama "law is structured so that the guilty, not the innocent, shall be punished"); Cooper v. Wiman, 273 Ala. 699, 701, 145 So.2d 216, 217 (1962) (quoting Wiman v. Argo, 308 F.2d 674 (5th Cir. 1962) (Gewin, J., concurring specially)) (stating that "[w]e have no q......